Training Log Archive: Ollie

The two Munros NE of Ben Cruachan. Fab day, started below the clouds, hit them at 700m and then, thanks to a temperature inversion, was above the clouds from 900m upwards. Amazing to see the Munros above a sea of clouds, plunging back into them for the traverse between the two. It was probably warmer on the tops than in the valley down below.

Part of the JOK New Year trip.

C • Amazing also 3

An Caisteal and the Munro behind and to the West of it. The Munro behind had a technical and exposed climb up from the col, the return bypassed it but still required care due to the exposure and icy conditions. I failed to climb this Munro back in 1996 - via the bypass route - due to thicker ice and lack of crampons.

A long day today, we ended up in a different valley to the start, and I wasn't looking forward to a long walk along the road back to the car - thankfully one of the other parties was able to give us a lift.

Part of the JOK New Year trip.

Ben Lui and the low one behind it, from the North West. Part of the JOK New Year trip. Icy in places, but not too much snow. Cold, but not cold enough for the bogs at the bottom to have frozen. Misty at the summits, but cleared up completely later one, as we started to descend.

Slightly embarrassingly, we submitted the wrong peak on Ben Lui. Another party of hillwalkers spotted us and remarked we had missed the top, so we reascended the 50m or so we had dropped, to visit the true summit.

Part of our party had plunged down too far to be called back, so the party split and the final part of the walk was at a more leisurely pace - none of this running down the valley malarky.

ELO Festive Frolic at Vogrie, near Edinburgh. The event was a one hour score with a twist - controls had dominos attached and you could only punch a following control which matched one of the previous domino numbers (e.g. after a 1-5 control, the next control had to have either a 1 or a 5).

The allocations weren't completely random, and after a bit of running around, you could spot the pattern needed. I managed to get most of the controls, but didn't have time in the end to visit the nearest three, and a couple more didn't have the right numbers for me, right at the end of the race.

The area is quite small, but contains a number of deep gullies, one of which caused me a few minutes of problems clambering through - any mud was frozen though as it was a cold and clear morning.

I finished a pleasing 4th, out of around 50. My dad also managed to finish in the top half, despite not realising how the domino sequencing worked. Results.

No GPS as it ran out batteries at the start (which also meant no clock, not ideal for a score.)

I visited Vogrie a lot when I was much younger - I think I was a member of the Saturday morning young wildlife club. As so often the case, everything felt much smaller, when running around it as an adult.

Still keeping away from the cold, with this bug, so missed the SE Score Champs today.

Bleugh. Gone down with something - the man flu?

Lost my cycle computer somewhere outside Waterloo Station - it must have jumped out of its holder. Also got a broken link in my brand new chain - not impressed.

SLOW Street-O in Putney. Unlike my great run at Bloomsbery a couple of weeks ago, I really messed this one up. My aim was to get all the 40-pointers - but these were in two groups on either side of the map, with lots of low scoring ones in between. Needless to say I ran out of time, at the far end of the map, and had to sprint back without having got two of the 40-pointers. There are also definitely problems with a couple of sections of the map, which got me thoroughly lost just when I didn't need to be.

Interestingly, the Putney map was one of my case studies for my summer MSc dissertation, which I'm hoping to put online imminently.

(More details to follow)

Via VPR.

Started raining at Broadway Market, so speeded up.

Cycling from Chelmsford to Danbury village along NCR1 - alternately muddy and frozen on the off-road sections. Then OSM tracing around Danbury, at a much lower pace. Then a careful cycle down icy, frozen roads to Hatfield Perevel. Finally, cycling back home from Stratford, via the Greenway.

Animation of the GPS tracklogs (I'm in green.)

CHIG local event at Wanstead Park and Bush Wood, running the top course, a Blue. I first ran here in June, and didn't enjoy the large amount of green vegetation, spilling across the paths in places. But it's an area near to where I live, and I was willing to give it a second chance - in theory, the vegetation should have died down by now.

It was still pretty green out there, but it was nice to run around the park and visit the various ponds. I started out quite fast, but made a couple of mistakes and some poor route choice decisions. Nearer the end I slowed down somewhat, and coupled with a couple more map-reading errors, (and red-brown on green which is quite hard to read!) meant that I didn't get around all that quickly. I'm impressed with the winner's time of 41 minutes though. I think I ended up around third, although I may not be classified in the results as I started well after registration had ended, so was running "informally" - my time is based on my GPS.

Out on the course I narrowly missed getting clobbered by a golf ball from the neighboring golf course - it whizzed past my head - if I had been half a second slower it would have been a direct hit.

Still not convinced by Wanstead Park, but, if only cows and sheep (and deer?) were introduced into the park, to get rid of all the vegetation, it could be a good area. Certainly, the park is a shadow of its former self - it has a fascinating history, and there are various clues to its past - mysterious mounds, an ornamental view to the lake, and curiously shaped artificial islands. Wikipedia has an interesting article about it. Apparently it once was as grand as the gardens of the palace of Versailles. Perhaps that is reason enough to visit.

After saying the time wouldn't be beaten, I did manage it today, and I wasn't even trying. However, I was a bit late in, and the traffic levels were much lighter than normal - which definitely helped with the momentum. Via VPR.

From Paddington, late at night.

Via VPR. Very wet on the roads.

Damp on the ground, so cautious.

From Savoy Place - coincidently the same distance to home as the normal commute. However going through the City, after the rush hour has finished, is definitely faster.

This is the time that will not be beat for a while - after a weekend of no action (didn't even leave the house yesterday) I had plenty of energy, and was determined to see how much of a difference the £150 upgrade to my bike last week made. The real difference was at the start - I exited the park around a minute early (i.e. 5m) and also left the canal at 14m 57, a minute up from my previous best time. Hit 42km/h going down Pentonville Road. Euston Road was busy as normal but got lucky with the lights. I did cut up quite a lot of people on the canal though, so I think I'll take it easier now I've proved I can get in in sub-25 minutes.

Still loads of energy, and bike now really smooth after those repairs - record breaking time home.