Training Log: CharlieRennie

Later than usual so I could watch Leicester play Southampton. Spinning feels very easy when you’re winning 5-0. No complaints from the knee either.

Feeling so so tired today and thought it would be best to give the knee some time off after some rough terrain in the last two days so taking a rest day and then the plan is to just cross train until the British in the hope my knee can sort itself out by then.

Scottish Middle Champs - 9th +5:41

Very mixed feelings about this run. First I was very annoyed about my mistake to 10 spoiling what I thought would’ve been a pretty good run. Then as other results came in it seemed my run wasn’t going to be particularly good, mistake or not. Hard to complain too much about being over 5mins down on GG as it’s the kind of gap I’ve experienced before and might even expect. However on easy areas like this the gaps are always smaller and I’m a significant chunk away from the boys I’d want to be mixing it with.

Physically felt decent out on the course and that I was able to push well on the hills but looking back it seems I simply just wasn’t moving quick enough. First start can’t have helped but it wasn’t the kind of area that tracked up an awful lot and I don’t think setting off later is saving me significant time. Also starting really early is not something I’m going to experience much and very unlikely in major domestic races so there’s no use lamenting about it too much.

I think the two main issues are the two usual ones in that I’m not fit enough and not aggressive enough on the course. Looking back I was only really maxing out my effort and properly attacking the course on the last few legs from 13 to the finish. I probably felt pretty good because the effort was more controlled and I wasn’t going as hard as I could’ve or should’ve. I’m losing significant chunks of time on legs 1, 5, 11, 12 and 13 which I certainly didn’t think I executed perfectly but I’m not shipping more than 5s technically here and I’m routinely 15s or more off the pace. The common factor in these legs is that most were uphill or had uphill sections and I’m simply just not attacking these hills enough even though I felt like I was moving decently on them.

I don’t think not attacking hills is specifically the issue and instead it’s probably more not attacking the whole course it’s just the gaps are bigger on hills and when it comes to fitness hills are probably where I lose the most ground. It’s also not like I’m never aggressive and never attacking the course as there’s definitely been races in the past where I’ve done this well. The issue is it’s not every race and not even the majority of races either. I need to make it so each and every time I step out on a course with an intention to race that I’m being aggressive and attacking the terrain as much as I can. It’s definitely something I’ve become better at recently but it’s still an issue and there’s significant room for improvement there.

Technically there’s not too much to say about this race. It was a fairly easy area and apart from a few moments of poor execution and slight hesitation my only real significant time loss was my big mistake to 10. A really silly error as I knew my exit direction out of 9 was too far left and I knew I should correct it and go straight up the hill to the path but I just never made the proper correction and thought it would be fine if I just slightly curved my line and eventually I’d be bound to hit the path. Once I got towards the gorse I should’ve just bailed and gone straight up the hill to path but initially it was actually fairly runnable and I thought I could cut up through it to the path. However it just got thicker and thicker and started pushing me down the hill instead of up until I realised I simply just had to bail and I went out the same way I came in until I got to the open again.

A stupid error where I had so many points I could’ve and should’ve saved it but I don’t think it’s a symptom of any glaring technical issue and more just complacency in an easy area and hopefully one I won’t be making again. In areas with gorse like this especially when it’s so well mapped you just should never go for a gap unless it’s on the map or the gorse is really thin. Overall I think I lost about 90s here which is pretty unacceptable on an area this easy.

Without that mistake my run and result would’ve been fine and I would’ve just put the gap down to the fitness. I probably am overanalysing it as usual but I do think my aggressiveness during races is an issue and that’s what I’ll be looking to target over the next few weeks as well as making sure I eliminate these stupid unnecessary mistakes I keep making.