Training Log Archive: Thraws

Event: SOC November Classic
 

Aah, I'd forgotten how frustrating this sport can be. And how little problems can grow into huge mistakes when everything - terrain, concentration, physical condition - seems to conspire against you. Fact is, I did my back leaving the house in the a.m., a combination of the week's walking and the hard running on hard surfaces the day before. Plus I think I'm just generally a bit run down after overdoing it with the racing. Dosed up with ibuprofen, took it easy on way to start, and just decided to see how the first few controls went. Also, weather and forest were superb and I didn't want to miss out. Well, I think it was real worries about my back 'going' that led to lack of confidence generally and caused me to overshoot 2 a bit, become hesitant on 5, get confused near 6 and run right past 7. Over 5 minutes down already. I improved in the open and was just beginning to think I'd be ok (fatal thought) when I lost the plot leaving 14 and got left-hand edge of folded map mistaken for north! When I realised, I had absolutely no idea where I was and first few attempts at relocating failed completely. Then I had a hunch, ran southward, found the clearing, and the map fitted. But rushed 16 and mucked that up too, and in line with everyone else went to about three controls that weren't mine before the run-in to the finish. Probably binned over quarter of an hour and came close to giving up. Mentally I was all wrong. Been racing too much all summer. Need to have a rethink and remind myself what's really important. At least Lu had a good run, beating me by ten minutes. Nice day out as well.

Event: BADO Urban race
 

Knee hurt climbing stairs and my back felt dodgy, but I really enjoyed myself here last time. Struggled from the start today though, no mojo. Noticed in the start lane that there were uncrossable fences everywhere so knew the challenge would be mental. Legs 2 and 3 were very technical, and I simply went for the easy long option rather than test eyesight with the footpath routes. Not a winning strategy. I probably missed the best route to 5, the long leg, as well. 6 to 14 felt better, mostly because I was obviously moving much faster than all the (very old) other competitors, but I probably dropped half minutes more at 7 and 10 by missing cut-throughs. Thought I'd devised a brilliant plan for the other long leg to 15 and ran hard. Straight into an overgrown dead end! Ah well, that was that. Two to three minutes in a race like this is a disaster. Felt better through the final five controls though and was relieved to be pushing still after almost an hour. But I'd pay the price. At least the sun shone.

Disappointing finale. Too much busy road. Perhaps we should have done Osborne House, which is brill apparently. Got coffee at Quarr Abbey. Drizzly all morning.

Totland to West Cowes, being mostly a circumnavigation of the Newtown estuary. Which was flooded by a very high tide in places so boots had to be removed. Feeling quite jaded by the time we got to Shalfleet and Newtown.

Brighstone to Totland via Freshwater Bay, the Needles and Alum Bay. Best day weather- and scenery-wise. And short, so time to dawdle on Tennyson Down. As ever, so nice walking into the evening. Still feeling flat rather than fit.

Shanklin to Brighstone, via the Chine, Undercliff, Ventnor and Chale. Jurassic Coast type conditions early on, followed by spectacular waves creating great photo ops. Then the best bit of the entire walk along the sandy cliff tops after Blackgang. Superb walking, but felt a bit lethargic. Post-viral?