Training Log Archive: Ollie

Control-site checking with Simon (controller) for the JOK Chasing Sprint later in February. Lots of work still to do.

Lincoln City Race.

I enjoyed this race immensely, in fact I preferred it to the previous one I ran in, back in 2007, due to getting to run through the historic castle, properly into the ruins of the Bishop's Palace, and only having the climb up the big hill once this time!

Some "evil" planning, including a control four flights of steps up a gantry - you saw the control as you can around the corner - suspended well above you!

Loved it. Edinburgh was slightly more technical a race, but Lincoln was slightly more "fun" - both were excellent and well worth the extended trip.

No HR/actual distance info as I put my GPS in the wrong bag this morning...

Event: EUOC Burns Weekend
 

City of Edinburgh Race.

A great, twisting course which was concentrated around the Southside area and along the Royal Mile. Unlike last year, didn't get disqualified, and had a pretty clean run, apart from falling into a few small traps - I couldn't have improved much.

The winner ran took 35:46, but everyone else took over 39. I finished 32nd out of 141 on the long course (25th out of 60 in my class.)

Actual distance run: 9.5 km.

LOK Hampstead street race. Very confusing around the Hampstead village, with lots of steep, twisting and dimly lit alleys. Hampstead is extremely affluent, with lots of large houses, empty, windy roads, and security lights. There were also a suprising number of paths, and lots of hills. At one point, it felt like I was going across part of the Heath (not a great idea at night!)

I had a generally good run - I ran out of time slightly at the end, having to miss one close control, and arriving back six seconds late. The penalty was only two points, so I ended up with 258 points (most controls being worth 10 points, although I got 3 20-pointers, so found 23 controls altogether.

Legs pretty sore the morning after, and the back is niggling - it does hurt running on tarmac for an hour, and I'll be doing that twice more in the next 48 hours - at the Edinburgh City Race tomorrow and the Lincoln City Race on Sunday.

SLOW Evening Street-O in Wimbledon. Don has made a great map, and planned some fiendish controls, with various traps. There were also some big hills - one of the controls required you to run up to the top and then quote the gradient on the steep-hill warning sign at the top...

I had a slightly different plan to normal - instead of collecting the nearby ones first, I left them to the end. This meant judging how long they would take, which I got spectacularly wrong, missing two of them and getting a two-minute penalty. Without the penalty, I would have finished joint first, as it was I finished firth - just beaten yet again by Mike and Steve, out of a large field of 58 runners. Ed decided to get more controls than he needed, so got a large penalty and so ended up beaten by many.

HR still a bit low, I'm still being a bit apathetic about racing at the moment. I've got a lot coming up - a long and physical course in Ashdown Forest on Sunday, and running in both the Edinburgh and Lincoln city races the following weekend.

Initial planning for the JOK chasing sprint - had a look at the terrain, concentrating on the start and finish areas. Discovered a few things which mean a bit of re-planning will be required.

Possible route for a future VPTT: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2478311

Urk - woke up with bad back.

I've created a group, JOK - to join it, go to http://www.attackpoint.org/joingroup.jsp?groupid=1...

The aim is to see who in JOK is going to which of the summer multi-days.

Eastern four Mamores, from Mamore Lodge above Kinlochleven. Once again a very pleasant day for walking - thin mist on the first summit, but generally clear on the other three. Great views to Ben Nevis. Last part of the walk was in proper darkness. Included a spectacular 100m slide off the NNW ridge of Binnein Mor with ice-axe controlled braking.

Final day of the JOK New Year trip.

Special 45-minute score training event on Airds Park East, near Oban. One point for each of the 19 controls available, and one point off per minute late back. Amazingly, I finished second to Ed, out of around 15 of us running, despite only getting the "middle" 11 controls, and finding the terrain tough, as all the good people were late back. I had carefully allowed just enough time to get back from the last control.