Training Log Archive: Leon

Flat Cap 5 Trail Race - 2nd, 29:39
Knee troubled me in warm up and warm down but can't say it had an effect in the race. Very damp conditions.
Amazed to find myself in the lead after 200m, so eased away through Chickenley tunnel, feeling very comfortable. Nick Hooker then eased his way up to me, despite his pre race assurances that he was just 'out for a run'. Which I had taken with a pinch of salt.
We then enjoyed a very pleasant two miles across the fields and trails towards Ossett and Horbury as we opened up a sizeable gap whilst I felt great. After the factory however the going got very slippery and I was struggling for traction severley in my racing flats whilst Nick in his Pegasus edged away with slightly more grip.
The rest of the race was hard work then as I tried to close the gap and I suspect he tried to maintain it. Got it down to about 5m entering the last mile on the canal but the Kid's raw speed kicked in and he was about 20s by the end, with a minute back to third.
Great fun, I used to do lots of races like this when I wasn't as fast and probably should again.

A very disjointed run, 2.4m from the station to SLS with bag, stretching, then group warm up round woods, 1.7m, then hung around for my massage.

Which is actually next Tuesday.

So ran back to station at a push to make train an hour earlier than planned.

3 days off, 2 days of drinking, but hadn't felt my knee pain so conclusion was this wasn't a problem.
Still fairly hungover took Dad on an out and back down Loggerheads trail, was wetter than I expected. 24:30 for 3 miles, then I ran alone down the main road to Mold, upped it several gears up and over the hill, a 5:50 for a mile that was 75% uphill and then a 4:55 down the other side, floating along. Was thinking downhill reps are a good way to get some leg speed.

East Garforth to Methley via Old railway.
Pleasant run, knee in a lot of pain to begin with, but it dulled as I went on, not v.comfortable. Ticking along at 7:30's, a good path to do some tempo work on in future.

Run with Pete along Dalesway, Otley branch, up to West Chevin Road and down ridge end path. Nice and easy, had a good chat.
Knee pain throughout, pretty sure this is IT Band, it didn't ease off, hurts when walking even.
Have booked massage for Tuesday. Will try to tick along until then, but not much running going to get done anyway as on a Stag weekend...

Didn't feel like hanging around today so attacked a couple of segements on the Riverside, not absolutely flat out but at 95% so felt like I was working hard but had another gear. Got 2nd on 2 of them, the guy holding them is quite good though so will take a real effort to get either.
Was shocked to be overtaken while doing 5:50's on the way back by a guy in skins, doesn't happen every day, but fair play! (Though he did stop after 100m)

Nice run with Matt, Mick and Leon
Dalesway to Burley woodhead, then up climb to moor bridleway, back down via wooded ginnel and past Hemit, back through Hag Farm and across fields, alongside railway back to Menston.
Good to have company. Right knee in a bit of pain, suspect IT band is tightening, so prob won't run tomorrow lunch as planned. Could need a massage.

Finally achieved a long held aim (?!) of getting across the stepping stones over the Wharfe and up to Askwith.
Only problem was I didn't know what to do when I got there (pub is closed, hopefully not permanently but doesn't look good). Considered going up and over top of Middleton Woods but ran back down lane and got train home from Ben Rhydding.
Very pleasant run, if sticky. Views up the dale were amazing.

Hull Urban Race, 1st, 42:52

Went very smoothly. No real errors, though can't say it was that technical, just a few small traps to watch out for and a few route choices to get right.

Probably 6-7 was the only one where I could have saved more than 5 seconds I reckon, came out east and then took the road due east, when coming out west and the road angles slightly northwards would have saved a few meters.

Legs started to say no after about 30 minutes, but clung in there and managed to hold pace somewhere between 6:20/6:30. Every stop at a control was a real grind to get back up to speed. But knowing you've had a clean run helps.

Nice area, worth a wander round.

1 mile warm up, .35 warm down. Calves stiff so abandoned warm down

Peter Pan parkrun - 1st, 16:41
A pleasant surprise to run this time after effectively 10 days off, my 2nd quickest parkrun ever out of the 44 I've done. But it did come up on my Garmin as 0.05 short.
Usual fast start from others, splits were 5:22/5:26/5:29
Was working quite hard last lap but the other two felt good
Pancake flat course, 3 laps, 60/40 tarmac to grass, slight breeze in face along back straight and slightly uneven firm grass here but not a real issue
No-nonsense briefing too which was good

Course difficulty - 2/10
Park scenery - 4/10

(No time for warm up)

All today's various warm ups and downs!

Yorkshire Sprint Champs, Hull Uni

Race 1, m/p (15:56)
Well it was bound to happen sooner or later! Mispunched at #10 which was the other side of the road corner from a control on course B, so an understandable mistake in a sprint really. Not mispunched before. However, wouldn't have happened had I run all the way round the building instead of taking the diagonal route through the courtyard which left me facing the wrong control instead of the right one.
Was also scrappy though 2, not crossing the crossable fence and running round the block, 3 by not spotting the gap in the fence, and 9, should have run round but was very hesistant and went up the steps.
Managed to fight my legs from 11 onwards and would have salvaged an average run if it weren't for the mp.

Race 2, 1st, 14:08
Off first! This was a pretty damn good run. Was clean and decisive, and leg speed good, however actually slightly slower than this morning, so everyone else must have been slower or run further! Could have broken 14mins had I cut across the car park 14-15 but didn't do this. Slight hesitation before realised 6 was at top of steps, indeed route choice back out of 5 wasn't the best, as Dave was just as quick continuing on out of 5. Finally almost went to 18 from this mornings race which would have been a disaster but managed to correct after a few steps the wrong way.

Good courses and good fun, very intense, I think there is room for a couple more events like this in the calendar rather than trudging round moorland, but I appreciate that is a minority opinion!

What a glorious evening, ran down the Dalesway, right and did a loop of the fields up to the railway at Burley, then down the private road back to Menston, along to the station and up to home. Not breathing fantastically, but getting there. The type of evening to run further, but that wouldn't have been very sensible

Had to get out there, on what by reckoning was the hottest day yet.
Ran with Dave up the Chevin end path from the Ghyll and swung back via the pub and farm and back past station. Amazing views. Legs fine, but chest a little tight, could have been far worse however.

Getting there, but still some crap on my chest

So far today, feeling better but still coughing regularly.

Been to Doctors, anti-biotics it is, should be right by weekend.

Cycling about putting out all the Baildon controls. This took 3.5 hrs.
I think the fact I am not too well helped me not get too wound up, let everything wash over me really, could have been a stressful day:
- Control threatened by man upset people were leaning over his Fushcia. Apparently he had a number of comings together with competitors, according to the regular reports coming in to us at the finish. Couldn't understand what the fuss was about as I distinctly remembered attaching it to a grill in the entrance to this block of flats. Removing it, there was a fuchsia bush underneath to be fair, but I honestly hadn't registered it, and neither had Ian controlling. The man (in his own words!) wanted blood. Wittered onto me for about 10 minutes but I refused to bite, except when he complained that the orienteers were noisy and waking someone in his flats who worked nights, I laughed and pointed out the children running and screaming around a paddling pool 20m behind him. He then accused me of having an attitude problem and not wanting kids to enjoy themselves. Unfortunately symptomatic of modern Britain where everything is a problem until it doesn't affect you, when people cease to care and/or see the bigger picture.
- Control taken away by police as a suspect package - WHAT!! Amazingly this was the nearest control to the start. Would a bomb really have an orange/white flag attached to it? Unfortunately I ran out of explanatory tickets to attach to the controls.
- Another control threatened by someone who didn't like people running past their front door.

As for the courses, most people seemed to enjoy the topographical challenge, and jokingly complained about the amount of climb, though I could sense some resentment in there. One person was particularly nasty about it at the finish, again I ignored them, hope they have calmed down now.
A few points
Overall start was 40m higher than finish, any loop would have contained climb at some point if you take the number of contours on the map into account.
Initially start was planned to be higher than the finish but the (subsequently cancelled) Baildon carnival meant we had to move. The start field was far more suitable as a start venue than a finish venue, and you would have then had the 40m climb to the finish.
Courses flowed a lot better in a clockwise loop, plus I wanted the town centre bits to be when people were more tired.
I accept course 1 went up and straight back down Baildon bank, but (and this applies to any complaints about elevation really) I've done many terrain courses that have sent you up and down significant graidents for one or two controls, so what's the difference? Plus urban is more runnable as a general rule.
Some people commented on the amount of 'dead running', all I can say is I used the area as best I could, a lot of the initially promising bits of the map were dead ends/OOB/or straightforward route choices. I'm glad some people recognized this and commented accordingly.

As more of an urban orienteer than traditional, I've not really been one for commenting on the nature of course planning. Maybe I haven't developed a significant enough value judgement base yet, but I tend to just take what I'm given and run with it, excuse the pun. I can recognise the good legs when I see them, but don't see simple legs as bad, so long as the map retains sufficient interesting legs amongst the rest. Perhaps I've not come across an event bad enough to merit negative comment yet, but also in urban I'm always running fast enough to make a mistake possible, so you have to stay on your toes on every leg.

To cap the day off (!!) collecting controls, the bag fell from my shoulder, caught in front wheel. Over handlebars, knocked out (foolishly left helmet in download). Woke up no idea where I was. Superfical damage to right side. More substantial damage to bike, ie need new front wheel. Huge thanks to the two old ladies who came to my aid, restoring my faith in human nature

C • Fun course, really enjoyed ... 3

Haworth sprint prolouge - 1st, 15:46

Up all night coughing and blowing nose.
Abandoned plan to do Burnley parkun but thought I would sweat it out doing this.
Did not feel up to it really, was running at about 85% but it felt like 110%
Slight errors to #2 and #4, then #10 got stuck in thick undergrowth and had to back out onto trod trampled by everyone else I found. Should have stuck to thoughts of going right round on hard path. Otherwise no map issues, surprised to come first feeling so bad physically.

Some very light trotting, plus control collection afterwards

Penistone Hill chasing sprint - 8th - 20:03

A tricky area, two big mistakes.
Plus first two far too hesistant adjusting to 1:7500 so stopped short on both.
In past I would have ran straight past, still trying ti find right balance.
Overtook Dave to 3, but he cut gap by cutting across sheep trod I didn't see.
3-4 was good
4-5, first big error, looking at GPS ran right up to it without seeing it, so diverted west and stumbled across Dave also lost, so assumed he must be right and it was nearby to this area. After a bit of running about decided to stop and look at map and eventually got to the right place after several stops.
6 a little hesistant but OK
7 in order to keep running ran down quarry and up side, could have done with staying high
8 9 10 11 12 fine as evidenced by the splits, but helped by the number of runners now about
13 went AWOL, for some reason crossed past lake instead of turning right at the lake, can't explain why I did that and struggled to realise where I had gone wrong at this point, except it's obvious once the race is run
Jogged in after that as knew Dave had gone past me.

Up all night in hotel in Southampton with horrendous sore throat and cough, felt bad since an hour into boat from Caen. No morning run then

Big effort up the hill from hotel into Avranches, only to discover the station was down the hill on the other side of town. Not sure I could have avoided it. 4th on the segment, but the French don't seem to do Strava

Google maps helpfully pointed out the tow path down the river (or is it a canal?) from the town to the port, so in order to get something worthwhile done today, decided to nail it (with rucksack). Only problem was the wind was straight in your face, strongly. Became very hard, very quickly. But I stuck at it, decent effort.

TT to the TT
Mont St Michel was approx 30m away from motel in St Malo and we faffed a bit before we got going. Andy started to crank the pace up, but once we hit the sea road he really cranked it up, and I was hanging on tucked in behind at a solid 21mph. Tried to go on drop bars but right knee really didn't like this. Overtook loads of cyclists until two Frenchman pulled out from a side road. After a little Tour conversation between us they said they would take us to Mont St Michel, and off we went, at an even higher pace, in a chain gang. Poor Martin was out the back door as soon as we hit 23-24. I managed a mile at the front at 24 and was absolutely gasping. Great fun though. We did about 7-8 miles before they guided us down some country lanes where the road quality was A65-esque so we had to slow down. Got their before first rider, which was an unexpected bonus

Cycle back from the 8k point in the TT to the motel in Avranches. Endless cavalcade of camper vans. Plus the wind in our face the whole way, organisers quite kind on the riders really. Got to hotel just as Saxobank minivan pulled into Ibis opposite. Mr Contador got out. Evidentally still loved by the Spanish. Looked quite pissed off, perhaps his diet wasn't up to scratch today?

Run round edge of St Malo
Felt very heavy legged
Not much to see either, but didn't risk running further

Lap of Jersey - steady cycle
Anti-clockwise, pace wasn't easy, some parts were quite hard, but you are never in for a easy ride with Andy. Some interesting little climbs, lovely views, blue skies matched with blue seas. Stopped for a coffee after 30m. Worked hard last 9, felt good.

Treadmill tempo
Decided to inject some solid quality into training, with added Aircon courtesy of the hotel gym.
Progression 5m as follows
6:32
6:02
5:40
5:20
5:20
Nearly upped it again for last mile but decided might not make the 5
Pleased with that though

Got the boat to Herm, and decided the best way to explore was by running round its sandy paths and trails, a beautiful place. Boat was packed as you'd expect in a heatwave, most people looked suprised to see a runner but one of the leaflets I picked up told me of the Herm fun run next month. Run was steady but undulating and the sand made much of it harder than normal.

Anti-clockwise lap of Guernsey
Bizarre Filter signs caused some confusion.
Worked fairly hard for the most part, sadly couldn't see very far out to sea due to fog, which was threatening a cricket match in progress! First half was very flat, then there was a climb and we stayed high before dropping bike into St Peter Port. Lovely pace to things here, strange mix of French and English to everything really.

Gave it 15 mins before heading out for a run, felt very good straight away! Dropped down to the harbour and tried to run round the headland but a massive set of steps full of tourists ended that plan so I ran back up the hill and did 3 laps of the block the hotel was on at a fairly fast pace. A great afternoons work

Not much time for training today. Did cycle across London, but very slowly due to being weighed down with other peoples bags from last weekend, so hardly counts as anything.

Lovely run with Dave, Leon & Rod over Bradford GC, down the wooded valley at the bottom, up the bridleway to the edge of Burley Moor, past the reservoir and along Hawksworth way.
For me, the pace was an absolute amble, but it was nice and social.
Given my legs still feel battered from the weekend, this can be no bad thing.

From Interchange to start, then a bit further and doubled back

Bowling Park O, 3rd.
Messed up 6 as couldn't get through the 'white' but neither could anyone else it seems. Got through the messy (& smelly!) woods at the top end fine, then got very confused as to which parts of the cemetery were allowed and took a longer than necessary route. But the real balls up was a 90 degree error out of 17, quite inexplicable really.

Collecting Controls

Round Baildon taping control sites.
Legs felt terrible to start but OK by end.
Raining, as it has on 4 out of my 5 trips round now.

C • Rain 2

Quads in a vice
Calves like glue
Not Very Nice
But I came through