Training Log Archive: KingTim

Swiss O Week is over. My second continental orienteering experience, after the ORingen last year.

On the whole I really enjoyed it. The areas were amazing; scenery and running terrain were awesome. My orienteering was not. It reaffirmed the fact that I cannot orienteer very well, and that my relative success in the UK is simply down to the fact that I can run fast and dont have to do very much navigating as I do. In proper technical terrain I come very unstuck. Even when I stopped to think what I was doing wrong, and figured out that I needed to slow down and map-read a lot more, I was having trouble keeping in touch. I can't seem to keep a close enough eye on the map detail while trying to move, especially when I have to keep my eyes fixed on the rough/rocky ground in front of me. As soon as I look away from the map to see where I'm going, I lose track of the detail at my thumb-tip.

Well done to Keith for holding it together every day. A well deserved £10. Not much of a competition between us in areas like that.

And now I have some more stitches in my leg. A second week of camping in Switzerland, with some enforced rest it seems. Hoping to do some cycling and walking, and of course swimming in the lakes.

Day 6, Gibel. Again. The area meant for Day 4 was blocked by a landslide so we had to re-use Day 5's areas since this was the closest to the event centre.

Due to the last minute change of plan, we had to mark up our own maps.

As yesterdy, very slow going, and consequently cleaner navigating. Going was pretty good until my right foot slipped off a mossy damp rock and I smashed my shin into the next rock. Excrucuating pain made me sit down for a moment or two before I decided to give up as it was too painful to carry on in that terrain. By the time I'd reached the track back to the start, the pain had subsided, so I decided to carry on with the course, despite the new deep red colour my sock had gone. Concentration wasn't at its best after that so my competitiveness was gone, but I still enjoyed the forest once again.

47th/69, 24 mins down on the winner, 8 mins down on Keith.

2 inch gash right on my shin bone, split open quite a bit so I visited the first aid tent. 20 mins later I walked out with three new stitches to add to my summer collection. "No walking, running, cycling or swimming until they come out in 10-12 days".

C • Unlucky 2

Day 5, Gibel. Middle distance.

Forest. Mostly middle green, grotty undergrowth, with damp mossy rocks beneath. Quite technical contour detail in amongst it all.

Very slow going. Didn't break into a trot until the one track run route choice. This seemed to help my navigation as I had my cleanest run of the week so far. Despite the grottiness of the area, I actually quite enjoyed it today - a nice lift after yesterday's boo. Still didn't manage to beat Keith though.

31st/76, 12 mins down on the winner, 90 secs down on Keith.

Day 4 Chinzig-Seenalp (supposed to be Day 6 but swapped around).

Hot and sunny. Another long route to the start, climbing up to about 2100m. Beautiful area. High in the mountains, lots of fast open areas as well as the obligatory techincal limestone pavements and towers.

Same story - going well on the easy fast bits, but getting very lost and confused in the technical bits. Starting to get annoyed with it by now, especially as I was trying very hard to slow down for the tough bits and to concentrate hard on the map. Still didn't seem to help. Got more and more hot, tired, and annoyed with myself as I got closer to the end and got stuck in a load of middle green vegetation. Could barely muster a smile to the cheering Brits as I jogged along the run-in.

Mudclaws took a real beating today, the soles starting to break up, and giving me blisters under the ball of each foot.

67th/79. 46 mins down on the winner, 25 down on Keith.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/11325345 battery died half way round.

C • GPS track 1

Rest Day of the Swiss O Week. Was hoping to go MTBing with Darrel but he was resting his knees in prep for a MM next weekend.

Found an Alpine Swimming Pool at Stoos, at about 1500m. Chilling water, but very refreshing so spent the arvo there.

Day 3. Glattalp.

Warm and sunny finally after 3 days of rain. A 4.5km and 750m walk to the start. Fantastic walk, climbing up to the hanging valley of Glattalp. The area was mostly fast open moorland, with some areas of very technical limestone pavement.

Once again, running well until the techincal areas, in which I got thoroughly lost.

Highlight of the race: picking my route to run in between two uncrossable marshes, to find they'd grown into a lake. Stopping dead at the edge of this new lake, looking at the 200m around in either direction, some guy with a TV camera shouted at me "Four people swim already!". "Make that 5!" I replied as I went in nipple-deep into the breathtakingly cold water. Nice and refreshing but it didn't help me find the next control.

29th/77. 18 mins down on the winner, 1 min down on Keith.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/11325351 Spent 11 mins not moving.

C • GPS track 5

Day 2. Schwialppass.

High up Alpine terrain. Raining even more. Low cloud. Low visibility. Tough going on the limestone pavements. Mudclaws not gripping well on all the rock.

Got very lost in the numerous techincal areas. Otherwise was going well on the fast open moorland. Not feeling confident about the rest of the week if it's going to be as techincal as this.

Second day of losing to Keith. 34th/80, 20 mins down on the winner, 9 mins down on Keith.

Turns out one of our controls was in the wrong place, not that I noticed, but our course was voided.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/11318023 reveals I spent about 15 mins not moving.

C • GPS track 1

Event: Swiss O Week!
 

Day 1. Schwyz. Urban sprint. Raining. A lot.

All good until I ran the wrong way across a field and got totally confused and lost 2-3 minutes.

50th/81. 4 mins down on the winner, 8 sec down on Keith.