Training Log Archive: Mark3In the 7 days ending Jun 14, 2015:
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Sunday Jun 14, 2015 #
Orienteering race (Jukola leg 7) 1:52:29 [5] 17.69 km (6:22 / km) +433m 5:40 / km
ahr:147 max:170 shoes: X-Talon 190 (orange)[9.5]
This was an amazing experience.
Paul and Tommi were both feeling nervous before the start, but I wasn't - I was just pessimistic. The training we'd done over the previous two days had been particularly difficult and had not filled me with confidence.
Based on previous years' results and the training days we'd decided that I would be in the mass start with 100% probability, leg 6 would be there too with 99%, leg 5 as well with around 90% and even leg 4 would be 50/50.
I set my alarm for 7am but was awake pretty much all night anyway... the rain started around 3am and didn't stop... it sounded torrential. I wasn't looking forward to going out.
As I was having some pre-run cereal our leg 6 runner Jouko rang me and said he was aiming to get to changover around 8.15. I knew I needed to be there for 8:35ish for the mass start at 9, so I confidently assured him he'd have loads of time.
As I left the tent I was reminded that rain on a tent sounds much worse than it actually is; no more than a light shower. Spirits lifted somewhat.
Met Tommi by the run-in who told me the news I'd missed - we were doing much better than expected! Not only was Jouko out running (luckily he'd got there earlier than he said as he left at 8:10) but after leg 5 we were in 687th place, a massive 921 places higher than we started (1608th)! Suddenly I felt a bit of pressure.
A mass start for leg 7 runners held less than 2 hours after the winning team had finished basically meant the vast majority of the teams were there. Being in a mass start with 1500 other people is unreal. It doesn't feel like orienteering. No-one is looking at the map, everyone is just trying to get into a better position. And that was probably my main error; trying to find the start triangle and orientate the map too early. In the first 500m I'd probably passed 1000 people by going pretty damn quick out of the start, but there was still 200m of run-out left and I slowed down, and was re-passed by quite a few. Won't be falling into that trap next year! Sprint to the triangle seems to be the tactic.
Then came the actual orienteering. If you could call it that, especially at the start. I was doing a bit of vague mapreading to keep in touch, but mainly just running and trying to pass people where possible in the train. Thanks to my fairly quick start I was "on" a fairly speedy train for the first few controls. Number 2 I got off too early thinking the train was too far right and assuming I was on the wrong one - it wasn't; I was too far left; some time lost, but main problem was losing positions in the train - much easier to lose than to regain. I learnt from this - number 3 I stayed on the train and was rewarded. Then number 4 was a very long leg - maybe 1.5km - and I had no idea where we were for the entire first half of that. It is pretty disconcerting to have no idea at all where you are for 750m, just knowing that there are both people in front of, and behind you, probably hundreds, and trusting that someone ahead is going the right way! Then we went over a footbridge and I worked out where we were; still pretty lucky to find the control though. Similarly to number 5; perfect straight line and hit the control, but doubtful would've been able to do that without the train.
Number 6 was my biggest mistake, was in the right train but not confident enough. Found another few controls and relocated off number 7 (I was actually expecting it to be number 7, and they weren't that far apart, so not altogether terrible. The problem was by the time I'd got 6 and been back to 7 again (one of my best splits as I'd been there before, still 23 secs down on split winner), my train had left. Bummer. I was on my own.
Another very long leg, tried to go more or less straight, not really sure where I was until halfway-ish until relocated on a ride in roughly the right place - result! Picked up the pace as followed the ride, overtook a couple of people although still suspiciously quiet. Then found the edge of a taped area and assumed I knew where I was; followed the tape to the track...hmm; track is at the wrong angle. Oh dear. Relocated on drinks station! Turned out there were two taped areas, but they were 500m apart! The ride had forked and I'd taken the wrong fork while being busy overtaking. I hadn't actually taken a terrible route overall, but I was lucky to have such an obvious feature to relocate on. By the time I reached the control there was a train there - although an annoyingly slower one to the one I'd been on a few controls ago, so held up a bit through the next few controls.
Bit of a wobble on 15 but I knew something was wrong and relocated well. Then another long leg to 16, navigated a bit as the train was starting to spread out, and picked up some places, same through 17/18/19; knew exactly where I was and starting to feel confident. From 20 to the finish, ignored the trains as much as possible and picked my own routes; often the same as the trains but felt I was in control and able to cut corners and make up places. I suspect this was only possible because the pace of the trains was slower and so I had time to make the decisions.
So pretty good overall - there's definitely a balance to be had between navigating autonomously and sticking with everyone else, and I think the ideal balance changes throughout the course of the race. I was trying to do too much on my own near the beginning, but that was definitely the way to go later on.
Only one getting-lost mistake and one route choice mistake, and only 36 minutes down on Thierry over 17k running distance - I will take that. Feeling proud of myself, and especially proud of the whole team:
Paul gained 463 places
Tommi gained 67
Mark gained 221
Clare lost 2
Antii gained 172 (coming 297th on his leg, best performance in our team!)
Jouko lost 189
I gained 110, coming 386th
Our final position was 766th out of the 1779 that started. We can definitely be happy with that - and starting in 766th place next year will definitely give us a chance of coming even higher up next year.
Paul and Tommi were both feeling nervous before the start, but I wasn't - I was just pessimistic. The training we'd done over the previous two days had been particularly difficult and had not filled me with confidence.
Based on previous years' results and the training days we'd decided that I would be in the mass start with 100% probability, leg 6 would be there too with 99%, leg 5 as well with around 90% and even leg 4 would be 50/50.
I set my alarm for 7am but was awake pretty much all night anyway... the rain started around 3am and didn't stop... it sounded torrential. I wasn't looking forward to going out.
As I was having some pre-run cereal our leg 6 runner Jouko rang me and said he was aiming to get to changover around 8.15. I knew I needed to be there for 8:35ish for the mass start at 9, so I confidently assured him he'd have loads of time.
As I left the tent I was reminded that rain on a tent sounds much worse than it actually is; no more than a light shower. Spirits lifted somewhat.
Met Tommi by the run-in who told me the news I'd missed - we were doing much better than expected! Not only was Jouko out running (luckily he'd got there earlier than he said as he left at 8:10) but after leg 5 we were in 687th place, a massive 921 places higher than we started (1608th)! Suddenly I felt a bit of pressure.
A mass start for leg 7 runners held less than 2 hours after the winning team had finished basically meant the vast majority of the teams were there. Being in a mass start with 1500 other people is unreal. It doesn't feel like orienteering. No-one is looking at the map, everyone is just trying to get into a better position. And that was probably my main error; trying to find the start triangle and orientate the map too early. In the first 500m I'd probably passed 1000 people by going pretty damn quick out of the start, but there was still 200m of run-out left and I slowed down, and was re-passed by quite a few. Won't be falling into that trap next year! Sprint to the triangle seems to be the tactic.
Then came the actual orienteering. If you could call it that, especially at the start. I was doing a bit of vague mapreading to keep in touch, but mainly just running and trying to pass people where possible in the train. Thanks to my fairly quick start I was "on" a fairly speedy train for the first few controls. Number 2 I got off too early thinking the train was too far right and assuming I was on the wrong one - it wasn't; I was too far left; some time lost, but main problem was losing positions in the train - much easier to lose than to regain. I learnt from this - number 3 I stayed on the train and was rewarded. Then number 4 was a very long leg - maybe 1.5km - and I had no idea where we were for the entire first half of that. It is pretty disconcerting to have no idea at all where you are for 750m, just knowing that there are both people in front of, and behind you, probably hundreds, and trusting that someone ahead is going the right way! Then we went over a footbridge and I worked out where we were; still pretty lucky to find the control though. Similarly to number 5; perfect straight line and hit the control, but doubtful would've been able to do that without the train.
Number 6 was my biggest mistake, was in the right train but not confident enough. Found another few controls and relocated off number 7 (I was actually expecting it to be number 7, and they weren't that far apart, so not altogether terrible. The problem was by the time I'd got 6 and been back to 7 again (one of my best splits as I'd been there before, still 23 secs down on split winner), my train had left. Bummer. I was on my own.
Another very long leg, tried to go more or less straight, not really sure where I was until halfway-ish until relocated on a ride in roughly the right place - result! Picked up the pace as followed the ride, overtook a couple of people although still suspiciously quiet. Then found the edge of a taped area and assumed I knew where I was; followed the tape to the track...hmm; track is at the wrong angle. Oh dear. Relocated on drinks station! Turned out there were two taped areas, but they were 500m apart! The ride had forked and I'd taken the wrong fork while being busy overtaking. I hadn't actually taken a terrible route overall, but I was lucky to have such an obvious feature to relocate on. By the time I reached the control there was a train there - although an annoyingly slower one to the one I'd been on a few controls ago, so held up a bit through the next few controls.
Bit of a wobble on 15 but I knew something was wrong and relocated well. Then another long leg to 16, navigated a bit as the train was starting to spread out, and picked up some places, same through 17/18/19; knew exactly where I was and starting to feel confident. From 20 to the finish, ignored the trains as much as possible and picked my own routes; often the same as the trains but felt I was in control and able to cut corners and make up places. I suspect this was only possible because the pace of the trains was slower and so I had time to make the decisions.
So pretty good overall - there's definitely a balance to be had between navigating autonomously and sticking with everyone else, and I think the ideal balance changes throughout the course of the race. I was trying to do too much on my own near the beginning, but that was definitely the way to go later on.
Only one getting-lost mistake and one route choice mistake, and only 36 minutes down on Thierry over 17k running distance - I will take that. Feeling proud of myself, and especially proud of the whole team:
Paul gained 463 places
Tommi gained 67
Mark gained 221
Clare lost 2
Antii gained 172 (coming 297th on his leg, best performance in our team!)
Jouko lost 189
I gained 110, coming 386th
Our final position was 766th out of the 1779 that started. We can definitely be happy with that - and starting in 766th place next year will definitely give us a chance of coming even higher up next year.
Saturday Jun 13, 2015 #
Note
(rest day)
Watching Venla,etc.lots of walking around!
Friday Jun 12, 2015 #
Orienteering (Salmi) 1:03:00 [3] 3.2 km (19:41 / km) +160m 15:45 / km
shoes: X-Talon 190 (orange)[9.5]
Technique practice.getting into it a bit more.
Swim in the lake (vähä-parikas) before cooking sausages in a grill-shelter over a proper fire-excellent.apparently this is a traditional Finnish thing to do!
Swim in the lake (vähä-parikas) before cooking sausages in a grill-shelter over a proper fire-excellent.apparently this is a traditional Finnish thing to do!
Cycling (To/from the forest) 30:00 [3] 8.0 km (16.0 kph)
Swimming (Finnish lake) 10:00 [3] 0.05 km (0.3 kph)
Brrrrrrr
Although warmed up after swimming for a while!
Although warmed up after swimming for a while!
Thursday Jun 11, 2015 #
Orienteering race (Kalajärvi) 1:36:19 [4] 9.27 km (10:23 / km) +219m 9:18 / km
shoes: X-Talon 190 (orange)[9.5]
Not good.
Struggled a lot with pretty much all the controls...not really runnable and quite rocky everywhere.quickest bit to run on is the bare rock.biggest mistakes caused by assuming things would be obvious when they weren't!
It's going to be a long Sunday morning...
Struggled a lot with pretty much all the controls...not really runnable and quite rocky everywhere.quickest bit to run on is the bare rock.biggest mistakes caused by assuming things would be obvious when they weren't!
It's going to be a long Sunday morning...
Tuesday Jun 9, 2015 #
Note
Pretty windy tonight unfortunately...
Running race (Clevedon 10k) 37:15 [5] 9.94 km (3:45 / km) +16m 3:43 / km
ahr:160 max:171 shoes: Saucony Virrata 2
10k PB,woop!
Bit windy but otherwise good conditions, and a very quick course.Went through 5k on target (18:30) and then 18:45 for the next 5k is pretty good.
3.40
3.45
3.47
3.44
3.44
3.43
3.49
3.50
3.51
3.26
http://www.movescount.com/moves/move65288452
Bit windy but otherwise good conditions, and a very quick course.Went through 5k on target (18:30) and then 18:45 for the next 5k is pretty good.
3.40
3.45
3.47
3.44
3.44
3.43
3.49
3.50
3.51
3.26
http://www.movescount.com/moves/move65288452
Monday Jun 8, 2015 #
Running tempo (Westonbirt 10k) 49:33 [3] 10.0 km (4:57 / km) +122m 4:40 / km
ahr:130 max:144 shoes: Saucony Virrata 2
As my good deed for the day...(year...) paced some guy in my club to 50 mins, entirely successfully.
It was weird starting in the middle somewhere and it being busy for ages! Kind of the the Bristol 10k but at a slower pace.
Lovely evening for running and a great course.definitely tempted to race it properly next year.
It was weird starting in the middle somewhere and it being busy for ages! Kind of the the Bristol 10k but at a slower pace.
Lovely evening for running and a great course.definitely tempted to race it properly next year.