Training Log Archive: AC

Regional 5. Barbizon. The rockiest map in Fontainebleau and the map just looks like a fly had diarrhea all over the map - black dots everywhere. Extremely difficult to map well, even at 1:10,000, and it was a very difficult map to read, at least for me. This was compounded by the course being printed in a very faint purple that, even after the race, I had trouble distinguishing. But it was the same for everybody, it was a gorgeous autumnal day, and parts of the forest were absolutely superb.

Hit the first control quite well and was enjoying the running after 5 minutes. A bit of trouble on #2 as the map really didn't line up with the terrain on the way there, but took a punt anyway and rounded a rock (amongst a million) to find the control. #3 in a clearing was okay, but stopped a bit short in a different (unmarked) clearing, and then tried a compass bearing to #4 and was off by quite a way and took a few minutes trying to find the right gully. Then the wheels really fell off and, even sitting here at home afterwards and checking the splits and the GPS track, I still don't really know what happened. The results say that I went from 4 to 6 to 5 to 6, but I don't recall punching at 6 the first time around. What is certain is that I was very very lost amid an absolute maze of rocks and ferns and just couldn't make head nor tails of the map. Probably because I thought I was navigating from 4 to 5 but Was actually going to 6, so I was in totally the wrong part of the map from where I thought I was, so no surprise nothing fitted. At no time did I realise that I had punched 6 before 5. Lost 18 minutes or so from 4-5.

The rest of the course went much better and I spiked all the remaining controls and ran fairly well. The fastest time was 39 mins by some young gun, but then a big gap to a few runners in the mid to high 40s. Taking out my big error would have put me at the tail end of that group. Almost everyone lost large chunks of time and there were a lot of very bemused people wandering around the rocks today, me included for some parts of the course.

Decided to give the parkrun a miss this week after a tough finish to the work week left me feeling pretty washed out. So dropped Freya off at her tennis lesson and headed off on a loop through the Bois that I hoped would take about 55 mins. Took me a bit longer by the time I had stopped to stretch and cross roads and so was a couple of minutes late, earning me a scowl and tight-lipped greeting from my daughter. The fact that I had to harry her out of bed to get her to tennis just on time was lost on her. Anyway, a reasonable run with heaps of people out there. Massive peletons on the cycling track around the hippodrome - pretty scary place to be riding with so many weekend warriors out there, inexperienced in riding in a large group. Didn't see any ambulances there this morning, but they are not an uncommon sight at the hippodrome on the weekends!

Attempt to do a hill interval session in the Bois. This is pretty challenging as the Bois is quite flat. But it is possible to find a couple of slopes that, while not steep, are at least an incline. Problem is they are not very long, so need to be a bit inventive. I found a 300m slope that has a flattish section after half way and then finishes with a bit of a kick, and a nice shortcut back to eth start making for a good little loop. Enough to get pretty tired after a few goes up the hill. Did 6 intervals each @ around 1.18-1.20, with a short jog down. Left knee feeling pretty sore, but stood up okay.

Legs feeling a little crunched from the weekend, so took a day off. Checked out the results of yesterday's O race and a little disappointed to be so far behind. The first three did the course in 39 mins (I did 51). While two of these were only 16-18 years old, the third was Didier, who I beat by 4 minutes last weekend. Turns out I lost more like 4 1/2 minutes on #5 yesterday and just bled time on all the other legs, despite feeling like I spiked most of them and was running fairly hard. Just not moving through this difficult forest very well - there really is a technique to getting through the bracken and rocks that only comes with lots of specific training in the terrain!