Training Log Archive: ndobbs

citéU (my last ever run here??? ok maybe not)
Fartlek
Late (well after dark) run, tired, not much sleep lasst night, packing to move house tomorrow. Must be careful to have enough recovery/sleep time in the next day or two.

orsay loop

need more time (and more sleep) if i am to recover properly. may try to keep this week light training-wise, then two heavierweeks and two easier weeks before italy... don't know is that what i should be doing...

Tour Denecourt
ran most of a course from the 6thof March when there was snow on the ground rather than loads of ferns, then I ran 1:07 or some such. Snow is faster, as is my race pace :)

Also 13 minute trail run to the start. Total time 1:41, knocked off 11 minutes for faffing about. Map is still wrong around no 2

Parc de Sceaux, trying to read cassière map from a few days back. I think it'll be worth either getting a loupe or stopping to read the map - take in info faster than while running at reduced pace... to consider

recuperation jog, morning after the week before...

C • WOC? 3

La Cassière,
Aydat

Belgian Training Camp day 3, a little middle distance to finish up!!

Back is a bit stiff after yesterday (and the day before, i suppose - this terrain doesn't let up).

1:10000 map, one of the best around, took me a little time to get into it. Got the first couple of controls ok, but the 5th I was running to hit a wall, nothing simpler, but then got worried and semi-convinced I had passed it wihout noticing (not that this was possible). So I spent 5 minutes relocating in a wee area. Lots of people overtook me off to the side as I had dliberately taken a slightly roundabout "faster" route.

Caught up and overtook several on the 6th which I took nicely, then leapfrogging with Vincent (or was it Nicolas :) S for a few controls. A mistake on the 10th and others overtook, alternative route well-executed to the 11th and I wsa in "second", a little behind V. Meet V and MatthiasG at the 12th, a little behind at the 13th (independently) get 14 in the lead, mistake allows those two to atch up for 15, ahead again at 16, run to linear feature failed again on the way to 17, stopped too soon, then ran down the wrong re-entrant when I did get there... doh... didn't lose much on the last few.

What a fantastic map!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jon Are Myhren was best running 56 minutes, 12 minute ks, and he is GOOD. Shall we have a 2km middle qualifier next year????

went out picking up four controls, ones I had got pretty well. This didn't stop me losing contact a few times. 10 mins trail running plus twenty minutes walk-jogging in the forest.

Talking with the mapper wsa interesting before the course, apparently he's gone through two mapping controllers already and the third has yet to be seen. He agrees that the 1:15k map scale is ridiculous - it will lead to simpler courses because the detail won't fit, reminiscent of orienteering back in the very beginning - run 2km SSE to the top of a 45m hill... great...

running speed here is low with stones and veget, and this also makes the map-reading difficult.

Belgian Training Camp Day 2
Volvic
Les Sources

Isn't life great?! Beatiful, technical terrain. The only bémol is the excess of stones around controls 16 and 17 which made moving hard. These were also two controls I made mistakes on, or at least went unreasonably slowly. Well, 17 I fell upon par hasard... also was off on 19, 24, 25, 26 but relocated ok amazingly.

Owe the belgians so much for this camp!!!

control pick-up

Mazaye
Same map as the IR back in April (24th?), but concentrated in a different part. Fantastic stuff. Incredible complicated area with green and fallen trees and stuff with four controls, missed the last one and lost a lot of time, another control I lost a few minutes on was due to not seeing the pile of stones on the wee spur I navigated really well to.... really annoyed me. I make mistakes here, but when it goes well it gives an incredible feeling, really amazing - it seems so improbable that one can match map to terrain and navigate here... special.

In general all the courses set have been very well planned. Lots of interesting orienteering!!! and only a couple of misplaced controls over the three days. really impressive. Belgians are great!!!

Belgian Training Camp Day 1
Aydat
(site d'orientation) 1:5000

Used the permanent controls (isn't this fantastic? Permanent, ultra-technical orienteering courses).

Found it tough navigationally, I suspect that now, after the camp is over, I'd find it pretty easy. Towards the end we had a nice little balade into the green. Surprised myself by finding the controls without much problem (but very reduced speed).

Volvic,
Les Sources
Permanent controls again. 1:5000 map.
Started with Circuit A in the Green, technicallissimo and fantastic. Such pleasure... and head-wrecking. - 39 minutes

Then 33 minutes for circuit B, not so interesting, map had changed a bit so took a bit longer than it would have otherwise, also getting tired...

Instead of C, went out for a jog on the trails, cut through a nice area of "white" forest also, reading map along the way...

Relay got washed and fogged out (what wusses :)
so went with the belgians to French Middle CHamps area for a bit of training. Ran UP to the start of the middle final to say hello to the tree that beat me. It's still scary.

Championnats de France
Moyenne Distance Finale Hommes
Take Two.

To get rid of demons decided this had to be run. Not à fond, but completed... Really nice course, sorry I couldn't have run it in compn. Stones, slopes, vegetation, well-planned. Messed up one route choice and a couple of controls (both on 15, where I had a straighter heavy on climb route and then was two contours lower than where the control would have been).

Nasty weather. cold and wet.
Good orienteering, although downhills were slippy and rough on the back.

Warming up and down arounf the Classic Champs

Championnats de France
Longue Distance

Not sure of the exact distance/climb.

Running well (with a bandaged head - I was careful going through veget) physically, made probably ten minutes of mistakes, partly due to having trouble with the 1:15 scale (legibility more so than distance judgment).

Nico Girsch won in 1:39, I'd have been happy with uder 2hrs but should really have run 1:50-1:55

next year :) not that i'll be running french champs...

Championnats de France,
Finale Moyenne Distance

Reasonably well-rested after the morning's qualification race, motivated to place well in the final, perhaps a top ten.

Try to start fast, grab my map, turning it over to find the start triangle and accelerating then BOOM


Race Over...
Almost cried at not being able to run the race... four staples probably hurt more than anything else!

Shame I don't have a picture of the tree, it was bigger than me.

PS Sorry, picture didn't shrink like it should...

warmup and down around the Qualie and then up the hill to the middle final

MIddle Distance Qualie, French Champs
Les Loges de Lapra

Started with Matthias Mahr, Sergei S, Charly B - a nice group if there is one :)
We seemed to have every second control in common which made for good racing. Wasn't worried at all about not qualifying until I messed up controls 5 and 6 a bit and decided to up the pace a little, got the next few fine and knew I was safe, then lost 5 minutes on a really short control, it looked easy, fooled many people, me longer than most... sprinted the last two controls because I knew I was cutting it fine. Fastest descent ever until I started falling :)

Made it through with maybe a minute to spare as 7th of 8 in my heat to qualify. Didn't give me a good start time for the afternoon, but otherwise not important.

warming up and running to the start principally, gentle warm down after too

Championnat de France de Sprint
Saint-Victor-Sur-Loire

6th place!!! from François Gonon 1st in 1300, TeroG 2nd in 13:27.
Really a good result, and I lost a minute - 30 seconds to the first control (overshot) and then on 12->13 in the forest part I went over instead of around by the coast.

Excellent map, Excellent traçage, Excellent Sprint area. First part was in old town, complete with amphitheatre and passages and staircases and the like, followed by a long leg along the road/ridge to a small patch of tricky forest on a spur with crags and reentrants etc., back along the waterfront to the finish area. There were loads of spectators in the town (by the sound of it anyway, I was _focussed_!!!
Really had everything!!!

And when finishing it's a really good feeling to have the speaker announce that Nails Dobbs a pulverisé le meilleur temps du circuit!!!!!!!! A long time before that will happen again unfortunately... so a memory to cherish :)

Interrégionale,
La Croix des Fosses,
Kirian Meyer won in 68, he overtook me too. I got ahead for a few controls but a little orienteering laziness or tiredness or whatever let him get away then.

Made quite a lot of wee mistakes. Not happy with the run, but manage a third place which was way better than expected. I wonder have I got fitter without really noticing??
Nice place, decent map, continental terrain.

Le Col de la République
Train down to StEtienne today, Alain and Cécile picked me up and took me out to one of the French Champs training maps.

Out on the map 2h45 probably, stopped lost with Alain for some of the time. Was shadowing for a while... for the classic training course. Then we alternated a bit for some of the middle training. The last twenty minutes I went off myself and started reading the map a bit better.

needless to say, tired afterwards!!

fartlek, citéU, Arcinazzo (Italy World Cup) map in hand. Useful session, (re)learning to look at a map at pace. Tired, not much sleep last night... heading dowd to StET tomorrow hopefully for a week of orienteering.

Tour Denecourt, "sprint" course from WEHN last february (?)

map really isn't made to be read at 1:5000... just not accurate enough (i'm talking proportions more than detail), and a couple of bits are possibly wrong...

out on the course for 50 minutes - last time I took 27 and winners wer doing 14 or 15 I think. A couple of mistakes and a few bits of map-checking. I did manage to get the first control two and a half minutes faster than last time :)

Not sure it was particularly helpful training.

Fontainebleau. Missed my train this morning - I checked the alarm seven times (even noticed that I hadn't changed it back to French time!!) but have no memory of hearing it this morning... so no IR race, and don't know how I'm getting down for the training and races later this week.

Since I was pissed off, I thought a bit of Bleau training would be a good idea :)
Five mins running to start of O-training, 1h22 afterwards with rucksack along a shortened route to Bois le Roi. probably a good idea not to have run the longer one...

C • 2

parc montsouris
won't try to claim this was anything special... people who say parisian parks are beautiful really need to get out more...

legs felt a little heavy, wonder how they'll be racing tomorrow. Didn't get much sleep last night, or the night before, and sofar haven't eaten much today or yesterday. That'll change shortly!!!
After two days "off" hiking bags around the place, it's gonna be a heavy 9 days I think with IRs, training, French Champs races and then a bit of Aydat training with the belgians.

last day of running in achill before my return to france via mary's in dublin.

95% in terrain, over past the crannog and around the re-entrant that cuts into Minaun coming back down to the Bunacurry waterworks... and back fairly directly...

went out late and tired, but enjoyed the run a lot.

north face of slievemore

north face of slievemore, trying to get some extra terrain running in before i leave

terrain run to crannog, back around the upper east end of the hill opposite the house, down into a muddy field or two and back past the church. not a bad old run, shame about the mud and the fences at the end, the bog was nice.

beaches run

n face of slievemore run. ran the return leg way faster, staying aerobic but running fast. hurt my back a little either on this run or in the hours surrounding... 32:36 out, 25:08 back

n face slievemore
33:27out, 29:12 back

beaches run (to Valley Strand)

achill, beaches run