Training Log Archive: Leon

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