Training Log Archive: Ash

usual circuits, no doubles today but 45-15, felt okay, but couldnt be bothered to push too hard

C • there was... 5

jog too and from goodwin and usual warm up and down at circuits

Event: (SROC, UK) Farleton Knott
 

Tim Watkins Bloodstilet:

Before i set off i'd decided i wasn't going to do it all, and that i wasn't going to run with other people as i felt that it would be beneficial to use it as navigational training.
1-long way to get there, and didn't really utilize this time in planning my route through the score controls. Knew where i was going first though, seemed about 50% of people went this way to.
2-took the decision to follow no1 so went off on my own, found it straight off.
3-fine.
4-took a bad route cutting through lots of crap, tbh it took me a while before i realised what everything was exactly.
5-fine.
6-fine.
7-had actually forgotten about this one until i only realised id been to 6. this meant i wasnt in the best position to go to the next control.
8-started off well but slowed on the limestone, was very cautious and just tried to keep map contact.
9-had a great plan and followed it through until i hit the circle, completely cocked this up. circled the control twice until i came right back out and attacked it from an obvious feature. in hindsight i should have gone around instead of straight through (this annoys me even more as a dog walker shouted at me telling me the footpaths were there for a reason!).
10-easy but i took an easy route as the last control meant i was less confident.
11-fine other than slight hesitation in the circle.
12-good route, good execution, was still pretty slow though.
13-good plan, followed it pretty well but was tough going.
14-long leg, but split it up and found it straight off.
15-fine.
16-started this leg behind a few people, beat them all to the control, pleased with that :).
17-finally some easy open running, did well.
18-had a plan, hesitated at the wall (bludy walls again) then was offline on the other side so was too far left and ran past, got to the next wall so turned round and found it, but was behind everyone id passed on 16 and 17.
19-was just enjoying being out by this point and knew i was gonna finish soon so switched off and just followed someone into the control, turns out he was following someone else and neither of them found the control very well LOL.
20-cruised across the last bit.
21-was the control nearest to download so finished here.

i enjoyed myself, not a fan of limestone paving but, the area was one of if not the most challenging that i've been on and i feel i coped well. not too many mistakes, and only one big cock up. absolutely shattered now, but a great weekend and i'm really looking forward to portugal =]

Event: Carlisle Nopesport Urban O League
 

short warm up and down before and after the carlisle city race.

was looking forward to this and wanted to have a good race.
1-fine (the chavs sound effects definitely added to this control).
2-left 1 well and had a plan, but just missed where i wanted to cut through and then got to the road and wasn't sure what i was supposed to do, then realised the control was under the road.
3-left to go straight through the castle and then went the long way up the wheelchair ramp instead of the stairs.
4-fine
5-got into the maze pretty well and it was fairly obvious which was my control had caught tom at this point.
6-ran past the control, woops.
7-fine.
8-fine.
9-was running slower on this control but had a bit of a RC race going the opposite way to tom, pretty even.
10-fine.
11-got the control okay but tweaked my ankle going into the underpass and it hurt for the rest of the run, so made me runner slower than i would have liked (may not have actually managed to run any faster as i was tiring pretty quickly).
12-used control descriptions well and found it easy.
13-wasnt sure which way was quickest but made my mind up fast and stuck to it, was probably the slower route though.
14-fine.
15-fine.
16-fine, although maybe going via 8 again might have been quicker.
17-fine.
18-fine.
19-fine.
20-fine.(tiring by this point)
21-race with little rob, he won with superior running speed lol not a lot in the RC.
22-felt dead on this leg.
23-got myself motivated again.
24-slight hesitation on which alleway was the right one.
25-really need to remember which walls i can and cant cross. costs me in almost every race i do.
26-fine but slow.
27-fine.
28-went in one alley to early, even though i knew it had to be after the junction! grr.
29-fine other than having to fight through a massive bus queue and then almost ran into a policewoman. like the control site.
30-went in one alley too early again.
31-owned the run-in :P needed too as well. Marcus was 9 seconds ahead before that control, but took 10 seconds out of him and won by 1 second! lol

generally had a good race, navigationally was good, may not have always made the right decision but made them quickly and stuck to it. need to remember that even if its called a sprint, its definitely not as i end up struggling towards the end. On comparing splits with marcus i had a really good first half and was winning 70% of the splits where my nav was good and was even a minute faster through the first 10 controls but towards the end i was losing a few seconds per control and thats gonna be fatigue as i wasnt making mistakes. i was being careful of my ankle but just didnt feel like i had it in my legs, have had a reasonably busy week and with exams just finished i think that will have had some tiring effect on me. overall i was pleased though.

we played pretty well, disappointed with myself though, didnt really make the most of the time i had on the ball. we only lost 3-0 though and considering how good they are its not too bad of a result, almost everyone had a really good game. could do with playing a couple of weeks to find some form again. also got my usual kicking from the other team, few new bruises and cuts to show for it lol

run out to accelerate with beasant and shminty. need to replace my road shoes, turns out my feet have grown by a whole size, got exactly the same shoes as before as they seem to have a done a pretty good job :)
we were planning on doing some hills after but i personally didnt feel like it and it never happened

to hallam via rachs and then back weston park way

lots of running drills, mainly focusing on high knees which apparently im quite good at, lots of variations on this and then about 25 mins of circuits.

finished exams today, feel absolutely shattered gonna take a couple of days to recover but really looking forward to carlisle and then the O part of the tim watkins!

loops of ~840m, was aiming to do 10 but not feeling up to it so did 4 all in about 3:25 and then alternated between half loops (~510m) and full loops. not feeling that great but finished it like that. finding the gentle slopes at the start of the loops harder than the 2 slightly bigger climbs.

run to goodwin and then ponderosa as a warmup. then back home as a short warm down