Training Log Archive: Lexc

#concernedaboutmyknee

---WRITTEN BY SAMUEL GALLOWAY--- (good read) ;)
This was it..the second day of the inter area. Although my knee was still tender from the day before I was raring to go. The East were trailing but we have the raw talent to pull it back. After having a good start I was a fraction too high for number 2. Number 3 favoured me greatly as it was who could the peg it along the path the fasted, although I realised my knee was not up to the challenge but I struggled on. As I went up a hill it began.... The raging fire was released and forced me (unacceptably ) to walk... I repeat WALK up a hill. After this catastrophe I realised that the great TG would never walk and if I was gonna reach his standards I needed to up my game. Approaching number 6 the fire was tamed so I increased speed resulting in missing the control dramatically. Panicking slightly I took an educated guess that it was to my left,(score) it was there. After my mistake I lowered ny average min/km to make sure I hit the control. As straight as an arrow, or so called myself, as struck number 7 bang on. 8,9 and 10 I flew through and before I knew it I was on 11. The intricate contour detail that smothered 11 impaired my vision slightly but I rose to the challenge. The downhill to 13 allowed the raging fire to be reborn and this time it could not be doused by mere water. Number 15 was my downfall... Allowing the British champion himself to catch me up. I lost good 6 minutes frolicking in the undergrowth. From then it was a race of route choice between Sasha and I. The fire still roaring diminished my only advantage..... Sheer speed. I just about stuck with him until my sneaky route to nineteen gave a small but vital advantage. That advantage was throwing into the flames with my abysmal navigation into 20. I chased after Sasha hungary for at least a sprint finish with the outright winner of the day. Unfortunately my careful footing let me down as my foot clipped a missed placed root (of course left by Sasha) ;). My tremendous momentum sent flying for at last 20 metres. After skidding through the dirt my knees were struck by an unfortunately large rock. My right quad - sent into a state of shock. My sprint finish was abysmal, being almost twice the time of the great tortoise himself (tortoise Tam). I collapsed at the finish line, my body was in a state of disrepair and my knee... In agony. It was as if the fire of London had been 3 times bigger and condensed to fit within the space between my knee and my kneecap. I was... Destroyed. #probablyshouldnthaverun #betterbeokfornextweekend #fml

#likeagoodboy

Junior Inter-area Relays. Feeling pretty good... Only slight problem is my knee is a little sensitive, should be fine though. Unfortunately I only got to start my last leg relay after Daniel and Sasha had finished bringing back the North and West 1st teams. As my runner came to hand over to me I also caught a glimpse of Matthew charging down the run-in to bring back the East 1st team in 3rd. Unfortunately there was nobody out in the forest for me to race against...my nearest runner being 4 minutes ahead of me (Ross). Feeling a bit to ready I mucked up the first control, stupidly to far down the hill. The second control I was, yet again, to far down the hill! The rest of the race was pretty clean with a few slower route choices however the intensity was right down as I thought I had nothing to run for. To my surprise as I appeared for the run in I saw Samuel who I had managed to catch quite a while on... and I had overtaken Ross without realising! #notconplaining
Although my knee was getting pretty sore...#cautions

#cba

I knew what I had to do to beat Sasha - catch Daniel by two minutes and keep my average pace below 4:11/km. (unfortunately for Daniel I accidentally missed my start time resulting in me beginning 2 mins after in the next slot) The race started and I was cautious and possibly a fair amount slower than those who had attended Banchory School ;). But that didn't matter because we were out into the easy navigation of the linear, grid iron street pattern of Banchory (Higher Geography right there). I was flying along these roads and up the hills determined on catching Daniel. No.5 I lost a good 10 seconds on as I missed the right bush and had to re-attack it from the other side. Just before I hit No.6 I caught sight of Daniel for the first time... He was still a good half a minute ahead at this point as he was leaving the control. On my long leg charging up the hill I noticed that my knee had taken quite a battering on the first half of the course... It was actually very sore. Oh well, the biggest and worst stitch known to man had just struck and was a more pressing matter as it had stopped me from moving! I was left watching my mins/km crumble. I proceeded to crawl my in the hope of catching Daniel - an everless looking reality. Eventually I shifted the stitch and managed to finally catch big D. I tailed him for the next few controls just focusing on where I was and on closing the 10m gap between us. Eventually I was up with him. 2 controls left... We jumped a fence and nailed it. Then we stood there looking at the map for the next few minutes trying to decide on the route to the finish... "BOTTOM" I shouted. We zoomed around and sprinted into the finish... I just beat him in :D. Turns out he has a piece of glass, two by one cm squared in his leg! That probably is a good enough excuse ;-). By this stage I could hardly walk because my knee was pretty sore after I cooled down... Slightly worried about it. #concerned
Oh yea... and I caught Daniel, got my average down to 4:10/km but STILL Sasha had me by 30 seconds...#disappointed

C • You never caught that absol... 4

Rest day before the big weekend #buzzing

#beforetherainstarted

Wow. That was wet. Original session was 2x300m, 2x500m 2x600m - break - 2x600m, 2x500m, 2x300m. The times for the first few were good - 46's for the 300's, 1:25 for the 500's and then a 1:40 and a 1:43 for the 600's. The rain hit hard during the last 500m and wow. It turned into a swimming pool! So after the rise in distance... My training partner pulled out. I switched to the slower group in order to finish at least ONE session and they had a final 300m which I did in 42s. It was seriously wet. #swimming

#Warmingup....Yolo

The gun went. I took my first step, feeling fresh, away from the start line. My muscles were performing well and as intended after the first split second. My foot connected perfectly with the ground and I felt the reassuring crunch as my spikes collided with the ground. This catapulted my second step into action. Already I could feel my legs getting the first signs of lactic acid... Screw that. 4th Edinburgh Schools XC meeting. 2nd in the first, 3rd in the second (i had a groin strain which I didn't want to push) I missed the 3rd due to a geography trip. In reality there are only 2 people who I could lose to, one with a 1:58 800m time and the other, British 1500m fourth place with a respectable 4:02. Luckily for me today... He was out with injury. Cruised the course... Wary of the 800m runner's sprint finish - but not even he could close the 40m gap that had arisen on the short flat course. So I swagged it into the finish in first place... Bring on the East district xc races! : D @Sasha @Daniel @Matthew ;) #firstraceanalysisonAT

C • what 5

Warm up running down the hill. #don'twanttopullanything

Just the school games session, a casual walk around the Meadows with a mate (the others were all miles behind). ;) Not pushing hard before my solid track session tonight! #keepingitcool

Btw... No nose bleed! :)

#flying

First proper cross country training session of the year! :D one 50m hurdle sprint followed by a jog back, then a 50m sprint (100%) followed by a jog recovery back was 1 run. We did 6 runs... (no break inbetween the individual runs) then a quick 30 second walk recovery... Then 5, then 4.... Down to 1. Nice fun session, felt dead after. But then comes the core conditioning exercises!:) 10, 9, 8... Down through to 1 of various core exercises including Press-ups, sit-ups, burpees, star jumps, squat thrusts, tank curls, planks (held for 30 seconds each round) and high knees ;) #feelingthepackcomingthrough

Played some intense school hockey...
Scored a goal - it was beautiful. Received the ball at the half way line... Quick one/two with my friend. On the return he flicked it up, perfect for me to smash into the net. The connection had so much energy it could have split an atom ;) #hockeyisformenok