Training Log Archive: Ollie

Day 6 - Anagach West & Heathfield. I've been to Anagach before and it is a superb area - my favourite British area of all. It's a shame we didn't get to use all of it, and the latter third of the course was through a different, and not so exciting, wood. But first we had 11 controls in the full intensity of Anagach itself. I made mistake after mistake, but I didn't care, I was enjoying myself hugely and relishing the intricate moraine and picturesque forest. My main mistakes were not reading the map as closely as I needed to do so for leg 1-2, meaning I meant well off line, and similarly going too fast from 6-7. This was an area where, in certain cases, running slowly would be a lot faster than running fast. I generally went straight, rather than around on paths, so I could experience the terrain fully. Unfortunately the rain was back and it was a soggy end to an otherwise great week - six great races in six very different but all excellent (apart from the first) areas.

Day 5 - Camerory. My best day, although only because I found it hard and everyone else found it even harder. This was a new map and I was expecting it to be similar to the lovely Anagach nearby. In the event it couldn't have been more different. The planner got the contour interval wrong, so our supposed 135m climb was actually 270m. The course alternated between steep, boulder-strewn hillside, and tricky open moor with exhausting heather. You quickly learnt to run in the young and burnt heather, and save your strength in the knee-high stuff. I pushed quite hard as, although I was going slow, I realised that everyone else on the course would be suffering the same! I loved the huge (1.2km) long leg to No. 6, it was bleak and lonely and required confidence to run the direct route. The course also had an intriguing end, the penultimate leg being a tricky 700m. Many people, including me, normally switch off for the final legs, but this one required concentration and planning ahead. My major mistake was, yet again (like Days 2 and 4) a really silly one at the first. I shot out of the start in completely the wrong direction. My first control was actually a sharp left, but as everyone else on the (other) courses had been going straight on and right, I held my map upside down and went needlessly across a boggy, nasty moor, before coming to the awful realisation and swinging back. Finished 17th and got my highest number of points today.

Day 4 - Culbin. My first time in this fine forest, although I had been to Roseisle and Lossie Forest, both of which are similar, with pleasant white forest covering extremely intricate sections of dunes. Our course only had a few controls in the most intricate section of all, due to the length constraints. Again, like on Day 3, this is a course where I would have liked to have run further. I had an almost fault-free run, save for yet another big error at the first control. It was very near the finish (less than 100m) but I hadn't got a feel for the map yet and got lost straight away - very embarrassing as I could see the start behind me. Finished 26th, almost my best placing. The sun finally came out for us and greatly added to the atmosphere.

Sprint Race at Kingussie, running Long. Kingussie is quite small and this race visited most of it. The area proved to be trickier than I was expecting for a street race, and included a lot more climb than I was expecting. Chaotic start (they had way more people than they were clearly expecting) and I didn't have time to prepare for the quick decision making needed at the off. Consequently I overshot No. 1, going first to No. 3 then to No. 2, running right past this. This was only a 60 second mistake but that's huge for a sprint. After then, things calmed down. Leg 3-4 was an eight second leg (!) and then, after No. 7, there was a big climb, which slowed my pace right down (I was going too fast, trying to make up time on my earlier error.) My route to 9 was a little poor, and I didn't spot the best route from 14-15, I did however see the "trap" from 18-19. Some controls were very close together, but I got around OK, and enjoyed the touch-free EMIT timing being used - basically I just needed to tap each control while running past it.

Day 3 - Inshriach West, or what used to be known as Uath Lochans. I ran on this map as part of a training week back in 2003 (along with Anagach on Day 6, the only two I had been on before). This is a fine area, full of fine boulder detail and low visibility forest. Unfortunately some compromises had been made with the planning, and we were only in the "good stuff" for the first part of the course. There was then a section which involved crossing several waterlogged, felled patches, before another technical section with fine contour detail. But then, to get us back to the finish, there was a long and unrewarding section. The elites got to run a 14km course, full of challenges. I'm not sure I would have made it around 14km, but their course was certainly the finer. No major mistakes today. Finished 30th of just over 100.

Day 2, Balavil: This was a tough, physical day, but with some complex technical detail too. My slowest day of the week, and one of my non-counting days overall. The course was essentially a traverse of a hillside, partly on heathery moorland and partly in steep but runnable forest. It was, once again, raining, which made it tough going and slippery on the hillside. After again making a mistake at the first control by overshooting it, there was then a long, route-choice leg across quite bleak moorland. Possibly the best choice (although I didn't spot it) was actually a route just off the edge of the map. Then there was some steep-sided contouring - here I made my biggest mistake of the week, a six minute mare. The course remained tough throughout, and I was happy to have just got across the finish line. Finished 37th overall, my lowest placing of the six races.

Event: Scottish 6-Days
 

Day 1 of the Scottish 6 Days: Spey 2007: Alvie. Not a particularly exciting course - 75m climb to the first control, then along a hillside, into a reasonably interesting tricky bit, then down and back along the hillside, crossing many deer fences on the way... It was also very wet on the ground as it had been raining for most of the morning. Not my favourite race of the week, but one of my best times. Quite a clean run, only couple of mistakes in the tricky bit, where I overshot the controls by a long way (~150m.) Finished 21st of 107 finishers.