Training Log Archive: Jon X

To Edinburgh for late lunch, then a snooze through John Hannah play, then two hours plus of (very funny) panel game antidote.

Had to run to the start, would have been a shame to break the habit at this stage of the week.

Day 6, Glen Affric, 28th place.
Winner 57:38

Didn't have much in my legs today but could have found some more time with a bit more competence in the navigation.

A bit low for #1 and again for #3, maybe a minute in total. Then directionally challenged halfway along the long leg and dropped down to the wrong block of trees, cutting back across the rough open was v slow (2mins?).

Missed #11 by climbing up the steepest bit from the stream and then turning the wrong way even though the steep bit was obvious on the map (-90sec)

3-4mins quicker would have been top 20 and only the usual suspects ahead. Can't really hope for much more without a bit more fitness and several fewer kg to carry round the course....

Loved the area and the physical challenge though, great variety of terrain too. And the map seemed brilliant!

S6D - Day 6 Glen Affric - C37 - Splits

Car parking duty at Glen Affric. Car parking went a lot better than feared!

Then OWC Long - lots more shouting and waving flags, voice gone again by the end, inevitably.

GBR promoted to the top division for both men and women!

Today I did miss my start. What with it taking an hour from turning off the main road to get to the car park. But at least it meant I got to listen to almost all of Australia's innings, which started just as we left the road....

So a punching start which meant calmest start of the week so far....

Day 4, Darnaway, 17th place (equal with Simon Bourne)
Winner Mikael Bostrom 48:54

...and much good did the calm start do me, a branch in the face to #1 meant some hestitating and some blood, then to #2 left the wrong path bend at the wrong angle and into the wrong block, 2mins lost!

A bit scrappy to #3 but got into it after that and pushed hard. Failed to pick a route properly to #7 and so took bad slow lines in the terrain, maybe 30-40s lost. And got confused by the paths at #15 which was another 20-30s.

So okay and first half-decent performance of the week but plenty of scope for improvement!

S6D - Day 4 Darnaway - C37 - Splits

Set off in decent time today but that all vanished so had to run to the start of course.

Day 3, Darnaway, 62nd place.
Winner Mikael Bostrom 27:28.

Not into it at all off the start, particularly the veg mapping and what was green vs what was green stripes. 4mins gone by #2, not really a great start particularly in a middle race. Another minute at #6 and a bit near the end, never really got it going at race intensity either. Meh.

Then the main event of the day, the WOC Relay. Great spectating.

S6D - Day 3 Darnaway - C37 - Splits

Spectating Middle Final.

Happy for the rest day already..

Had to run to the start. Again. Big queues for punching starts after all the parking issues but managed to get there 2mins before my start time and go on time.....

Day 2, Glen Strathfarrar, 32nd place
Winner Stefano Maddalena 51:10

Still putting on descriptions at the start, dropped a minute bashing bracken to #1.
Late start though and made good use of the big tracks after that, two wobbles in the circle but generally good and pushing hard, caught Fraser at #12.
Got into the last bit with tricky controls in green, nailed the first one, pushed on and made a 90s mistake at the next.
Course basically over from there so legged it....into the wrong block and into total confusion! Went a long way too far, in the end had to exit the forest and run down a track back to the correct crossing point!
A full 5 mins dropped here and down from 14th to 32nd in the final short section. D'oh!

S6D - Day 2 Strathfarrar - C37 - Splits

Had to run to the start.

Day 1, Achagour. M45L, 23rd place.
Winner James Logue 53:41

Not really up for it on arrival but pepped up a bit by the news that Jase was starting 1 minute behind.
Didn't handle that too well and binned a minute to #1, got caught at #2 and passed to #3. Knew where #4 was from my wanderings to #1 but then went to the wrong knoll at #5 and got dropped.
Okay after that for a bit but then scrappy through 10-11-12. Then worse in amongst the archery targets, dropped over a minute at #14 and left with bad direction, got the wrong side of big marsh and dropped nearly 2mins getting back across to #15.
Ahead of me Jase couldn't find #16 and was maybe only 30secs out of the control as I headed into it, that cheered me up so I set out to chase. Got sight of Si Patton at #18 but couldn't catch him or see Jase, then got confused by the paths to #21 for 20-30secs.
At #23 in the green, all of a sudden there was Jase coming into it from the wrong direction to cheer me up all over again :)
Struggling to catch and Simon appeared again to pass me. Penultimate was tricky and Simon missed, then I managed to get past on the run to the final one.
Better result than performance, not many Brits ahead. Looks like a strong field in M45L though!

Then on to watch the Sprint Finals. No voice left afterwards!

S6D - Day 1 Achagour - C37 - Splits

Nairn Sprint after spectating the MSR. Fun run round, nearly got caught out after the spectator run-through - the route I wanted from watching WOC was not available to punters and had reverted to olive green on our maps!

S6D - Nairn Sprint - Men_Red - Splits

Event: WOC 2015 & Scottish 6 days
 

Up to Forres, too late for a run before spectating. Everyone through safely, good start to the week!

Alistair C-W staying on the way north so would have been rude not to show him the neighbourhood.