Training Log Archive: Anvil

After the middle and long debacles I decided to go back to basics, take it easy and enjoy the last 2 races. Considering all we'd heard about the technical difficulty of Naseby it wasn't such a bad idea.
Was actually coming 5th after the 2nd control, which is kinda funny cause I was only going slightly faster than walking pace. Came unstuck on the 3rd and 4th due to more green on the ground than mapped (that we were warned about) and interesting interpretations of cliffs (that we were not).
Had an absolute shocker on #7, ten minutes wasted. Long leg across the map, I came out of the open "shit" area exactly where I planned, but thought I hadn't. Picked up a track I thought should take me into the circle, but it was actually one that took me off the map. Normally I'd take the blame for this, but the track was mapped in light green where it was actually nice pine forest and when I went off the track to get my bearing there was all this massive unmapped mining which totally threw me! Did the bail to obvious feature to discover I was so close to the control I was a little annoyed.
Nothing of note for the rest, the butterfly loops were really fun - forest was awesome and the mining detail was simple, was disappointed not to do it at full speed (blister pads had come off by then). The next section in the open wasn't so bad if you stayed high and the final control pick was simply a case of following the line of old people!
Really enjoyed just running and appreciating the terrain. From all the talk, it felt no different to me than the tin mining up at St. Helens.

Well that's another good race wasted.
Started off well, caught my 2 minute man at 3 and my 4 minute man at 7 so was pretty happy, though I'd wasted 20-30 secs in the circle at 5 and 8. Overran 9 to see Robbie and Mikku the Finn pass me. Tried to stick with them, noticed on the way to 10 my GPS had turned off, so fiddled with it for a bit to get it going again while keeping the leaders in my sight. Get the GPS going again and get map contact back.... seems we were on the way to 11 and I'd somehow missed it when the other 2 punched 10. The lesson here is if there's an equipment malfunction, forget about it and focus on the race - idiot.
Was OK without major time loss through to 15, but felt like I wasn't running very fast - then I pretty much hit the wall (about 4ks into the race). Lose time on pretty much every control after that, including 6 minutes drifting a long way to the right on 19. Finish about 20 minutes down on the leaders.
I've got a few theories why I'm struggling with course lengths now considering 2 months ago I was flying through a 12km course in the Forest of Dean or 16ks through the Venice alleys with no worries, but I'll just see how the last 2 days go first.

I was actually looking forward to this - first classic length course since the the Brit Champs last year, I was thinking this was where my half marathon training would show through - didn't at all. Everything seemed to go wrong, was orienteering like a muppet, had no energy and either my shoes have shrunk or my feet have grown since coming home - in addition to the massive blisters I picked up yesterday I now have blood blisters under most of my toenails.
First DNF of the year, and hopefully the last. I probably should have pushed through it - sounds like everyone else also hit the wall somewhere between 14 and 22. Was a good area for a classic and good course. Htfu needed stat.

Was 3rd leg runner, originally thought I'd be in a punter team - then our first leg runner (a Finn) comes back about second and Reuben comes back in third about 20 secs behind Ben and about 2.5 mins down on the kiwis! Bloody oath!
So I head out surprisingly unfazed and just decide to do my own thing. Spy Simon on the way to 1 and punch 2 before him, get 3 no worries, head off to 4 and hear some pine needles crunching, look behind expecting Simon and it's the Kiwi - you didn't read that wrong, I was in the lead at that point! We stay loosely together through to the first run through and I never see the Kiwi again for the rest of the race. Simon and I have the same splits and I see him periodically but I'm on my own for the rest of the race pretty much. Pretty clean through to 13, but I'm starting to tire - go to 15 before 14 and then can't find 15 again, loose time on 16 where the green doesn't match the ground. Then it all fell apart - could not find the track I was planning on taking to 18 (other also had issues), but instead of bailing and choosing another option I thrashed about in some very thick green looking for this track - about 4 minutes wasted there. Then stupidly I try to use the *same* track to 19, which I do pick up, but then loose it and get totally disoriented - just have no idea and can't make anything fit. Spend about 5 minutes in complete confusion until Ecmo and another bloke come through and save me. Nothing special to report for the rest, but some bad blisters were making it way too hard to run uphill.
Kind of annoying race in that I was doing so well to begin with, especially the first loop and just fall apart at the end. Good to race under pressure, to keep up with the top guys and still run my own race though (for most of it!).
Great area too - especially the southern section.

Ended up being quite a long warm up, there was some sort of Bermuda triangle out there for the 2nd leg runners!

Decent, but not brilliant start to the week.
My (new) shoe came off crossing the fence out of 9 and landed in a ditch filled with manky water - I think about 15 seconds or so there. Got very disoriented coming out of 19 as my planned path north out of the circle didn't seem to be there, just a block of vegetation - faffed around trying to decide what to do until my minute man burst out of the veg, the path was just super overgrown (when was this area mapped?), about 25 seconds there. Minor wobbles at 1, 8, 14, 18 and 21.
Great area for a sprint, lots of small densely located buildings for complexity and larger ones for route choice. Shame about the mapping; I'm not sure if this is ISSOM standard, but having six kinds of green for various vegetation (4 shades of green and 2 densities of hatching) is too much. It's impossible to differentiate at speed and when the darkest green is illegal to cross - it ruins a the enjoyment of the course, I spent most of this course in a state of paranoia that I had accidentally DSQd myself after 8 (a control in a clearing surrounded by green).
Whoever did the mapping just went overboard with this, and whilst walking back through the course, was not consistent. Shame really, all the ingredients were there for a cracker race.

Decent warm up and bit of a warm down trying to remember the course.

Headed out to Spencer Park with Ryanetta and Em to do some sand dune reconnaissance in preparation for Tuesday. Did some trains for most of it then Ryan and I just ran together after Emma bailed.
Thoughts: Yellow was awful - overgrown to almost impenetrable at times. The map is 3 years old so hopefully it won't be so bad on Tuesday.
White was awesome, superfast and quite easy to read the dunes - though they did get more complex closer to the beach.
Lots of tracks, seems like the best option will be to go out and in again whenever the vegetation gets even a little bad.
Warm day too - high 20s!