Sunday Mar 2 |
 | Orienteering 30:00 [3]**** 5 km (6:00 / km) | |
| spiked:8/8c |
| Finally caved in and ran a shorter option today. Glad I did because it was hard enough to motivate myself anyway. Loop 1, contour only on Inshriach. Ran steady and tried to take optimal lines and maintain good control. |
| Orienteering 40:00 [4]**** 6 km (6:40 / km) | |
| spiked:14/15c |
| Loop 2, normal map. Ran as four racing starts - ran three or so legs as if they were the start of a race, then stopped for 2 mins and had a re-start. Much harder with an increased pace, and all the other details on the map make it harder to read and interpret than the contour only version. |
| Running warm up/down 15:00 [2]3 km (5:00 / km) | |
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| Longer warm up and a short warm down with Ben Roberts who broke me after about 3 minutes.
A really tough training week with some great technical training and good to be reminded that we've got terrain in the UK that is as good as you'll find anywhere in the world. I found that there is a minimum intensity that you have to work at in Scottish forests, which meant that the fatigue built up during the week with little opportunity for a 'recovery' session. I certainly need a good rest now and as I look outside at the rain/sleet/smow pelting it down in Sheffield, I'm quite happy about that... |
Saturday Mar 1 |
| Orienteering 1:05:00 [3]**** 10 km (6:30 / km) | |
| spiked:18/19c |
| Sapping course on Rogie including some big climbs. I wasn't feeling very perky this morning and toiled a bit. Some good orienteering though, and the first time I had run there since my ill-fated qualifeir in WOC '99. Buried a few ghosts. |
| Running 35:00 [2]4 km (8:45 / km) | |
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| The day's warm up and warm down. Extended morning warm up including running and walking drills led by Liba. Fairly easy excercises but they felt hard on my tired legs. Some jogging before the session in the pm as well. |
| Orienteering 40:00 [3]***** 4 km (10:00 / km) | |
| spiked:8/11c |
| Part one of a guiding session on Roseisle. Running with Speaky, who was far better at this than I was. I managed to steer him off track pretty badly a couple of times. Contour only and very fiddly at 1:15, it was pretty hard to describe what to look out for: 'head for a small hill/depression' isn't that helpful when you're in a sea of small hills and depressions. |
| Orienteering 25:00 [5]***** 4 km (6:15 / km) | |
| spiked:7/9c |
| Race back from the far point on the map with a gaffled course. Some really fiddly controls including one in some mid green that I was very fortunate to stumble across. Felt good to push the pace a bit on some firmer terrain. |
Friday Feb 29 |
| Orienteering 2:03:00 [3]**** 22 km (5:35 / km) | |
| spiked:43/44c |
| Made the most of the year's extra training day. Bloody tough course - 19kms straight line on Tomvaigh, Anagach and some other bits. Small mass start with Jamie and Duncan, ran together most of the way but gradually split over the last few kms. A bit of gaffling to keep us on our toes and plenty of rough heather. Now I'm tired. |
| Running 7:00 [2]1 km (7:00 / km) | |
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Thursday Feb 28 |
| Orienteering 45:00 [4]**** 8 km (5:38 / km) | |
| spiked:16/17c |
| 'Downhill' course on Creaglechie (sp.). Brutally tough heather but a great area with a bit of open moorland descending into norwegian-esque forest on a slope. Ran moderately hard and tried to stay in control on the slope. Great views from the start. |
| Running 30:00 [2]4 km (7:30 / km) | |
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| A bit of warm up jogging then a slow jog/hike up the hill to the start. Not much warm down. |
| Orienteering 1:10:00 [3]**** 8 km (8:45 / km) | |
| spiked:12/22c |
| Night session on Gaich. Wanted to run as easy as possible and nail all the controls. Failed on both counts - the terrain was too tough for a really easy run and I made a stack of mistakes, which ranged from a few seconds to several minutes. We finished into an area of mid-green full of rock features, where I spent a long time hunting for mini markers without reflectors. It became a great challenge just to finish...good to have a session like this every so often I suppose. Stops you from getting too cocky. |
| Running 5:00 [2]1 km (5:00 / km) | |
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| Short warm up with Speaky, too broken to warm down. |
Wednesday Feb 27 |
| Orienteering 25:00 [5]*** 5 km (5:00 / km) | |
| spiked:12/17c |
| Sprint prologue and final in a forest park in Forres. Very hilly and physical, both starting with a steep climb that plunged me straight into oxygen debt. Made some mistakes on both with the biggest being missing out a control in the final. Hmmm, better to do it in training I suppose. |
| Running 25:00 [2]5 km (5:00 / km) | |
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| Warm up and warm down. |
| Orienteering 1:00:00 [3]***** 10 km (6:00 / km) | |
| spiked:29/32c |
| Lossie control pick after a relaxing lunch break in Tescos. Ran steady and tried to nail everything - mostly successful with a brief period of incompetance in the middle. Great terrain, although tough in places especially with tired legs. |
| Running warm up/down 20:00 [2]3 km (6:40 / km) | |
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| Some easy jogging on the trails. |
Tuesday Feb 26 |
| Orienteering 30:00 [5]***** 6 km (5:00 / km) | |
| spiked:18/19c |
| Trains on Deisher at 1:15, which meant really fiddly map reading. 3 x approx 1.8km, each about 10 mins. The pace really wound up on the last one as we all streamed along in Ewan's wake on a crazy down hill train. |
| Running 30:00 [2]4 km (7:30 / km) | |
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| Warm up and warm down plus some easy jogging between trains. |
| Orienteering 45:00 [3]**** 8 km (5:38 / km) | |
| spiked:17/18c |
| Loch Vaa, cruisy session trying to take nice lines and stay in good control. Pretty wet, windy and wild this arvo. |
| Running warm up/down 20:00 [2]3 km (6:40 / km) | |
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| A bit of jogging about before and not much after. |
Monday Feb 25 |
| Orienteering 1:00:00 [3]***** 9 km (6:40 / km) | |
| spiked:14/18c |
| Long and pretty relaxing train journey up to Aviemore, then right in at the deep end with a night session of Docharn. Ran at a steady pace but still found this technically very hard, and even made one 6min+ mistake. A tough start to the week... |
| Running 10:00 [2]2 km (5:00 / km) | |
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| Some warming up. Legs and body still feeling fatigued from Sat. |