Training Log Archive: fins

Really gentle recovery jog. I like being back home because you can reach fields and tracks within one minute of leaving the house.

Yesterday I got a splinter in my little toe (right foot) which I couldn't get out, and overnight the toe went red and a bit swollen and became painful to put weight on. So this morning I put ice on it and then Mam spent ten minutes or so digging it out with a safety pin. Painful, but it's gone now. The toe, however, is still pretty painful if I bend it or knock it on anything. I could feel it when running, but I could tell it wasn't getting worse or causing me to compensate. As I tend to heal really quickly it should be back to normal in a few days.

Now going to do some stretching and foam rolling.

Event: Sothern Champs, Hambleden
 

Hambleden - national event and Southern Championships.

Legs tired at the start (just to number 1), and then got confused and worried because my Emit card was reading a longer time than my watch (obviously, because it was a timed start and it starts at the clear box, but I didn't remember that at the time). As well as this I was aiming to punch all the controls properly, but leaving number 1 I realised that I hadn't registered a back-up punch. A combination of these things meant that I wasn't really focusing on the map on the way to 3 and ended up doing some extra climb. Then a small wobble where I stopped short at another control in a depression and then ended up too far left.

Didn't feel I got into the swing of it until about number 6 (luckily in time for the long leg). Running fine by that time, but feeling oddly hungry towards the end. Had a drink at both drinks points although I wasn't thirsty - thought it was probably a good idea. One confusing bit at the end of 8-9 where there were lots of unexpected bushes, but I knew I needed to get to the top of the hill, even if I didn't know exactly where I was.

Had so much fun running down to the penultimate control :) Surprised to have beaten Tess and also to be so close to Grace and Claire (who was flying round yesterday), given that the run was by no means perfect and I did have to walk several times even on some shallower hills just to get my energy back. Couldn't really have asked for a better result, but of course it was annoying to be just two minutes down. Better than being five or ten minutes down, but somehow more annoying.

Measured at 10.9k, ran 11.85k. Pretty close really. Talked to Steve Long afterwards and he said I'd taken "the planner's route" for the long leg (and Scott did almost exactly the same).

The odd thing was that I didn't feel as if I was running that quickly, but the minutes per kilometre and result would suggest otherwise. I feel "orienteering fit", even if I'm not pure-running-fit, speed-wise (Tessa's recent half marathon speed was almost half a minute quicker per mile than my Teddy Hall run, which was only 3.6 miles). As soon as I'm running though the forest in a competition I feel awesome, and even when I'm running along tracks during an orienteering event. But mainly in the forest :)

C • Good job your an Orienteer... 4

I know minutes per kilometre aren't the most relevant of measurements, especially when comparing between courses, but thought I'd make note of the fact that my m/ks were identical to those of the fastest W20/18E, and they ran a course that was 2.7k shorter. So this can only be a good thing.

Event: JOK Chasing Sprint
 

Chasing Sprint - Prologue

Scrappy at the start and rushing too much. Then on the last one I made quite a big mistake (I'd have thought at least a minute). Tired the whole way and didn't really enjoy it - found it quite boring, to be honest.

Looking at the results it's pretty clear that everyone else messed up somewhere as well, though, as I was only two minutes down on Tessa (the leader) and in amongst Grace and Claire Ward and Charlotte Watson and Heather Gardner and others.

Warm down/warm up for the next race, broken down into about 6 minutes after the first race and a further 3 minutes before the second.

Chasing Sprint - Chase

Better run. Dodgy route to number 1 because I didn't want to stray from the pack. Then on the way to 3 I whacked my head on a really thick branch and went slightly cartoon-character-spinning-stars-dizzy for a couple of seconds (while still running, of course) before deciding that I was fine. It was quite a shock though, and it hurt. Then I chose to go on Grace's route rather than stick with the pack (Claire, Charlotte, Tove, Heather, and Zoe, I think), because it was easier, but it was also hillier and we came into the control after the others. A bit disheartened as I seemed to be at the back by about 20m at the start of the long let (6-7), but overtook Zoe and nearly caught Charlotte and Tove by going straight at the end of that leg, and stayed in that position until the end of the course. I knew I couldn't catch them and that I'd got well clear of Zoe, so the last hill wasn't as painful as it could have been.Overall, moved up one place (overtook Heather and Zoe, but overtaken by Claire). Surprised to be relatively high up.

Moving out of college and tidying the house for the advent, at approximately 10:30pm, of sixteen young Swedes and Nick Barrable (everyone's favourite type of Friday night, surely?).

Just a token hills session before the weekend.

3 x 30s
3 x 10s

Round South Parks and back home.

Teddy Hall Relays

4th leg

I'd been hanging around, looking out for Eirik and jogging on the spot for about ten minutes, when Peter came and told me he'd finished a couple of minutes ago - no idea how I missed him! Had to run straight off without even apologising and felt pretty guilty the whole way round. Luckily he seemed fine about it, and the extra time will be added onto my time and not his!

Realised on the first bend of the track (i.e. right after the start) that I hadn't pressed "start", so my actual time will be a few seconds slower.

C • So OUOC would have won by e... 1

And lots of stretching.

To physio and back.