Training Log Archive: bradc

Yup. Walking with a limp - hamstring/back affecting stride.

Event: 18th Glasgow Parks Championships
 

A welcome return visit to the most social event on the orienteering calendar - the Glasgow Parks Challenge.
Vet Men - 1.6km +5m. Drumpellier CP. A very short course to start off, which was welcome as my legs felt dead and oddly sore after yesterday. Of course short = sprint, but that was never going to happen. A respectable time was the target, but I blew 1 minute at the very first control by failing to find the start kite (I was not alone in this!) and getting flustered. I was a bit hesitant to #2, too, and #3, but picked up after that. I still ended up 3 minutes down, but a fair chunk of that was down to (lack of) running speed, so, no surprise. 7th/17 - OK. TRIMP 28.7

2.3km +80m. Race 2 is often a burn-up on an easy area, and so it proved to be again, at Tollcross Park. Set off at what I thought was a decent pace, my legs now feeling slightly more lively after their sluggish start on race 1, but was put in my place when I saw that Martin Ward had caught up nearly a minute on me after 6 mins of running! He started two minutes after me, so at that pace he would be with me at the finish - and so it proved, as I tweaked my left ankle shortly thereafter and failed to increase the pace. I - just - held him off, to finish cumulatively 4:55 down after the two races. 6th. TRIMP 39.7

Warmed down by taking E around the Social course. Harder than you might think, because my left ankle had seized up badly and progress was decidedly painful. E put in a decent effort. TRIMP 11

And so to the fun chasing sprint third race at Pollok Park. 4.3km + 65m. I'd worked on the ankle and decided to go out, as the pressure was off with Roger, Patrick and Martin way out of sight in the top 3 places. Still, I had Steve W 50s ahead, then John McKendrick, then me, with Pat 15s behind me and Al a further minute back, so there was entertainment to be had!
Thought I'd had a decent start but Pat belted it and beat me to #2 with a better route choice. I got ahead at #3 then mislead him at #4, losing 30-40s; unbeknownst to me, Al then almost caught us at this point, as he'd really hammered off the start. I got a slight gap by #7 as I saw John ahead, and then we both caught and passed Steve just after #10. Pat took a bad route choice out of #8 and Al's madcap start caught up on him, and they dropped off the back. Then it was John and I nip and tuck, with a couple of decent route choices here and there, although Steve was only 10s down. My R hamstring started to tighten at this point - the inevitable referred LBP after the hard surfaces and hard pace, so I was hanging on. John and I fluffed the RC to #15, and Steve pretty much caught us up again. But it was hard all the way home, and although I couldn't stretch out to match John when he dug in on the long run to the finish, I was able to do enough to hold off Steve, and finished 5th overall.
Ace fun, as always, although I'll regret it tomorrow! TRIMP 86.4.

Morning jaunt, pretty chilly in shorts. Being careful with my knee, so this was a steady effort. TRIMP 189.4.

Elliptical. Usual hilly profile, but found this very hard work today. TRIMP 56.

Gentle on the Vario "run-a-like". R knee still popping a bit and generally a bit wonky. TRIMP 16.4.

Finish with 10 mins on the Synchro, increasing profile, but relatively gentle. TRIMP 21.0.

Core and machines, plus 3 reps of heavy squats. TRIMP 20.1.