Coming a week before the LAMM, the weekend of the British Orienteering Championship had looked ideal months ago as a way to "taper off" my training. In the event it saw my first outing in rough terrain and warm weather. I was asked later, where was it, and all I could say was "Northumberland". Orienteering does tend to take place in obscure places that one would not otherwise visit.
For the individual, after getting a train to Berwick-upon-Tweed, I was picked up by another ELO member who drove us to "Thrunton and Callaly", just off the A697 near Rothbury. It was a warm and sunny day so I was pretty sweaty at the end of the 3.9km route to the start. I'm not a good navigator so I had decided to rein in my tendency to run off too fast and get lost. However, the chance of running off too fast was just not there. First in bilberry-thick sweaty woodland, then on heather-clad sunny moorland, I really couldn't move at speed. But I wasn't making any real navigation errors and, after crossing the map to get the final part of the area where there was some decent orienteering to be done, via a few controls where it really wasn't pleasant to orienteer, I did OK over the final half dozen controls and finished in 123:24, a sedate 15.2 mins/km, 37th of 58. Having come with everything to camp, I got a lift to Durham where we were sixteen in the house, all but one of whom had been at the event.
The relays were at Cragg Estate and Chesterhope Common, an excellent area for the purpose, being grassy with a wealth of contour detail from past mining activity. Again it was sunny and warm which limited my speed, but I was happy to make no serious navigational mistakes again, taking 37:01 for 18 controls over 4.7km. Our "M50" relay team first leg runner had been an M55 who took 47 minutes and a W65 who took 62 minutes, so the team was 21 seconds away from being last!
All in all, it was a pleasant weekend away, spending a lot of time with people I know and like, but my legs didn't feel as if they'd done anything and the second joint of my right big toe ended up pretty bruised. And I still didn't have a LAMM partner.
Sunday, 15 June 2014
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
So, what's been happening?
At the end of the run on 24 March I was a bit too enthusiastic coming down the short steep slopes of the fields below Monks's Rig and, looking back, got some meniscus damage below my left knee. It was sore for a few days.
The following weekend I took my younger daughter to my parents in Cheshire [and to Old Trafford to see United beat Aston Villa 4-1]. On the Sunday I went for a generally flat run near my parents and got too hot. Seemed OK descending Congleton Edge, though.
Afternoon of 11 April I went to have a look at Pressmennan Wood and Lothian Edge where I'd suggested that I would plan an ELO event in May [subsequently cancelled, much to my relief!]. It was really windy and I felt very sluggish. Again I came downhill too fast at the end of the run and my knee was sore for several days.
After that we went to Venice/Trieste (11-21 April) and I took running kit more in hope than expectation. I didn't have any confidence that I could go for a run without suffering. I did do quite a bit of walking around. Back home, I didn't do a course at the ELO orienteering event at Vogrie Country Park on 26 April but did help collect controls. Earlier that day I'd been to FASIC where I got some advice on looking after myself and some strapping on my left knee which didn't come off for more than a week.
For a fortnight, all I did was jog round the Bog Road playing fields a couple of times for a few nights and then do the Penicuik Estate 5k circuit a couple of times. By now it was getting uncomfortably close to the LAMM and I felt that I had to take a chance. So, off to the Pentlands for the flattest hill run I could think of, wearing my brand new Inov-8 212's. And I felt great! Kitchen Moss was its mesmeric best and after taking it gently down from the Carnethy-Scald Law col, I felt fresh and fast down through the fields back home for 16km (600m climb).
The following weekend was busy and only late on the Sunday afternoon did I get round to going out to the hills. I knew I needed to do something a bit rougher and with some climb, so settled on the Baddinsgill round of 17km (800m climb). I'd also wanted to try out my pair of green Walshes as an alternative to the Inov-8 212's. This was a bad idea as my heels hurt all the way round and my toes suffered afterwards: I did feel OK on the run, eventually.
With only one spare weekend before the LAMM, I was acutely aware that I still hadn't been up or down anything steep, or been out with a rucksack on. So I lobbed a tent, sleeping bag and thermarest into my bag and trotted off to do the Carnethy 5 with a double ascent of Scald Law for 16km (1000m climb). Coming off Scald Law for the first time I dropped down the grassy NE face at speed, faster than I'd been descending before [touching -60m/min], but running down it braking with my quads rather than my knees. I also came down Carnethy, touching over 80m/min on the screes. For most of the next week my quads were so stiff and sore, but my knees were fine. Conclusion: knee problems due to not coming downhill as I always used to, but dropping down onto my knees.
The following weekend I took my younger daughter to my parents in Cheshire [and to Old Trafford to see United beat Aston Villa 4-1]. On the Sunday I went for a generally flat run near my parents and got too hot. Seemed OK descending Congleton Edge, though.
Afternoon of 11 April I went to have a look at Pressmennan Wood and Lothian Edge where I'd suggested that I would plan an ELO event in May [subsequently cancelled, much to my relief!]. It was really windy and I felt very sluggish. Again I came downhill too fast at the end of the run and my knee was sore for several days.
After that we went to Venice/Trieste (11-21 April) and I took running kit more in hope than expectation. I didn't have any confidence that I could go for a run without suffering. I did do quite a bit of walking around. Back home, I didn't do a course at the ELO orienteering event at Vogrie Country Park on 26 April but did help collect controls. Earlier that day I'd been to FASIC where I got some advice on looking after myself and some strapping on my left knee which didn't come off for more than a week.
The following weekend was busy and only late on the Sunday afternoon did I get round to going out to the hills. I knew I needed to do something a bit rougher and with some climb, so settled on the Baddinsgill round of 17km (800m climb). I'd also wanted to try out my pair of green Walshes as an alternative to the Inov-8 212's. This was a bad idea as my heels hurt all the way round and my toes suffered afterwards: I did feel OK on the run, eventually.
With only one spare weekend before the LAMM, I was acutely aware that I still hadn't been up or down anything steep, or been out with a rucksack on. So I lobbed a tent, sleeping bag and thermarest into my bag and trotted off to do the Carnethy 5 with a double ascent of Scald Law for 16km (1000m climb). Coming off Scald Law for the first time I dropped down the grassy NE face at speed, faster than I'd been descending before [touching -60m/min], but running down it braking with my quads rather than my knees. I also came down Carnethy, touching over 80m/min on the screes. For most of the next week my quads were so stiff and sore, but my knees were fine. Conclusion: knee problems due to not coming downhill as I always used to, but dropping down onto my knees.
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