Training Log Archive: andyhill

O on Coed Maenarthur at Pontryhdygroes. It's been a very long time since I orienteered in the forest and didn't do too badly. Probably though coz I wasn't running very fast - due to a mix of being to steep to run in places, thick forest in patches and me being a pussy in terrain ever since I stopped Orienteering. It was a score event I got all but 3 controls. The other 3 controls would way off in the corner so about 1km away! Don't know what the planner was thinking!

Course was supposedly 43km and was on 75% undulating single trails which was very boggy and windy running along the tops of cliffs off far western coast of Wales. I had numerous falls into the mud and had to even walk a few short hills coz it was too slippery to run up. Also must have gone through about 30 gates - real annoying coz u gotta lock them after you.

I was in 2nd place running my own race most of the race and then suddenly caught the leader at the 2hr20 mark. The whole time I could see a group of runners behind me. After I took the lead I had a bit in reserve and pushed the pace more extending the gap to 4 minutes by the end.

Finally, I finished a Marathon without hitting the wall or feeling injury along the way. First time I have felt good the whole race - even upping the pace the last 10km, although admittedly the tracks were easier to run on than the first half.

Fun and interesting course in Cardiff Bay at night. Basically the event was a score with 50 controls for 1 hour and map was an A3 approx. 1:4000-5000 scale sprint type map. Course and lots of small alleyways everywhere so I kept overunning everything. Controls were tiny (5cm) letters written on poles so wasted a lot of time searching but same went for everyone.

I got 40 controls with 14 seconds to spare which was top score. It was possible to get all 50 in time if I didn't do so much stuffing around running all over the place.