Training Log Archive: OJ

Three Peaks Race. Another classic route which I have long wanted to have a crack at, especially as I have never made it up either Pen-y-Ghent or Inglebrough before. Also my longest ever race. I was very up for it but had no idea how it would go after a less than ideal three week lead in in Moscow. But I decided to start assertively and see what happened.

The first kms were surprisingly sedate, particularly in comparison with Edale, so I sat near the front, running easy along with JD. The Pen-y-Ghent summit came quite quickly and without any excessive effort and I ended up in 2nd here, which was a good job as the pace ramped up considerably on the fast descent. I decided to go with the flow and tried to hang onto the back of the lead group, but I had to let them go after a couple of kms and ended up running the interminably long, undulating and dull stretch to Ribblesdale on my own. I felt pretty bad all the way, not helped by the significant headwind, and I was telling myself that if I could just make it to the face of Whernside then I would get some respite on the steep climb.

Took a good drink at Ribblesdale, where I came though in 4th, and then sat back a bit while a small pack reeled me in - Rob Jebb, Ben Abdelnoor, Graham Pearce and Ricky Lightfoot. My plan was to tuck in and get some help from them, but I struggled to stay with them and they took a bit out of me on the first half of the ascent. As I had been hoping, the reduced intensity of the steep climb allowed me to gather myself a bit and I got a second wind about half way up and managed to start making inroads into the group again. Passed Rob on the way down, as he seemed to be having some cramping issues, and tried to gain on Graham who remained about 50m in front.

Another drink at the foot of the hill and I steeled myself for the last big climb up Inglebrough, which looked impossibly big. There was a sizable gap behind me by now, so I just hunkered down and tried to keep up a steady and solid pace. It was good to see Jenny on the steepest part of the climb for a pep talk and a bit more drink. I suspect that she could easily have outpaced me from here to the summit. I was still about the same distance behind Graham, but more concerningly, Pete Vale was now gaining from behind.

Made the summit and decided that I had broken the race. Downhill all the way to the finish and looking good for a decent placing. I set of with renewed enthusiasm and ran the first couple of kms fast and well. But I had seriously underestimated the distance remaining. I came over a crest and saw an endless flat desert of limestone pavement stretching slightly uphill into infinity. The path may well have been shimmering in a heat haze with tumbleweeds blowing around. This was a massive psychological blow as I was running seriously low on gas. I made it into the first rocky section and promptly stacked it. No harm done, but it shook me up and I struggled to get back into a rhythm. This part of the race went on for ever, and the distant Sulber Nick stubbornly refused to get any closer. By the time I crested the next horizon and caught a glimpse of the still distant finish, I felt like I was getting nowhere fast and was hemorrhaging time. In fact, I probably only lost a couple of minutes, not quite enough for Pete to catch me, but enough to ensure that I was a right state by the time I stumbled up the run-in.

So I finished 7th. This was a tough race on a dry route, but a combination of heat and strong winds all the way made things harder than they could have been. I'm not happy with my run, and felt like I never found the strong, comfortable rhythm that I managed in Edale. That's not surprising after the last few weeks, and too much tiring tourism, walking and traveling in the past few days. Today I mainly just felt weary. So I'm happy with my performance and result under the circumstances. You can't always do everything well, and there's no way I would have missed any of it out. In any case, I definitely want another crack at this race to try to break 3hrs.

C • Nice One! 10

Cursory and no warm down - too broken.

Up to the cricket ground at Thornton to loosen off the legs. Felt quite light and bouncy.

Early mornig jog to Victory Park across the Kiev-Moscow main railway lines and past a few wild dogs - Jenny was not impressed. Lovely morning again, followed by a sweaty and slightly stressful journey to the airport.

No training - too busy all day. Spent a lot of time walking and probably covered a good few kms. Round VDNKh, the Park of Economic Achievements, then around the city centre and finished off at the Bolshoi for an evening of ballet. All very cultured.

Evening run after another day of hardcore walking, I thought there was no way that my legs were going to be able to cope with it, but it probably helped in the end. Out through the Sparrow Hills to the viewpoint near MGU, then over the river to Luzhniki and explored the Olympic park a bit.

Lots of walking - probably covered 14km or so. Novodevichii monastery and graveyard, then Red Square, then out to Tsaritsino for an evening stroll with some firends. Made it home at about half midnight, shattered!

Moscompass Day 2, same arena but slightly different terrain, this time with less vague compassy bits and more technical detail. I had first start, so the terrain fought back all the way, but I enjoyed running in a nearly-empty forest in contrast to yesterdays madness. I had learned my lessons and slowed down a little to stay more in control, which worked out well and I made no significant mistakes, although a few times ~30secs.

I ended up 6th today and 6 mins down on a very fast time by Aleksandr Minakov, which I could not have come close to. I suspect that it was actually a bit easier today as there was plenty of detail around all the time, so perhaps there was no need to take the foot off the gas. Oh well, it was a more satisfying way to race, anyway.

2x labyrinths at the race. We had to run a ~300m forest loop then plunge into a small labyrinth, which was trickier than I thought. I got dsq'd first time so had to be careful for the second race (best to count). I wasn't fast enough for the final, but Jen got through to the semis and then on to the grand final, where she finished 2nd in front of a big crowd and even won some prize money - all very exciting and I was very proud!

C • Well done Jen! 1

Moscompass at Lytkarino. I've always wanted to run this competition, Moscow (and probably Russia's) biggest. I was also forewarned by Greg Barber that if you want to have your butt well and truly kicked this is one of the best places to do it. The competition takes place in the same assemply area every year, and it is in the middle of a complex bit of light green forested sand quarrying terrain, where the locals are all experts.

Sure enough, this was seriously hard, the more so after the ice storms of this winter, which have left bent and fallen birches throughout the forest - so it's almost impossible to run in a staight line. I made quite a few mistakes - a couple of them quite large (2-3 mins), but I never actually got lost, which I count as a minor achievement. In the end I finished 5th, only 3 mins down, which meant that everyone else had made mistakes too.

It's a while since I've felt so challenged by the orienteering and I really enjoyed the race and the atmosphere of the event. Made a change from the JK, which also sounded really good!

Out along the Moscow River for some drills and then hill bounds in the Sparrow Hills. Felt much better than I have done in the last few days.

Only chance for running today so had to take it, although I didn't sleep well last night. Cold morning and ice on the puddles, not much snow melting action going on today...

Spent the day in a stuffy room at the archive with a flamboyantly ill girl sitting behind me coughing and spluttering every few seconds. Really annoying.

Straight from the archive into the forest - perfect! It's no small coincidence in a city this size that the evening event was a short walk from my work. And it was a proper course! With legs and route choice and everything! And not too much snow on the ground! (although there was the heaviest hail storm ever part way round).

I ran comfortable fast and tried to do everything right, which worked OK - other than a couple of seconds here and there I was clean and felt pretty good.

C • Archive 4

Headed out to the olympic park for a track session. Took my pick of the numerous deserted tartan tracks in the complex and warmed up then got going with some km tempo efforts. Managed 2.5 before being stopped by security and curtly told that I wasn't allowed to run there. I was clearly causing a lot of nusiance to the father and child having a kick around in by the high jump, the only other people around.

Oh well, I didn't want to risk the same thing happening again on another track, so resorted to running laps of the exterior of the Luzhniki stadium, using the Lenin statue as my marker. Happily a lap was almost exactly 1km. This was supposed to be an easy fast session, but again I felt flat, it was blowing a gale, and 3.20s felt fast.

The past seven days have been a real struggle training-wise. Not sure why, maybe Edale catching up with me finally? Anyway, it's done, and now it's time to start tapering for the Three Peaks!

C • Shocking behaviour 4

Easy to stretch the legs before a day in the archives. Rock 'n roll.

Sprint at a little park near Kolomenskoe called Sadovniki. This was a schools event aimed at promoting the sport to kids and it was very impressive - there must have been over 300 kids, a stage with singing and dancing, fun activities, candifloss, you name it. It made our come-and-try-its and schools competitions seem a bit dull in comparison.

The open class would have been fun, except that it was a score, and I obviously picked a rubbish route both on a macro and a micro scale, involving all kinds of doubling back. Oh, and I missed one of the controls out. Doh.

Jogging with Gleb before and after. Plus had a go at a labyrinth, getting in some practice for next weekend.

C • what? 1

Decent pace run out through the olympic park and back along the Sparrow Hills. Felt remarkably good considering.

I was dreading this session after feeling flat for the last few days. Headed out along the river to run some hill reps in the Sparrow Hills. Ran 10xhill40 stride bounds off 40 secs followed by 6x1.25ish hill up a zig-zag path. My legs actually felt alright once they got going, and it helped that the sun was shining. Quads still a bit sore, but not too bad.

That left the rest of the day free to head to a Banya in the suburbs with Iurii. We spent over 3 hours rotating between the banya itself, a freezing cold splash pool and a cooling off room. I sweated out half my body weight, drank lots of tea and beat myself with oak branches and felt ten times better afterwards. The perfect way to cure my fatigue of the last couple of days!

Part of the warm up.

Considered a day off, but needed some running therapy after a stressful afternoon trying to sort out a swallowed debit card. Didn't feel too good, if I'm being honest.

Morning jog after a struggle to get out of bed. My plantar was sore to start with, but eased off nicely.

Trecked over to the other side of town for an evening event in Kuzminki Park. There was still quite a bit of snow, so the standard event was off and was replaced by a score course, which was quite short and not very exciting. I ran it twice, trying to chose a better route around the controls the second time, but it took me a bit longer. I probably wasn't trying as hard though, not feeling very motivated, really.

Couldn't face the palava of catching a bus, etc, so hopped off at the nearest metro station and ran through the park to get to the event, carrying a heavyish pack. Same on the way back plus a bit of looping around to try to turn the session into a kind of long run. Tired as by the end and quads, in particular, complaining. Not sure why?

Easy morning run up the parks, slipping and sliding a bit on slushy snow.

Fastish pace around the Luzhniki stadium and the Sparrow Hills, back along the river. Not very up for this, but perked up about half way through in spite of the wet sleet.

Out along the Moscow river for a session in the sleet. I felt good warming up, but the session did not go to plan at all. I found some faint markers on the road from a recent race and decided to run 6x1500 backwards and forwards off 6 mins, aiming for a 5min pace. I ran 5.03, 5.01, 5.04, 5.09 and packed it in. This felt very difficult and there was no way I could sustain the pace, I hope that the markers were a bit out, otherwise I really am in bad shape. Perhaps the weekend and travel are still in my legs a bit too.

C • Shape 1

Drills and strides as part of the warm-up.

Back is strangely sore after the weekend.

Traveling out to Moscow, tiring and short day.

Easy jogging from the Travellodge.

British Middle champs, a nice fast forest somewhere down South. Started assertively, but made a sloppy miss on no. 3. The course was very easy after that and I ran hard on my compass without worrying too much about anything else. I probably would have come unstuck if there had been anything tricky, but I got away with it. Finished 3rd behind GG and Rich.

Good warm up and a long warm down lap of the forest with Speaky and Camel. Time to turn attention to the three peaks...

Warm ups and warm downs for the day. Got sunburned. Oops.

British sprints qualifier at Uni of Sussex. My plan was to cruise and stay in good control, but an early miss put paid to that (I ran to a wrong control and punched it - good job I was checking all my codes). I had to push a bit harder after that and a made a couple of other sloppy slip-ups. Made it through, in any case, so no harm done.

British sprints final, another tricky course with some really fiddly bits early on. Coped alright with the difficult bit and then got a bit over excited when I saw Hector in the distance, promptly running right past the next control. No other mistakes of note, pretty happy with my run and I really enjoyed the challenge.

Nice gentle jog around some quiet roads and trails near Gatwick. Never escaped the distant roar of taxiing jets.

HFW via Parkwood Springs. Body felt alright, but head felt tired.

IW via BHP and Crosspool, feeling much brighter today.

Session on new Redmires map with Jen running on a shorter gaffle. Gret evening for it with a warm wind and the sun getting lower down below us over Sheffield. 4x2km (ish), all in nice forest with a good amount of technical stuff underfoot. Perfect warm-up for Sunday. Ran hard to try to make up for the missed track session last night - as if the two things are comparable - and probably focused too much on the running as a result. I made one massive and irrational mistake and a few other wobbles. Good to remind myself that orienteering is about more than just running.

C • Map 8

Harder run from work to Jen's (I was late) and then warm up and warm down.

IW, still feeling laboured.

Felt bad again all afternoon, so decided to listen to my body for a change and skip track. Jogged home and felt a bit better than I did this morning, but still not quite right.

Stopped off for a set of drills on the way home to trick myself into thinking I had done something worthwhile.

IW, slug-like.

C • that is an insult to slug-k... 2

HFW via Lodge Moor and a stop off at drills in BHP. Tiring day at work and first time in a while that I really didn't want to go running. Perked up a bit on the way round, but this was a bit of an effort, really.

Ran up to Wharncliffe for a meeting, then a lap of Greno and ran back home. Felt tired this morning, but the running seemed quite effortless, at least on the way back down the hill.

Notts Uni sprint training event, 3x2km+ courses around the campus. Ran at a decent pace and tried to focus on technique, planning ahead, cds, control exits, etc. By accident I ran them in decreasing distance order, which was welcome, and I pushed a bit harder on the last one, course A. Tired by the end. Oh, and I didn't cheat at all. A clean conscience sure feels good.

Great little event and perfect training for next weekend, Craney should be worried.

Warm up and down plus a short jog between each course.

Drills with GG by the lake to get the tired legs moving.

Easy up Loxley, felt relaxed and almost niggle-free. Got attacked by a stupid dog, as usual.

Around Wharncliffe with Jen, jogging about and checking a few last things. We're getting there.

3/1s up Rivelin followed by a single effort of the Coppice track. Legs felt ready for somthing a bit harder and not so much soreness even by the end today.