Training Log Archive: Ollie

Cycling from home to Waterloo, then later from Mortlake to Wimbeldon (through the lovely Richmond Park.) Then, after a race, again through Richmond Park to Kingston Gate. Then, after a meal at The Albert, back through Richmond Park to Mortlake, and then later back home from Waterloo - so, a cycle in five sections, three of them in the glorious Richmond Park.

"Frolics" event at Wimbledon Common SW. Frolics course, light green standard. I made six (SIX!) mistakes on the course, including a really dumb route choice to the first control that got me promptly lost (4m, 30s, 1m, 20s, 90s, 30s.) After Switzerland, it was a bit of a shock. I was trying to run straight and this really was a course where you didn't want to do that! It was pretty unpleasant underfoot - very green, and the map was quite vague in places. I ran the second half of the race mainly on paths, so stopped making mistakes.

The "Frolics Extension" course, run a few minutes after the main race on the same map (Wimbledon Common SW.) I started head-to-head with Phil M and Simon E. Unfortuantely made a silly mistake at the beginning, so they got away, and only later saw them - at a distance - exiting controls that I was going to. However Phil made a mistake at the end, and I took a gamble on the same control, so finished a minute ahead of him and 45 seconds behind Simon. Was running at a higher pace than normal, trying to catch them up. The part of the map used was technically easier though, with more on paths and less unpleasant scrub underfoot. Three mistakes, only very minor (20s, 30s and 30s.)

Softball game (work social) although I didn't do much run-scoring or indeed catching or batting - sports which require hand/eye coordination are not my forté...

Work to Hampstead Heath (stopping off at home) for a Softball game, then much later back home. Never going very fast in the hot, humid conditions.

Swiss O Week Day 6. Like the first day, the start (at 2600m) was much higher than the finish (at 2200m), and involved a gondola ride.

The first two controls were in a dense, steep boulder-field. Unfortuantely I overshot the second control, wasting 6.5 minutes searching too low for it. This was one of my costliest mistakes of the week. The next, long leg, involved a descent of over 150m; and most of the rest of the course, now in steep coniferous woodland, was also downhill - until near the end when it climbed again to the finish at Leisee. My only over mistakes were that I tended to end up too low for some controls, necessitating a tough climb up for 25m or so. I couldn't motivate myself to run at any speed up the final hill, even though it was the last day.

Thanks largely to the huge mistake at No. 2, this was my second worst day in terms of points scoring, but I enjoyed the terrain the most today - pleasant woodland and a technical boulderfield, and a race with a definite downhill theme to it.

Result: 645 points. 75th out of 111 finishers. Best split: 36th to No. 1.

Didn't do the Swiss Orienteering Week Day 5 race in Zermatt (even though the start was just down the road) as I was very weak from having been ill the night before. Then, as I started to feel better and was going to do the race informally, my back went, so I could hardly move for the rest of the day. Bit of a bummer, really.

Swiss O Week Day 4. This race was below the day 3 area, and was largely on short, grassy Alpine meadow - which should have meant it was very fast. However, a section across steep hillside at the start, and a killer hill climb at the end (150m height gain) slowed most people down.

I had a technically good race, with no significant mistakes, but really slowed down too much for the big climb.

Result: 697 points. 71st out of 121 finishers. Best split: 34th on the run-in, and 37th on a short, flat technical section across pleasant Alpine meadow.

Downhill bike ride from Gornergrat (3100m altitude) to Zermatt (1600m altitude.) Three sections. The first was extremely steep and rocky, so we went at a snail's pace (down to 2200m) Then a flat/gradual uphill section. Finally an exhilarating, fast drop from Sunegga (2200m) to Zermatt. The distance estimate is very rough - I'll measure it shortly.

Swiss O Week Day 3. N.B. Time includes 4m 20s penalty for being late to the start. Also almost forgot a control, and wasted another 4m 30s doubling back for it. No actual serious orienteering mistakes on this very technical course - so if I hadn't made the two stupid mistakes described above, this would have been a great race for me! Twisted ankle near the end though, more seriously than for the first two days. (i.e. pain didn't go away in a few minutes.)

After the first section across newly-revealed rock and sand just below a retreating glacier, the course went downhill across a scree area, and then into some of the most intensely technical terrain I have ever come across. Even at 1:7500 the map struggled to show all the many ledges, cliffs and pools. The terrain was smooth, bare rock, but it was difficult to run at any speed.

Result: 684 points. 78th out of 117 finishers. Best split: 10th on a short leg in the intensely technical area - ran fast along a ledge and spiked it.

Swiss O Week Day 2. The shortest day (for me) and the steepest day. Most of the course was in pleasant, open alpine forest with little vegetation. One leg included a leg-busting 150m climb up a very steep bank, followed by a few legs in open alpine pasture. I really enjoyed this race though and made no significant mistakes apart from a silly one at the end where I overshot badly and wasted 2 minutes. My best result of the week.

Result: 738 points. 58th out of 125 finishers. Best split: 13th on a very short leg in a flat but technical area in the trees - ran hard.

Swiss O Week Day 1. The start was up at 2950m above sea-level, the end was at 2600m - quite a drop. Took it a bit too easy as I was concerned about the altitude and didn't realise this was going to be a fast area. The first section was very stony and tough, too, and I made a couple of poor route choices. The second half of the race was fast and downhill, on alpine pastures. Stunning views of the Matterhorn.

My worst day's result, as I ran too carefully and slowly. Won the intra-SLOW run-in split competition though! (So had to wear a polka-dot "king of the mountains" jersey for the following day's race.

Result: 608 points. 82nd out of 125 finishers. Best split: 17th on the run-in.

Event: Swiss Orienteering Week
 

Test commute to where I'll be hopefully living for the next year.

Pleasant, relaxed ride along the Regent's Canal which took me almost all the way home. A really nice way to travel home on these hot summer evenings.

SLOW Middle distance evening event on Oxshott Heath, on a 1:5000 map. Fast and furious - but a 2 minute mistake at No. 1 - I had to relocate back to the start! - a 1 minute mistake at No. 6, and a 2.5 minute mistake at No. 14, effectively ended my chances of a good time. But it felt great to be sprinting around the rest of this course, including an intense sprint finish. With many legs under 60 seconds, this was a course for snap decisions, and a good way to practice control flow technique - I for once had good flow and was able to pretty much punch the controls without stopping running - already knowing my exit direction and the next control code.

Again hot and humid, but cooler at least than Lithuania was!

JWOC Spectator Races: Stage 5 - Druskininku Miskas, Lithuania. H21S (i.e. M21L) 33C, sunny.

The hottest day of all, this was a real fight against the heat - and a real sprint too. The JWOC competitors used this area in the morning and were running 10km races in under 50 minutes - so it was always going to be fast. The forest was pretty flat, and almost entirely white - you could reasonably go dead straight for all but one of the legs.

Good compass-work was important and unfortuantely I was hindered by using a Moscow Type 2 compass - I had bought it to replace my Silva Jet Spectra that I thought I had lost. The compass was maddening - every time I ran a step, it would jump around, making it impossible to use it on the run (I later replaced it with a more stable Type 3.)

However, my first mistake was not due to the compass, but to not focusing on the map at the beginning of the race. I was already feeling dehydrated in the intense heat, and ran down the wrong path, following the other people on my start block. Once I realised what I had done, the bad compass then made quickly correcting the mistake impossible, so I took a chance, ran to the wrong control and then quickly decided to do a full relocation, almost back to the start. A 2-3 minute leg had taken 8 minutes - my second worst mistake of the entire week.

Another mistake between 5 and 6 - I failed to spot a dead horizontal ride on the map, mistaking it for another path, and almost ran off the map - I knew what I had done but still wasted 3 minutes, having deviated substantially off the line.

Running around fast to try and correct these mistakes only exhausted me more, and the rest of the race was a fight against dehydration and passing out in the heat - running fast in open (i.e. sunny) forest in 33C temperatures, I was in no mood to orienteer properly, so got tows to a couple of controls, and walked in the more shaded parts. Luckily, it wasn't too technical, and I made no further significant mistakes. The end was a lovely run past the lakes in central Druskininkai, into the JWOC finish arena.

Despite this being my fastest mins/km race, it was the race I performed worst in, compared with my JOK contempories - most of whom are good runners - on a real runners' map. Still, I ended the week being the overall winner amongst us six - although I just missed out on being the best Brit to one of the British Army runners.

JWOC Spectator Races: Stage 4 - Petrosku Miskas, Lithuania. H21S (i.e. M21L) 31C, sunny.

The most physical day, although good planning kept the course largely in cooler forest, sometimes quite thick, so the heat wasn't felt nearly as much as for Days 2 & 5. Leg 2-3 was a 1km leg, alternating through steep hillside, rough open in the heat, and thick undergrowth - a true challenge, but a clean leg for me.

My only serious mistake was the second long leg (9-10). I decided to avoid the thick green forest and go around on an inevitably track. I stopped concentrating on this leg, and upon plunging back into the cooler forest, didn't start concentrating again. I badly overshot the control, ending up 300m away in intensely technical terrain. I needed to very carefully recover from it, costing 3 minutes. Apart from that there were 4 silly mistakes near controls, each costing perhaps a minute and again due to my lack of concentration. I'm just not used to orienteering in such hot climes!

Overall a good run and I again (just) beat my contempories in JOK.

JWOC Spectator Races: Stage 3 - Petrosku Miskas, Lithuania. H21S (i.e. M21L) 30C, cloudy.

The shortest day's running, and thankfully some cloud cover to keep the sun off the back - however after yesterday's nightmare and pain later that evening, I was taking no chances, and fully hydrated and fuelled before going out. This was technically my cleanest race, with just two significant mistakes.

Control 7 was in a very vague area, a jumble of paths and very small hills on the map confused me - it was difficult to know what was mapped and what wasn't - and I was 100m too far to the east. Perhaps 90 seconds was wasted in this area.

Control 14 was a very traumatic control for me. It was very near the end, so I had stopped concentrating, and swung too far to the right. The control itself was in a pit, surrounded by green forest, and was really a pot luck control. Having wasted 3 minutes here, I bashed my head hard on a horizontal branch. One control later I felt my head and realised I was bleeding quite badly. I was only a minute away from finishing the race though, so carried on, and must have looked quite a state at the finish line. However, the wound healed quickly and I don't seem to have suffered any concussion. It was a really nasty blow though and if I had had more of the course still to do, I would probably have retired as a precaution.

This time I was able to beat everyone in JOK, although by a much smaller margin than on Day 1.

JWOC Spectator Races: Stage 2 - Noskunu Miskas, Lithuania. H21S (i.e. M21L) 30C, sunny.

Just like the Scottish last year, I always seem to stumble on the second day of multi-day races. Today was the longest course of the week, it was much hotter than the previous day, and I had not been sensible at hydrating and eating enough before the race. Also, I made the worst mistake of the week - a 10 minute disaster in which I ran off the map. This mistake was very early on (2-3) and I only found the control by chance, as I was on my way to relocate!

I still had over 7km to run in very hot conditions and I was in trouble. I took a track around a long leg (7-8, over 1.5km) but failed to notice a closer track - the perfectly north-south tracks scattered through the area were seemingly invisible, my eyes automatically assuming they were gridlines. This long, hot route further dehydrated me, and a water stop didn't help too much. Just 1km from the end, I suddenly found I was completely unable to concentrate or hold a bearing. 14, 15 and 16 were a control pick. For some reason, I found 16 before 15, then after 15, I hit 14 while trying to find 16! So, I ended up going 14-16-15-14-16! I was getting extremely frustrated that I had already been to 16 but could not now find it. Four minutes were wasted in these two legs. My route to 17 was appaling - I was again completely un able to hold a bearing, and got my paths confused, getting dragged a long way off the line. Another four minute mistake. Finally, there was a long, physical leg to the last control, and I got stuck in thick green undergrowth, almost in sight of the finish!

Most of the others in JOK also struggled on this most difficult day, but Hedley had a great run and beat me by several minutes.

JWOC Spectator Races: Stage 1 - Pieriskiai, Lithuania. H21S (i.e. M21L) 27C, sunny.

The first day - and, as it turns out, my best day. I had reasonably high hopes that I would do well, as I had been to seven orienteering events in June, plus some serious effort on the bike, in terms of training. It was certainly hot today, but not as hot as it would get later in the week, so the heat did not affect me badly. The orienteering was technical, but I felt good, but took risks, running fast in terrain that would be a nightmare to relocate in. Normally, I don't get away with taking risks, but it just all went right this time.

Ironically, my only significant mistake was a 60 second bit of confusing in a non-technical area at the very end of the course - I misread the feature in the middle of the control circle, and, only a few metres away, aimed off in the wrong direction.

This was my best result of the week, and not only did I beat my JOK contempories, but also the other British runners on my course.

My route.

Event: JWOC 2006