Training Log Archive: Anvil

Event: Ontario Orienteering Championships
 

Ontario Middle Champs
Plan was to simplify, push a little above my comfort zone, check my compass out of every control and only use the smaller trails when they present themselves to me (ie don't go searching out the less distinct ones).
After being a little shakey at the beginning I hit a good groove on 2-6 and had even sneaked into the lead here.
Then a minor disaster led into a bigger one. Got dragged off line heading into #7 by the larger, more obvious clearing to the NW. Problem with that was, since I entered the circle in the opposite direction, I exited in the opposite direction - classic 180 (even the needle pointed in the right direction - I was just looking at the wrong pole). Making matters worse, everything fit, the trail hit a junction where I expected, then bent where I wanted to attack from and then the contours and vegetation was close enough for me to make it fit, until I crested the small ridge where the control should have been and nothing behind it made sense...
Anyway, when I finally get to 8, I've lost about 9 minutes on the leaders from 6. I figured others would make mistakes as well, but not this big. Decide to say myself for the arvo sprint and cruise the rest. A little error on #12 where I don't check the compass from my attackpoint, but that's all - I'm particularly happy with the straightness of my line on 10-11 and 14-15.

Had a similar problem with the map today that I had last year, there's something about the track network I can't put my finger on - something doesn't feel right. I don't know if it's me or the map, but there were a couple of times where I had to stop, stand still and make positively sure I was on the right trail heading in the right direction.

http://dontgetlost.ca/dgl_doma/show_map.php?user=P...

Ontario Sprint Champs - Beaverbrook
A surprisingly enjoyable and more difficult than expected sprint. Looking at the satellite photo I assumed this would be a fairly straight forward parkland sprint. We did get some of that, but also some good route choice and some couple of tricky, scratchy forested sections.

Started off well, spiked the first and solid through the early urban section. Had read ahead well so was prepared for the upcoming forest zig zag. Stayed straight and didn't let the forest push me round here which I'm happy with.
Didn't take advantage of the easy grunt through the middle of the course to plan the final forest section and paid for it with some sloppy lines (#16), sub par routes (#17), dodgy entry (#14) and exits (#17). Possibly could have saved some seconds on #19 by veering right and entering the forest at the fence edge.
But, it wasn't a bad result. I expected the Flunky to dominate such a fast looking sprint, so to finish only 14 seconds down and swap the lead with him many times over the course of the race is pretty pleasing.

It's no secret Sprint is my best discipline. Though I'm not a naturally fast runner like these races favour - there's something about the need for total precision at such a higher intensity that really works for me.

http://dontgetlost.ca/dgl_doma/show_map.php?user=P...

Course 8 Middle - Splits

Course 4A Sprint - Splits

General running round during the ARK v ARK Attack Capture the Flag event spectacular. I thought I'd be able to take part to balance off any team uneven-ness, but it slowly morphed into a regular, coachy role. Impressed by how many of our kids in the general ARK population are proficient with the map - automatically orienting north and what not.
Also impressed how fearlessly they run in the terrain - giving no thought to ploughing through streams and barrelling down gnarly slopes.

C • Impressed 9

Good solid, marginally shorter than usual TNT sesh. 1,2,3,4,4,3,2,1. Took a while to get going and had to force myself to stick with turbo on the longer ones, but was able to finish strongly on the last couple. 3 x nancies after.
Nice night. Good crew.

Out at Mineral Springs doing some hardcore Raid training with Duane and Robo.
Have to say I'm super impressed with their improvement, they were doing some fairly tough nav pretty well and running strongly on the trails.
Was very stop/start, as is the way with beginners who are constantly confirming where they they are. Pretty satisfying for me, especially when Robins mentions on the drive home how much he enjoys off-trail running.

Proper warm up, improper warm down.
Glad we went over the race course first - defo helped with pacing

C • great job on the weekend - ... 2

C • Ottawa Champs (lift?) 3

First Cross Country race in a long time. Pleasantly surprised by both the course (50/50 trail and grass) and how the competition handled the rougher stuff and awful weather (I thought Cross Country runners were super pissweak)
Wasn't sure how this race would go, though I'd had an impressive, unplanned taper on the lead up, I'd also strung together an equally impressive string of late nights/early starts this week and finally, an impressive bellyfull of Turdecken and other associated treats from last night.
Turns out, I felt pretty good. Started very slow, but slowly felt stronger over the first 5 minutes. Put in a few surges on the downhill sections and sharp directional changes and was able to pull in a few places on each of those. Was never in pain until about 3.5km when, I heard someone cheering for the lead lady and 'don't get chicked' fear response kicked in and engaged the elusive sixth gear. Happy with the final time
Really enjoyed the intensity close racing with dudes 5m in front and a pack on my shoulder at the beginning, then constantly trading places with a dude from Toronto Track and spotting turbo elusively ahead, then Trav super close behind on every turn around.
Compare that to the crappy 5k I ran in June this year (20 seconds faster today with a lower HR profile). Definitely no more road races!

Great runs from the small but powerful DGL crew today. I look forward to the damage we can do once we get numbers up.

C • Cross Racing 5