Training Log Archive: ndobbs

Event: XI Meeting Orientação do Centro
 

meeting orientacao do centro, Pataias, Day 1
ran without compass, with borrowed SI card...

made five or 6 minutes of mistakes probably, which is pretty terrible given how piss easy this orienteering is... really good visibility... no warm-up, bad focus

MMerz ran another ridiculously fast race of 33:59, under 4:30/km

Alcobaça
Urban night race

Could have done with my headlamp for the first two controls in dark alleys. Couldn't tell green wasn't black so I didn't jump a wall near nine.
At the fortress misread north so I thought the controls were on the inner (upper) side of the fortress walls. silly me. Had to run to lights to correct. Hanna W overtook me again here. Hanna R was way behind :)

This was lots of fun. I think Ionut was the only on under 20 minutes. There was a pig roasting on a spit at the finish. Yummy.

drove the mini-bus to Pataias in the morning. Then ran the model event. It was relatively straightforward, reminded me of 3j du Sud-Ouest terrain in France. Forested sand-dunes. Fast and not overly technical. Unlike the competition maps, this one was dodgy.

Went to the beach... shit happened

Morning training near Castelo de Vide. Lovely area, open with rocks and occasional mild undergrowth again. Beautiful sunny day. Windy. Felt like Ireland in summer. Not too difficult at the speed I was going.

Lunch-break was in Castelo de Vide itself, up in the old town. We walked around the urban stage of the Portugese sprint champs 2008. It was reminiscent of Cervara di Roma, that nice! Met Marianne Andersen and her group of bigger juniors on top of the tower. Good stuff. Ionut and Darek jogged the course, Wojteks and I walked half of it.

Still trying not to overdo it on my foot, I forwent the "forest" stage fo the sprint champs in Povoa i Medeis or some such, near to Castelo da Vide... a small area of open terrain with lots of controls, rocky outcroppings and scattered trees, mapped at 1:4000, a really technical sprint. Darek, Ionut and Kowal ran it as a mass start. Chaos ensued, much of it captured on video by Dwojak. It was a fantastic spectacle, way better than oriShow. Unfortunately the video camera was stolen too... aggh

jogging around a map near arez, open area, mad rock formations. good fun, spent a while trying to make sense of the map in some places.

footstillsore

more easy training, this time in the afternoon at
Termas de Fadagosa

Didn't like the map as much. At first I thought there was more than one mapper, it was so inconsistent, but no. Still lovely terrain.

Sunbathed beforehand with feet in a stream to keep cool :)