Training Log Archive: Ollie

Various routes around Richmond, Tower Bridge, and to/from Waterloo, while marshalling for the Rat Race in London.

Via Regent's Canal.

Via Regent's Canal.

Via London Wall and Clerkenwell Road.

Heavy rain (and aching legs from half marathon yesterday) so going really slowly. Via Cheapside and Percival Street.

Along Regent's Canal.

Half Marathon Trail Challenge at Richmond Park and Ham Riverside, organised by SLOW. Was 22nd out of 100 finishers. I've never run anything like as long as this before, orienteering or otherwise, so this is my PB (and PW) half marathon time.

The pace started off quite fast, even though the first part of the first leg was an uphill climb. I was in the pack here, but unexpectedly most people made a mistake on the way to the second, missing a turning, so suddenly I was near the front of the field. I tried to consolidate this accidental advantage by running faster, and got around the first 10km quite well - except for a couple of minor diversions necessary due to deer. I started to tire on the way to Control 10 though - a 2km leg along a bridal track that was exhausting to run on. My route was sub-optimal here to, there was a slight incline, and it was dry and warm in the sunshine. The last 7km were through the suburbs of Ham Riverside, including running along the river itself, followed by another stint through Richmond Park. I was really hurting (legs and kidneys mainly) by 19km and briefly stopped running on the approach to, and leaving from, the penultimate control.

Showers in the Ranleigh Harriers clubhouse afterwards were much appreciated, and it was tough to cycle back to the station and get on the train up to a party that I was late for.

Based on a 105 minute time, I think I good probably do a "road" half marathon in 90-95 minutes. I'll double check to see how far I run - probably a little over the actual half-marathon distance.

All in all a good experience, one that might have been better if I'd done some distance training, or indeed any running training, in the last month. Bet I'm seriously aching tomorrow.

Aggregate of various cycling today. Not much faster than my half-marathon pace...

From home to Waterloo, then Richmond to Ham, Ham to Richmond, Waterloo to Farringdon, St Albans to Iain's house, Iain's house to St Albans, and Farringdon to home.

To/From Victoria. Out in 32m, back in 24m (at 3am on Saturday, so roads empty.)

Along Lea Valley to Tottenham (35m) and Edmonton. Then later to Embankment (35m) and then later back home.

Via Cheapside and Clerkenwell Road.

Along the Regent's Canal. Tearing it up.

To/from the closer office.

Really poor time. Bit of a headwind.

Lincoln City Race. Calves still hurting a little bit from last Monday/Tuesday, but didn't affect my race. Finished 14th out of 33 in the Men's Open race, slightly disappointing result as I didn't make any significant mistakes, but was a little "safe" with some of my route choices. Really enjoyed the map and the course, and felt good, although tired near the end - the actual minimum distance on this course will have been well over 10km.

The start was interesting - the first leg was straight across the water, so you had to make an immediate decision to go left or right, and you were then committed for the next few minutes. Leg 5 was a "trap" leg - if you looked carefully, you realised there was only one way into it, and plenty of dead-ends to trick you. It was necessary to go quite a long way past the control area in order to get to it. Controls 6 and 7 also required careful planning. 10-11 looked only 100m on paper but actually required nearly 500m of running. The race finished with an intense section through the new accommodation blocks at Lincoln University - rows of identical dorm buildings meant counting was required. The last control was up two flights of stairs - but I didn't read the control descriptions until too late so ended up missing it by quite some way.

As with all "sprint" style races, even on this 8km+ course, even minor mistakes count a lot - so I've included them in the analysis:

Mistake analysis:
To 2: Poor route choice - 20s
To 7: Hesitation - 30s
To 8: Poor route choice - 20s
To 9: Poor map-reading - 15s
To 17: Exhaustion - 30s
To 20: Poor route choice - 75s
To 24: Hesitation - 15s
To 26: Poor map-reading - 30s
To 27: Poor route choice - 20s
To 28: Poor map-reading - 30s

Rather than my normal "estimated" mistakes, I've included all legs where my split position was 5 or more places worse than my finishing position. Leg 20 was my costliest mistake, but then the leg was the longest too - almost 1km.

To/from King's Cross. Out via Bank and Holborn in 26 minutes. Back via Old Street and Bethnal Green in 22 minutes.

Gloomy but dry weather. Had a very slight hangover from the previous evening... Running with Paul N and Simon E - the former was in front of me until 4km, when I pulled in front of him. I ran the last km very hard - too hard, actually, and didn't feel too good after crossing the finish line. My pain got me to within 3 seconds of my PB though, so I'm quite happy about that. Paul also got a PB, by a second.

Warm down around the Duck Pond, with Simon and Paul.

To Waterloo, then from Teddington to Bushy Park. Then back to Teddington, then from Waterloo to and around central London and finally back home.