Training Log Archive: maprunner

local meet at Landahl today. It's still a bit early to enter the woods; they were pretty crappy. But what else did I expect? This is my built-in HTFU training.

Goal today was to read ahead, and be really sure of what I expected to see. First control was misplaced. Did pretty good in concentration, except when I left 2 and was distracted by orienteers and mountain bikers. Ran on the wrong trail for a ways, until I looked at my compass and saw I was running 180 off. Did a good job of counting to 10, and asking if I knew where I really was, before I headed off. The marker was missing at control 9; relocated once or twice before I determined that it must really be missing, and moved ahead.

Hit the wall physically around control 10. It was a warm day, and this was a long distance for me.

A good outing in terms of navigation and concentration; pace was slow.
route

I think I worked off 0.1% of the candy I ate at work today

Just ordered a pair of Oroc 280s. They should arrive tomorrow. Maybe they will solve all my O problems ? ;)

C • All your problems? 12

Mike and I went out to Clinton tonight. He ran with the Trail Hawks, and I ran alone. Felt sluggish to start, but felt better and better as the run continued. First time this season with the headlamp. Took me a while to adjust to the change. Felt a bit tentative at first, but then I got all excited when I saw my first spider. Their eyes are so cool, and reflect really far. Always makes me smile, for some reason.

I added my QuickRoute maps and a few comments to my entries for the classic champs day one and day two.

Analysis of my O training and results for the past three years
(warning: very long)

I gather lots of numbers about my orienteering, but I rarely sit down and look at what they mean. After my poor performance at the classic champs a few weeks ago, I decided to analyze my training and results for the past few years. I’m trying to understand when I have clean, consistent runs, and when I don’t.

What’s Gone Wrong?

My goal this year was to get fit, improve consistency (as measured my WinSplitsPro; low numbers are better) and improve my ranking. I did get fitter, and improved my median consistency slightly. Surprisingly, my median percent time lost is very low (7.2% in 2010 vs. 11% in 2009). But my ranking sucks. It has dropped down below the level of 2005.

My 2011 ranking will be in the mid-40’s. My highest ranking day this year was 55. This is a real drop from my average of 65 in 2008. So, why will my ranking be so low this year? Obviously, I’m not moving very fast compared to others. But I don’t think that is the whole story. On the classic champs day 2, I had a brain lapse in the middle of the course. I bonked, physically and mentally, and screwed up a few controls. But, later in the course, I was able to run pretty fast through the woods (granted, the legs were easy navigation and I was motivated by the sight of several other orienteers as we approached the finish). So obviously, I can run. It just comes and goes.

I think it is actually my concentration that comes and goes. No big surprise there; it’s the biggest challenge for all orienteers, isn’t it? And there’s evidence that this year was pretty bad for concentration. While my median time lost is 7.2%, my range has been 1.3% to 59.7 %. Whew! classic champs day two, my percent time lost was 22! Definitely need to get this into a narrower range, with fewer big blow-outs. Also, my consistency was all over the place. Only 50% of my races had consistency scores over my goal for the year. I tried to look for a pattern to predict my bad days. The closest correlation I can see is how sleepy I am at the start. If my inclination is to go back to the hotel and take a nap, then I’m probably not motivated to do my best that day.

I also need to recognize when things are going wrong during a race. I have gotten better at this, and I do have a recovery plan, which works sometimes. That’s the problem. I don’t ALWAYS recognize big mistakes and my recovery plan doesn’t ALWAYS work. One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m too quick to make a decision (this is true in all areas of my life, not just O). So when I stop to relocate, I usually look at the map and say “I must be here” and I move forward. Sometimes I’m right, but sometimes I’m wrong. How to improve that?

What’s Gone Right?

My highest ranked year was 2008. I was pretty fit. I had 100 hours of orienteering training in 2007, which I think led to a good foundation in map reading in 2008. And I was able to translate that into good consistent races (75% of my races met or surpassed my consistency goal). All but two of my ranking days were above 60; one day, I even scored 70 points. That was the rainy, dark day on the NAOC middle course. I don’t remember being particularly fast, but I think I just moved with confidence through the woods.

The other area where I do well is sprints. Well, obviously, one can go fast for short periods of time without bonking. But I rarely make mistakes (big or little). I seem to be able to read OK on the run. Perhaps it is because the map features are easier to read and match to the terrain? Maybe it’s easier to simplify the map on the run (a building is pretty easy to see on the map at a quick glance, and it’s easily recognizable in the terrain). My consistency and percent time lost is always lowest on sprint races.

So, what’s next?

Get fitter: this will be the easy part. I’m healthy and motivated, and the local woods O season is about to begin. There will be lots of good training opportunities in the next few months.

Get better at map reading in complex terrain: practice, practice, and practice. I have been using Catching Features regularly between races, but it’s not enough. I need to get out into complex terrain and move through it. Sounds like I’ll be going on lots of training weekends in the next year. I was going to set a goal to orienteer at least once a week in 2011; maybe now I’ll try for another “100 hours of O” year?

Get better at concentration and relocation: I’m hoping the first two improvements will help with this goal. I need to recognize my low concentration days and work on a system to get me back in focus (I already have a relocation system). Most importantly, I need to be disciplined to follow the focus and relocation systems every time. (Sometimes I ignore the warning signs.) Under my current relocation system, I stop for 10 seconds to recover, before I look at the map. I’m now going to add a second step. After I decide where I am, I’m going to ask: what other possibilities exist? Where else could you be? This may take a minute or two, but I’d rather lose 1 minute than 15.

What techniques do others use to concentrate and relocate?

C • I'm not sure I have any suggestions 2

C • Ranking.... 4

Head wind heading out. Saw lots of people on the trail. And one show-off who rode past me, very quickly, up the Kasold hill.