Training Log Archive: Billenicus

Sacroiliac really quite sore. Taking it very easy.

Sprint Relay - Lisburn - 4.4Km (shortest feasible route)

Running second leg for a pieced together Ireland 6th team.

A lot of fun. Was starting with other runners fairly close by so it was fairly intense, especially as they were a lot younger and a bit quicker. Ran a bit too fast at the start and was suffering over the second loop. Also, left knee started hurting about half way (right knee was fine).

Technically near perfect. All controls spiked and only a single minor route choice error that may have cost a second or two. 2:23 down on Murray Strain, but much closer to the Irish runners (1:15?). Maybe 6th fastest overall? The youngsters in the team (Aoife & Maeve?) did very well and we ended up 4th, and not far behind 2nd, which was a bit of a surprise.

Lisburn City Race - Veteran Men - 7.4Km straight line (someone measured it as 11.4Km)

A race too far! Not very motivated. Left knee still sore, so started very gently and didn't really speed up much as I got more into it because of the general tiredness from having run the Sprint.

Haven't done many of these races, but it was pretty easy. No problems with any controls. Missed one good route (20-21) which cost a few seconds, though very difficult to see that the route was viable on the map (no glasses again). Majority of time lost was because of traffic. At one point had to wait 45 seconds (11-12) because traffic lights changed on a major road just as I arrived.

Not much fun to run when tired - would have been much more enjoyable if I'd been racing.

Unfortunately left sacrilliac joint started seizing up afterwards - quite sore after the flight back to Manchester.

Overall an enjoyable weekend of racing, and pretty happy with it apart from the relay. Impressive that it was all put on by one club (LVO) and particular thanks to those who manned the start on Saturday!

C • LVO 3

Irish Champs Relay - Hillsborough Forest - 4.6Km

Meant to be running 3rd leg, but our second leg runner failed to turn up, so was running second leg at short notice in a team that had become non-competitive. So, not particularly motivated and, as a result was not concentrating and had my worst run in ages.

Lost 20s at 1 : went to control on wrong thicket even though fairly sure it wasn't mine.
Lost 15s at 2 : hesitant
Lost 1min at 5 : lost contact and wandered.
Lost 1.5mins 5-6 : Tried to take safe route but ran over a path without seeing it and ended up way right.
Lost 20s at 7 : Ran to the obvious fence corner but didn't realise there was another one.
Lost 1min on 9 : Dodgy 30cm high crag, didn't seem correct in relation to fence or contours. Missed to the left. Bingo.
Lost 15s on 11 : Just unlucky with route - fallen trees near control.
Lost 20s 13-14 : Being a bit rubbish.
Lost 10s 14-15 : Off line.
Lost 1min on 16 : Misread ditches in the circle (no glasses), but it was a fairly dodgy control anyway.
Lost 30s on route 16-17 : Wimped out cos fed up.

Fine apart from that!

Legs a bit tired, but running reasonably quickly without trying too hard. Knee a bit sore and stiff beforehand, but OK once running.

NB I'm currently John O'Donovan in the results.

Irish Champs Long - Slieve Croob - M45 - 6.0Km 315m

Possibly the worst weather I've ever orienteered in. 2.5 degrees C in the car park at the bottom, plus heavy rain and very strong wind. Painful to run into and almost blown off my feet at one point. Wearing 3 layers with hood up to run in.

Knee was more or less OK but I couldn't tell towards the end because my legs were basically numb (though not as numb as my hands - had to keep looking to check I was still holding the map). Difficult to tell how hard I was running, and could probably have run harder. Moving a bit better through the terrrain than last week - there was a lot of bog.

Technically perfect except for one stupid 2-3 minute mistake on 7 where I misread a crag and started looking too early. Partly caused by the stinging rain though. From 9-10 went straight up and over which I would never normally have done, but it avoided running directly into the wind!

Still, won surprisingly comfortably, so am now currently a reigning national champion in 4 separate countries and one continent! OK, not really eligible in Australia, and I'm a bit dubious about Oceania being a continent. But still.

Event: Irish Orienteering Championships
 

Irish Sprint Champs - Lisburn - M21E - 3.5Km (not straight line)

Knee really quite sore until the moment I started the race. Then fine until the run in! A bit sore afterwards, but better than before. A nice surprise.

Wasn't properly mentally prepared as I was expecting to be dealing with pain, but got into it reasonably quickly. Good run. In terms of mistakes etc, maybe 1 hesitation that cost 1 second! A couple of suboptimal route choices that cost 2-3 seconds. Most I was behind on any leg was 13 seconds. But still 2:16 down on Murray Strain, and 9th overall - it was easy and very few mistakes were made. Could probably have pushed a bit harder in retrospect.

Loop round The Towers. Did the obvious loop but then went exploring along the track that heads West. Discovered that it crossed a major forest road that leads up into plantation above (don't remember that from last time I was there 30 years ago!). Explored a bit. Lots more to explore, but didn't want to run for too long.

Knee sore all day. Not too bad while running but was a bit sore all the time, and didn't want to try accelerating. Tomorrow might be awkward. Otherwise feeling full of running after a couple of rest days.

Twisted right knee quite badly. Just caught leg on something as I sat down and seem to have hurt the patellar tendon again. Sore all day :-(