Training Log Archive: Kat

About 20 warm-up, 10 cool-down. The warm-up became a lot longer (and hillier) than planned because of some mishaps, so I got to the start about fifteen minutes late. Thankfully, it was a punching start!

EVENT: WCH regional event
COURSE: W21L, 7.1 km, 230m climb, 18 controls
MAP: Beaudesert Old Park, 1:10,000, 5m contours
TERRAIN: In general, not very pleasant. White woods had either bracken or brashings on the ground, light green and dark green woods had close-together trees with branches spread out, so getting through required a lot of ducking and zigzagging. Most of the features were pits in the bracken.
MY RUN: I wasn't feeling very happy when I started, due to having run up a steep hill twice unnecessarily and being late, but I tried to put it behind me. Almost succeeded, but then the woods and bad mapping put me off. I won't complain about the bingo pits, since I'm used to that by now and didn't lose much time on them today, but I will complain about the map! Near #13, there was a very significant reentrant in the terrain that was unmapped. I stopped and stared at it, trying to figure out what the hell it was doing there, and I noticed another orienteer doing the same. I can understand new trails or even small streams being created in the terrain fairly easily, but not such a huge contour feature. Anyway, even though I hated almost every single minute of this course, I managed to get around in a reasonable amount of time. Good physical training, I suppose, and also nice to see that I have learned to concentrate and keep going even when incredibly frustrated.
RESULTS: 4th on W21L, behind Grace Elson (51:14), Anne Edwards, and Tessa Hill. Would have beaten Tessa with a slightly better run, but probably not the other two.

C • unmapped re-entrant... 2

Control-pick on a contour-only version of Cannock Chase. Steep slopes, bracken everywhere, and patches of heather made the going slow, but it was good technical training.

Some more orienteering, this time on a regular version of the map. With all of the trails and colours, the navigation was quite simple, so I was thinking of this as more of an easy terrain run rather than technical training. Nice anyway. Certainly better to be running out here than in Oxford!

Easy run by myself in South Park. I'm not sure why the pace was faster today than the other times I did this run, because I certainly didn't feel faster. In fact, my legs were somewhat tired. Perhaps lack of strong wind had something to do with it?

A few attempts at the world record right after the run. Some warm-up, then did several bouts of 30 seconds each. I stopped the rope with my feet at least twice each time, and the best I could manage was 73 jumps. Not even close. :)

Run to the track, followed by my usual 15-minute drills and jogging. Legs felt really good!

Run home from the gym.

To the track and once around.

Running drills.

My usual track session: 3x1km with 2-minute 200m walking rest. I did this in the dark, but it was probably the best track session yet this term. There was no frost on the track and no strong gusts of wind. (I hit the LAP button late 2-3 times, so some of these splits are a bit off, but the total time is correct.)
46, 47, 47, 49, 46 (3:57 total)
46, 46, 48, 47, 48 (3:56 total)
45, 47, 48, 48, 48 (3:58 total)
Then a couple of easy laps around the track.

Run home.

Easy run around South Park, looking at a map from Idre O-week (an event in northern Sweden last summer). The area must be absolutely gorgeous!

Push-ups and dips.

I did jumping in between the strength exercises, 60 jumps each time. Since the weather was really nice (sunny and no wind), I actually did this right outside my house on the grass!

I can do 60 jumps in about 24 seconds. The world record is 188 jumps in 30 seconds...

C • Jumps 3

Lots of work and laundry to do!