Training Log Archive: Kat

One slightly extended Christ Church loop while looking over yesterday's map. Even though I could have taken safer route choices (rather than going straight), there really were no good attackpoints for most of the controls. I felt in the mood for more running, but I decided to make today a very easy day instead. Why is it that my knees don't hurt after interval sessions on grass/track but they hurt during/after easy runs on the grass? That makes no sense to me.

C • Attack Points 2

Right calf feels quite sore for some reason.

Event: BKO Concorde Chase National Event
 

Warm-up before orienteering race.

RACE: Concorde Chase at Cold Ash. I did W21 Long. 9 km, 200 meters climb, 23 controls, 1:15,000 map, EMIT

TERRAIN: For the most part, the woods were quite runnable. Some of the trails were quite muddy and there were areas with bracken and areas with thorns, but nothing special overall. I had several controls on distinct clearings, which I personally thought were not distinct (or even clearings) at all, but otherwise everything was ok with the map.

RESULTS: Disaster! Absolute, horrible disaster! It was unbelievable how many mistakes were made. In fact, there were only 4 legs (out of 23) that I thought were relatively mistake-free and 0 legs that I thought were great. I won't even bother going over each and every mistake I made. But I will mention some of the highlights. Despite starting out relatively slowly toward control 1, I was soon overwhelmed by the number of controls out in the woods, so close to each other. I found at least 3 before finding the one I wanted, in the same small area. And once I was in the control circle, I had a very good idea of where I was - I had found the small pond and also saw the big hill to the west of me. But yet, try as I might, I couldn't find the first control. After some shuffling about in circles, I saw one in between a few trees and went over to check it out. It was mine. This didn't make sense to me at all because my control was supposed to be in a distinct clearing/open area and these trees and woods didn't seem distinct or clear at all, but I moved on. Then on number 2, I thought the control should be closer than it was and again ran to a control that wasn't mine first. And perhaps most memorable, after I got #9, I started heading west, thinking I was doing leg 11-12. I caught myself, but only after I had already gone several hundred meters in the wrong direction. Then I spent almost 16 minutes on #15 until I realized I was looking east of where I should have been looking. And not just east, but across a distinct thick black trail, which I shouldn't have crossed to begin with. Then I spent ages circling around #18 (another 10 minutes, to be exact) because it was yet again supposed to be in a "distinct" open area, but was actually in a clump of trees.

I clearly wasn't concentrating today, and there are several reasons for why this might be. For one, I didn't realize this was a 1:15000 map till after the race and perhaps realizing this earlier would have helped me understand why certain things didn't seem to match up with the map. Second, this was a tough place compared to the last few i've been to. Although the map looks simple enough, things just seemed vague and unclear (such as vegetation) and there were controls all over the place, which threw me off. Third, despite my attempts to wear thicker socks, use plaster (band-aids), and soften up the O-shoes, I still got bad blisters, which were hard to ignore. I think I'm going to wear sneakers to the next meet and try to buy myself a different pair of O-shoes.

C • Hey 8

Planned rest days are the best! This way I don't feel guilty for not swimming/running. Instead, I'm spending the day relaxing, wearing my O-shoes in an attempt to soften them up before tomorrow's race, and eating good food =)

C • You listened! 2

Felt very tired today. Arms are sore from doing strength exercises and legs are a bit sore from doing intervals. Workout relatively short today.

350 easy choice
4x50 build
8x25 drill/swim

1x200 free
7x150 free

450 kick
75 easy
4x25 sprint
150 easy

Total: 2,775 meters

C • Too many interval workouts 1

Running through University Parks and around the meadows with Henry. Nice, easy pace. Not too slow, but definitely comfortable.

C • UK Mapping Resources 2

Nice easy set today. The coach wasn't there, but he left a workout for us on the board. I followed it about 3/5 of the way, then decided to cut it short today because the rest was more kicking, using fins, and some sprints, which I didn't feel would be beneficial for me to do whatsoever.

400 SPKD (Swim, Pull, Kick, Drill by the 100s)
200 IM drills
6x25 scull, swim

30x50 free (12 on 55 sec, 10 on 50, 8 on 55)
4x100 kick (I did 100 free, 100 dolphin kick/backstroke kick)
300 easy (free/back) cool-down (Nice and leisurely.)

Total: 2,950 meters

Running before, during, and after intervals. Also includes a few minutes of doing various running drills before the set.

Intervals with the XC Club.

We did 3 x {2 minutes hard, 100 meters active easy (about 30-35 seconds easy jogging), then another 2 minutes hard, then 2-3 minutes rest/easy, (forgot exact time) }

The coach (Peter) set us up so we were a certain set distance away from the finish line, based on the results of a six minute time trial that happened last week. (Since I'm just about Helen's speed, I decided to just stick with her, which worked out fine.) So we all started at various locations around the track, and were trying to match last week's time-trial pace during these intervals. If we were right on target with the pace, then we would end right at the finish line when 2 minutes were up.

I felt good during the first two sets, then got a bit tired on the last one. It didn't help that I stopped during the 100 meter easy jog to ask Zoe if she was ok (because she said something about stomach pain) and then had to hurry to catch up to the others. I didn't realize how short 30 seconds really is!

I decided I really like intervals! So I'm going to try to go to the Tuesday and Thursday XC sessions and do the easy and long runs on my own in the other days, because the XC team usually does these types of runs on paved roads (which I don't like).

I walked over to University Parks right after lectures and went for an easy run by myself on the grass there. I did one easy orienteering loop on a small map of University Parks, using permanent orienteering posts for controls, then ran across the bridge and around the meadows for a bit. Then I crossed back over and did two more orienteering loops, doing one control fast, one control easy. And then I did a big loop of the park easy as cool-down.

The navigation might be quite simple when doing these permanent courses, but it still gives me something to think about. And the one on, one off approach made it even more interesting.

I wanted to go back over the bridge and do some more running because I felt really good and it was a gorgeous sunny day, but my knees hurt a bit and I decided against it. Damn running injuries...

Crunches and dips.

C • cool 5

Interval session with the Oxford XC Club. I didn't really get a chance to warm up - we did one pretty fast two-minute jog on the grass, then began the session. (I should remember to run around a bit before we start next time...).

We did 3 minutes race-pace, 30 seconds easy jogging, 1 minute faster than race-pace, 30 seconds easy, 2 minutes race pace, 2 minutes easy. The coach (who seems like a very friendly and knowledgable man) told me before the start to do 2 of these sets, so I stopped earlier than the others. Meanwhile, the guys and the faster girls did 3-4 sets. I was pretty much at the back of the group. The XC people are fast!

I definitely felt like I was working during the intervals, but recovered quite decently during the breaks and didn't feel tired or sore afterward. Even though I am not used to speed, I think there's hope for me yet =)

Running before and after session.

Crunches and push-ups.