Training Log Archive: Arnold

Richmond Park loop for the first time in ages. Mainly driven by (successful) plan to give hurty foot some stable ground to run on.

Pace felt fast but wasn’t, which is mildly depressing as I did try to push it a bit. The heady days of regularly doing this in 54-56 feel like aeons away, but perhaps I just need a bit of time to get back into fast running.

On the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, from Norden Farm to Swanage viewpoint via Corfe Castle on the way back.

Very beautiful run in everything from soft grass to rocky track to tiny path through the deep dark woods. Almost no people and great views, too.

Hurty foot wasn’t great despite a week’s rest, but perhaps pushing it to 15k wasn’t terribly sensible. A physio visit may be required.

Run prompted by a few days’ camping with Tobi and his mates. It confirmed that I love wild camping, but I don’t love campsite camping where everyone is on top of one another and most people bring the contents of their house for the weekend.

Arnold goes MTBO.
3 hour score from Effingham.

The key to happiness in life is low expectations, and so it turned out with this - I expected it to be fairly horrendous, and it wasn’t, so I’m happy!

It turns out though that MTBO is a lot more complicated than just orienteering with a bike. I did remember to order a map holder, but forgot I had neither a bottle holder nor a saddle bag thingy. So I had to take a rucksack to carry water, food and repair kit (the latter wasn’t needed, which is all the better as I wouldn’t have had the first clue what to do.)

In this version we also didn’t get a MTBO standard map, but an OS (hiking) one, which made understanding where you could and could not ride rather tricky in places. It also made it pot luck as some ‘bridleways’ were paved roads and others rutted rocky singletrails, with no real way to tell in advance.

Having said all that, after a shaky start up a tricky (for me) path, I settled into a decent enough routine and picked up 460/540 points, making it back with 1:07 to spare after pushing hard at the end.

Did I enjoy it? I think so.
Would I do it again? Probably.
For an avowed cyclophobe, that’s a good result.

Home to Surbiton station
Effingham Junction station to the event centre
And back again afterwards

Proud to have done it without a car, but my butt does hurt now.

To Bushy Park in the gale. It was a lot quicker coming back!

Long Valley Blue, 6.5 + 220

Real, actual orienteering, with controls and everything!
Despite the heavy rain, it was really cool to be out in the forest after 5 months.

Decent run overall for 2nd place of 100+, although many not-so-good people. It all went very smoothly until right near the end, when a parallel error cost about 90s. Can’t really complain though.

Secured hurty foot with Leukotape (just like the old days), which worked ok except that I promptly bent over the other foot. So now both hurt and walking is a bit weird. Good thing I have a 3h MTBO score coming up on Sunday rather than running.

With Abi

Not a good day at the office.
Humid.
Tired.
Intermittent pain in back and shoulder
General hypochondria

And above all foot pain where I bent it over a week ago and never gave a chance to heal. I really need more support in my running shoes (or a pair of Salomons) as my Brooks Glycerin are useless on any sort of terrain.

C • Bit late now ... 2

Up (and down) Rouvas Gorge from our hotel.

Redemption on our last day here! The hotel had been advertising a ‘gorge walk’ which we’d meant to do with the kids but never did, as fhey enjoyed the pool too much (wimpy parents, I know.)

So on the last day we decided to give it a go running and see how far we’d get - and it turned out to be brilliant. In contrast to yesterday, the path was all packed dirt / gravel at mostly runnable inclines, with the odd ‘short and sweet’ solid rock steps thrown in. So 90% runnable and some really cool bits in a forest on the gorge floor.

Topped out at about 1,000m to meet a bunch of locals with big shotguns skinning a goat. It certainly was an ‘authentic experience’.

The way down was hard work as quads started to complain, but I just about held it together. Result!

PS - the gorge really flummoxed the GPS which gave me 1.300m climb, thinking I’d climbed in and out of the gorge a few times. The net height difference was only 520m but there was a bit of up and down too.

Failed attempt to climb the highest mountain on Crete (Mt. Psiloritis, 2.456m)
“It seemed like a good idea at the time”

So our accommodation is on the slopes of Crete’s highest mountain, which as every good orienteer knows means you have to climb it.

Unfortunately, from our hotel it would have been 20k and 2000m climb, which seemed a little optimistic. So instead I settled on a drive of 20k and then 10k + 1100m remaining on foot. I figured that I should be able to run this in 80-90 minutes up and maybe 60 down.

The issue was that when I checked my plan with the hotel, there were some major miscommunications due to my inability to understand the nuances of the proprietor, as shown here...

Proprietor: ‘There will be no wind tomorrow’
Translation: ‘The wind will be really strong tomorrow especially on exposed hills’

Proprietor: ‘The path to the top is easy’
Translation: ‘The path is all loose scree and rock so you can mostly forget about running. Oh, and the scratchy bushes are really dense in places so you really should wear long trousers’

Proprietor: ‘The drive includes 8k of unpaved road but only 3k of that is a bit tricky’
Translation: ‘There is 10k of unpaved road and it is all pretty awful. Do not try it in your piddly rental car’

Proprietor: (smiling silently)
Translation: ‘You are one crazy foreigner’

So after my exciting drive there (which included goving a lift to a ‘proper’ local shepherd, crook and all) I set off up the hill to quickly discover it would take forever - after 80 minutes I’d managed about half the distance and three quarters of the climb so I decided to call it quits and stop on an earlier summit at 2.220m.

I’d likely have managed the whole thing (although had no water and was starting to get slightly cold) but there just didn’t seem any point. The view was still pretty decent from 250m lower down and at least I was back for lunch (via a massive, but paved, detour.) Type 2 fun at best but it was certainly an adventure.

C • trail 3

Longer set run by slave driver wife.

Still in Crete, from Zaros village to Vronissi Monastery and back, across olive groves replete with crickets, goats and beehives.

Hardish work in the sun, but nice views made up for it.

Wonder if I’m the only one who’s still sweating an hour after I finish a run in the heat? It’s really most unbecoming.

Lovely hour out on a lake with the kids, or so we thought until the wind picked up and we had to pedal like maniacs to make it back to base.

For a while I did actually think we weren’t going to make it (not as in: death, but as in: abandon boat on other side and hike back)

In Chania, Crete
From our apartment to the lighthouse and back.

Chania has a very Venetian feel to it with lots of tiny alleys and dodging people on the busy waterfront was certainly good training for the next MOV (and good fun.)

Other exciting observations:
- in typical Greek style, half the walkway to the lighthouse was beautiful pavement, and the other half was uneven rubble with lots of big gaps
- on the other hand, they had a swish new bike lane into town with zero bikes (and I couldn’t see any parked ones either)
- there were plenty of dodgy teens doing dodgy things (ah, the memories)
- for my American readers, dp was 68F according to yr.no, so I was happy it was only a short run. Although the rest of Europe seems even hotter right now!

Same again, in absence of a better idea.
The one advantage of running the same route so frequently is that I can do it on autopilot and switch off my brain. Helpful when tired.

Back after a week off due to a mixture of head cold, tiredness and heat.

Of course it had to be at least 12k just as the doctor (would not have) ordered.

Took it super easy and all things considered went ok. This loop is still beautiful after a few months of repeating it ad nauseam.