Attackpoint - performance and training tools for orienteering athletes

Training Log Archive: TheInvisibleLog

In the 31 days ending Jul 31, 2006:

activity	#	time	miles		km		+m
Walking	9	17:45:00	55.92	(19:03)	90.0	(11:50)
Real Orienteering	12	13:25:14	45.71		73.56		905	51 /	68c	75%
Pool running	1	1:20:00	12.43	(6:26)	20.0	(4:00)
Moderate run	1	45:10	5.1	(8:52)	8.2	(5:30)
MTB (Not O)	1	45:00	11.81	(3:49)	19.0	(2:22)
Total	17	34:00:24	130.96		210.76		905	51 /	68c	75%

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Sunday Jul 30, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Sailor's Diggings) 1:17:05 [4] *** 7.2 km (10:42 / km) +270m 9:01 / km

Sailors Diggings

Saturday Jul 29, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Fiddlers Green) 54:10 [4] *** 7.0 km (7:44 / km)

Fiddlers green
After the mega complexity of ORingen, back to relatively simple spur gully. Of course, I took it all to lightly and made a couple of small errors!

Friday Jul 28, 2006 #

Moderate run 45:10 [3] 8.2 km (5:30 / km)

Stumpy Gul;ly tracks. Back to normality after ORingen

Saturday Jul 22, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Kakanhatt) 58:41 [4] **** 6.16 km (9:32 / km) +95m 8:51 / km
spiked:11/12c

ORingen. Finally a good run on 4th attempt at glacial terrain. Just a minor blemish on second last control. Lost 10 seconds at most.

Friday Jul 21, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Kallebo) 1:19:05 [4] *** 7.5 km (10:33 / km) +110m 9:49 / km
spiked:13/15c

Oringen. Getting the hang of it. Just stuffed the last two real controls. Tiredness and loss of concentration.

Wednesday Jul 19, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Boksjon) 52:03 [4] ****
spiked:11/13c

ORingen. Bocksjon. Fewer mistakes, but bigger mistakes.

Tuesday Jul 18, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Olberget) 1:16:05 [3] ***** 7.25 km (10:30 / km) +110m 9:45 / km
spiked:9/14c

ORingen. Most complex map I have run on. Olberget!

Monday Jul 17, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Enmyra) 1:29:40 [3] **** 7.6 km (11:48 / km) +170m 10:37 / km
spiked:7/14c

ORingen. What a shock

Sunday Jul 9, 2006 #

Event: Vic state league 6

Real Orienteering race (Druskininkai Miskas) 55:25 [5] **** 7.0 km (7:55 / km)

Last day, and like the wedding at Cana, they left the best till last. If anyone from the TAKAS club reads this, fellers, you put on a great event on a great map. Fast and open complex sand dune terrain. I suppose the visibility was more to my Australian tastes. I could see the land forms around me and could really run for the first time. No packs today. It was a chosing start, and due to my stupidity 2 days earlier, I was starting with the late bunch. So I didn't bunch with any of them. Managed between 7 and 8 minutes per k, which is fair enough for someone new to this glacial terrain. In fact, I worked out this is only the 10th time i have run on sand!
The map... everyone said it was wonderful. The JWOC Ozzies all told us we had to run it. Julie and I were thinking of dropping it due to buss connections. In the end we stayed here another night and did the full race. A great investment. If you get the chance to run on Druskininka forest, take it. Besides the fantatsic navigation, I ran in shorts.. no stinging nettles! Ran over lots of fruiting blueberries and alpine strawberries. Even saw some red currents. Every spectator I talked to loved the place. We are sad to leave it tomorrow.
One gripe was the heat. Mid 30s again. I starte dthe race with a wet shirt, but it was dry by the second control. I did a sprint at the end from the download to the lake and jumped in. Lovely. Wait till you see the images of the assembly area. On the sand between two lakes. A post race swim was compulsory. Generally beautiful location. Consolation for the ehat was all the organisers and spectators wandering around in bikinis. It was an impressive sight to greet one in the finish tent!

C • Sounds awesum! went to the You... 1

Walking warm up/down 40:00 [1] 4.0 km (10:00 / km)

Bit walked out today after the race.

Saturday Jul 8, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Ratnycia) 57:00 [4] ***** 5.0 km (11:24 / km)

Starting to get the hang of it. This was an area adjoining the previous days map. More green and complex dunes. More heat, but at least there was water on my course, and I used it. Two cups for the mouth and one for the head! I started a little scrappily, but I at least understood green and yellow and took advantage of this. Got in a pack for the second half. All were on my course, and I managed to drop them eventually and come in 2 minutes earlier than the rest. They know how to navigate in their terrain, but I'm fitter, A minor victory at last.

Walking warm up/down 1:30:00 [1] ***** 7.0 km (12:51 / km)

Friday Jul 7, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Pieriskai) 1:10:00 [4] ***** 5.0 km (14:00 / km)

It has been getting hotter each day. This was the JWOC Middle qualification day. By the time the spectator race started, it was 35 degrees C. Humid as well. There was no water on my course. I had a pretty much perfect run up to the second last control. I was really pleased. The terrain was much more complex than the day before. The depressions are smaller and more numerous. The visibility was much reduced as well. I learnt a lot about green and yellow. Meanings are much different to Australia. Dark green is better than light green! Dark green is close pines, with sometimes moderate visibility. Light green can mean stinging nettles. Yellow is often best avoided, especially with green hatching through it. That means raspberries and stinging nettles. Unless other runners have put elephant tracks through, it can be quite nasty. So where was I.. going to the second last control. Stopped to help a crying junior, then ran off on a 90 degree error! Lack of water was starting to tell. Brain fading, so missed the warning signs. I haven't been that badly lost in 10 years! A 3 minute leg took 20. And there was an obvious track option i missed. I recovered my position through the most inane route choice. Not my best day. Another Gullibles travels. When I got back to the finish I was in quite a state. Some water and help from Julie kept me going enough to get back to the motel room. I heard afterwards someone else had an expereince like me and ended up in hospital.

Walking warm up/down 50:00 [1] ***** 4.0 km (12:30 / km)

Wandering to and from bus, around town. Too buggered afte rthe race to do more than walk back to the hotel.

Thursday Jul 6, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Petrosku Miskas) 1:11:00 [4] **** 7.9 km (8:59 / km)

Same general area as yesterday. After the good navigation yesterday I decided to step on the gas. This was a mistake. I still am not sure when to run and when to go slow. Having trouble picking out the hills from the depressions when I do my normal glance at the map in Australian terrain. I really need to stop and study the detailed areas if I am to navigate through them rather than running blind on a bearing. I stuffed up my second control. Lost probably 7 minutes, but I slowed down again and the rest was reasonably accurate.

MTB (Not O) warm up/down 45:00 [3] 19.0 km (2:22 / km)

Warm down after the race was a ride to the next village. Found the old Jewish cemetery. Curiosity overcame me and I probably went too far, as tommorrows will show. What also didn't help was buying a corkscrew and putting it in the pack. I punctured my hydration pack, so had to run without one the next day. You can see this is all leading somewhere.

Walking warm up/down 1:30:00 [1] 10.0 km (9:00 / km)

Wandering too and from buses and around town and events.

Wednesday Jul 5, 2006 #

Real Orienteering race (Noskunai) 1:05:00 [4] **** 5.95 km (10:55 / km) +150m 9:42 / km

This was the first day of the JWOC spectator event. It was on after the full day of the long event. It was a big buzz to see hanny win a gold medal. Then, at 5.00 we started the spectator race. I ran slowly as it was my first experience of this type of glacial sand dune terrain. The visibility is less than I am used to. Made one 20 metre error in an otherwise mistake free race. But that was because i went slow an dintimidated by the novel terrain. Little did I know this was ot be the best run I would have.
The terrain is described as highland moraine. I thought moraine was rocky, but the only rocks I saw were few and far between. Most were too small to be mapped on an Australian map.

Walking warm up/down 1:55:00 [1] 10.0 km (11:30 / km)

This town is designed for feet and bikes, not cars.