Training Log Archive: Lil

Shaftesbury urban race. Most enjoyable though somewhat on the hilly side! Lots of fun, interesting route choices. Slightly sore calf at end.

Kate has just emailed to say she has calf injury and doesn't look like she will be able to do the Saunders. Boo! What are my chances I wonder of finding a partner at this notice who as well as everything else can provide transport, kit, patient yet steely motivation during the race, and of course Stoats Uber-bars?! Hmm.... Any takers out there?

Been so busy this week, no time to run. Nearly didn't go out this evening as was feeling a bit sick and headachey, probably as a result of the hot muggy weather. But finally got out, and things had cooled down greatly to a very pleasant running temperature. Down the river and back up the other side.

Freddie's run at Run Jericho today. Ant ran with him. Billed as a mile, but about 0.87 miles, done in a little under 9 minutes, and he ran all the way. Also overhauled a fast-starting Samir just near the end. Mum and Dad v proud. Course went into Worcester college, F chuffed to be running round uncle Jon and Grandpa's old college.

Drove up to Wytham for long run. Very slow especially up the hills, but aim just to keep plugging away. Stopped back at car after 75 mins for water and gel. Found it quite hard actually to get going again afterwards, felt a bit off and faint - walked for a few minutes at the far end of short loop, then felt a bit better and jogged back. So very slow but very pleased to have done this. Rest for a couple of days now I think. Really happy with the new Inov8s, no sliding around on those muddy Wytham hills, and no rubbing or soreness at all. Very comfy.

Gentle pootle on the meadow to try out the new Inov8s which I profligately bought today. Lovely :-)

Also picking up new trainers (birthday pressie from M and D) on Monday. Shame that all my pairs of shoes conked out at pretty much the same time, but v happy to be getting replacements all sorted now.

So busy the last couple of weeks but managed to get out this evening. Wore too many clothes and was hot and puffed out from the start. Bad stomach, as on most runs for past month or so :-(

Coombe Park summer evening event. Green course. So if not being able to find the first control at Venla can be put down to running too far too fast to start with and then panicking, what can we use as an excuse for not being able to find the first control at Coombe Park?!! (I did find this one in the end though.) I am putting it down to the fact that I am still having to wear my glasses following the branch-in-eye incident. They are so old and scratched, to be honest I could hardly see the map! Had quite a bit of trouble finding number 2 and number 3 as well... Hey ho. Ant beat me by 11 minutes!!!!! (He was 9 mins ahead already by number 5 of 17 - then I got it together a tiny bit at least...)

Event: Jukola 2012
 

Well, this went well...

Venla mass start was terrifying! 1200 teams, and for some reason we had number 368, so pretty far forward. The run out to the start kite was over a kilometre, so I concentrated on trying to run steady and stay on my feet more than anything. Lots of people obviously came past me - but amusingly when we reached the far end of an open field near the end of the taped route, I thought I was probably quite near the back now, turned round to have a look, and just saw a sea of hundreds of women stretching behind me as far as the eye could see! At the start kite we headed into the forest, and almost immediately I got a sharp branch pinging back into my eye. Was a bit worried for a bit as couldn't see too well and thought I might have split my lens or something, but it soon sorted itself out. Unlike me! I should absolutely have stopped and made sure I was in touch with the map, but it is SO HARD to stop with all these people running up behind and around you. So of course I ended up at the wrong first control. And then, inexplicably, I just ran off in completely the wrong direction, into an empty bit of forest. For ages. When I eventually came to my senses a little, I came back into the very vaguely right area, and found number 2. But then I STILL couldn't find number 1, even though it wasn't far away. I have very little explanation for this abysmal performance. I think probably the long run out just doesn't suit me at all, and the branch in the eye probably didn't help. And once I had gone wrong, I think I just panicked really quickly, because I couldn't believe I had done the same thing as two years ago. Such a dunce!

Anyway, after forty horrific minutes I still hadn't found the damn control, and the forest was completely deserted. I was so worried at the thought that I had dragged the others out to Finland and gone on and on about how great it was and how different from UK orienteering running in these huge packs, and now I was going to be sending them out on their own, so it would be just like a normal orienteering course and they wouldn't get the full Venla experience. So I decided to cut across to a much later control and just run the end bit. Which I did, and ended up coming in just slightly earlier than I could have been expected to had I had a really clean run.

Luckily the others were really cool about it, so we still had a fab time. The others all had great runs - Josie and Louise in particular - and hopefully they enjoyed getting to run while the race was still going on around them!!

So gutted and disappointed with myself, but at the same time we had such a fabulous weekend so I suppose that's the main thing.

For amusement I have uploaded my gps track to routegadget (very pleased with myself for working out how to do this I must say!) and it looks pretty much as I suspected. In fact it's amazing how, while I was out there, I was running around in such a random manner, yet when I looked at the map afterwards I was fairly quickly fairly certain where I had been. Silly silly girl.

Afterwards one thing that really brought home the quantum difference between Jukola and even the very biggest UK event... It turned out my eye wasn't too happy at all, so I trundled off to first aid, where after taking my details they directed me to 'the eye doctor in room 1'!! And actually v reassuring to have had it looked at properly, because (a) he took some stuff out that was stuck in it, and (b) he assured me that it was going to be ok - which is reassuring three days later when it is still massively sore and the white of the eye is almost entirely bloody all over! Nice.

C • Panic 4

C • fatal attraction 2

Had intended to run today but no time, plus feel slightly on verge of potential cold, plus pouring with rain. So rest instead. Determined to fight off any lurgi! Have had 3 or 4 nights of uninterrupted sleep in own bed, first for months (D recovering from fever) so would be weird time to get ill...

Pootle on meadow. Extremely soggy underfoot. Beautiful sunset.

Up to Wytham and round woods. Calves feeling quite sore on long uphill at far end, so rather than looping down and up the other side, I headed back, and did a little jaunt along the river to make up the time. Hmmm, four runs in Wytham in seven days - maybe I should renew my permit...
Inside of arch on right foot blistered up, not so sure about doing the Saunders in these shoes. I miss my Inov8s :-(

C • I'm beginning to get worried.... 3

Drove up to Wytham again. Jogged out through the woods to warm up, then found a steep muddy bit of hill and did six reps up it, just over 30 seconds each. Doesn't look much of a hill on Garmin upload - certainly felt it though!

Gentle lunchtime run. Went to Parks as it was pouring and I thought meadow/canal would be too slippery in trainers. Rain stopped soon after I set out. Very windy though.

Freddie has signed up for Run Jericho kids' run in a fortnight's time - this year increased from a km to a mile. So this was his second training run! First was on Weds and was fairly random. Today we ran out to the muddy bridge before the nature reserve. F pretty much kept going on the way there - just under ten mins. A rest then, and then a few rests on the way back. A good start I reckon.

Super duper slow and easy, but with lots of hills! Parked at Keeper's Cottage and jogged down and back up the hill three times. Final time carried on up the track to close to the top of the hill, then back down to the car. Saw a group of people doing hill reps up near the top. Think this was quite a good session for me to do - getting used to keeping moving up hill without too much effort, and the easy downhills really bring my heart rate down. It was fun.

Feeling a bit panicked about the Saunders, so have made stern resolution to fit in long runs, and to incorporate hills wherever possible. So set off from Botley after feeding Heather's fish, and from Wytham lodge headed right up to the top of the hill. Ran along the main tracks to just before the car park, then with heroic discipline turned round and headed back up the hill, looping round to finish with my favourite downhill run through the fields back to Keeper's Cottage. Very tired at the end but pleased to have done this.

Pretty late. Pretty dark. Pretty rainy. Managed to stop watch accidentally after 7 mins while trying to lock bezel so the rain didn't keep making it beep. Time a complete guess. Shame as was running quite hard along river, and would have been good to know if that led to any perceptible increase in pace!