Training Log Archive: Orig4mi

Home -> Pool
Much milder morning outside (9C) over 10 degrees C warmer than recent mornings!

Losing time/length from the start.
Energy lacking. Lasted the course, but averaged 65s lengths - not good.
Stroke felt reasonable and thought that I was putting in the effort, just didn't have the speed.

NB must be pretty tired at the moment as zonked out previous evening for a couple of hours after getting children to bed whilst X Factor etc. entertained A. Normally quite desparate when I tolerate such "entertainment" instead of going off and doing sometghing else!

Pool -> Work
Gloomy morning - dull, but not quite raining and felt that I needed lights on bike

Work->Home

Event: SLOW OK Nuts Trophy 2012 (Esher & Oxshott Commons)
 

OK Nuts Trophy Event - Short Brown Course

Cold frosty start (again no wind). Perfect running conditions with most of the wetness sealed under a cover of frozen ground. Felt colder than the previous night (-2C?). LS SO top plus a high wicking singlet underneath and gloves made the cold bearable. Stiff and tired from the previous evenings O and an otherwise busy day with the children. Felt that I was putting in the effort, but the speed wasn't there. Energy was lacking. More success with the specs after washing in washing up liquid. Less happy with map clarity than the previous night - vegetation mapping felt less reliable and sometimes misleading.

Well off the pace and should really have managed just under an hour for the course. Some silly nav decisions later on in the course were less than optimum lost a bit of time.

Short Brown - Splits

Event: SLOW Southern Night Champs (Esher & Oxshott Commons).
 

Southern Night Champs.

First night-O for me since Harvester during the early summer and first competitive race since the ankle injury of 17/11/12.
Cold (-1C), though no wind. First night-O with the reading specs - have to sort out how to use these in cold conditions because they were steaming up by halfway round and became useless. Though on less than optimum form for competitive night-O: had fancied my chances for the M45 title, but this was stymied by some tactical race entering by an enterprising M50 ringer. The motives for entering up a class are not known, possibly to get a longer course, though late publishing of course/class combinations showed that M45, M50, M55 plus others were all running the same blue course. The value of a trophy in a class other than your own, when you're well beaten by contempories on the same course is debateable!

Started reasonably well: cautious due to being wary about ankle, though reasonably confident enough to not play supersafe and to make proper orienteering decisions. Quadcube lamp performed quite well, though found I was running on max intensity area lighting + spot for quite a bit of the time. The area light seemed a bit dim by the end of the race, possibly due to having used the high intensity spot more than usual. The straps were reasonably effective, though not as comfortable as I'd've like towards the end once they'd got damp and stretched a bit. It may be time to have another look at headlamps. Little misses on a number of controls, but a 2 minute error on control 8 (started looking only when already past the control) was decisive and effectively game over for the trophy. A couple of other 30-60s errors later didn't help the result either. Pretty tired at the end and looking at splits seemed to fade on the second half of the course so physically not as fit as I needed to be to be up to the challenge (confirming how I felt whilst running!).

Bloody glasses! would've been bettter off without them altogether. The comfort elerment of the failure of the glasses was compounded by having the headlamp - too many things tied round my head. Perhaps I should make more of an effort to use a compass mounted (or other) magnifier instead?

Blue - Splits

Home->Work
First significant frost of this winter (-2 just before sunrise).
Only out for a brief sprint, but my ears felt like they were going to snap off in the cold by the time I arrived - need to dig out the lightweight balaclava for use under the cycle helmet.

No apparent bad side effects from yesterdays run, so R ankle officially now good enough to compete on. Will be using some more substantial support, however, for the next few O events (Lace up splint, possibly also with simple tape).

As is traditional on my regime: Friday can be the official rest day before the competitive efforts of the weekend (S. Night Champs, followed by OK Nuts Trophy event - both on Esher and Oxshott Commons).

Work -> Home

Home -> Work.
Still cold (2C), but the biting wind has gone.
Found clear safety spec to wear to keep the wind out of my eyes. The cheap thin Lidl gloves, however, which were excellent during the earlier part of the autumn are not feeling substantial enough to keep the hands warm (also possibly just not cycling for long enough for the warmth to get to the hands).

Ankle feeling better today, so will attempt a short lunchtime run to test it out.

NB Distance measured by GPS
Cold. Wore: LS lifa with lycra type teeshirt over the top; running shorts. Seemed about optimum for the intensity of the run (may've been too hot if running harder).
First street run since injury. Fairly gentle and not too long, but seemed to be ok wrt ankle. See what it's like later in the day, but can probably now consider myself off the injury list.
Enhanced the O related aspect of the training run by skinning my knuckle on a tree - didn't even notice until I felt blood trickling down my fingers much later on (whilst running down the High Street!).

Work->Home
Quick dash through the cold night air. Traffic a little easier than at 5pm?

Home -> Pool
In a rush. Ended up on the wrong side of a nappy change etc. at the crucial part of the pre-swim morning routine. Chilly out (5-6C) in the brisk northerly wind, but luckily on my back on the way to the pool.

Caught up some time during cycle ride to pool (in water only 10 mins after leaving house). All the rush seemed to act as a good warm up for the swim.
Felt as if I was surging along through the water with almost optimum intensity for length of session (practically speaking: an endurance swim). Not timed to the second, but very close to an "evens" time, helped by pool lane being relatively empty (max two other people) and no hold-ups. Made an effort to try to keep the stroke smoother.

Pool -> Work
Still In a rush! Cycling straight into the cold wind - need to find the clear glasses before we get further into the winter to stop my eyes watering. Will I stick with cycling shorts until Christmas (the usual target)?

Work -> Home
Chilly N wind to push me home.

Home -> Work
An effort getting everyone dressed an into car again. Away from home later than intended. Luckily not caught up in too much traffic.

NB. Not doing Badminton again this evening to rest the ankle.

Work -> Home
Via Asda (last km or so with shopping, including 16pt milk, 1l veg oil, various vegetables: est 15kg extra load).