Attackpoint AR - performance and training tools for adventure athletes

Training Log Archive: Ollie

In the 31 days ending Oct 31, 2009:

activity

time

miles

Cycle Commuting

16:43:36

211.45

(4:45)

340.29

(2:57)

Cycling

9:01:32

113.01

(4:48)

181.88

(2:59)

Orienteering

7:24:30

33.1

(13:26)

53.28

(8:21)

835

35 /

230c

15%

Trail Running

40:03

6.21

(6:27)

10.0

(4:00)

Jogging

5:36

0.64

(8:45)

1.03

(5:26)

Total

33:55:17

364.42

(5:35)

586.47

(3:28)

875

35 /

230c

15%

averages - sleep:6.6

3:12

0:00

» now

Saturday Oct 31, 2009 #

Event: Challenge Alaric'O

Orienteering race (Challenge Alaric'o) 1:01:53 [5] ***** 3.83 km (16:09 / km) +190m 12:57 / km
21c slept:3.0 shoes: Adidas Swoop 2s

Middle race at Mourel des Garrouilles, near Montlaur, Carcassonne, in the south of France. Amazing terrain, full of steep and parched bare-earth ridges, some too steep to run off. Also plenty of painful, prickly vegetation in the gullies. Great fun to run in. Got a little confused by the marking of vineyards on the map so took a poor route choice on the long leg between the two interesting areas. The winner (multiple world champion T.G.) took 30:51 - so much for the 40 minute ELT!

Actual distance/HR to follow.

Orienteering race (Challenge Alaric'o) 28:57 [5] **** 2.73 km (10:36 / km) +190m 7:52 / km
17c slept:3.0 shoes: Adidas Swoop 2s

Short night race in la Cite de Carcassonne, on a 1:4000 A5 sprint map. This was my best race of the weekend - despite a big hesitation at the beginning, another big one later on, and my head-torch proving to be totally useless and slipping off my head as soon as a worked up a sweat. Finished only 9 minutes behind the legend T.G. although to be fair he only took 20:03... It was the best result for both me and Jayne, as we are used to running around streets at night, thanks to the active SLOW Street-O series.

The Cite is quite small and so the planner took us in and out of the complex several times - and made good use of the inner and outer walls - with only a few entrances through each set. It was also a pretty hilly course - 190m for a 2.73km course is considerable - in fact very few legs were flat. Great fun. Easy to understand why the race was at night - the Cite is rammed with tourists during the day.

It was very cool watching the shadows of other runners going past the floodlights, being projected up onto the giant walls of the complex.

Friday Oct 30, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 24:19 [3] 8.28 km (2:56 / km)

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 25:42 [2] 8.77 km (2:56 / km)

Thursday Oct 29, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 56:25 [2] 19.25 km (2:56 / km)

Via Tower Bridge, Decathlon and Waterloo Bridge.

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 22:25 [3] 8.46 km (2:39 / km)

Wednesday Oct 28, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 21:47 [4] 8.27 km (2:38 / km)

Going for the record - exited the canal only 15s down, but then the roads were a little slow.

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 22:40 [3] 8.47 km (2:41 / km)

Tuesday Oct 27, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 23:56 [4] 8.31 km (2:53 / km)

Damp and slippy on the ground. Caned it along Euston Road for some reason.

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 23:38 [3] 8.4 km (2:49 / km)

Monday Oct 26, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 42:15 [2] 12.43 km (3:24 / km)

Via Hackney Wick and Stepney Green, also slow as feeling yesterday's race a bit.

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 27:07 [2] 8.83 km (3:04 / km)

Sunday Oct 25, 2009 #

Orienteering (District Event) 1:15:48 [4] *** 8.2 km (9:15 / km) +355m 7:36 / km
ahr:174 max:187 29c slept:8.0 shoes: Adidas Swoop 2s

Running Brown at Lesnes Abbey Woods. near Woolwich in SE London, on a pleasant and sunny day, and not too cold. A tough, physical area, with lots of small but deep valleys, and a lot of green forest (& the map is somewhat out of date.) The course was relentless, with route choices on most legs, and mistakes generally meaning a lot of extra climbing.

Came second, and was in fact leading until quite near the end, when I tired somewhat (my middle section was fast as I was racing the winner head-to-head) and took some poor route choices. Annoyed that I was so close to winning a race, but happy with second place out of over 20 runners on the course. According to my GPS, the actual distance run was around 11.4km (although much of the course was in dense tree cover, so it may have been a little more than this.)

Cycling (To/from Event) 1:56:33 [3] 35.48 km (3:17 / km)

Hackney to/from Abbey Wood, via the Greenway and the Woolwich Foot Tunnel. 50 minutes there, over 1h 5m back (into the end, and very tired after running in a tough race.)

Friday Oct 23, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 33:53 [2] 11.09 km (3:03 / km)

Via Stepney Green & TCR.

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 27:59 [2] 9.21 km (3:02 / km)

Via Broadway Market.

Thursday Oct 22, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 23:18 [4] 8.28 km (2:49 / km)

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 24:13 [2] 8.52 km (2:51 / km)

Wednesday Oct 21, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 26:29 [2] 8.32 km (3:11 / km)

Raining.

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 27:09 [2] 8.61 km (3:09 / km)

Tuesday Oct 20, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 25:54 [3] 9.16 km (2:50 / km)

Via supermarket.

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 32:28 [2] 10.43 km (3:07 / km)

Via Meath Bridge.

Monday Oct 19, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 22:33 [3] 8.28 km (2:43 / km)

Great tow along the canal, then thanked the tower by cutting him up at the exit. Oops...

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 33:40 [2] 11.4 km (2:57 / km)

Via Meath Bridge - cycled to both ends to have a look at it, it's not open yet but will be tomorrow!

Sunday Oct 18, 2009 #

Event: Compass Sport Cup Final

Orienteering race (CompassSport Cup Final) 1:09:33 [4] *** 9.6 km (7:15 / km) +100m 6:53 / km
ahr:173 max:189 spiked:10/20c slept:7.0 shoes: Adidas Swoop 2s

Men's Open (Brown) course, at Fineshade Woods near Peterborough. Small navigational errors to the first five controls, and also messed up the last few controls. Still, pleased with the time. Winning time was a highly impressive sub-50. Not too cool a day, and very dry - all the water features on the map had dried out. Actual distance run was 11.8km.

Cycling (To Event) 42:05 [4] 17.34 km (2:26 / km)
shoes: Specalized MTB Cleats

To Fulham, via Whitechapel, the City and the Embankment.

Cycling (From Event) 47:57 [3] 16.75 km (2:52 / km)
shoes: Specalized MTB Cleats

Via Hyde Park Corner and Angel.

Saturday Oct 17, 2009 #

Event: Cambridge City Race

Orienteering race (City Race) 44:43 [4] ***** 6.53 km (6:51 / km)
ahr:178 max:188 29c slept:5.0 shoes: Gym Trainers

Running Men's Open at the first Cambridge City Race. Actual distance run was 9.55km.

I plodded around a bit, I only made a few small mistakes, and took a couple of poor route choices, but nothing that ever cost me more than 30 seconds - although there were 29 controls, so these small mistakes added up. GG won in 3340. I finished 25th of 77 runners. I didn't think my time was that bad, but loads ahead of me, including a big group at around 41 minutes. Probably could have done with a bit more sleep, as I never felt particularly strong.

Really enjoyed the course, which included full access to three colleges (Pembroke, Downing and Jesus) and a spectacular run through the famous gate at St John's College. Also on the course was the Cambridge Union. The highlight was certainly Jesus College - large, with many quads (or courts, as they say in Cambridge) - and quite technical, with the small paths around the out-of-bounds grassy areas requiring careful map-reading.

It was cool and overcast, but dry. A sizeable amount of the course was on gravel paths rather than roads, so my legs aren't aching too badly now - just as well, with the CompassSport Cup Final race tomorrow.

Friday Oct 16, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 21:39 [3] 8.24 km (2:38 / km)

I am The Machine.

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 24:53 [3] 8.61 km (2:53 / km)

Thursday Oct 15, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 24:17 [2] 8.28 km (2:56 / km)

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 35:46 [2] 10.08 km (3:33 / km)

Via Islington and Hackney Central.

Wednesday Oct 14, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 24:15 [3] 8.28 km (2:56 / km)

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 28:32 [2] 10.28 km (2:47 / km)

Via stop-off at Farringdon.

Tuesday Oct 13, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 23:38 [3] 8.28 km (2:51 / km)

Orienteering (Street Race) 1:00:12 [4] * 12.7 km (4:44 / km)
ahr:172 max:191 spiked:25/40c slept:6.5 shoes: Gym Trainers

SLOW Street-O in Chelsea and Battersea. The River Thames bisected the map, with a choice of three bridges to cross it, and Battersea Park formed the map's south-east quadrant. The start/finish was in the north-east corner.

Concentrated on picking off the control-rich Chelsea, before crossing the river and sweeping southwards. I started to run out of time as I entered Battersea Park, so wasn't able to get many controls in this part of the map, before needed to dash back across Chelsea Bridge, to the start.

Got stuck waiting for traffic to clear in Sloane Square, near the start, and more importantly when recrossing the Embankment right at the end - both times, I wasted a minute. Got a 4-point penalty for being 12s back, so finished with 656 points - fourth place. I would have been third equal, with an extra 3 points for the series scores, if I hadn't been held up! Ed scored 730, narrowly beating Matthias on 710.

My route (anticlockwise):
OpenStreetMap (mapnik) map of the area around 51.48196, -0.16351

OpenStreetMap (mapnik) map of the area around 51.48196, -0.16351

Technical note: There is no significance in the spacing between the black dots - these are just an artifact of the method I've used to create this image, and correspond to OpenStreetMap nodes passed on the way. I wanted to use my GPS track, but there are too many large errors early on due to weak reception, so I recreated the track using BikeRouteToaster, uploaded in to OSM and then used OJW's Static Map API to create the image.

Cycling (From Event) 33:30 [2] 11.69 km (2:52 / km)

From Chelsea, via The Mall. Bike now fixed up with new gear cable and handlebar tape - woo!

Sunday Oct 11, 2009 #

Cycling (To/from Station) 55:00 [2] 16.0 km (3:26 / km)

On Bryan's spare, as mine had an unexpected flat tire this morning...

Orienteering race (City Race) 44:57 [4] **** 7.03 km (6:24 / km)
ahr:177 max:190 17c shoes: Gym Trainers

Chester City Race. A bit wet on the ground (so took care on the cobbles) and started to rain a bit, around half way around. A good race - lots of legs, some of which were dead legs, but also some interesting intricate bits around the city walls and the Rows (historical covered shopping arcades that are raised above ground level.) Went off a bit hard, so started feeling the pain around half-way around - but I also didn't push myself enough on the longer, simpler legs. I did deliberately take a slow route between 5-6, wasting around 30 seconds but getting to run along the historic city walls for a good 500m section.

Actual distance run was 9km. I finished 10th overall out of around 80 - but third open runner, which was an unexpected result. The winner was exactly six minutes faster than me.

Saturday Oct 10, 2009 #

Trail Running race (RPTT) 20:06 [4] 5.0 km (4:01 / km) +40m 3:52 / km
ahr:184 max:197 slept:4.5 shoes: Gym Trainers

A damp and humid morning, but not raining or too chilly. Ran in the Richmond parkrun rather than the usual Bushy Park one - it was Richmond's second anniversary so seemed as good a time as any to try it out. So - yes, it is hillier. It also only just seemed cope with the increased crowd size due to the anniversary - nearly 200. The start is very cramped and it took a few seconds to get across the start line.

For some reason I was convinced that it was a two-lapper, so I was bracing myself for two sets of uphills - when the 2km mark came up without any sign of swinging back to the start, I realised my mistake. I was excited about my second km time - 3:39, until I realised I had just done the downhill bit. There's a 40m drop in the second kilometre, which is climbed back again through the final 2km - hardly the biggest hill in the world but still noticeable. I felt pretty strong for the final section - as at last week at Bushy Park - but my pace was slightly down to the hill. My splits were: 4:13 (took 15s to get a clear space), 3:39 (downhill), 4:02, 4:15, 3:59.

According to the result time confirmation email that, I've just (at 1pm) received - most impressed - I finished 20th (19th man) out of 191.

Because of the anniversary, everyone got a raffle ticket on finishing, then there was a raffle! I was lucky enough to get my ticket number called out, so I'm now the owner of a pair of "Compress RGA" calf guards. There were also free cakes and muffins.

Jogging warm up/down (Warm Down) 5:36 [1] 1.03 km (5:26 / km)
ahr:158 max:166

Cycling (To/from Station) 1:12:56 [2] 23.34 km (3:07 / km)

Bit of a cock-up this morning. I meant to cycle to Homerton (only 600m away) and get the train to Richmond, but I left it a bit fine, and missed the train by about 10 seconds. After a bit of negotiation with the station staff to refund my £4 Oyster card penalty fare (for entering and leaving the same station!) I was thinking about cycling to Richmond, but also realising that it was (a) a long way, (b) not ideal preparation for a 5K run, although it would be one heck of a warm-up, and (c) I would arrive too late for the race anyway. But I spotted a later train going from Waterloo to Richmond, so cycled to Waterloo and got that.

At the other end, a steady ~2km climb up to Richmond Park, but with an utterly breathtaking view across the Thames to Ham and Teddington - the Richmond Hill view must be one of the finest in London?

After the 5K, headed back down Church Hill to the station, and then a slow bike back from Waterloo, via Mare Street to again try (and again fail) to find the missing bit that fell off my bike on Friday.

Note

My lack of genuine training has been called out. Need to do some real training - so I can start "training to race" rather than "racing to train". I would consider the parkruns to be training though.

C • Training 2

Cycling (To/from Party) 1:04:14 [3] 23.61 km (2:43 / km)

Friday Oct 9, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 25:26 [3] 8.53 km (2:59 / km)

Lost the handlebar adjuster for the broken gear cable, on Mare Street of all places. Spent an age trying to find it, without luck.

Thursday Oct 8, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 27:06 [2] 8.31 km (3:16 / km)

Only 2 gears - the top ones! :-(

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 22:10 [4] 8.5 km (2:36 / km)

Maybe the lack of gears isn't slowing me down so much...

Wednesday Oct 7, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 22:12 [4] 8.27 km (2:41 / km)

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 28:20 [2] 8.58 km (3:18 / km)

Wet on the ground. My main gear cable snapped halfway in, so had to limp the rest of the way home :-(

Tuesday Oct 6, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 24:32 [2] 8.3 km (2:57 / km)

Raining - again.

Monday Oct 5, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 25:15 [2] 8.31 km (3:02 / km)

Raining, slippy.

Sunday Oct 4, 2009 #

Note
slept:11.0 (rest day)

Bit of a wasted day, really. Hope it isn't the last fine day of the year, because I sure didn't take advantage of it.

Saturday Oct 3, 2009 #

Event: Maize Maze O

Trail Running race (BPTT) 19:57 [4] 5.0 km (3:59 / km)
shoes: Gym Trainers

5th anniversary Bushy parkrun - they normally do something special for the anniversaries, so I made the long haul down across London to Bushy Park. A windy, but dry day. There were hundreds at the start - many more so than normal, and a lot of people had turned up early for the series prize-giving so it took me a good 10 seconds to cross the start line.

The first km was a bit slow (dodging all the people) and I was a little sluggish on the back straight, I was looking at a time a good 15s over 20 minutes, but managed to pull something spectacular out of the bag for the last 600m or so. For some reason, I didn't feel the usual lactic acid pain and tiredness, so was able to significantly step up the pace - especially for the last 50m when someone said "10 seconds until 20 minutes!". I ran the last 500m in 1m 40.

Finished 89th - the lowest for a long time but then it was by far the biggest BPTT crowd ever - 908 finishers according to the results. Lucozade goody-bag at the finish with a bar, gel and drink, + £5 voucher for Sweatshop - nice! A better goody bag than some pay-to-enter races I've done...

Cycling (To/from Station) 1:02:01 [3] 21.07 km (2:57 / km)

Home->Waterloo (22 minutes), Teddington->Bushy Park and then in reverse.

Orienteering race (Maize-O) 18:18 [4] **** 0.72 km (25:25 / km)
15c slept:5.0 shoes: Gym Trainers

First qualifying run for the Maize Maze orienteering race organised by WCH. My first time in the maze, and just after a cloudburst, so very hesitant at the beginning. I also collided, soon on, with another runner, having completely failed to observe the "pass on the left" rule. The wind, however, wasn't a problem, with the eight-foot-high maize proving to be a great shield. The maze wasn't quite what I was expecting - instead of lots of dead ends, it instead generally consisted of strands of paths weaved around each other without many connections going on. It was still, therefore, extremely difficult, to spot the best routes, especially for some "trick" legs later in the course. Finished 19th out of 109. Actual distance run was 2.34km.

Orienteering race (Maize-O) 16:47 [4] **** 0.93 km (18:03 / km)
20c shoes: Gym Trainers

After a five-minute breather, back into the maze of maize for a second qualifying run. Much better this time - I knew what was going on, how to use the bridges for navigation, and generally just had a better flow. The ground was also drying out quickly, so the many extremely tight corners were less treacherous. Finished 6th out of 111. Actual distance run was 2.33km

Orienteering race (Maize-O) 23:22 [4] **** 1.01 km (23:08 / km)
22c shoes: Gym Trainers

The A final - at night, my first ever night orienteering. I was using Pete H's head-torch as I still haven't got around to giving it back to him from a night cycle in July (sorry Pete!) There was a clear sky and a full moon, which probably helped, but I really didn't find the orienteering too difficult - although some of the later legs were really tricky and I was very hesitant executing the routes. I also made a number of wrong turns and other short, but still annoying, mistakes. Never needed to look at the compass though, which I guess is a good thing. Finished 17th out 32 on the A course. Actual distance run was 2.89km.

Results here: http://www.walton-chasers.co.uk/results/2009/Maize...

Routegadget/map here: http://www.walton-chasers.co.uk/gadget/cgi-bin/rei...

Some photos here: http://www.walton-chasers.co.uk/gallery/2009/Maize...

A great concept, and well executed, congrats to Stodgetta!

My GPS trace for the final looked like this:

Cycling (To/from station) 47:16 [2] 16.6 km (2:51 / km)

To/from Euston, laden with large backpack. Very busy on the canal going in.

A Final - Splits

Friday Oct 2, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 23:43 [3] 8.25 km (2:52 / km)

Thursday Oct 1, 2009 #

Cycle Commuting (In to Work) 24:48 [3] 8.55 km (2:54 / km)

Via Euston station.

Cycle Commuting (Back Home) 29:14 [3] 9.87 km (2:58 / km)

Via IET and Bank.

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