Training Log Archive: AC

Easy jogging to get into the swing of things, including a bit of terrain running.

Regionale 1 at Vaux de Cernay, in the Vallee des Chevreuse. the map lived up to its name as I saw several deer during the race. Quite a bit warmer for this race than recent runs - around 13 deg and cloudy. Didn't feel like I was moving particularly fast but I was steady throughout the race. No navigational issues at all, but it was a pretty straightforward course with quite a bit of path running. The forest was quite open and on several occasions I was able to see the control from over 100m away. To balance that, there were a couple of controls that were nicely tucked away behind logs or in ditches, but had no problem with those.

The first control involved a 1 km uphill run from the start triangle, which was quite unwelcome. The flat forest up the top of the plateau is potentially tricky with multiple ditches and no relief at all by which to navigate, but handled that just fine. Felt slow but strong throughout the race and was rewarded by a very good result - 9th out of about 80 runners, and first H50/55 by a long way, even mixing it up with a couple of club mates who are usually much faster than me. A good day out.

had been planning to take it easy today as was very tired after a busy week of work and travel. But the sun was out and it looked too nice to stay indoors and blob. So dusted off the road bike and headed out for an easy ride around the hippodrome and up into St Cloud. Nice ride and traffic not too bad.

In Belfast speaking at a water conference and went out for a pre-breakfast run. Unfortunately, Storm Doris hit at about the same time and so the run was accompanied by a howling gale and freezing horizontal rain (I guess the term "Storm" is the North Atlantic version of Typhoon or Hurricane, meaning bloody big storm). But headed down to a canal towpath which provided a modicum of shelter and made for a great running venue. Would have been lovely in better weather! Went out for just over 4km and then upped the tempo on the way home. Good run and really enjoyed the warm shower afterwards. Unfortunately won't get a chance to see anything of Belfast as am flying out this afternoon, Storm Doris permitting.

Managed to squeeze in a short run between meetings in a day full of meetings. Maybe if we did less meetings we would have more time for work (I'm sure no-one has thought of that before!). Felt pretty heavy the whole way but gradually got faster over the course of the run, which is my standard 5km run from work.