Training Log Archive: philm64

BOK Black Down BOK Trot, Brown 7.9km / 225m

Fast & visible -- Phil terrain. Gifted the first 2 flags, and continued hammering it out, feeling great, small miss at no 8 when Jeremy Tonge unexpectedly came down the hill at 90degs to me & led me to trees that were wrong (30secs).

Ran hard past 10 to 11, and had a great plan for 12 - but drifted onto path - OK fine, I'll veer off at the knoll line. No knolls. what's going on? Leave path, oh! nothing makes sense. Where's the catching path? Where are the knoll lines?

4mins+ binned, and could not fathom out where i could be, ran to a tree (wrong one by miles) & relocated, even then wasn't believing my compass. Jeremy was also arriving...... :-(

From there, took all brakes off (like they were on, lol), & ran risky & hard the whole way to the end. Got lucky 16/17 by others being around, but then on my own again.

Somehow, i was first M55 when I finished, with Pete Ward 27 secs up on me. Someone was 47:43, which TBH was beyond me, but 48mins & bits was a sure thing apart from no 12 :-(

Desperately close finish but I pipped Clive for the M55 win! Holy crap, he was ahead of me at no 11 too - good grief!

https://www.bristolorienteering.org.uk/sites/defau...

RG - had no idea when i crossed, or was near ,the knoll lines, that I was near them / crossing them. https://www.bok.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#203&rou...

Winsplits (times without mistakes is interesting....!) http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...

https://www.strava.com/activities/5307938529

up 7am, returned van, froze cycling back (vile cold rain). Another day clearing stuff - one car load to clifton garage - then really tired, so had a break.

Up pre-7am, & at new house by 7:40am, started unpacking van, keys arrived 8:30 & relocation chap helped me move the big stuff in.

The house is incredible. This is my new life. My Bristol life is over. This is the future. if anyone remembers my father (& Pamela's) house in Newcastle - this is like that. Hallelujah.

Back via Galashiels (huge all day breakfast & BIG coffee) & Melrose (pick up other keys for Liz), then back to Bristol & journey 100% fine despite it "being Friday" and going down M6 & M5. Home 8:30 . To chaos.......

I have a very, very good feeling about all this. 2 weeks to go!

Picked up large VW "transit" van 8am, (cycled down there in the rain), loaded it up with help from some decent chaps at my building (the ones who don't hate me), was a massive job, vastly bigger than expected, left 11:45.

Horrible journey - M5 2 accidents, police closing exits, satnav throwing me off. M6 actually worse. Roadworks,accident, pouring rain. Lost an hour in the first 2 hours. Break @ Lancaster, & from there on , life was wonderful & it got even better past Gretna . Borders / A7 gorgeous. Glimpsed our new Stow home as I drove past north of Galashiels, thence to Eades' farm cottage, up the hill, for beer & late pasta meal post-INT run for Lorna & Fiona. Very tired!

Packing up flat, and starting to fill the storage unit Liz & I are renting in Bristol for the next year+

Stoke park run - felt ok, sadly was badly threatened by dogs as I left the park. woman had three , two had leads but she wasnt' holding the leads, and the two went for me big time, i was screaming for about 45 secs, she was flat out trying to control them. She's been chatting to two other dog owners and not keeping an eye on the animals. Was she a paid dog walker? that was my feeling.

luckily neither actually bit / scratched me (a "scratch" in 2017 led to A&E, pulling out of a race, and enormous bruising, so isn't trivial).

as i got home at 11pm, the neighbour was taking her huge dog out, and opened the front door - the dog went beserk and she could barely control him. So it's me, then. Ah.

I'm actually too scared to return to stoke park for a run now.

https://www.strava.com/activities/5279490652

Not as beaten up as I'd feared.

Weather iffy so climbing postponed. Good.

Starting to pack up & clear flat now....