Training Log Archive: BrandNewMe

Woke up in the van parked up in a service station somewhere near Cologne, after 2.5 hours sleep. We drove to Amsterdam and got there midday, heading into town for the afternoon. It was the middle of gay pride festival. Lots of awkward questions we were too exhausted to address. Too exhausted to walk properly, so running was really out of the question.

Amsterdam is a great city though! I could happily live here. It's clean and friendly and in many ways like Scandinavia, only more kooky and less smug.

Bubo day 4

I compared splits with Kim on the ferry after. The story of the race is I struggled on the first third where is was stoney stoney stoney. I just can't run through that stuff. The middle bit I could run, and took lots of time out of everyone. Then I took a bearing to number 15 and got slightly off line, then hit a big ruined building, and stopped, and thought WTF.... And after a while of thinking I must have missed a control or done a 180 or something similar, I see a funny wall symbol under the number '15' and realised that was how it was mapped, and that I wasn't far offline at all. 2:30-3mins lost. A 1 min lead lost. I punted around the last 1/6th a bit deflated. A fun race though, v well planned on what was a bit of a scrappy area.


Bubo - loved it. Such fun. Cres was special too. Beautiful island.

Things learnt from my first orienteering since April:

I am pretty unfit
I don't seem to have much confidence in my technique. If I did have, then I would have picked up some of my mistakes much sooner.
I can compete in terrain without necessarily damaging myself.
It was fun, I am up for more.

I really liked competing against Kim and Rachael, even if they did bump me off the podium.

Results / splits:
http://orienteeringonline.net/CompetitionBasicInfo...

Into the van, off Cres, through Croatia, through Slovenia, waited 3:15 hours to get through the border to Austria, then on to Germany, driving until 4:30am when we could drive no more. Tired.

Bubo day 3

Laurence vomited everywhere at 11:30 last night. Spent most of the night cleaning up regurgitated calamari. Nice. Note to self - must make sure he chews his food more thoroughly. There were full tentacles that I cleaned up.

Next morning, a forest sprint. What a treat. Shadowed Lucy around W10 first, and was embarrassed to find that my course had the same number 2 as hers. Struggled to get flow, and did a 90 degree error at 14 and missed 18, only realising when I got to 19. FFS. Dropped 3:30-4mins over those 2 controls.

Great little burn up though.

Bubo day 2.

I woke feeling ill and weak and vomity. Not a good start. By the time I had hauled Luxy up to the start in the baking hot weather, I felt really quite shit.

I ran past number one, just can't have seen it at all. Looked in other places that it might have been before turning around and seeing it. Nearly 1 min dropped already. Overshot 4, royally stuffed up 12 (2mins). Getting really got and bothered and miserable now. Dropped 1 min at 15, another at 16. Just couldn't think, too dehydrated and tired and miserable and grumpy. Considering jacking... Took a high speed fall to 17 cutting both knees, then another one out of 17. There was a lot of swearing, loudly. And after the second one many thoughs of jacking. Major grump. Walked to 18, found it easily.

Straight to 19, down through more stoney shite, but it was nice running up the other side. I was so knackered I couldn't find the f*cker. Another 1min + wasted. Just too hot and too tired and too dehydrated to enjoy it. I think I might have some isostar in the van somewhere. Got to dig it out for tomorrow. Still in the mix overall.

Bubo cup day 1 - w21e

In the olive groves of Cres. This means a heck of a lot of stones. Walls, ruined walls, low walls, low long piles of stones, big piles of stones, open rocks.

It was fun as a one off, really entertaining, but I was glad to get to the end as when you were not on stones you were running through thistles, and it got tiresome. Some misses but otherwise ok. 4th, 3rd Brit.

Full on beach bum day for the first time in my kids lives. They loved it, as did I. Snorkel-tastic.

Travelling from bled to Cres, with a few unnecessary detours.