Training Log Archive: ColmM

Imra brockagh - 2nd

Dessie K went solo up the fire roads, and at some stage Laura went chasing him, and I ended up in no man's land in front of the main pack mostly.
A lot of small trail, undulating but not all out climb early on, which suited me to get a wee gap before the proper climb. Still 3rd in the steeper single track and out into the heather, but one came by me then, and of course 'perfect-pace Fortune' did too.

Summitted with the other 2 just in front and Laura just behind but Des was way ahead.
Could tell quickly it was a nice bouncy descent and trickiest early on. Let gravity take me, and was moving well, so I moved up quite quickly into 2nd.
Pushed hard on the soft stuff as I know Big Bernard can descend. On the second hill I glanced back saw the gap wasn't massive nor tiny, kicked on and it wasn't a worry.
At some stage I saw Des ahead and could tell I was gaining but he was way in front. Kept going in hope but was never really going to materialise.

Really enjoyed the course in particular the soft bog & grass descent. One of my better results. And always nice to get on Fortune's good side.

C • Big Bernard 2

Long enough warm down with Laura

Hollywood score.
A little tired. Took it easy, but still had some silly mistakes.

solo from the hostel in stockholm out to Hagaparken & back.

Jukola leg 4 for Easter Rising OC as Simo Häyhä.
Wanted a quick-chilled-clean run, to conserve energy for later, but still do alright.
Followed the elephant tracks through the green to 1, but cut up the cliffs too late and hit 93, then went right then left, and found the control 5mins later.
Ouch. Very bad start.

Still wobbly to 2 and lost 45s between direction and uncertainty.
Got a bit of mojo and started executing the quick-chilled-clean gameplan from here on, using trains & some brains, and but still another minute or so lost, mainly on 8.

Very poor performance and start to this leg. Still the lack of quality on this short leg was highlighted as I still claimed ~130th on the leg, and gained the team 100 spots.
Also surprisingly if clean wouldn't have been miles off leg winning time despite the chilled pace.
~55mins vs ~48mins.

A little worried I'd miss Mario, but in the end wasn't an issue.
Got up there early, but went into the box too soon, and coulda got some food.
The porridge after leg 4 would have to do.

Jukola Leg 7 for Easter Rising OC as Colm McMaby

Ended up in the mass start. Was 80 rows back of 200, could be worse could be better.
Didn't read my map for the 600m run-out, just argy bargy to get as high as possible, relatively successful.
Glanced at the map in the trains through the green and could see no.1 was near where I'd already been. In fact probably the one I'd mistakenly hit earlier - 93.
Worked through the crowds, got it well, and was accurate on the first gaffle which was important. Came out at common 3 with some others around.
Turned to 4, and moved nicely up to a small group of 4 (incl. me). Got 4 well and then some different lines but ended up together halfway to 5.
Moving well through the forest, some splits but generally stuck together up to 9.
One of the older looking swedes was taking control and told us to plough on when we were hesitant - he was right. He also shouted "We're going right" on 10 which was a little ballsy, but how could I leave this group, despite being keen on left.
In hindsight left was definitely better so this was a mistake really.

Ended up leading into 10 and 11, and mix-and-matching a lot of the rest but often in behind.

We were clean enough but some misses (aside from possibly 2-3mins on 10 rc), and came into the spectator having dropped maybe 4-5mins, but not really knowing it cos most was routechoice.

Clean through gaffle where we split, and back together at 21ish, we all took the road to 23, but then separated, I didn't know whether it was a gaffle or not, but I ended up alone, and hit 23 well, but confidence was too high, I got carried away and missed 2;30 - 3mins on 24.

Kept pace alright but was solo for the remainder but clean enough. Caught one of the lads around 33, and was cleaner at the end to stay ahead.


Ended up about 120th on one of the more stacked legs which was good to hear and pulled back another 100 or so places.

Really happy to be strong throughout and the pace was good despite the earlier leg and the crazy sleep pattern.

Very happy with this, and now know my legs are back in decent shape.

Post-venla
absolutely drenched but had to get out for a minimito, so just didn't change and ran in my wet clothes.
Back to sleeping bag & cards, life could be worse.

Jukola training from the tent with Corbett, switching leads, and navigating well.
Gorgeous terrain.

Tisarserien race on this evening, near Ormhult.
Myself, James & Corbett pre-ran it in the morning.
Daije had done 33:xx
Started at a reasonable pace, and navigating well enough, but not too hard.
Got into the map quickly and was fluid through most of the course. Felt alright and moving okay, but still not pushing.
Some mistakes in the second half probably totaling about 2mins, maybe less.
Really enjoyed it.