Training Log Archive: MuddyFox

British Uni Cross country Championships in Stirling, running for the Aber team.

No idea what to expect, this being my first XC race! Really enjoyed the whole atmosphere - despite a poor turnout from Aber (3 girls, including me, 'manning' a 9 seater 'car' (it was basically a minibus - road-trip! :D )). Enjoyed cheering gg and a couple other guys on in the mens race, then, all too soon it was our turn.

364 runners registered, only 238 finishers - obviously some dropped out before the race, but did see a lot of people stop, which is kind of a shame.

Ran my own race, knowing that ideal fitness was far away! Foot still annoying so took it slowly. Didn't help that a lot of the race had a slope from high on the left down to low on the right. Only noticed this cos of the higher impact on injured left foot. Also, a lack of xc spikes made it 'rather' slippery :S

Still, enjoyable race and glad I came. Was 3s behind my Aber 'partner', having led the whole course! First race I can remember where I didn't sprint the finish.

Even though I felt going was slow, still beat a few known orienteering names :)

TRAVELING - ALL DAY :(

Reading, lectures, meeting people, packing for uni xc champs in Stirling :)

Went house hunting - 3 estate agents and 4 landlords later and we still can't find anything :(
Bad times...

Down to sports centre, to remember what day it was, to realise i wasn't running with the Aber group tonight... hmm, must be loosing it a bit!!!

Concentrating on running style on hills.

What it says on the tin.

Stretches, core strength and running drills.

More core strength to make up for a lack of anything else.

Very gentle jog with Alaw and Sian, my two Welsh companions for the university cross country championships in Edinburgh. Purpose of run was just to go through the details of the weekend etc. Bit frustratingly slow actually, spent the whole time breathing through my nose to see if it made it harder :P

Left the Aber group in town and ran back to the uni on my own. Slightly faster, but still slow.
Felt generally good - foot still niggling, but part from that, all muscles fine :)

Traveling back to Aber, then morrisons, then lectures, then morrisons, then talk on seaweed (Sargassum muticum) and egg cases of rays/skates, then bed!

9th out of 44 :) better :)
and only seconds off Lucy W in 8th.

W20E!!!

Overall, very pleased. Felt I was orienteering far better today where it had all done wrong yesterday :)

c1 - Had a disastrous start loosing 2-2.5 mins on the first control - really took my time though and got my head sorted rather than panicking!
c2 - Like the first control, after overrunning everything yesterday I nearly under-ran c1+2.
c3 - Contouring, found without too much difficulty.
c4 - Fine
c5 - Looking too far east - slight contour confusion after coming up the edge
c6 - Happy with route choice reverting to path rather than heather
c7 - RC error - would have been better off path and straight this time
c8 - RC error - stuck to path, cutting across at trig-point. Path was slippery and icy
c9 - Headed off at wrong angle, realised and corrected - 40/50s lost
c10 - RC error - should have taken more direct route rather than contouring and ending up in bog (shoes undone - retied - 20s)
c11 - Fine but slow
c12 - Fine, but lost time falling over into gate*
c13 - Fine
c14 - Very slow tripping over brambles and reeds with added marsh issues
c15 - Slow but okay
c16 - Shoe lace undone!! Little cautious!

*old couple warned me to be careful as there was ice round the corner. I took it to mean around the next corner there was going to be ice... they meant that round this corner is icy. Consequently I didn't slow down and ended up spectacularly sliding into the gate :( Knee purple and swollen but probs superficial.

Maria got (rounded up) 56mins, I got 64mins, so only 8 mins difference - really happy with result as I know I could have made fewer mistakes and run faster. Good end to weekend.