Orienteering race 11:06 [5] ***** 3.5 km (3:10 / km)
ahr:171 max:185 spiked:17/17c shoes: Yellow Saucony
WOC sprint qualifier. Good race to start the week. Had a tricky route choice to start, then 4 controls in quick succession in a little park, then long legs across town to another park. All quite straightforward, then some tower blocks at the end, when the only issue was crossability of fences - I went for the crossing points rather than attempt a crossing and lost a bit of time. Otherwise had good splits throughout and map with route up on
www.grahamgristwood.co.uk
Road/track running warm up/down 35:10 [3] 6.39 km (5:30 / km)
shoes: Blue Saucony Triumphs
Warm up including strides and jogging after.
Orienteering race 14:57 [5] ***** 4.0 km (3:44 / km)
ahr:172 max:184 spiked:14/17c shoes: Yellow Saucony
WOC sprint final
22nd place
Very disappointing performance and result. I didn't feel great warming up - legs felt a bit heavy from the morning and felt a bit tired and lethargic. Warmed up well and tried to get myself worked up. Guess I was slightly worried about the will there be a thunderstorm / won't there. I decided there wouldn't be and put on my racing flats. The thunderstorm hit me at number 2 and continued nicely for the majority of my race, including all 8 'technical' controls in the gardens. Picked the correct route to the first control. but I was obviously off the pace immediately, losing 14 seconds to the best. Started well in the gardens though, and when the heavens opened I was doing ok. Got a bit stressed coming out of number 4 and made a rushed panicy decision to go up and over which was a big mistake. Started to get a bit flustered but managed to calm myself down. Ran ok through to number 10, but I picked the wrong (longest but simplest) route choice to 11. 12 - 14 was simple, but I lost a few seconds on 14 on running speed. 15 I had planned, but then coming out af 14 I started to rush a bit, and bananad big style. Corrected myself, but that combined with the less good route choice anyway cost me at least 10 seconds and probable around 7-8 places. Dammit.
I let the storm over - affect me. The lack of grip was a problem, but it seems like my running speed in the technical part was ok - lost a little time running on the longer legs.
Need to think about recovery and refueling between two races in a day a bit more, especially before Thursday.
Summary-
I was definitely one of the worst hit by the weather, but I should have dealt with it better. Very frustrating performance and result, but on the plus side, it is really positive that I consider 22nd a disastrous days work at the World Championships. The qualification was basically perfect, and I had the potential to take a place on the podium or even the bronze on the day with a good performance.
Road/track running warm up/down 17:00 [2] 3.0 km (5:40 / km)
shoes: Blue Saucony Triumphs
Jogging back from the arena to the accommodation
Road/track running warm up/down 25:00 [3] 4.5 km (5:33 / km)
ahr:131 max:170 shoes: Blue Saucony Triumphs
Long warm up with jogging and long strides