Training Log Archive: Lizzie

Started with Annika Billstram, which provided me with the opportunity to show her how to cross a fence like a kiwi on the way to the first control! :-)
Didn't see her after that. Had a steady race. By myself for the most part aside from passing both germans on the first loop, and being 40m behind Ida on the 2nd.
Knew the last part would be hard busting a gut up the hill to the finish, and so it was!
Very pleased to come in 6th and in a position to fight for the podium in the afternoon. Even if Minna and Tove were a bit too far ahead to really have a chance of catching.

After a couple of hours reading and dozing in the shade by the river, it was time to emerge back out into the blazing heat for the chasing start.
Batteries were feeling anything but recharged, but I was relying on the fact that everyoone felt the same! Luckily the clouds came over just before the start for some, all be it very temporary, relief.
It was always going to be a tough race, but I'm not sure I realised just how intense it would be until we were out there!
Having started between Ida, Helena and Tatiana, all in close succession, there was always going to be some hard pack running. What I didn't figure til afterwards, was that everyone else in the top 8 had medalled at WOC at some point in the last 6years, and had serious venla and tiomilla experience.
In short, one of the most intense races I've ever run, with the pack pushing the pace. I could keep up (just!), but don't have the same mass/chasing start experience, which require completely different tactics to the usual orienteering course. So when I saw the pack heading on what I thought was a suboptimal route choice, I split. Not the smart thing to do, and I regretted it quickly, even though Ida followed me after a hesitation.
Stopped early on the control, and the group was gone by the time I hit it. Could see Helena and Ida 3/4 of the way up the next hill, but in that heat, there was no way I was going to catch them without putting my chance of even finishing in jeopardy!
So, knowing 9th was a wee way back, I eased off a little, and kept the orienteering clean (enough), through to the end.

Stoked with 8th place given the wealth of experience the other girls have in this sort of race compared to me. I've never been good with the mental side of things when it comes to a mass group race - it's one of the reasons I do orienteering rather than cross country! Definitely something to work on!

Oh, and I beat the girls going down a hill in the forest by sitting on my bum and sliding down :) classic!

C • shot lizzel! 2

model for the slump. Jogged around. jumped some fences. Fell in a marsh.

Oceania Long.
Clean and steady until I took possibly the worst route choice of my life 11-12 and lost 5mins. Didn't look too bad on the map (at the time anyway!) Realised 2/3rds of the way through the leg just how much longer it was though. No mistakes, but lost motivation a bit from 13-16.

A bit warm.

3rd time now that I've caught Grace, only for her to beat me. Have decided not to catch her up from now on!

don't remember warming down? oops.

Long Champs - 2 - Splits

Plod around Rathkeale with the girls. Knee stiff and sore.

good stretch after, and some fence hurdling :)

Quite a weird feeling running a world cup final race in your home city. Was nervous before leaving quarantine to the prestart, but jogging along the side of Mt Vic and looking out over the city reminded me that the important thing was to just enjoy the experience and not worry too much about the result.

The first few controls were tricky route choice legs. There was time on the way to the start triangle to read the first control. I still missed the left hand choice though, and took the significantly slower route to the right. Same for the 2nd control, I didn't see the faster right hand route, only the slow middle route, and the not quite as slow left route which I took.
So not the best start. And again, on 3, didn't see the gap in the fence to the left. So took the right route - which I think was best anyway, although I then slowed it down by taking some bonus paths in the middle!
From there I was into the course though, and heading from 4-5 in full view of everyone I figured I should take the time to plan 5-6, even if it looked like I was running slow because of it!
Immediately saw the massive climb to the gate on the left. Plus the consequent steep downhill through trees...there had to be a better way. So I scanned along the fence on my map until I found the 2nd gate - far to the right. Easy nav once through the school buildings, just had to push the pace along it. So went for the Right hand choice. Possibly the best decision I've ever made on an orienteering course!
From there kept my nose clean through the legs in government house. Could see Ida on and off in front of me from 6 onwards. I saw her exit direction from the map change, which meant I was already on the run by the time I flipped it over and sussed out the leg.
Missed the path through the green 8-9, which will have cost me a bit of time.
Took the left route to 11, around all the school buildings rather than having to read my way through all of them. Misread that I had to go up the stairs to 12, but figured it out quickly once i didn't see the control at the bottom!
Got a fright when I saw Tove and Helena as I came out of 15. But they must have been on their way to 11. (didn't figure that out til after 2-3 mins collapsed after the finish though).
Then it was full speed to the finish! Disappointed that I couldn't pass Ida having been in sight of her for half the course.

So yeah. 3rd! Pretty awesome feeling, especially only being 13s off the win. Was very hard to tell while I was out there if I was having a good race or not. I guess that's the nature of route choice based sprint races.
All in all, there was nothing overly special about my run in this sprint, it was the kind of race I've managed consistently over the last couple of years. But this time I made a couple of better route choices, and more significantly, other girls missed a couple of better route choices!
I've known I'm capable of this result for a while, it was just a matter of putting it together on the day, which is by far the hardest part! Having said that, so so stoked that it all came together on home turf :D

Now just have to do the same in a middle and long (and keep up the sprint :). Don't particularly like this 'sprint specialist' tag I seem to have acquired!

C • surely... 1

C • surely... 3

World Cup Sprint Final - Women - Splits

A very cool and tricky map around Parliament and the neighbouring block with schools, cathedrals, embassies and houses.
Bit uncertain on no.1 as there was a large climb on the ground that was hard to see beneath the detail on the map. Once I'd settled in though I got into a comfortable flow. Up the hill to 2 and 3, with a wide route choice to 2 but pretty 50-50 I think. Then all the way down to 4 via the steps to the right, ran into Mace (literally!) on the stairs. 5 and 6 were straight forward, as was 7, although I hesitated at the end, not recognising the feature in the middle of the car park.
Chose the right hand route choice to 8, which on hindsight was definitely the slower option. Absolute killer heading up the hill - who knew wellington was so hilly?!
Lost a bit of time on 9, having taken the left hand route, I got a bit confused around the covered stairs zigzagging up from the tennis courts. Just hesitation though really.
Out to the road rather than twist through 10-11. Made a mess of the map change like a number of people, as the tape which marked the route to it was teh same as that used around uncrossable gardens - and was on the edge of a garden! Having found my 2nd map things slipped into place. May have taken the slower route out of the spectator area, but not overly fussed.

And I predicted the final 2 controls correctly from the Arena pic in the bulletin :)

Awesome arena and atmosphere. Cool to have some of my non-orienteering friends show up to support too :-)

World Cup Sprint Qualification - Women - Splits

Middle out at Waikawa.
Awesome map featuring highly technical detail on open sand dunes. Unfortunately I just didn't have my technique right for the type of terrain.

The first 4 controls in the forest were fine and eased me into the race, calming the nerves. On the long leg from 4-5 I could see Grace 60m or so infront of me across the flat plain. I knew if I could catch her then we'd have a good chance of pushing eachother through the course with minimal mistakes. This was my downfall though, as Grace slipped in and out of 5 cleanly. Meanwhile, I hit the circle, but then couldn't make sense of the details. So wasted 1.5mins inside the circle, as each small feature was so deep! Eventually bumbled across the control, by which time Grace and the Finn infront of her were well gone.
6 was a short leg, OK. 7 and 8 back in patches of forest. 8 was scrappy but I think I executed it alright. 8-9 I got stuck in a lot of lupin as I tried to traverse the wrong side of a dune. Silly stuff, but it cost me a minute! Crazy! Made me feel sorry for La and the other girls who went out right at the front of the field!
10 was another longer leg diagonal across the dunes. And again, I executed my plan perfectly until I hit the circle. But I stopped short, and then couldn't match up the details. Another minute lost within the circle!
11 OK.
12, again, longer leg. again, as with 5 and 10. Thought the left hand entry to the control would be easier to navigate. However got epically stuck in lupin, and then lost contact on the circle. Sigh. Should have gone right.
Knew I'd messed up my race pretty bad by that point, and motivation was hitting a low. 13 and 14 were alright through the spectator. Then 15. AGAIN. DAMN IT. This time in the Macrocarpa strip, tiring on the dunes, I hit the circle, standing on top of the ridge above the control - but there was no control?! having spent 20s or so there confused, I moved a bit to my right, and there was the control hiding behind a tree!!
16 was a physical struggle. And 17, I tried to follow the ridge, but lost track of distance and was looking for the control far too early. Another minute gone. Atleast all I really had to do from there was run to the finish!

So yeap. A very disappointing run. I should have been much more at home given the technical terrain, but I didn't adapt my techniques to the terrain enough. Needed to navigate right onto the control, rather than to the circle as is more usual in NZ or Aus. Making 5 1min+ mistakes is just not acceptable in a world cup race.

C • dunes 1

World Cup 1 - Middle Women - Splits

Out on the model for the middle distance. Mixture of open dunes, tricky forest, and lupin.

Model map.
Knee tweaking a couple of times. Stuff in the forest was hard to interpret. Not much in the open dunes to really get a look for what was in store

Event: 2013 Oceania Carnival & WC Races
 

Ran half of the oceania day 1 course on Fusilier. beautiful, flat open pine forest. Knee was good for the main part, got the occasional twinge gloing up dunes but reassuringly ok.
Pulled the pin before I got too tired, or pushed the knee too far. First 4 controls wereat a good race pace though. Lost a couple of mins on 5 when I hit the green but didn;t have a good enough plan. Bit of a good reminder to sharpen up!

short warmup to ensure the knee would be ok with a bit of orienteering. not much of a warmdown, opted to scare people by sitting in the back of the ambulance whilst icing my knee intead ;)

Event 1 C 2 - Splits