Training Log Archive: Ollie

Event: 35th Oxford v Cambridge Varsity Match
 

Fast/frantic cycle through London to Victoria (via Buckingham Palace) then slower cycle on country lanes from Holmwood Station to Leith Hill. This latter section involves at least 200m of climb. Finally, a lovely 3 mile free-wheel down from Leith Hill to Holmbury St Mary, where I was staying.

Oxford vs Cambridge Varsity Match at Leith Hill, Surrey. Running for JOK (ex-Oxford) on the Men's A course.

A great race for me personally, in beautiful, technical terrain. I had some personal demons to conquer on this map, having had a disastrous run in my only previous outing here. Leith Hill is a small, technical area, quite Scandinavian in nature, particularly with the sunny, cold weather, open and intricate detail and a dusting of snow on the ground. Due to the size of the area, the race was in two parts, with a map change near the start, around half way around. The planning style was very much taking us into the difficult area for a couple of controls, then out for a couple of long, easy ones, and then back in, over and over again, until you made a mistake. I forced myself to run at a slower pace than normal, and pleasingly did not make any mistakes that cost me more than a minute - it's been a while since I've had a clean race.

The first three controls were a warm-up through the edge of the tricky area, then a couple of easy ones. I actually ended up at 5 before 4, as I dropped a little low around thick vegetation, but this was OK as it was only a few metres from 4, and my split from 4 to 5 has got to be the fastest of all - 18 seconds! The course then did a long loop in easier terrain - I was a bit slow here, although some of the features were very subtle. After another technical section, which I unwisely took a chance on and got lucky on, it was time for the map changeover.

Leg 17 was long and tricky, and relied on an accurate compass bearing, but I was lucky to strike it pretty much on. After another jaunt through the difficult bit, which I had no issue with, there was another long leg away, I was extremely lucky here as I hit the control while thinking I was quite some distance from it. One final run through the tricky section was again OK, I was going very slow here so as not to mess up a so-far good run. The penultimate leg was long, and I switched off a bit - dangerous, as I deviated by about 30 degrees, and had a long plod to get back on the line. Probably only a minute's mistake as I picked up the pace.

Unfortunately, Oxford and Cambridge were unable to run on the Saturday, as the latter team were stuck on a motorway. So they ran on the Sunday, in cloudier but still pleasant conditions. I was a little bit hungover so just spectated at the race, before psyching myself up for the long bike home. In the end, Cambridge took the team trophies, just, as they had strength in depth, and Alan Elder took the Men's Individual Trophy for a storming race in 62 minutes - you have to be pretty good to run at that speed and not make big mistakes, in an area like Leith Hill. Helen won the Women's Individual though, so Oxford didn't quite go away empty handed.

Men's A - Splits

Shortened route.

Gently snowing this morning.
Fastest ever split into work - this'll be tough to beat.

To Victoria, and later back home. Strong headwind for much of the way.

Finally under 40 mins. 416kcal.

Event: HH Regional Event @ Burnham Beeches
 

Burnham Beeches is one of my favourite areas - but it was a shame the weather wasn't great, a gloomy overcast day, with rain for the second half. The map had a new section at the top, which most courses started in - I didn't think too much of it, as it wasn't technical. The real "meat" of the course was later on, down in Burnham Beeches itself.

Leg 12 to 13 must be the longest leg I've ever done - almost 2km, I think. I managed to accidently visit Control 23 on the way to 13... But I had a clean run up until No. 16, at which I misread the map rather badly. 17 was also bad, as it was very technical, and I just ran in to the area, hoping to hit it - never a good idea in retrospect. About 6 or 7 other people were milling around trying to find it too, so once one person did, there was a pack punching and moving off. I wasted time at 18 trying to lose the pack, and then 18-19 was another super-long leg - again well over 1km.

Another silly mistake near 21, a parallel error - but at least the 3 people following me therefore made the same mistake. From there on it was pretty straightforward, although there were still a few long legs left.

The course overall certainly felt like 12+km! Despite my good time (<8mins/km) I still finished well down the pack. That's the annoying thing with M21L - being the hardest course, all the really good people run on it. If I had done M21S at the same speed I would have been well up the leaderboard. Still, as the phrase goes, better to be near the bottom of the top class, than near the top of the bottom class!

Oxford were out in force, including Kat and distracted, the latter who (again) beat me by about 5-10%. One day I'll beat him, one day...! ;-)

Hurt some thigh muscle near the left side of my pelvis, after the race. I think it was as a result of not warming down properly. No problem when biking, but it hurts a lot when walking around and means I have a definite limp! Hopefully it should clear itself up in a day or so - it better, as otherwise it's going to be quite hard to walk around the office.

Cycle to/from the Burnham Beeches event. N.B. Train after 3 miles and before last 3 miles, so trip really was 4 sections of 3-4 miles each, with rest in between.

C • good race! 2

M21L - Splits