Training Log Archive: IanW

Circuits, back indoors this week as not overly great outside. Guest appearance from CJ, who's in Oxford for a conference. Feeling far better than last week, certainly more spritely and fewer muscles aching. Shin hurt on ski jumps though. At the end, we helped Ali count to 100...

and then my forgetfulness gave me an unexpected long warm-down. Needed to go back to lab to stop experiment, got to top of Morrell Avenue before realising still had key to return in exchange for access card to get me into lab. Duh... So all the way back into town, and then back up Morrell Avenue again - went for it in top gear, last third was a bit of a struggle but managed it fairly easily.

And after all that, the experiment has thrown up a couple of interesting things that need sorting out...

Event: British Sprint Championships
 

Walk/jog to the start of the heats, didn't really feel like running on the pavement, shins feeling a bit sore. Maybe it's partly due to the Walshes...

British Sprint Champs - Warwick Uni West - Heat M4. Had looked at the start list before and thought that in terms of the big names that this was the weakest heat. Turns out that might have been true, but in the battle for places in the B final it was the most competitive, 20th place was 15:49, pretty much a minute faster than in any of the other three heats.

Knew the navigation side of things was going to be far simpler than what we experienced at Guildford for the JK so just went for it, pretty much full out, from the off. Clean in the first bit of residential stuff, could have saved a few seconds on the route choice to #2. Clean through the woods - careful on the compass here to make sure the muddy elephant tracks amongst the snow were heading in the right direction. Quite a few on M1 and M2 screwed up their exit from this section, coming out to the west when their control was north. Slight route wobble to #17 but again a matter of a couple of seconds, good up 'til #24, when missed the gap in the hedge on the map and cut down and round through a bit that looked more crossable - 10" lost and biggest mistake.

Lost a little time over the next two controls by banana-ing them slightly but happy with run at the end, dipped under the 15 minute mark and only 15" of time loss. Have to say that it was pretty simple navigationally though... Physically felt pretty good, generally out-navigating the running and wanted the legs to take me to my destination faster than they were going. 14th in heat and solidly through to the B final.

Route - Actual Distance ~3.18k

Then for the finals - bit of a run-about taking photos and generally spectating the A final, then jog about after getting changed and trying to stay warm in the start boxes.

British Sprint Champs - Warwick Uni Central/East - Men's B Final. Thought this might be a bit more tricky and it was in places.

Started off OK before making the biggest blunder of the day - 20" lost to #3 by starting to go towards what I thought was a gap in the building but wasn't - twigged relatively quickly and then had to backtrack. Obviously a bit pissed off after that as had 2nd fastest split to #4. Took a few seconds at #6 to see if there were any better routes for the long leg to #7, there might have been but involved more twists/turns/steps and more navigation - went for the simple straight round past the start option instead.

Lost 5-10" at #12 as card didn't register first time, then the mind started to slow down significantly. Was struggling to plan ahead and pick out the next leg/route choice/destination, started to banana controls a bit more as not fully switched on.

Body was certainly feeling a bit more tired and not running as smoothly, maybe went off a bit too fast on this one. Ended up joint 41st with Mark Saunders, a whopping 3 minutes down on Ian Nixon who won it but only 2 minutes off 3rd. Looks like I'm still just too slow to be really competitive at this sort of event - had there been a bit more of a navigational challenge might have suited better...

Route - Actual Distance ~3.67k

Not convinced about the stakes OD use for their EMIT units, far too flimsy and the number/punch unit too prone to falling off and ending up on the floor. This meant couldn't read one of the control numbers as had fallen off and was covered in mud. Surely they could invest in something a bit more stable, especially for a high-speed sprint...

Event: British Elite Middle Distance
 

Went and checked out the finish/spectator and start areas, back to car to get changed then perfectly timed jog to start area, 30 secs before my call up. Bit of stretching in start box, short jog/walk after run.

British Elite Middles at Hopwas. Wanted to attack the course, knew that straight and fast was generally the way to go, and remembered from the JK'05 Relays that green wasn't always that bad, apart from the rhodo. Bit of a different mentality to that needed in Sweden.

So plan was to go for it, try and push from early on especially if it wasn't a tricky opening. And it worked pretty well, certainly up to the spectator control - only a few hesitations on trickier legs but managed to spike them anyway.

Tiredness started to kick in a bit about 30 mins in, probably went out a little too hard - it felt a bit too much like hard work in some parts. #17 was the first error of sorts, hesitation over the path network (seeing the quarry sorted that) and remembering the description incorrectly caused faffing (30"). Slow-ish to #18, slightly poor line out to #19 meant was too high (15"), poor route and hesitance to #20 (40") and then a crap exit and poor compass to #21 (15"). Bit slow to the last couple as well but only about 2' lost across the course - one of my best runs for a while; I like middle distance courses :)

Ended up 46th/128 on course, top 5 were Crane (35:15), Johnson, Fraser, Sprot, Northrop. Just pipped by Jon X (46:16). 5 UK Cup points though, in a pretty competitive field, happy with that!

Route - Actual Distance ~7.5k

Men's Open (Course A) - Splits

Easy day before the weekend, trying to sort out the calves and other assorted leg muscles.

Well they haven't chucked me (or anyone, I suppose) off elite at the British Long. 15.7km of beautiful Culbin Forest, here we come :)

Taking advantage of the longer evenings - started off in the light anyhow, bit dark under the tree canopy by 8.15pm. Home - Barracks Ln - Golf Course - Magdalen Woods - Brasenose Wood - Shotover - Old Rd - Lye Valley - Churchill - home. Taking it pretty easy, put a bit more effort in on the hills but they still didn't feel too taxing for once, even the 55m climb up onto Shotover. Last 3.5k or so felt really cruisy, felt like hardly any effort necessary - nice feeling :) Really wet underfoot in places in the woods, but the usual dry and hardness on Shotover itself.

Unfortunately the shin reared its ugly head again, definite pain noticed. No idea why, it seemed perfectly fine during Sweden, maybe being active for a week then sedentary for a few days hasn't done it any good? Not cool - just as I'm feeling quite fit and vaguely in form again. A bit of management (read stretching, strengthening exercises and careful training plan) needed to get it through the rest of this month at least, with the British and Tio coming up. The season eases off a bit after that, only a few more big events...

Wanted to get out and do something today, left the lab a bit later than planned and so went out on the bike at around 7.30pm. Still pretty light then, but had the headtorch on the helmet prepared for later, and needed it on some of the narrow country lanes with the classic archway of trees across them. Same route at just before BUSA (home - horspath - wheatley - gt milton - cuddesdon - garsington - cowley - home), wind was far less of a problem today, although the leg muscles probably felt a little too tired at the end of the ride for my liking.

More recovery from Sweden