Training Log Archive: kido

City Race at Edinburgh Big Weekend. The race was pre-voided due to the pavements being deathly icy, so Mary, Kyhil and I jogged around very slowly together, while Mary and I did a map memory exercise. Kyhil and I both managed to still fall quite hard, despite moving at a glacial pace for most of the race. Looks like some people still managed to run around OK, the winner did 66 minutes (they still posted the results even though it was voided...)

Edinburgh Big Weekend "Fight With The Night" Night Sprint.

Good fun sprint around the University of Edinburgh King's Buildings. Can't say I went flat out, I was too busy trying not to die on all the icy pavements. Navigation went quite well with the exception of 6 and 21 when I got stuck in the same area, which was enclosed with no way through (should be reading the whole leg!!). Lost maybe 30s on each.

Indoor Orienteering!! This one was in one of the King's Buildings, it had 8 levels and each of the staircases were letter-coded. It was heaps of fun, but as I found out on my first attempt at indoor orienteering in York, I'm quite hopeless! It is ideal sprint training really, because it makes you make quick decisions and read the leg in full. Went OK with the exception of 13 (ended up on the wrong level) and the finish which was the hardest control on the map! (you had to go up two levels, across and back down).

I got up for a swim today, but I felt pretty ordinary so I ate breakfast and went back to bed. I also thought I might have time for a quick jog after we got to Edinburgh, but we won't arrive until almost 10.

Longer and a bit easier ride in Zwift, Watopia.

Up Porter, this was a complete slush fest. I considered wearing my Roclites and decided against it, this was definitely the wrong choice. Feeling a bit stiff and fatigued at the start, the slush distracted me from how I was feeling.

Swim at Goodwin. Some solid 66s and 100s, then drills and sprints.

6 x Reps of Weston Park, because there was concern the track would be too icy (though I saw lots of people did sessions there on Strava). This session seemed simultaneously easier and harder than track reps somehow. Went way too hard on the first one, and died on the last one. The loop was all paved but quite undulating, with one very steep section. About 1min walking / static recovery between reps.

Sleeted throughout, snowed at points, and snow started settling by the end and during the warm down.

Social Run Group. Nice to lead the "fast" group for once. Through Weston Park, a lap of Ponderosa and Crookes Valley Park.

On the turbo. Sufferfest video "Nine Hammers". It was really hard. 9 intervals of 2:30 - 3:30 in length, 6 of them "VO2" and 3 of them "Threshold". I cracked a bit on the 5th and 9th ones which were "VO2" intervals. The turbo was very harsh on my distance estimation today?

SYO Event at Rivelin. I did go quite hard but I don't know if I can put intensity 5, because I made a lot of wobbles, and also the map necessitated doing quite a bit of climbing up sheer slopes on my hands and knees.

I really enjoyed this, actually. Rivelin is a pretty narrow map, so there was a lot of running on tracks, but I don't think it detracted from the course. I started late and was in a hurry to get going, probably should have given Pete Tryner more time because I caught him at #2 and we spent most of the course together (barring a section between 2 and 5).

#2 was a bit of a puzzle, I was lucky to see people at the control because the wall didn't really exist. Had a wobble at #5 after I went in unsure from the track and turned right instead of left. Another large wobble at #9 when the pit, which was mapped on the moor right on the edge of the woods, was actually about 30m away from the woods. A fairly big error on #11 when I wasn't careful about aiming off on the slope and wasn't sure which rocks I'd come down onto.

The rest of the course was pretty good, I felt like I made sensible decisions, but I definitely need to make sure that's the norm not the exception. I wore my ankle braces today and they were OK except that all four or my laces (shoes and braces) came undone at some point! Forgot my HR strap.

I was torn between wanting to do a longer run and wanting to get out of the cold (and not hold up my car).

Went for a quick jog with Kyhil to his #1, which he never found. Sometimes you forget the things you assume when you're a fairly experienced orienteer - his control was on the corner of a wall, which crossed a track. However when we got to said wall, it was significantly ruined (to the point where it was just a vague line of low rocks covered in moss). I suppose I would be expecting something like that, having encountered many similar features in the past - but as a beginner, Kyhil had been expecting an actual wall akin to those around the parking field - all at least 0.8-1m tall (the description was "wall" not "ruined wall"). Poor Kyhil - I don't feel like I'm ever going to turn him into an orienteer when his confidence keeps getting knocked!