Training Log Archive: Ollie

Event: British Middle Champs
 

The British Elite Middle-Distance Championships - as the elites were running the same class as everyone else, I decided to enter elite - and was promptly seeded last. This meant I started first, so had the whole forest to myself. I pushed myself hard, as I was determined not be overtaken by the presumably faster runners behind me.

The only other runner I saw was my two-minute man from 2 to 3 as I was going from 4 to 5. This spurred me to go even faster, although looking back, this person would have already dropped some time compared with me. Apart from that, the forest was silent, and I was first back, so was (briefly) 1st in M21E - out of 1. ;-)

To #1 was a nice downhill run - I really like downhill starts! To #2, the best route was clearly through a field. I spent a good 15 seconds checking to see if it was out of bounds, before going for it. To #3, my route choice was indirect and unorthodox, but I don't think I lost time. #4 should have been easy but I spent a good while on another knoll just 10m away, somehow failing to spot the red and white kite in a sea of green (there was a lot of undergrowth on this map!) #5 was my biggest mistake - saw the other runner and lost concentration in a highly detailed area, so overshot and had to clamber back up a steep bank.

#9 was an interesting spectator control - just after a low tunnel under a road, with spectators high above you. #11 was the only long leg on the course - no problems here for me, but others suffered. To #14 I misread light-green as dark green, so diverted around it and got stuck in undergrowth - then, due to the map being vague, came around the edge of the light green too far. The approach to #16 was tricky as there were unmarked paths in the haze of vegetation. #17 was in another complex area and you had to be right on top of the control, to see it (it was in a ditch.)

I had had a good run up to this point, but started to tire fast, especially as #18 and #19 were both up steep hills - so I tended to go round paths to these controls, rather than going direct uphill through the brashings. And finally, #20 and the finish was a sprint.

All in all, a good race for me, although physically tough due to the almost continual brashings on the ground. When I left the event, I was 22nd out of 29 elites - but once the regular runners are added in, I am confident of ending up in the top half, which is a good result for me. Less than 5 minutes wasted with mistakes, and running fast for most of the race - now I just need the stamina to be able to run the whole way around.

Cycling to/from Waterloo station. Took a very leisurely, "safe" route back as it was dark.

Had to jog back part of the way to the station, so I didn't miss my train!

M21E (and M18/20/21/35) - Splits

A couple of silly blunders near the end marred an otherwise very good HH District race at Northaw Great Wood, near Cuffley. I ran the Brown course, as it had just stopped raining. The forest was still damp, but this was actually rather nice as it kept me cool.

Legs 1-3 were long but straightforward. I took a bit of a lazy route choice to 4, and drifted off for 5. One characteristic of this race were lovely long, downhill legs. 7-8 was one of these, and was very nice. I had another poor route choice on a very short leg (11-12), mainly to avoid some nasty undergrowth - but on the whole, the area was suprisingly free of undergrowth, and very nice to run in. 15-16 was another lovely long (1km+) leg downhill. I ran fast, but got clogged up in some unmarked light green, so started to make mistakes. I exited 16 very badly, but the worst mistakes of the race were made after I stopped paying attention to my compass and was generally very tired. They were 18-19 (too far to the right and too high) and 19-20 (too far to the left and too low.)

If I hadn't made these final mistakes I would have finished 3rd - a best ever result on Brown - still, my time was fast and I am very pleased with the result - finishing 8th out of 38 runners, and just 5.5 mins down on the winner.

This was possibly my latest ever start - I didn't get out of bed until 1015 - a real luxury lie in! And yet I was running by 1230.

I was trying out my new birthday present today - a top-of-the-range fast setting thumb compass. It certainly was fast setting, but I need to get used to the way thumb compasses work (everything's kind of backwards.) After trying to use it properly for the first couple of legs, I ended up using it as a simple compass for the remainder. It requires diligence to rotate the map correctly - not something I normally do.

Felt a bit bad on uphill sections in the early part of the race, but was fine later - and didn't experience the "power surge" feeling after the race, as I warmed down properly. Pretty knackered now though!

Looking forward to the British Middle Distance champs next Saturday.

C • compass 6

Estimated time/distance - biking to/from home to KX, and to/from Cuffley station to the event today. Last section loaded with shopping. Biking is a useful warm-up/warm-down for races, as long as the distance isn't too far and the pace wasn't too fast. Today was just fine.

Bought a new chain for my bike - but unfortunately the old chain had stretched, and the cogs had worn with the chain, so the new one kept slipping. So used the "magic connectors" with the old chain - after a bit of elbow grease, they fitted, and it now works fine.

Went on a longish bike ride through North London, as it was very pleasant and warm outside, and I was happy about the bike being fixed.

Route was: Islington - Highbury Corner - Highbury - Finsbury Park (one lap of the park) - dismantled railway to Highgate - Highgate Hill (to the very top!) - Hampstead Heath via Parliament Hill - Gospel Oak - Kentish Town (a bit lost) - Holloway Prison (!) - Highbury Corner - back to Islington. Route.

There's an extra permitted section through Hampstead Heath I'll do next time - Hampstead Heath really is the highlight of this route, although Highgate is very pretty too.

Felt queasy/ill for a few minutes after the end of the trip - probably by not warming down properly. I must start to warm down properly to avoid this.

Note to self (1) Probably not a great idea to cycle through Highbury immediately after an Arsenal game (esp when they don't win.) Lots of drunks, cops and smashed glass on the road.

Note to self (2) The Finsbury Park circular road looks like a very promising circuit for jogging around, or a few timed laps by bike.

C • Highbury 2

Meh - my stupid bike fell apart again on the way home this evening. Specifically, the chain snapped again - but it's now too short to be relinked. I'm tempted to bin it and get a nice bike, especially as it's heavy and old and I'm planning on biking a lot this summer (need to get that cross-England trip finished.)

JK Summary - overall, I really enjoyed this year's JK. I had low expectations of the areas and my own fitness - but I was pleasantly surprised on both counts and glad I went.

The sprint race was superb and I'm definitely keen to do more. Day 1 was a true classic and Day 2 was also an enjoyable, well-planned challenge. The contrast of the areas was dramatic, the first day requiring Nordic-style constant contact with the map and good bearings, and the second day offering continental-style route choice. The relay area was a bit grotty and muddy, but was flat and fast and fine for a relay race. The weather was in general good, except for a cloudburst just before the relays. And I got around the courses much more successfully than I thought I would.

Only downers were that the accommodation was functional rather than comfortable, and the distance between Day 1 and Day 2 was awfully far.

Overall a great four days of orienteering in Yorkshire.

JK 2006 Relays, Bramham Park.

Having decided to not push my luck and so take a rest day, I changed my mind at the last minute and was able to get a run with a team in SLOW (my official main club although I was spent most of the JK with JOK.) I got the first leg - a mass start - in the Ad-Hoc race. The pouring rain conveniently stopped and the sun came out just in time for my race. Despite the race not being gaffled, there was not much bunching - I ran with a group of 3 until I lost them trying to go a too-clever route.

Two silly mistakes cost me 30s each, + a 30s poor route choice, but pleased to have finished 10th out of 126 finishers for my course. The other runners in my team did well too and we finished 19th out of 75 teams that finished. Might have a go in a JK Trophy team next year, now that the race lengths have been shortened.

C • relay! 3

JK 2006 Day 2, Keldy.

After a 7am start and a monster 2.5 hour drive to the event, I was still running late, and had to jog the 2.8km to the start. I arrived with 10s to spare and was off into the forest. The maps I had previously seen of Keldy looked extremely unappealing - although I had run in the pleasant, technical part (Cawthorne) as part of a Varsity Match 5 years ago. However once again, the planning was excellent for my M21S course, providing plenty of route choice (yesterday was more of a navigation course.)

The first half had both technical and very physical sections - I tripped several times over rose brambles and received a fine collection of cuts and scratches. The latter half had a loop of Cawthorne, extremely pleasant, technical running. I knew to slow right down here due to the technicality but still made a couple of bearing errors. The final 500m was a disappointing taped section, necessary due to constraints of the area. But overall, while not quite a classic race like yesterday, it was still a fine challenge and and enjoyable race.

Once again, no major mistakes - even though I upped my pace this time. Only a few lazy route choices, a couple of ill-advised tangles with fallen trees and brambles, and a couple of bad bearing errors, slowed me down. As a result I finished a very pleasing 16th out of 50 M21S runners.

Course 8 (M21S/W21L/M18A) - Splits

JK 2006 Day 1, Ilkley Moor.

Today's race was in an approprately spectacular setting, on intricate north-facing moorland just south of the spa town of Ilkley, in West Yorkshire. The weather was nice and sunny, and even warm. Again, my plan was to just jog around, and retire if I felt weak. But again, I felt OK most of the way around (I walked parts of a couple of legs.)

The M21S course I did was very well planned, on a superb area. There was a 2km leg into some intricate moraine terrain, that I duly made numerous mistakes on, a steep climb to the top of the moor, and then a very pleasant and technical zig-zag down to the finish.

I made numerous mistakes, but as I was going slowly, none of these were serious - the worst was an embarrasing 90s blunder near the end at what should have been a trivial control - in my defence, an important path was obscured by the control circle. Oddly, I failed to notice until the end that I had been running on a 1:15000 scale - I guess features come up faster when running on clear open moorland. All in all, a good race and I was delighted by my apparent fitness, on the back of no recent training. What a great map, great course and lovely conditions, so much better than I was expecting. This map might sneak into my Top 10 UK areas.

Sprint: Men's Open - Splits

Day 1: Course 8 (M21S/W21L/M18A) - Splits

Event: JK 2006
 

JK 2006 Prologue: Sprint-O, Temple Newsam.

Arrived at Temple Newsam, near Leeds, in the late afternoon, having just travelled up from London. Weather was sunny, crisp and clear, although with a chilly breeze. I was apprehensive as to my fitness/strength, having avoided all forms of exercise for the last four weeks, and was going to just walk/jog around a few of the training controls. But decided at the last second to do the Men's Open sprint. Ran deliberately slowly (a jog really, rather than a sprint) but felt generally OK once I realised I has enough strength to make it around. In the end, I posted a good time - ending up 86th= out of a field of over 200 - probably the largest ever field I have run in.

It was lovely to run through the ornamental parkland, through visitors relaxing on the lawns, up to follies and around the ponds. The finish - into an ampitheatre thronged by spectators, other competitors and the flags of the JK entrants - was dramatic. I really enjoyed this, my first proper sprint race, and hope to do some more in the future.

Mistakes - two poor route choices (20s wasted for each), one mistake (20s again) and maybe 90s wasted for going deliberately slowly - but this may have been why I only made small mistakes.

Just yesterday (Wednesday) I was still feeling weak, and about to bin the JK and just go home for Easter. But felt a lot better today, so thought I'd go to the JK anyway, to spectate or (if I felt up for it) to maybe jog around my courses...

Arrived back in London last night as well enough to work, but still won't be doing anything physical any time soon :-(

Event: BOC 2006