Training Log Archive: Bashman

Ante ITW

Barely slept last night but managing to shift fairly easily, especially with one big boi to carry - straight from work to tonight's WRE sprint in Oslo so had to pack a few extra things. Quite chilly but braved the short shorts to the horror of the locals (wear race kit -> lighter bag).

If you look closely on the map you'll see that towards the end of the run I passed by a building, ran on a few seconds, then took a sharp turn back and stopped for a few minutes - clearly distracted by something. Bakeries are cheeky in that they advertise with smells and it's not very fair on forever hungry student runners on a pre-breakfast run. So I was hooked, turned round, and floated towards the source of the smell which now took the form of a beckoning hand in true Tom and Jerry fashion.

Breakfast was nice today.
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C • bakeries 2

WU
Nice on the seafront in the sun. No need for any extra layers. Got a nasty shock from Ralph as he lost his patience and furiously tore open my portaloo door in some sort of pre-race violent outburst.
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Norwegian EOC Tests - Sprint - 17th, +36s

Frustrated with the result, thought Norwegians weren't meant to be good at sprints (or maybe my run was even worse than I think).

Was always going to be a slightly weird one, getting a train to a WRE Sprint inc. quarantine straight from work. Messed up the eating and wasn't focussed enough for a technical course as it turned out to be - great planning from Speake. First few controls went well but didn't feel like I was shifting at my normal rate. Then the hesitations gradually crept in and overall I spent way too long standing still for a competitive sprint race.

Think I actually took all the shortest routes, but this was just down to luck and they weren't always the quickest either... Wasn't agile enough cornering and punching, and wasn't planning enough in advance. A very lazy overall feel. Still not too far down in the grand scheme of things so could be worse. And the main thing is that I've got a complete set of WR points for sprint now which should help me later in the year...

R - http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d... - seems I was also just running a bit slow, but a few more confident legs would have gone a long way
GPS - (mine didn't work) - http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20180410H21/
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WD
Cooling off with wise man Ralph.
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ITW
Most tired I've been for a few weeks. Afternoon extended recovery run should fix things.
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Easy
True recovery running with Hakon and a few young Halden whippersnappers. Went for a segment but started too late, made up for strides. Good pace though so I'll get it next time.
Otherwise nice chat and the easy pace meant I felt a lot better afterwards. Then I went for a shop, ran home with a bag in hand, and pulled a back muscle :-)
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Ante
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Norwegian EOC Tests - WRE Long- 32nd, +15min D:

Had all the ingredients for a good race but I blew it. Physically, pretty much no problem today. Still not running as fast as the locals but there's not much to be done about that on the day. Was satisfied with my performance until number 7 but then there were no more technical shortcuts or easy ways out after this. The contrast to last week is severe. (The terrain most notably, but for another: 22 controls - fewer than the middle race - a real classic course).

Spotted a few people on the hill at number 7 and managed to send myself in a spiraling, distracting thought process that couldn't be ignored. Not helped by the control being in the pit behind the one it was meant to be on, but it was enough to end my focus. I panicked out the control and lost a further minute on the next one as one extended parallel mistake, plus not seeing a path somehow. Banana to 9 and 10, still not on it completely.

Thought I refocused on the path to 11 but as I was approaching I switched off, thinking surely I would see a drinks station control and so took out a gel. Missed the control by 100m and exploded my gel over everything in a 5mile radius. Another panic ensued and lots of time was wasted running in a line with more twisters than the freezer section at tesco. I made that up as I was racing. That's how focused I was.

Two further, larger mistakes followed to 13 and 14, hesitating too early and too-in the wrong place respectively; 2mins each. A roar of frustration followed and I ran the rest of the race, maybe about 6.5km, only losing a further 3mins, probably half of which was in the final 2 controls. So a strong finish on a pair of legs which were working quite well, and going through some fairly complex controls. Not too bad.

Last few were however quite poor and I think I was just ready to finish. Parallel mistake to 21 and a very rare species of mega-banana to the last control. Shocked to see Thomas finish not too long after me, but overall the time down on the winner is as expected. 8mins of very avoidable mistakes on maybe 5 controls. As Oleg said after, if there was more at stake I probably would have been cleaner and faster. Not orienteering offensively enough today, but an awesome experience on a very cool area. Like Peter, could also bizarrely read the map a lot easier today, even on 1:15. Probably mostly due to being a more relaxed race though. Norwegians not big fans though, of neither map nor area, so I'm looking forward to run on what's considered a good terrain now.

R - http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...
GPS - http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20180408H21/
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Ante+mjolk run
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Norwegian EOC Tests - WRE Middle - 21st +3:20

One of those classic weekends with a physcally bad, technically good middle and vice versa for the long the next day. Think sleep deprivation is hitting from the last few weeks, plus JK, so felt quite knackered in the bumpy terrain. But maybe this is as it should feel, since the middle requires a much more rushed physical approach and technically fine orienteering. At first had no clue how to orienteer on this stuff but was quite lucky off the start with some easy first few legs. Got into it more as the race progressed but legs were ready to finish before halfway.

Hugely relieved when I caught Speake after the road crossing and we began sharing the load a bit more. Would have been considerably slower without this. Felt like I could barely read the map for the final part of the race and was going off vague bearings and massive oversimplification of the map, so not choosing good lines at all - "take a bearing, pass a hill and hit the control" was a common plan on the vast majority of legs today, but it seemed to work. A bit more awake, a bit cleaner, a bit faster, and a bit more incentive would have yielded a very nice result.

R - http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...
GPS - http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20180407H21/
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ITW
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Easy
With Hakon round the largely snow free trails. Chatting about the weekend coming up. Chucked in some strides and a phat shop at the end.
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Easy
Morning jog with Fiina before flying back up to Halden. Nice and sunny.
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Easy Hilly
With Oleg and Scott on the seat in a wet, windy blizzard. Climbs feeling quite easy today.
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