Training Log Archive: CharlieRennie

SOC Long Beech - 5th
Nice to be back down south and in some very lovely runnable forest. Legs were completely cooked after yesterday and a pretty big volume week didn't help either but still didn't feel like I was moving too badly just lacking that higher gear. Was fairly clean throughout with just a couple ~10s misses. Generally just tried to go straight on most controls as the forest was very runnable and was quite pleased with my compass work for the most part. Caught Dad and an army guy going to 11 and then lead the train all the way to the finish. Tried to drop them a couple times but just didn't have the legs and whatever gap I got would be reeled back in once we hit the control. Fairly decent result though to be only 3 minutes behind Richard Robinson considering how the legs felt and the high volume of training atm. Also just nice to have a clean run with no real mistakes even though the area wasn't particularly technically difficult it's still a nice confidence booster.

British Night Championships - mp
Got the wrong control at 4. Took a bearing from the path and stream junction when I should’ve just gone round on the path as was my plan throughout the rest of the course but ended up just to the right of the actual control at another control in a re entrant. Did question it at the time but just put it down to doubting myself and didn’t want to go back and make sure and end up losing time. Spiking my bearing to 5 made me think I’d defo got the right one but my mind kept going back to it and at 12 I ended up looking back at it on the map and realised. Kept on pushing throughout the rest of the course just in case I was wrong but just couldn’t really motivate myself to the same extent as before I realised. Apart from that the rest of the course was pretty clean, the area was pretty easy and full of paths so just kept the plan of path route then compass in which was working well and it was only when I deviated from that and went to straight to 13 kinda accidentally with a poor bearing that I lost time. Seemed to handle the distance pretty well as well, tried to keep the pace pretty controlled throughout as I’ve never raced this long before and probably wasn’t pushing as much as I could’ve knowing I’d mispuched but the legs never really faded too badly which is a good sign. Also I did check my codes on 4 but the control read 155 and the actual code was 135 and with being focused on the next control and wanting to not hesitate just didn’t seem to notice the difference. Annoying to come all this way down south just to not even get a result but there’s and definitely worse races to map on and the rest of my run was good and would be only have been around 4 minutes down on Richard Robinson without the mp which I’m fairly pleased with and there’s definitely some good signs in terms of the progression of my fitness.

Medium long run out to the country park and back. Legs were a little tired at the start and weren’t really enjoying all the tarmac but once I got to the trails they were fine and felt pretty good after that all the way to the end. Seems to be the theme atm of feeling kinda grim at the start of runs but once I get going everything feels fine and the legs seem to be coping with the increasing mileage quite well.

LOC Night Terrain - Lowick Common
Combination of the night and the bracken made the area pretty grim and vague. Wasn’t orienteering particularly well either, too much hesitation and poor execution of my routes as well as getting stuck in waist high bracken and brambles a few times. No major errors though and only 4mins behind Joe Woodley which is a lot better than the previous events. Not the most enjoyable orienteering I’ve done but definitely good practice.

Right calf cramped up quite badly during the night and didn't really loosen off at all during the day so decided against the slightly longer run I had planned and stuck to the treadmill. Kept the pace very chilled throughout and couldn't feel the calf too much and it did seem to loosen off at little. Still tight after the run but I'm not too worried have had this a couple times before and it usually has cleared up by the next day but just wanted to play it safe while I'm trying to up the mileage.