Training Log Archive: OJ

On reflection;
I got what I deserved from the 6 days after a year with almost no orienteering or terrain running. I got away with it back at the JK, where it didn't really count as terrain running. But I got found out up here, where I was getting knocked about by even the mildest of heather and bilberry. It's been a good experiment to see how good fitness on the hills converts to the forest - it doesn't. Or rather, it probably does with a bit of adaptation, but I never got around to that what with recovering from Wasdale, etc. Terrain fitness has always been a strength and I kind of thought that it was innate, but sadly not. If I want to get back into the mix I need to do some serious work in the run-up to the big races. Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen. For now it's back to the hills to get in shape for the Skyline!

Evening jog down to the river for a bit of an explore on the trails. Tired legs but not too bad, feeling a lot better than I did yesterday evening.

S6D Coulmony. Careful what you wish for. This was a struggle from the off. My body was not happy about starting today and for the first couple of kms it felt hard to hold even a steady pace, although the feeling got better and better as the course went on. The Western area of the map was tough tough tough, unrelenting heather, tussocks and sapping marsh. The long legs in particular were uncompromising. I loved it. The running improved after that and it was great fun swooping around the big morraine features, in particular hitting a big, steep wall just before the road crossing. I have to admit that I stopped at the timeout for at least a couple of minutes for a drink and some food - this is something that I would NOT normally do on a timeout, but today I was shameless.

On my way out the Baptiste train came through and I jumped on. Survived for a few legs, which reminded me what orienteering should feel like; smooth and purposeful, neither of which I had been up until that point. I eventually lost James T on the long contouring leg where I tried to aim higher, but as soon as I was back on my own I was floundering. Bashed my head hard on a tree and overshot the control, coming back into it as the GG train came out. Determined to salvage something from the run I reeled them in and got back ahead of them on a different line to the penultimate control to finish more strongly than I had run at any other point on the course.

This was great and made up for some of the poorer planning and areas of the rest of the week in my book. It's a long while since I took that long on a UK classic race. Smashed when I finished.

C • Nice one Oli - couldn't und... 6

S6D Roseisle. Tired on the way to the start, but cold feels a bit better again, not sure where it has hidden itself. Opted for a smooth cruise again and managed without any mistakes over 10 secs or so, except for a silly 90 degree error on a path, corrected soon enough. All a bit straightforward in beautiful open forest. It was very NICE today but it lacked teeth. Just nice, nice, nice all the way until I was fed up of nice and craving for bushy controls in the green plantation areas. I know it's a holiday event and everything, but come on!

That said, I might well be complaining about lack of nice after 17kms tomorrow.

C • too nice... 1

To the start and a short warm down jog after the race. I mean short.

River and back after an afternoon on the beach.

S6D Loch of Boath. After looking forward to some proper Scottish terrain, I was a bit disappointed when I saw the map in the start lane; even more disappointed when I saw the course. A bit embarrassing, really, by international (Euromeeting) standards. Not really possible to miss as such with big forest roads intersecting almost every leg and easy controls just inside the blocks of forest. A shame as there were some good bits of terrain out there. Oh and note to the WOC 2015 planners; if you're going to compromise the courses to have the start in the arena, put it in the arena, rather than out of sight somewhere near the arena.

Anyway, rant over. My run was much as expected. Felt a bit better warming up but struggled to hold a high pace and felt a bit off in general. Offloaded a lot of gunk and no ill effects after, so could be worse.

C • Noted. 2

No warm down earlier so got out for an evening cruise.

Paid the price for racing with a development of the cold today. Felt pretty rubbish and struggled to do much, had a nap in the car at lunchtime.

S6D Culbin. Cold has developed but not feeling any worse in my body so decided to run. Let's face it I need the practice. As it turned out, it was a good decision. I really enjoyed this; just cruising along at a nice steady pace and spiking the controls, no more than a couple of wobbles in the circle. After the first two days where I couldn't imagine stringing a few good controls together, today I couldn't imagine missing.

What did I do differently? The honest answer is that I actually looked at the map instead of wafting vaguely towards the control (or not) on rough compass. Had a good picture of the terrain most of the time which is sort of the point of orienteering. Let's have more of this later in the week. If I get away with running through a cold that is.

S6D Carse. Woke up with a stinking cold, which gives me a good excuse for the calamity of the day before. Opted to run but resolved to take it steady and nail all of the controls. My body struggled today so taking it steady wasn't a problem, but nailing all of the controls was. I managed to:

1. Punch a wrong control (but corrected).
2. Run off the map (in my defence the road crossing marshal was standing in the wrong place and directed me that way).
3. Get lost once.

Worse even than yesterday. Oh dear. On a positive, my cold didn't seem to get any worse for the effort.