Training Log Archive: jed

Round and round a grassy school playground before and round and round a pitch after - the joys of quarantine.

Euromeeting Sprint Christiansfeld (46th=/64).
Not the race I was hoping for, suddenly felt quite nervous at the start and just never felt like I was flying. Wrong route to 2, missed cut to 6, went to wrong set of stairs at 11 and then wrong route on last control. A couple of others are debatable (8&5). No big errors but too hesitant and need to find the aggression and confidence I have in mass starts. Lots of people I've managed to beat over the last few days beat me. On wards and upwards though, I've proved it's there just some fine tuning required, another go in less 2 weeks :).

Wu map and drills/strides before. Round and round a "lawn" after.

Knock-out sprint heat (3) Kolding, Danshostel - 18/22 with top 12 to qualify. Lecky and I had chatted about really going for it in this one. iI was a chance for me to try this in race conditions rather than training as realistically I wasn't going to get into the final. I decided I would re-consider this after the sprint relay and I realised I actually did have a slight chance to wanted to claw it back slightly...maybe this was still in my head.


I've learned that a good start lets me settle into the race and I flow well. I've practised this a lot and it's becoming almost natural i.e. last weekend. Today was not good, a good fast start doesn't mean rushing. I was drawn to the path rather than the grotty woodland and that was wrong. I did not use my strategy so if I were to do this again I'd remember this and hopefully my whole race would have been different. The result of faffing around on 1 meant I hadn't planned 2 which was a tricky long leg. I did an in-between route due to not taking the time to plan. I settled down and planned ahead to 3, spotting my exit early, nothing fancy just controlled - as a result 4th fastest split. I think I went the wrong way to 4 but at least I committed. Really pleased with the next few controls, confident and decent splits as a result. Almost ran past 8 as it wasn't where I expected which through me off slightly. Ran into car park rather than open on way to 10. Should have stuck to my gun on 11 and gone right around the road - cut through second half and struggled to distinguish between crossable and uncrossable hedges on the ground (a few people had this problem). Ok after this apart from last control "sprints don't have re-entrants" - and especially not like this one. Far too many mistakes, knew I hadn't qualified but it wasn't as if I was just well off the pace which is more encouraging.

It wasn't a course which suited the British girls, most of us didn't do that well and the feeling of being unable to get the flow was something we all shared. I struggle with awkward route choice decisions and as usual was good on the short legs.

If this morning's w/d area was bad then the w/u this afternoon was something else....in a barn, very small space. W/d round and round grass but decent chat. Stomach sore in the evening, a little bit of stress and prolonged period of not eating cause I think. Managed to eat then just lay down so didn't get too bad.

Knock-out sprint B final Assens. Everyone who hadn't qualified had the opportunity to run in a "final" by just adding their name to a random heat on a list. Then had to spend hours in quarantine with start time pushed back and unknown for a while stuck in barn attempting to warm up....then the added worry that we were no longer allowed to use the toilet (turned out we were in the end but struggled with my stomach problems). Preparing to race was hard but I was excited about the format and wanted to win my "final".

I took a safe route to 1 (some girls forgot to punch the start so had to run back) and everyone followed. I stayed safe to 2 when pack split. Dad had told me to stick in but the pace was slower than I wanted so I took control but missed the best route to 3 so was chasing to 4 then didn't realise the map change was coming so hadn't prepared and lost time with the pack to 5. Back towards the front at 6 and then took it on. I wanted to be in control and thought I could break most of the group on the next longer legs, easy down to main street and started planning ahead the next few controls to really put it in....and ran past my entrance to 7 and started navigating to 8. Cue lots of cursing, dropped 10secs. Luckily I had experience of this scenario from the head to head training with Dad last weekend and as I had already planned the next few control absolutely put the burners on. Back into leading pack at 10 but missed the best route to 11. Quick check there was nothing tricky left, memorised last leg, accelerated into 12 and then just absolutely went for it to take all but 1 girl and I think I could have got her if the run in had been a little longer and I hadn't taken the foot off for the corner. So much fun, I was super messy but I enjoyed it. Today was about get experience and I did that. By making errors I got the experience of running on the edge which I sometimes struggle to do.

It was interesting to see how much faster I was than the girls in my group, at times they were struggling and I felt like I was going slow. I probably should have stayed at that pace as I could easily navigate and ran away at the end. It would have been good to have been with faster girls to see what would have happened, if I could have stayed in contact but I think in this format you have to play the game with those you're drawn with. It's mental to both race and watch with people making errors everywhere.

Standard w/u, usual quarantine thing of everyone running around one big loop and the same for w/d except in a much smaller space.

MSR Kolding Skovparken - team 13/31, 20/31 1st leg, 31/60 female. Finally got to run a first leg at a proper race! More excited than nervous, this was something I really wanted to do but did want to show this was the leg for me and do well for the team. Right in the pack to 1, it was real elbows out stuff so my XC experience came in handy. Long leg to 2 but straight forward. Ended up in 4/5th place of my gaffle with Swe 1 and other people I knew were really good. Pace was not as high as expected and we arrived at the common control and merged with the front of the other gaffle pack. Punched two and ran away then realised my SI wasn't flashing/beeping so had to run back. This was easier said than done as had to run back into the entire pack and it still wouldn't register, realised eventually I was punching some black box instead of the SI box. Ended up really near the back and had to work hard, made a really stupid route choice half in half to 3 changing my route right at the last minute so dropped from pack I'd been in. A bit stressy through the next few but settled in. Got myself to the front of a pack to take control and was reasonably happy from there on in, took back a few places but just couldn't quite close the gap enough to the pack ahead to jump on.

Annoyed about the time loss at the start as would have been exciting to see if I could have stayed with faster packs. Although do feel I justified my place in the team and on first leg. Excited to hopefully have another go against even tougher competition. I enjoyed it so much, this is definitely my favourite discipline.

Work and travel.

Today's game is how many times can I get soaked, so far I'm on 2/3 which is one less than expected at least :).

Mobility and small amount of agility.

Back to being busy again, some people have absolutely no spatial awareness or common sense when it comes to finding a space for their mat when they're late. I resisted the temptation to whack the guy behind me. Session was good for me as usual and nice that legs felt slightly better than normal post massage.

B12 injection. I'm really pleased with how I held up this month, so starting from a better place. Manged to avoid the soaking both ways but roads closed due to bit falling off buildings due to the wind meant I had a bit of a longer walk at pace so I made it on time.

Hallglen cancelled due to storm, wouldn't have got there anyone as all the trains off so standard taper session. 2x90secs (3mins), first one with side wind but second with wind behind as I didn't want to do anything silly straining into the wind at this stage. Felt like I was flying, good feeling and the rain held off...just.

Chat with Lecky, know what I'm doing, excited for the weekend.

3x90secs (3mins), getting there.

4x90secs (3mins), standard Monday legs and really strong wind which seemed to be in my face in both ways?!

Usual stuff normally done on Wednesday - Single leg, gluts, core and mobility.

Massage with Rory, sorted me out as usual.