Training Log Archive: Anvil

Usual lunchtime loop. Has been raining all day and was procrastinating but got out there and churned it out.
Went up a new track which took me further up the hill at the back of the common into the 'Roman Diggings' (A couple of old piles of dirt).
Super muddy from the rain, going downhill was dodgy as and up was almost impossible at some points. Followed a new track that quickly became a bridleway. For the Australians here, bridleway roughly translates to 'open strip of forest that should be a track but is instead a shoe swallowing mudpit'
Ankle a bit sore to begin with but cleared up. No sign of shin pain. Happy.

2 bridges night run round the streets at home. This was meant to be a tester of the shins as I was still a bit paranoid about running on hard surfaces. Since I forgot Ipod I was constantly focussing on them - the 'oooh a bit sore', 'I better go back', 'I'd better rest for a couple of weeks' started in about 2 minutes even though nothing actually hurt and my pace was pretty good.
Running back through the industruially area in Wandsworth I scared a fox that scared me back and I tripped and twisted my ankle on the curb. Instantly all perceived pain in my leg was replaced by a very real shooting pain in my ankle. Spent a minute walking it off and cursing foxes then got going again and headed home - it's a little tender today but should be good for the weekend.
Shins totally fine today - that'll teach me to listen to people who aren't me.

Lunchtime run on Epsom Common. Another new track, big fan of this one - it rolls down the first hill and circles round the little fishing lake. Nice, narrow and not muddy at all - ful marks. Felt good.
I mentioned that my shins felt a little odd after my last run to my flatmates, who then convinced me I must be getting shin splits, because I 'run too much' - their words. So I got paranoid and was looking up stretching/strength training preventative techniques. Shouldn't have worries, wasn't a problem at all today. Would have thought the nice soft ground over here would be much better than the hard stuff back home anyway.

After a well deserved sleep in after an action packed Australia Day I decided to head out for a long easy ride. Discovered my new bike already had a flat (admittedly I did test the range of a hybrid bike riding through the common yesterday). So after I picked up a quality replacement tube and pump and replaced the old one, I had about an hour of light left so headed out for a quick ride to Battersea Park and back to Barnes Bridge on the north side of the river.
Still unsure the best way to get around by bike, either roads with continual traffice lights, the signed cycleways that are really indirect or the riverside paths that are swarming with people and a lot of sections you need to dismount.
One notable point I got yelled at by a man in a motorised wheelchair for not getting off my bike. As I politely pointed out I was taking up less space that the people who got off and walked beside their bikes, some guys in the pub yelled out, 'Ignore him, he's a grumpy old fu@k'. Unfortunately, he thought I said that and tried to reverse his wheelchair over me. After I politely pointed out his mistake he rode off, not before running over the foot of a Japanese tourist (I heard him mutter 'bloody foreigners' as he rolled off).

C • haha you're such a trouble ... 3

Running late and only got to the start just 5 secs before the bell, so HR was pretty high when I started and was feeling a bit light headed (bed had only been vacated about 20 mins before).
Started off a bit slow, happy to see the horse from last time helping so wouldn't have to put up with sound effects this time when some old dude who looked about 130 started up with an even louder wheezy breathing - if this guy karks it, I'm not giving him CPR.
Thankfully I slowly pulled away from him through the more technical muddy sections and sped up a bit on the 2nd lap to pick people off to the end. Ended up shaving a whole spanking 2 seconds off the PB, but I'll take it with the less than ideal start!

Getting to and from the race. The way there was more of a 4 intensity, the way back more of a -1 as it's all downhill

Run around Epsom and Ashtead Common. Did the reverse of my usual loop and pick up a few new tracks and now have a loop that's about the right length for a lunchtime run. Still muddy, but have just started plowing on through now instead of pussying around, I end up covered either way so may as well get over it.
Heart rate high at the start again, not really sure why - it might be caffeine levels beforehand?
Started to feel my right shin. Not really sore, just felt it on and off - will have to watch that.

Went out with my top inside out. Felt like a tool so when I got into the forest stripped off and turned it the right way round. Then I dropped it in the mud. Then it got caught on blackberries. Half expected to have a group of girl guides come round the corner as I wrestled with the thorns, but was lucky to be spared that indignity.

C • hehe.. thats funny! That so... 1

Lunchtime run around Epsom and Ashtead Common. Felt like absolute crap, struggling to move the legs for most of it. Some good slapstick on the muddy downhills.

Reverse of the other 2 bridges run. Took me ages to get out of the house and run, just vouldn't be arsed.
Worked out a bit better route with less backtracking and main road running. For all the procrastination I felt pretty good, so pushed it pretty hard down Embankment for the last five minutes.

Rode out to my sisters place in Angel for a roast lunch. She's in the North East, I'm in the South West so it was a fair bit of a pilgrimage. Got stuck in crowds of tourists, outside Westminster on the way there and around London Eye on the way back. I hate tourists.

Went out to Chiswick Park via Barnes Common and over Barnes Bridge. The park was pretty random, statues, perfectly groomed lawns, massive mazey hedges that give way to a forest out the back - would probably make a good sprint area. Came back along the Thames, already all the resolution runners and bikers have gone!

Yay, picked up new bike last night and desperate to take it for a spin so bludged the morning off and went West along the Thames path.
Not really suited to bike, lots of narrow allwyways, steps and tight bends, but saw a lot of interesting areas along the river.
Keen to get out amongst it now I'm free of shitty public transport.

C • jk 2

Decided if I'm gonna start training properly I should add some speedwork, so headed off to the Common at lunchtime for 4x1km with 200m walking recovery. Didn't max out, just tried to keep a steady pace through the uphill/downhill and muddy sections: 3:59, 4:07, 4:11, 3:55. Third one was all uphill so can be forgiven.

Found a thing on iTunes that'll fill my Shuffle with a random selection from my mp3 collection and I've discovered I have a lot of music I never knew about, both good (Portishead, John Butler Trio) and bad (Spice Girls, Pearl Jam).

C • music 2

Recoveries

To and from the Common. Absolutely covered in mud at the end. Awesome.

Evening easy run from home to Battersea Bridge and back along the North bank. Wanted t stay as close to the river as possible but the track is closed at night in places where it's not lit (probably a good thing) so there was a bit of zig zagging going on. Got to see of Hammersmith and Fulham though, but I like the South sy-eeedah better.
Legs felt fine considering yesterdays race - gotta love the soft ground over here.

Yateley Heath and Minley Wood

First time in the bush since Dubbo so glad the terrain was heavy on the tracks and light on the contour detail. Enjoyed the forest, a lot of the course was through pine forest with almost no ground cover. Even though there were lots of tracks you were usually better off going straight through the white.

Struggled a bit on the softer surface than what I was brought up on, spose I'm gonna have to get used to it. Also have to learn that yellow isn't always the fastest option and barging through marshes is a little harder work than back home (gonna have a few embarassing splits).

Course wise, since the navigation wasn't that hard there weren't that many mistakes. Having not seen the splits heres the mistakes:
1. Too low on the hill - 30 secs
7. Hesitant during the leg for no good reason, then sloppy in the circle - 30 secsish
10. Poor route choice. Straight lined through slow yellow (what's that all about), slow light green, boggy marsh
13. Somehow missed a track a track straight through the green that I went round. A thick black dirt road line, not a hard to see indistinct one. Oh the shame. 1:00
16. Lazy parallell error. 1:00
21. Changing route choice part way through and having to run round a patch of yellow (young growth pine forest) that I planned on barging straight though.
23. Almost ran to 24. Subsequently got confused on a picking loop in technical contour stuff right at the end. 30 secs.

So although I thought I had a pretty clean race, tha mistakes did add up. I was in a fairly close cluster in the results as well, so I really lost a lot of places due to a fair few elementary mistakes.

Good to see the club I joined (SLOW - fitting) won the round and get to go to the finals (in October!). Also good that there were 65 people to compare course 1 with, instead of 3. Even better than that was that everyone goes back to the pub for lunch after the race.

C • Map with course 3

Short out and back run along the Thames path to get the legs ready for tomorrow. Already heaps less resolutionists.
Heart rate surprisingly high, lack of sleep may be the issue.

Bought a bike today - planned on going for a ride today but have to wait till Wednesday to pick it up.

Lunchtime easy run around Epsom Common to stretch the legs out from the streets the day before.
The trails were the muddiest I've seen so far. Went along a track I haven't done yet which must be a main thoroughfare, slipping and sliding every which way - came back covered in mud up to the knees. Realised after I got out of the shower I'd trailed mud though work. Lucky no one saw me come in.....

Monthly street score event at Hinchley Woods. A bit further out from London but on my way home from work so easy for me. Have picked up some version of Whooping Cough on my flight back from Italy, thought it wasn't really that bad, but my HR was pretty high and I felt pretty flat for most of the run.
As it was a bit out of London there wasn't the density of streets the last couple of races have had, but I still managed to make a 2.5 minute turning off a street too early between #18 and #24.
The course looked like it was possible to get all the controls, so I planned a loop that got all of them up one side of the map (into a big cluster of high scoring ones at the opposite end) with the plan to collect most of the other ones on the other side on the way back. Got to the furthest out one and realised I'd done about 40% of my planned loop in 35 minutes. It was a long slog back down the main highway (into the wind) picking up about half of the planned controls. Got back 1.5 minutes late to hear the organiser telling people who were starting, "Remember the map scale for this event is 1:12500". Now he tells me!

Out along the Thames path from my place to Hammersmith Bridge and back along the otherside to Putney Bridge - which will henceforth be known as the 2 Bridges loop.
Was meant to be an easy jog to stretch the legs after yesterdays effort ended up having a few surges to pick off runners in front of me. Every man, woman, child, their dog and new Christmas bikes were out today, the sooner NY resolutions wear off and people go back to being lazy the better.

Took Jess on a tour of my local parks. Was meant to meet Seb at Richmond Park but he didn't turn up (cause he's gay).
Headed over to Wimbledon Common and back home through Putney Heath. Took a little longer than planned, med everywhere didn't help! Got a stitch towards the end, probably just a little out of form.

C • Seb 2