Training Log Archive: jed

British Relays, convinced two of my club mates to run Women's Premier - can't ever remember RR having a team in this class in the British so was worth my effort to get there. Team came 10th which is great! First time in a forest since JK for me and was pretty rusty.

Ran first leg and unfortunately I stopped on the ridge too early looking for my first control and took a bit too long to work that out meaning the pack was gone. I spent too much time focusing on trying to run through the brashings, I'm not used to this, and although I knew the control the others girls were punching wasn't my gaffle I expected mine to be further along the ridge. Next weekend I will ensure I have a plan right to the circle. A bit sad that I was off the back but decided just to enjoy the orienteering, slight hesitations in the circle on 3 and 4 but then got back into it and managed to get some others in sight and slowly worked my way through the field into 5th, even generally happily finding my gaffles. However, in the last loop I seemed to have completely different controls which were further than the others I was with and I lost some confidence and then had to play catch up.

Seems though that the gaffles were not even remotely similar in length some 4.9km and mine 5.4km, good for the team though I got the long gaffle! So aside from number 1 I'm actually relatively happy with my run, especially as it was my first run out for a while. A few things to focus on next week so I can do better. Looking forward to it.

Old railway down to Crammond and back to volunteer at park run. Beautiful morning and felt like I could just keep going even when it was uphill almost the whole way back.

Further warm up mostly drills - started with Alister's set and then ended with focused high knees as coached by Lecky.

Speed reps. I was one of those people who went to the track and pranced around doing some drills then did more resting than running. This will take some getting used to but did feel like I was on the toes moving quickly by the end so will hopefully see improvements. 4x60m (4mins). It was really nice weather though so great to be out.

Good meeting with Lecky. Debriefed Europeans, made a few tweeks to my plan and more discussion and reasoning behind speed session which has put my mind at ease. Reminded how far I have come, even just recently.

Another beautiful morning meaning even this run was enjoyable.

15min tempo, nice and comfortable. Feeling pretty good and quite enjoy this type of session.

Putting in a block of pure speed work, as recommended by my coaches, to try and improve acceleration/leg turnover etc., which has been identified as a somewhere I can improve in both my running and orienteering. Completely different types of sessions which I know will take a bit of getting used to as less volume in sessions so won't feel like I'm doing much but will probably get pretty sore. Still doing tempos/racing at weekends to ensure I don't lose my speed endurance! Giving this a go so will hopefully see some improvements, nothing to lose trying something different as no major races for a while.

3 sets of 4x10secs (50secs), extra 1min between sets. Focus on light, fast cadence (high knees).

Back to the plan, beautiful morning so glad to be up.

Just getting back into things.

Really nice run, including Blackford and The Hermitage again as wanted to be off the roads, lovely weather.