Training Log Archive: ba-ba

HFW. Felt a bit leggy and this was a bit harder than it should have been.
Teesside in a nutshell moments:
1.) Small kid playing on road with a hammer.
2.) Cocks chalked on the pavement
3.) Dining room furniture out front of the house

Did see some goslings though.

C • Not Cock 1

Took some photos at tees Barrage 10k in the morning (glad it wasn't EOD as I'd probably have gone for it, could do with an easy week ahead of Fairfield)
Andy Minster invited me out for a trot down the Esk Valley. Got the train out to Danby (been spoilt all my life with the Hope Valley line,but this is almost as picturesque, and with no tunnels!) the trotted down to Egmont for a cheeky pint or 5 (and some excellent chips - can still taste the dripping on my fingers!) before getting the train back. Heard this would be rammed with Bank Holiday revelers from Whitby, but was fairly empty.

Felt tired on the climbs but otherwise matched Andy. Tried out my new Salomon watery pack as may need it at Jura. Other than a daft clip on the front it's very comfy.

GENTS: was informed about a 'Gallon run' - there's eight pubs situated over 8 miles along the valley. Train to the far end and train back after. Do the maths. (potential for a risky night in 'boro after...)

1st leg with Peter and Duncan backing me up. I'd told myself that we were in with a shout for the podium battle. The limiting factor was my performance.
A bit sloppy through the first 7 controls, but still within sight of teams I wanted to be near. Went through a bit of a bad patch across to 10, but was perking up again before spannering 4-5 minutes on the pre-spectator. Pretty sure I was very close before following someone into the long gaffle control further up the (same) gully then second guessing myself before searching in a lot of other patches of forest.
Turned the air blue, gave it toes through spectator before dying a bit on the last loop out on my own.

bottoms. I can orienteer OK, just often forget that I can, don't take a step back, then panic.

Pick myself up, dust myself off and all other hackneyed expressions and do better next time.

loosener once home. Meant to keep it steady but got into a bit of a race with a guy in army pants and next thing I knew the pace increased as I passed him.

Event: British Orienteering Championships 2013
 

SL:17.0/580m. Winner: Murray Strain 93:37 (127%)
The M25 timed our arrival to perfection, hitting the assembly field with 10 minutes to spare.

A little scrappy in the circle throughout, but generally minor losses <10s. A couple slightly larger at 4 (too right), 13 (in the 'flys with Eddie, overshot as neither of us were navigating) and 17 (slope control in the 'fly - aware of dropping too much, ended up being way high and 24 (shambled into the LG too far right) of about 40s each. Bearings generally good.
Ran with Tom from 19-24. He got away when I missed and I was struggling a bit, feeling last week, but then Harold popped out en route to 25 so had someone to keep me going. He pulled away on the road out of 26, but swept Tom up again once back in the forest, and kept Harold in sight, leading me into a potentially tricky 29 when I was pushing to break 2hr.

Feeling strong at the end, and one of my better forest performances.

Course 1B - Splits

Went to tag some new sites, then went for a jog. Some nice little tracks, I could practically hear the waves crashing as the readership of Trailrunning Mag creamed themselves at the prospect of playing £20 to trot around them for 40mins.

Short 4-man relays in Hardwick Park, I was on leg 3. Much better conditions than last year, and the same team but much tireder coming off marathons/big races. Gave it toes from the start to get in front of a Morpeth/Sunderland (same vests) vet, then he kept me working all the way round as I tried to close the gap to Midd&Cleve. Not pushed myself this hard in a while and whilst the calculated vDOT isn't as high as I'd normally hope for, off the back of Saturday and a couple of shit days I'll take slicing 32secs or so off last year's time.

With Morpeth and a Tyne Bridge teams in evidence we were down on last year's second, about 6-7th I think, but first Teesside team by my reckoning.