Training Log Archive: Jay-T

Went the opposite way (south) down the river Avon from the hotel on a whim - and very glad that I did.
Started with some vague ideas about doing some intervals, but then spotted some signs and subsequently found my way to Chatelherault Country Park which had some decent - albeit muddy - trails.
Did a complete circuit, which incorporated a couple of not insignificant ascents up the sides of the gorge.
Sans Camelbak as I hadn't anticipated going quite so far.
Couple of stops to stretch calves - right one very tight.

Event: East Midlands Championships & Regional B event
 

LEI Cademan Wood

A couple of years ago I might have been happy with this run. Not today. No really big errors but lots of time leaked away nevertheless. Running along the edge of the field to #3 was arguably a big error as it was OOB, however, confessed at Download and they were not at all bothered. Lots of tracks to suggest I wasn't the only one; indeed 3 others were there concurrently. Pretty sure it didn't gain me any time so that was that. (But should it be?)

Careful to #1 and #2; caught John Embrey 2mins here. However, subsequently followed him into the OOB field - kept to the edge but pretty sure the overprint was intended to cover the whole field. Not a good route to #3 in any case as it necessitated having to hack back into the wood through the thickets in the corner [20]
Clean to #4. Hesitant towards #5 due to the messy overprint but ok. #6 Spiked. #7 Climbed up when I should have stayed low by the veg boundary [10]
#8 Bit slow but ok. #9 Followed the paths too religiously [10]
#10 Ok. #11 Initially heading for the southern side of the double crag [20]
#12 Simple. #13 Stopped short by one boulder, distracted by re-enactment nutcases [45]
#14 No problems. #15 Thought I was being clever by maintaining height then going to the right of the hill in the open, but there was a shorter route to the left. With no climb. On a path... [30]
#16 Ok. #17 Poor route back out to the main path, then hesitant at the path junction [10]
#18-#21 Good section.
#22 Followed unmapped path initially to SE. Then briefly on the path too far south near the control [30]
#23 Trivial. #24 Hacked out to path to the east. Should have gone straight [15]
#25 Couldn't find the yellow passage through the grot, forced far too far east into the marsh [25]
#26 Ok. #27 Saw a phantom control further to the west which subsequently disappeared (?) [20]
#F Couldn't even get the run in right... [10]

5th place was more than I deserved; over 6mins down on RR was more representative. It felt like I was hurrying my navigation too much today.

Event: YHOA Sprint Championships/ShaFF event
 

YHOA Sprint Champs I
Poor shoe choice. Slipping around in the woods. Also no leg cover so wimped out of some straighter lines.

#4 I took contouring around to the extreme [10]
#8 Debating whether to cut across the grot saw me overshoot the path [45]
#9 Insufficiently direct [10]
#14 Exited the control to the dead end initially then arguably not the best route [15]

Followed Joshua Cooper around from #9 onwards... couple of different routes... couldn't catch him...

5th, almost 3minutes down.

YHOA Sprint Champs II
Kitted up for this - Gaiters and Dobs - after checking with Oli.

Pseudo chasing start - Charlie Adams 1min ahead; he must have screwed the first one up as I saw him exiting #1 as I approached. Ok to #2 and caught him at #3. Forged ahead down the hill, but as I hadn't done much navigating up to this point, overshot [15] and he got back ahead for #4 and #5. Punched #6 first but he took a better line to #7 [10] and led through until #9 where we picked up Colin Smith. Charlie pulled away up the hill and I didn't see him again once he had disappeared into the trees on the other side of the field (turns out he ran off the map here).
On my own from #10 until #14, but did see the Farrington group a little way ahead at #11, and passed them just before the end.

Only 1 second behind the fastest time for this race, however, the 'heat' winner retired. Also certainly assisted by others.

C • Olly 8

Best I've played in ages.

Not feeling great. After intense badminton matches I get pain along the inside of my legs just above the knees?

Home Match vs Wrenthorpe A playing with Alan.
Penultimate fixture and a top of the table (crucial?) clash.
Won vs 3rd (mixed) pair in 3 games.
Lost vs 1st (half decent but erratic) pair in 3 games.
Won vs 2nd (old pro) pair in 3 games.
Most of the games were very close and could have gone either way; we were perhaps slightly fortunate on the whole tonight.
Mick / Sam picked up 2 (though lost to 2nd and beat 1st); Brent / Tom got all three.
Overall 7-2 victory cements 2nd position, but we still need to win our last game (Tuesday Away) to guarantee promotion. A 9-0 victory (unlikely but within the realms of possibility) would see us overhaul tonight’s opposition for the league win (they have played all their games now). Shame I can’t play...

Knees and shins protesting after too many hard surfaces :/