Training Log Archive: rcro

Easyish run in Caerphilly for a change of scenery without driving too far. Wanted something to looked interesting enough and had a bit of hill - and found the hill hard work for the second half.

Lots of anti-mountain bike narrowings, some barely wide enough for me to get through sideways, and watch managed to clobber one of them. I think the watch came off better.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6288386644

Had an offer of lift out to OFD instead but felt like a short local day would be more sensible until my body has transitioned into winter mode.

Tredegar House Parkrun to catch up with Matt and Duncan. Not keen on winter route and would have found Machen more interesting, but as I’ve been running pretty badly since Wednesday might have been for the best.

Not timing and went for a steady run - so well down at the start. However, did a lot of overtaking and was gaining on people the whole way around so guessing a good set of negative splits. Only just behind Matt with 400m to go but he went for a sprint finish whereas I waited until last 100m.

Expected time to be around 21:30 so quite surprised to be over a minute faster when the results came out. I was also pretty surprised to be in 7th place at the finish… Times aren’t totally right as I was only 10s behind Matt at the end and 5s behind the dog he overtook.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6281964900

Gwaelod orienteering. 3.9km blue course.

As always, enjoyable course here but my pace wasn’t good. I’m still very slow in terrain for ankle reasons, and also uphill which maybe be related to Parkrun. Navigation didn’t go too well with me not following bearings well (trying to find terrain I’m happy running through) and overshooting 5 because it came so soon and didn’t “look” right to me. Had the same control 3 times and never seemed to hit it. Shows just what a good venue this is for orienteering.

Had a lot of trouble getting my right foot comfortable in these shoes today. Ended up having to loosen the laces a lot. SI card battery also looks to be on the way out; not sure I care enough about results to send it off for replacement yet.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6282864498

No night o for me today. Pretty tired and light sensitive, and think I’ve been very lucky with my ankle with all the hazards today. Should have the new torch for next week where I’ll be able to run and see in colour again so hopefully be a bit more confident running in the dark at the night champs.

Easy day from home. Almost to the Ridgeway

https://www.strava.com/activities/6279928878

MapRun after work - luckily traffic flowing better this time. Pretty tired and legs not up to much so was just a jog around what looked most interesting and not bothering to look in much detail where the points were. Still finding the pace hard - a little demoralising to keep seeing km times be over 5 mins and not be able to do much about it.

S-1-21-13-12-14-2-10-23-11-30-24-3-6-25-15-19-7-29-28-9-4-20-5-F. 440 points.

North loop first as not been to that bit before. Then doglegged 23 just for fun. Wantrd to explore wood west of 11 but had to get 30 instead. However, wood next to 30 was fun. Footpath along the canal was nice too.

A little bit more optimistic on the way back so had to increase speed, and did that ok.

Reasonably nice route that was mostly interesting and skipped out the two most tedious sites (18 and 22). Covered most of the map but still not been down the road with 17 in, or 26’s block which I guess is new. Looks well planned and feels like it should be just about clearable for a properly fast runner.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6276153327

Jog down as thought I was a bit late for briefing.

Newport MapRun. Start and finish just around the corner from home so navigation wasn’t going to be particularly enthusing so plan was just to go out for a nice run. Getting the map didn’t help when I saw where the checkpoints were - too much fot an hour and many just not worth going for, so stuck with the plan of going for an enjoyable run!

S-13-27-34-22-31-23-25-35-24-17-11-29-14-21-12-16-F. 450 point out of more than 600.

Was quick to discard Mon Bank, down by the railway station, the two really awkward high scores beyond the Ridgeway and Drinkwater Gardens - all would cost more than they gain, in either time or opportunity. Left me with a fairly obvious route, although know it wasn’t going to be a high score when I’d done a k before the first checkpoint!

Hills pace not that quick for the most part, but it did all add up. Reminds me I should start back on the 7k loop with over 200m ascent again.

Bit pessimistic with pace near the end as thought I’d need to allow myself at least 10 mins from the far end of Melfort Rd to the finish, but was 3 mins early so had enough time to drop 2 contours for #3 as well. Was certainly moving better towards the end. And that’s despite the torch running out as not charged for a couple of weeks.

Bit of a lonely run and not feeling like a race - had been going over 45 minutes before I saw another orienteer, then saw another just as I was heading for the finish. Shame, as it’s a good demonstration of how nice this part of Newport actually is.

Garmin fail again today. Didn’t even get as far as forgetting to save the route plot - had put the course on watch before I left home but it had forgotten on the jog down and I didn’t have my phone with me to sync again. At least strava upload worked well today!

https://www.strava.com/activities/6271927409

Ridgeway. Easy pace again as still tired. Bit later out so getting the worst of the headlights, rat run traffic and cars parked blocking pavements.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6266596994

Recovery. Legs finding it hard.

https://www.strava.com/activities/6261823177