Training Log Archive: fluceluce

Wu for bike test - very apparent this was not going to be my finest performance...

Set off as I had done in all the other tests - this week was meant to be 34 degrees but actually it was more like 29 degrees, and I wasn't wearing skins.

1st 5 mins av over 125rpm,
2nd 5mins av over 110rpm,
3,4,5th 5mins was dropping off badly, well below 100rpm sometimes in the 80s
last 5mins av about 105rpm.

My legs were soooooo tired to start with I wasn't sure I could actually pedal for 30mins, let alone keep the effort up. Was pleased to make 20km this week as really didn't expect to half way through! It was an effort to keep spinning at times

Interestingly I have lost about 1.5kg since the start of the study...Is it the biking...or the running loads of miles?

C • Lost 1.5kg? 6

Massage - think the legs have earnt it after the last 4 weekends...1st patient visit 2 today - strain gauge stayed 2/3 intact for all but the last test. Good start, I had a half hour worry that he might show up without a strain gauge in his leg this morning, but apparently only the first one they put in didn't work....long day

C • I still can't quite fathom 3

Booked flights to Ireland :-) Excited about some big hills :-)

Legs still a wreck - eased off a little after being on my feet all day :-)

Ow my legs

I was on driving duty for the trunce....so decided to try and get my legs to recover a bit with a very very gentle spin out to the river and back to take photos (would have taken hours for me to walk there today!). Used THE granny gear!! Resulted with me being very hungry - legs a wreck! (Time a complete guess as didn't have watch - Beasant beat me back and I set off before he reached the final river crossing!)

Edale Skyline - well the original plan of this being my first long race of the year was well and truly out the window...

Set off and immediately knew the Bike tests on Thursday were still very much in my legs, was fine on anything flat or down - legs felt well rested, but the minute it went even slightly uphill my quads were screaming.

Kept with 2nd/3rd woman until Lose Hill when I lost a bit of ground, had a nice chat on the way up Lose Hill to Robin from Pennine. Picked up the speed across to Hollins cross but the run up Mam Tor was nearly impossible today. Sandra Cooper flew past here and left me for dead going to the top of Mam Tor!

Felt slow going across to Lord's Seat but felt better on Brown Knoll, gaining a couple of places. When I saw Rhys had water that was the best moment in the race as was in a bit of need by that point...

The bit of Edge path to Woolpacks I was catching people which was a good motivator, and even though nobody I could see took the racing line I decided to give it a go and it paid off. I gained a good few places there, then the climb up grindslow was sooo painful and after that legs were fighting with me a bit, but I continued passing people and could see I was gaining on Sandra. Sadly I wasn't gaining fast enough and the last descent sealed the deal, with my legs failing to respond.

I finished in 5th and was pretty happy with the time! I think it might be time for a rest....I need my legs to cope with the final biking next week as all is to play for in the final O5 next Sunday....

Jog up to the start with Rach and Oli

Ride down to accelerate, I forgot how annoying red lights are

Run to start of blueloop

Thought I'd give it a blast, 2km TT, quite pleased with the outcome, river path is more undulating than I thought....

Run back to the shop

Went to visit Lottie Craig and Bif who were climbing with Jon and Siobhan, so climbed a VS while there....I am not as good at climbing as I used to be....

Wu for part 2 of the bike study

Part 2 of the bike study - aim was how far can you cycle in 30mins (as last week) but this time in the environmental chamber it was 34 degrees!!! Also, this week I was wearing full length skins as the study is to compare the effect of using skins in heat...

I set off and boy was it hard to keep the rpm above 125!

First 5 mins kept rpm above 120, felt like hot air was burning my throat!
2nd 5 mins - already struggling to keep cadance up, probably averaged 117
3rd 5mins - 110rpm av
4th 5mins - 108 rpm av
5th 5mins - 105rpm av
6th 5mins - 110-112rpm av

(all a bit guessing on the rpm - all I know is that it was not quite as high as last week yet to keep legs moving that fast was much harder!)

Aim for today was 20km as I thought the heat was really going to get to me, passed that about half a minute down on last week, so was amazed, very happy to be able to get to within half a km of last wk :-)

Apparently my core temp shot up at the start, but progressively came down as I went on and only slightly effected my performance! Not what I expected off previous death in heat!

C • core temp 3

Wd in the gym

Decided as the pool is close for longer than anticipated and rother valley has pathetically short opening hours (shut at 3:30pm today!) I needed to find some way of kayak training.
Tried out the arm bike thingy in the gym, not entirely convinced but better than nothing probably....mind numbing would spring to mind though...had to imagine I was in a double kayak on coniston to keep me going :-)

3 lots of orienteering in a week....anyone would think I was an orienteer!

Run down to uni r'bout from Goodwin with Anwen and Tomoko

Sprintaval 1 - went well - was 1st off in the train, 25s gaps, didn't get caught which was aim number 1 :-) Stayed in contact well although almost couldn't find 12 on the map for looking...

Sprintaval 2 - last off in train, overtook Tomoko but I think she tried to get to lower level for 17 that I had decided I was not going to do regardless of circle position...was fine and flowing well - couldn't decide which was best route to 2nd to last control but picked same route as the others..

Sprintavals 3 - middle in train, this was more complicated loop, but did it fine, went slow enough around houses to get it right but faster on longer legs.

Sprintavals 4 - first in train - lost it slightly on this one, wasnt thinking as smoothly and found it hard to stay ahead on the map....lost about 10-20s....on a couple of controls combined

Sprintaval 5 - Last loop, last in train - lost 10s on bad route to control 60...but other than that fine...couldn't do banter star properly due to a game of football with a lot of spectators out in the sun - quite a few funny looks on this one

Nackered by the time I got home, planned to have a rest anyway but was almost swayed by a spot of climbing at the works...maybe next week...

Time is a bit of a guess as watch battery died, took just under 20 mins ish to get to accelerate where I tried on the new new balance trail shoe - getting some for Switzerland! Then down to the EIS. Medium heavy bag...

Then 3 lap warm up and a few drills/stretches before the session

Went to drills at the eis. Did starting lying down facing the wrong way sprints - I had fairly good reactions but not quite as good sprints. Skipping, drills over hurdles and finished with 200m - 50m 50%, 50m 60%, 50m 80%, 50m 100% trying to keep good form.

Got a few things to work on, think maintaining good form when trying to run slowly is probably what I need to concentrate on most...

Really enjoyed this weekend, think I really enjoyed orienteering for the first time since 2008! Found the love again and suddenly can concentrate for an entire course :-) Now to try it with fresh(er) legs....JK here I come!

BUCS Relay - Leg 1. Team briefing from Ralph - 'CHECK YOUR CODES, that is all' and 'anyone who mispunches pays for their teams entry'
followed by girl team talk - plan was no panic, just get round clean as possible without major error. Take it slow especially in the green!

Bit worried about the major error thing as it was the kind of area where that was highly likely to happen for me....

Set off and started at the back before choosing a point on the beach I thought was the point we needed to go up and speeding up to join Kirstin and Jo at the front. We all got off the beach, turned left to no1 only to find no2....doh! Well...at least everyone else had followed blindly....lost at least a minute here...

Quickly to 1 and back to 2 then back to the beach for 3, thankfully an easier AP to get off the beach to 3! Lost about 20s at 4 being unconfident of which hill I was on, bit of a dodgy route to 6 but not much lost and spiked, clean through to the spectator but was taking it very slowly at times! Was extra proud of recognising the control I was most likely to get wrong....no13 coming from open to light green forest....so was careful and spiked it :-)

Fluffed the spectator - school girl error of not looking at it before starting, and having everyone cheering and waving all over the place put me off.... Took the rest of the final loop probably a bit too slowly as it was very easy nav and I was just paranoid I was going to make a mistake in the last 3 controls.

Came in in 3rd, 2.5mins down on EUOC 1st team, 1min down on EUOC 2, so actually probably better than expected!

Anwen went out on 2nd leg, caught Alice Leake to take 2nd but had trouble with no 13, came back in 4th neck and neck with EUOC 3rd team. Laura stormed round and was ahead of Hazel by about 250m at the spectator, she took it steady round the last few controls, got it right and we finished 3rd preventing a EUOC white wash!! :-)

Actual distance 6.35km (6.40min/km)

Above the beach, then up and down the beach

BUCS individual - I had the optimal start time for a good result, with Hollie Orr 2mins behind me. I set off steadily with the aim of no errors, got number 1 with only a little wobble, 2 and 3 ok then heard Hollie approaching. We both missed no4, corrected and I was just ahead at the control...obviously not to last!
A barbed wire fence lost me a bit of time due to leg length and getting stuck perched on top of it on the next leg....then a couple more still in touch before 8-9 the really long leg. Was about 200m behind at 9 (although bearing in mind 200m of heather) then 9-13 were heather legs and that was it for seeing Hollie :-)

Legs certainly feeling the last couple of silly weeks as really struggled on the terrain. Still had something in them for the last runnable loop, 14-20 so lost a little time on 16 - about 20s and 17 - about a minute, through just trying a bit too hard....and no proper attackpoint choice

No major mistakes - would have loved to see how that would have gone with fresh legs! Really enjoyed it for the first time in ageeees!

Finished 8th - ahead of Anne for the first time in years!!!! 5mins down on 2nd (Laura Daniel) and Anwen made it into 3rd so good day for the ShUOC girls on EUOC turf :-) .....10mins down on Hollie in 1st!

8.2km actual distance (7.49min/km)

To start with Laura and keeping warm after Laura set off

Wu for Amy's dissertation study

Amy's dissertation study - aim: cycle as far as you can in 30mins. Having seen Helen walking up the hill after looking a little bit wrecked I was a bit aprehensive, legs felt a bit tight from the weekend still....

However once I got going it was fine...well painful...but fine :-)
0.5kg weight as resistance I think;

1st 5mins - RPM over 125
2nd 5mins - RPM over 120
3rd 5 mins - RPM around 115
4th and 5th 5 mins - RPM around 109
final 5 mins - aimed for RPM over 100 with av of probably 110 with moments of 116

The guy before me (cat 2 cyclist?) sounded like he was trying very hard when I arrived and he got 20km - He specifically was not going to be beaten by 'a Sheffield Uni Girl' (Helen), Helen and Cat had got between 18 and 20km so I was aiming to try and get anywhere close to that.....surprised myself to pass the 20km mark around 24mins.... :-) All this low intensity training is clearly paying off for my lactate threshold :-) My worries about not getting enough time on the bike at the moment appear to be unfounded.

I have the furthest distance on the study by 3km at least and think Friday is the last day of testing....hopefully there aren't any superfast male cyclists going to come along and spoil that :-)

I have a feeling I will not hold the record in the next part of the study where we have to repeat this at 34 degrees with and without skins on. I don't do well in heat I don't think...

Was very happy the emphasis was on the upper body tonight...

Tried out the powerplate - was pretty good at loosening off tight legs when @30Hz and 2mm amp, 50Hz at 4mm amp was a different matter and counteracted the previous minute....

C • Where has powerplates? 5

Today was a rest day - but then it was just too beautiful a day to waste! So got out the road bike and went for a gentle ride with Zanthe. Home, ringinglow, fox house, back via fulwood - really nice ride :-) Legs were ok until the climb to fox house where I started feeling it a bit but well worth it!

Wuthering Hike - en route home from Lottie and Craigs wedding, stopped off in Leeds at Shelfs and headed to Haworth for the Wuthering hike race - my first ultra that didn't involve a team!

'32' miles taking in Haworth Moor, Wadsworth Moor, Black Moor and Worsthorne Moor before hitting the long causeway then descending via a traverse to Todmorden.
This section was pleasently misleading as it was exceedingly easy to keep the pace below 10min/miles - false hope for a time 30mins faster than my target as next came the climb up to Stoodley Pike (via stop for a donut at mankinholes half way up) then straight back down again to Hebdon Bridge, where I had failed to read the map (as in my head once I got to Stoodley Pike it would all be ok).....missed the small matter of the nasty climb to Heptonsall - you then lost all this height again to cross the valley before heading up Crimsworth Dean,a looong yet 'should be runnable' climb, then back over the other side of Wadsworth Moor, across Haworth Moor and home!

I set off and the pace of some of the women was ridiculous, so I let them fly off and soon had a few back in my sight. Karen Nash and a DPFR woman overtook on the first moor crossing, however I was back ahead after the first descent! Then Karen upped the pace to one I was not going to try and keep, she suddenly closed the 150/200m gap to Helen (who I did HPM with last week) and they remain the same distance ahead for the next few miles. After 10 miles it all got a bit twisty so I couldn't see them anymore. I assumed they were racing each other and were miles ahead after that.
It was going very well for the first 15miles, then for some reason there was suddenly a flow of people coming past and I couldn't keep with them....I'm not sure if this was a bad spot or if people suddenly sped up at the thought of the descent to Todmorden. Either way I lost a lot of ground to people between miles 17 and 23. By this point we were about to climb up Crimsworth Dean and I couldn't face the thought of how long it would take to walk up it, so that left only one option! I trotted up steadily, however this seemed to be faster than a lot of people and by the top of Wadsworth Moor I had caught absolutely everyone who had overtaken me from mile 15 onwards. At the top of the moor I looked back over my shoulder - Stoodley Pike looked a VERY long way away!

At this point I got to fold my map over for the final time, the distance looked so short to the finish! I found I could get back up to the pace I had been running at at the start (although slightly slower up the final climb) and left the final two women who had overtaken me at 15-17miles well behind. I kept pushing to the end and just as we were coming back into Haworth I caught sight of Helen! They hadn't left me for dead after all :-) Helen finished a few seconds ahead of me and Karen ~ 5mins.

I finished in 5hrs36, 6mins slower than my aim of 5hrs30 but was happy with how it went as I had enough left on the last couple of climbs to catch people. I think I finished 10th...in the first major group of female finishers - the first woman was well ahead in 4hrs 48, then a couple at 5hrs08, then the rest from about 5hrs25 onwards...

Here ends my 8 day ultra distance running career - well for now anyway :-)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72736354

Run from sportsman with DPFR to start, then just me and zanthe as we cut down riverdale road and back up tom lane.

Just about right for tonight. Legs still don't feel very bad, the occasional niggle but in general ok :-)

:-)

Open 5 - Bike - so after yesterday I decided to bike first to test the water with the legs. Felt surprisingly good :-) Was hammering it on the flat, slightly slower on the uphill but had plenty of power I think. The route was excellent the way round I did it, with an excellent piece of rocky downhill - plus I went down the muddy death slide hill from hell instead of up it which was nice :-) Got all but 2 controls

Open 5 - Run - I set off tentatively but soon found my legs were pretty ok on all but steep climbs. Wasn't going as fast as I would have without the HPM but not too much speed knocked off.

I got 10 controls but missed 5 out (normally I get 12 missing 3 in just over 2 hours). However I had underplanned as was constantly thinking my legs could go at any moment and didn't want that moment to be miles from home - resulted in 18mins unused time....worth a control I reckon :-(

Finished 4th behind Karen (3rd) by 15points and beat Sally by 25points so not a bad result really :-) Fairly similar to previous events but not going for it and getting that extra 15 on the run is very annoying as that would have been close to Karen - it would have been down to seconds!! Will have got some good series points though as high scores today all round - 525 points!

So happy my legs are still intact! Bought a Bakewell tart - now time to consume...

C • yumyumyum 1

Very restful day until this evening....then the silly weekend begins...

C • Silly Weekend 5

HPM - I got a phone call on Thursday to ask if I could stand in for a drop out from a HPM team - somehow 'yes, sure' came out of my mouth :-) Set off strongly, fairly ok moving over the bog monster (my god that goes on a long way).
For some reason my stomach didn't like food between 1.5hrs in and the final crossing of the A57.....Was worst for about 3hrs, then could eat some stuff. At the A57 suddenly could eat lots of cake! Showed in the legs as felt really good on the final stretch - however Howie's feet fell apart a bit and the pace was slow to the end - think we could have gone 40mins-1hr faster on the last section alone!

Meant I still had something left in the legs by the end which was a strange feeling - Legs now tired but I think mainly from time on feet rather than effort, we will see how tomorrow goes....

C • Good effort. 1

Think I'm finally getting over the cold :-) only planning a short run today though as this weekend has turned into a bit of insanity.....There are 'antics' afoot tomorrow night (as Rhys might say...) :-)

Run NGH - yoga - was a little worried about high HR....until I weighed my bag when I got home....feeling better than I have in 3 wks :-) Saw Clare and Jenny en route

Tough session - ooow! hoping not to feel it too much tomorrow...

Up (emphasis on this) to RFRs to collect headtorch - then home

Feeling a lot better than the last two days after the weekend, actually in a state I could do something :-) might go for a very gentle/short ride tonight or might leave it a bit longer, will see later...