Sunday Feb 24 |
 | Running 1:02:00 [2]12 km (5:10 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Gel Torana |
| Went for a run to explore around Emma's new house. Out through the woodland that runs alongside the A61 as you go towards Chesterfield, around the golf courses on top, down and up the other side, then back. There was a point near the end where I had absolutely no idea where I was, but trusted my sense of direction and came out spot on where I needed to. Legs were feeling pretty tired today, don't think I could have managed an orienteering race! |
Saturday Feb 23 |
| Running race 38:00 [5]11 km (3:27 / km) vdot: 62.0 | |
| shoes: Asics Hyper XC |
| National Cross Country Champs at Alton Towers - my first ever National XC so in a way I was quite excited. The course was supposed to be 12km, but certainly wasn't that far. Each lap started with a couple of loops of a flat top field, then a run along the side of an undulating slope, a gradual down into the bottom field, a short and very steep climb back up to the top field and then a long drag back to the finish. Three times.
I didn't start too fast, but the problem with that was that I felt I got boxed in on the narrow course, although that was probably the case for everyone. It was really hard to overtake for the first 2 or 3 km, and the field didn't start to thin out until the first steep climb. Maybe that was good as it stopped me going off too fast. I was hurting a lot by the end, but held on to finish 224 out of 1244.
That's exactly double my Northerns position of 112th. I had been told to triple my Northerns position to get an idea of my Nationals position, so I was well ahead of that and inside my target of top 300.
Quite a lot of other orienteers taking part, with Rob Little 58th and Rob Baker 69th the best of the bunch (if you exclude Steve Vernon who was third!).
A big thank you to all the people cheering us on - it made a big difference. And the best thing of all? No more cross country until at least October. |
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| C • nice one 5 |
| Running warm up/down 30:00 [2]5 km (6:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Hyper XC |
| For the XC race. |
Friday Feb 22 |
| Running 26:00 [2]6 km (4:20 / km) | |
| (rest day) shoes: Asics Gel 1120 (1) |
| Easy on the roads. |
Thursday Feb 21 |
| Running 50:00 [2]10 km (5:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Gel 1120 (1) |
| Road run. Didn't feel great tonight, maybe I ate(!) too much at the Indian buffet last night. But hopefully that's it out of my system. |
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| C • hate is a terrible thing, e... 2 |
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| C • Yakubu! 2 |
Wednesday Feb 20 |
| Running (Technique drills) 50:00  10 km (5:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Gel 1120 (1) |
| Slightly extended session, with a few more strides before the Nationals. After yesterdays Siberian conditions, it was quite pleasant and warm today. |
Tuesday Feb 19 |
| Running intervals (Track) 25:00 [5]4 km (6:15 / km) | |
| shoes: Lightweight trainers |
| 8 * 500m with a recovery of about 85 seconds. Times of 88, 86, 87, 87, 88, 87, 88, 87. Pretty consistent, but no speed over the short distance. And it was chuffing freezing, even the canal had frozen over. |
| Running warm up/down 45:00 [3]9 km (5:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Gel 1120 (1) |
| Work to track, some laps, strides and then run home with Rob and Oli. Got proper spacey on the last bit to my house, had a busy day. |
Monday Feb 18 |
| Circuits 50:00 [3] | |
| shoes: Asics Gel 1120 (1) |
| ShUOC circuits. 40 minutes of 45/15 with new music! After three weeks off it didn't feel too bad, but I may regret saying that when I hurt all over tomorrow morning. |
| Running warm up/down 20:00 [2]4 km (5:00 / km) | |
| shoes: Asics Gel 1120 (1) |
| Home to circuits and circuits home. |