Training Log Archive: AnvilIn the 7 days ending Aug 20, 2011:
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Saturday Aug 20, 2011 #
7 AM
Orienteering race 1:00:23 6.16 km (9:48 / km) +238m 8:13 / km
ahr:162 max:179 shoes: Inov8 Oroc 280
Day 6
Quickroute
Plan for the day was to beast it and hope for the best. Didn't quite work out that way.
There was a couple of sections where I was navigating better than I have all week - all flowing and reading ahead. Problem was it was interspersed with a couple of whoppers. Bonus was at least they weren't moronic mistakes like the rest of the week, actually falling for the traps of the terrain - of which there were many.
Loved this area, I want to run there again and again - would probably go on my top 10 list.
Quickroute
Plan for the day was to beast it and hope for the best. Didn't quite work out that way.
There was a couple of sections where I was navigating better than I have all week - all flowing and reading ahead. Problem was it was interspersed with a couple of whoppers. Bonus was at least they weren't moronic mistakes like the rest of the week, actually falling for the traps of the terrain - of which there were many.
Loved this area, I want to run there again and again - would probably go on my top 10 list.
Friday Aug 19, 2011 #
10 AM
Orienteering race 44:06 6.25 km (7:03 / km) +36m 6:52 / km
ahr:162 max:184 shoes: Inov8 Oroc 280
Day 5
Hmm, kinda better again, but not really. I'm feeling more confident in the terrain and am running faster with each day - but am continually making dumb arse mistakes as soon as I let my guard drop on the easier sections of the course.
Today was a 6 min mistake on #2 due to misreading one massive field as another to the north and eventually relocating off #3. Later on in a trail section I miscounted how many junctions I'd passed - went left instead of right and ran 400m in the wrong direction. Total punter.
On the plus side, after feeling totally weak and exhausted in the terrain on days 1 and 2, each day onward I've felt stronger and more like myself again. Hopefully tomorrow it can all come together.
Hmm, kinda better again, but not really. I'm feeling more confident in the terrain and am running faster with each day - but am continually making dumb arse mistakes as soon as I let my guard drop on the easier sections of the course.
Today was a 6 min mistake on #2 due to misreading one massive field as another to the north and eventually relocating off #3. Later on in a trail section I miscounted how many junctions I'd passed - went left instead of right and ran 400m in the wrong direction. Total punter.
On the plus side, after feeling totally weak and exhausted in the terrain on days 1 and 2, each day onward I've felt stronger and more like myself again. Hopefully tomorrow it can all come together.
Thursday Aug 18, 2011 #
11 AM
Orienteering race 1:13:11 9.19 km (7:58 / km) +434m 6:27 / km
ahr:164 max:188 shoes: Inov8 Oroc 280
WOC Spectator Races Day 4
Another improvement today. Finally we get some runnable white woods (the first part of yesterdays long final).
We got much more of a 'tourist' course today with a long section of trail running to take us to the amazing viewpoint and massive cross (that we had a control on - check out the GPS track on 'Earth') on the southwest corner of the map and followed with a dash of mega Euro multi day, with 2.5km of trivial nav at the end to get us back to the arena.
I still enjoyed it, I've really missed running fast in white forest, which I felt I could do today. There were also a few legs where everything clicked and was able to navigate competently and run at high speed - it felt great.
However, still made errors; 2x90sec in the circle on #8 and #11, when I got pulled off by the big clumps of people chatting in the forest trying to relocate by groupthink - in this case they weren't actually at controls like where these groups usually congregate.
The worst though was picking bad routes on #3 and #8. Especially 8, when I decided to contour and took a terrible line on a rocky scree-ey slope only to discover when I got back I was running parallel to a track 8 contours below. Figure I lost about 5 minutes alone on that.
Hot day, fun forest, back to low-vis hell tomorrow. At least it's a middle.
Another improvement today. Finally we get some runnable white woods (the first part of yesterdays long final).
We got much more of a 'tourist' course today with a long section of trail running to take us to the amazing viewpoint and massive cross (that we had a control on - check out the GPS track on 'Earth') on the southwest corner of the map and followed with a dash of mega Euro multi day, with 2.5km of trivial nav at the end to get us back to the arena.
I still enjoyed it, I've really missed running fast in white forest, which I felt I could do today. There were also a few legs where everything clicked and was able to navigate competently and run at high speed - it felt great.
However, still made errors; 2x90sec in the circle on #8 and #11, when I got pulled off by the big clumps of people chatting in the forest trying to relocate by groupthink - in this case they weren't actually at controls like where these groups usually congregate.
The worst though was picking bad routes on #3 and #8. Especially 8, when I decided to contour and took a terrible line on a rocky scree-ey slope only to discover when I got back I was running parallel to a track 8 contours below. Figure I lost about 5 minutes alone on that.
Hot day, fun forest, back to low-vis hell tomorrow. At least it's a middle.
Wednesday Aug 17, 2011 #
9 AM
Orienteering race 51:16 [4] 3.7 km (13:51 / km)
shoes: Inov8 Oroc 280
WOC Spectator Races Day 3
Getting there, slowly but surely. After a 4 minute followed by a 3 minute mistake on the first two controls where I felt that reading the map was optional, I decided to get my head into gear and actually do this properly - the rest of the course was generally clean, bar a few hesitations as I entered the circle.
I think it helped that there were fewer, wiggly indistinct track options, so instead of wasting time making sure I was on the right one/not on an elephant trail - I either went straight or took the main trails and used massive attackpoints. Starting to get a lot more confidence in terrain interpretation as well.
Getting there, slowly but surely. After a 4 minute followed by a 3 minute mistake on the first two controls where I felt that reading the map was optional, I decided to get my head into gear and actually do this properly - the rest of the course was generally clean, bar a few hesitations as I entered the circle.
I think it helped that there were fewer, wiggly indistinct track options, so instead of wasting time making sure I was on the right one/not on an elephant trail - I either went straight or took the main trails and used massive attackpoints. Starting to get a lot more confidence in terrain interpretation as well.
Monday Aug 15, 2011 #
10 AM
Orienteering race 1:27:10 6.4 km (13:37 / km) +374m 10:32 / km
ahr:151 max:171 shoes: Inov8 Oroc 280
Quickroute
WOC Spectator Races Day 2
Better than yesterday, but only just. Roughly 2x2min and 1x6min mistakes - again, not due to the difficult terrain, just me being stupid but also occasionally confusing the elephant tracks from the real ones. Also a short section where I fell very hard on my knee and was cursing all things French instead of running.
Seem to be lacking a lot of intensity and focus - I imagine I could post much better times, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting motivated for these races.
WOC Spectator Races Day 2
Better than yesterday, but only just. Roughly 2x2min and 1x6min mistakes - again, not due to the difficult terrain, just me being stupid but also occasionally confusing the elephant tracks from the real ones. Also a short section where I fell very hard on my knee and was cursing all things French instead of running.
Seem to be lacking a lot of intensity and focus - I imagine I could post much better times, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting motivated for these races.
Sunday Aug 14, 2011 #
8 AM
Orienteering race 1:32:09 5.9 km (15:37 / km) +409m 11:36 / km
ahr:147 max:175 shoes: Inov8 Oroc 280
Quickroute
WOC Spectator Races Day 1
On yesterdays long quali map, but only in the forested part - which was a shame, I was hoping for some of the open meadow route choice legs.
So clearly the A in H21A stands for amateur. Well below average performance.
I wasn't feeling incredible with an early start on little sleep and a toilet queue issue meant I wasn't as comfortable as I'd like on the start line.
Spiked the first, but that was about it. A 15 minutes mistake on #2 - one of the easier legs of the course, meant I spent the the rest of the race hesitating and checking off every single feature.
Will do better tomorrow. Promise.
WOC Spectator Races Day 1
On yesterdays long quali map, but only in the forested part - which was a shame, I was hoping for some of the open meadow route choice legs.
So clearly the A in H21A stands for amateur. Well below average performance.
I wasn't feeling incredible with an early start on little sleep and a toilet queue issue meant I wasn't as comfortable as I'd like on the start line.
Spiked the first, but that was about it. A 15 minutes mistake on #2 - one of the easier legs of the course, meant I spent the the rest of the race hesitating and checking off every single feature.
Will do better tomorrow. Promise.