Training Log Archive: iansmith

I had a fantastic time in Switzerland, at WOC, and at the Swiss 5-Day. While I'm woefully behind on my logging, I was the dedicated US team groupie. I had a few responsibilities, like shuttling people around in a manual transmission car during the training week. I attended most of the WOC races and took over a thousand pictures, which I will post later this week.

The US team was very welcoming, and I greatly appreciate being able to hang out with the group so much. It was especially delightful to spend time with the part of the team - about half - with whom I don't regularly interact. I can't say enough about the quality of social and orienteering time with the team - running on map, discussing courses and routes, crazy spades games, international foosball competitions, beverage orienteering, seeing the sights in Lausanne, cheering at races, and watching the highest level of competition in the world. Watching Ali and Sam make finals, some heartbreakingly close races, the fantastic women's relay, and excellent racing by everyone was a delight. I spent some of my spectating time with the other groupies - Rick and Linda, Jeff and Judy, Lindsey, and the quintet of juniors.

I was able to run on a few of the training maps during the week before WOC. I didn't stay at the team hostel - instead, I rented a room from a Swiss woman whom Tim Parson found during his search for housing for the Juniors. I was a 25-minute transit from the team's housing, and very close to the city center, but the team let me use some of their extra dinner tickets, so I ate with them occasionally. The Canadians were also unsurprisingly friendly and welcoming.

My time was heavily occupied with activities, particularly with WOC spectating, Swiss 5-Day racing, and transportation to and from those events. I wasn't even running any WOC races, and I didn't seem to have time. While I appreciate the desire for more media, I completely sympathize with the team - it's very hard to make time for publicity and information. Cristina managed to squeeze some blog posts and interviews into the schedule, and Eddie was great about posting pictures. My internet access was sporadic - which seriously undercut my efforts to post media on time. I'm impressed with PG's successes keeping everyone updated about WMOC two weeks ago; deliberateness and prioritizing is key. I think having one or two dedicated media people attached to the US team - preferably with their own transportation - would be a huge step in sending information. I had hoped to serve as a correspondent, but I underestimated the logistical challenges and the magnitude of the task. A pair of people could easily post daily updates, an interview or two, some pictures, and plenty of multimedia. I could imagine the US and Canada consolidating their resources and each having a correspondent who would work together. One could be very tall with a monster lens and the other more petite, e.g.

My 5-Day performance was very disappointing, but I'm not particularly discouraged. Physically, I was depleted by Lyme and a cold in the preceding month, and my ambitious tourism schedule the week before did not help. Hanging out with the team, attending WOC races, and experiencing Switzerland was a higher priority for me than optimizing my races; I would have slept much more and invested more time studying maps and model terrain. I lacked the stamina and physical preparation to race well, but I am somewhat shocked at the difficulty I had on days 2-3 in making sense of the Swiss terrain. The vegetation is much more important for navigation than it is in the terrain I have seen in the US. I have never raced in an O-festival of the magnitude of the 5-Day (an apparently paltry 2000 attendees), and that context presented some different challenges - elephant tracks, seeing other runners in the woods, zillions of controls, and so on.

As a combination of insufficient rest, my long hikes on 12-13 July, running in sandals on 14 July, and the 5-Day sprint on 15 July, I aggravated the ligaments in my right foot again. The exact locations seemed different from the GimpyFoot injury from the Team Trials in April, but I suspect the underlying cause - plantar fascia due to tight calves - is similar. I stretched it, warmed up regularly, and took some precautions; despite some discomfort and a limited ability to race, my foot held out for the entire competition. I considered skipping races, especially the two long days, but I'm satisfied with the prudence of my decision given the circumstances.

I will have much more to remark and post about WOC; that will come later in the week. I should note that while I was in Switzerland, my log exceeded 50,000 hits! My training and orienteering performance is not deserving of that attention, but I appreciate everyone's interest in my life. I hope to learn from my past mistakes and not disappoint in the future. At the very least, I hope to keep my activities and my logging interesting.

C • petite 5