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Monday Jun 10, 2019 #
Note
World Cup 1 - Helsinki
Oh dear oh dear, not a good experience but a lot of opportunities to make light of it all, if I may.
In short, arrived to Finland on Thursday to find that all the nation's saunas had been left on and so the whole of the country was approximately 20 degrees too hot for my liking. Allas, after googling global warming the consensus was that there is no quick fix to this issue so instead strapped in and made absolutely no changes to my standard race preparation and strategy to accommodate these conditions. The model went well, but of course it would with a much more relaxed pace and earlier start time.
The middle therefore was a disaster. Looking at the GPS, I 'survived' for ~10mins before things really went wrong. It was uncomfortable and I wasn't perfect, though I lost ~60s to the lead and maintained high hopes. It was remarkable how quickly this changed, and a miss to 4 followed by the resultant panic sent me deep in the red to never return. I stopped checking the map, instead focusing on my diminishing state, and all technique went out the window. Huge miss to 6 as a result, began punching controls with the wrong arm, and therefore missed the punch on 7. All movement became very laboured, water at 9 made no difference, and I considered sacking it in. The only reason I didn't was because of the resultant start position the next day, so trudged on. Spongey, feeling similar symptoms at this point called it a day and I wish I had too...
But it's important to make light of it too. After I drank at the drinks control, I emptied the rest of the water before changing my mind and motioning the cup to empty onto my head. All to my embarrassment in front of the control watchers as it was already empty. I secured this failure by running directly into a crotch-high shrub and welping. At the next control, still punching with the wrong arm, I ran on for ten seconds, before looking at my arms, realising, and then returning while wondering how long I had been this foolish for. A late decision to change arm and being too hot are my only excuses here. I continued the rest of the race, walked the hills, jogged the rest and down the run in, only to be told I had MP'd which was met by the least fussed "whatever" they have probably ever experienced.
It was easy to blame the heat but I was worried there was a more serious reason I was so tired, such as exhaustion in the last few months of good training and racing. A mild headache since Jura on most days hasn't helped this view. Thankfully though, the next day was cooler and this seemingly allowed me to survive much better.
I started, dead last, at a relaxed pace. I lost a couple of mins to the pack runners on the long first leg but this was expected, and my route was quite nice. I continued on and soon found some people to play with. I joined in with Riccardo, another DNF yesterday, and we cruised round and through the phi loop. Unfortunately this new-found focus, as well as some unfortunate map origami, resulted in me missing a small butterfly loop joined into the phi. My assumption was there would be two straight gaffles, but I really have no excuse.
Another chance to make light of this was when I eventually finished, it took a further three hours, featuring lots of happiness with my time considering my start position, and renewed confidence-generation, before I eventually saw a map and realised. I probably don't appear to be the smartest cookie in the jar at this point.
Anyway, the rest of the race was actually a very good fun experience. Spongey came up from behind (having overtaken him with my cheekiness) and we romped round together for a few Jukola-style legs. Another long leg back separated us (this has happened a few times with Spongey) but we then rejoined soon after, before splitting yet again with Spongey falling and losing some oomph. Cruised round the last few kms very happily, enjoying some good Finnish terrain (as opposed to yesterday's grim slope) and finished comfortably. The physical and technical confidence, though somewhat meaningless without a supportive result, has regardlessly partially returned, so that's always nice.
Another chance to perform with the Sprint Relay tomorrow now, though with the weekend I've had who knows will happen. Maybe having teammates to deliver to will sort out my orienteering.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was always clear going into these races that I'd be:
a) technically unprepared and
b) physically struggling in the terrain given the only orienteering I've done since new year was BUCs and BOC, neither being not massively relevant
I think I have made a bit of a mockery of my selection with this lack of prep and resultant comedy/tragedy, and to the next reserve on the GB team list I wholeheartedly apologise. In the same way that m.adams at one point famously refused to warm up before a race, I guess I wanted to prove that the custom approach is not the only way and this is why I agreed to take the selection, with added encouragement from most close people to me.
At the end of the day, I haven't trained to orienteer this year because that would require more effort than just running from home or going to the Pentlands, and my laziness has guided me to this easier option. To say my university work or anything has made me too busy to orienteer would be a lie, as I have had my easiest year in those terms. Crucially though, maybe, it is this running and training style that is what I have enjoyed more than orienteering this winter/spring. And eventually, overall, the lack of preperation has been put down to following the paths of least organisational effort and least stress.
Additionally to this I haven't run orienteering races because firstly, I have prioritised races that I haven't been able to run in the past (XC, Hill, Road) and then eventually secondly, I have been to scared of poor positions, given my subsequent lack of racing.
I look forward to not being on the first team for Halden at Jukola, because I don't want to ruin their chances at a good result and I don't want the pressure, and then I look forward to going back to hill racing for the summer. Yes I will attend the Test Races and Oringen, but this is because it would be foolish not to with my semester and summer abroad last year, and Oringen is always fun (running H21L). Maybe I'll begin to enjoy orienteering enough again to want to spend future winters training for it, but for now I'm quite happy not having discipline and seasons to worry about, and specific races to prepare for.
.
Oh dear oh dear, not a good experience but a lot of opportunities to make light of it all, if I may.
In short, arrived to Finland on Thursday to find that all the nation's saunas had been left on and so the whole of the country was approximately 20 degrees too hot for my liking. Allas, after googling global warming the consensus was that there is no quick fix to this issue so instead strapped in and made absolutely no changes to my standard race preparation and strategy to accommodate these conditions. The model went well, but of course it would with a much more relaxed pace and earlier start time.
The middle therefore was a disaster. Looking at the GPS, I 'survived' for ~10mins before things really went wrong. It was uncomfortable and I wasn't perfect, though I lost ~60s to the lead and maintained high hopes. It was remarkable how quickly this changed, and a miss to 4 followed by the resultant panic sent me deep in the red to never return. I stopped checking the map, instead focusing on my diminishing state, and all technique went out the window. Huge miss to 6 as a result, began punching controls with the wrong arm, and therefore missed the punch on 7. All movement became very laboured, water at 9 made no difference, and I considered sacking it in. The only reason I didn't was because of the resultant start position the next day, so trudged on. Spongey, feeling similar symptoms at this point called it a day and I wish I had too...
But it's important to make light of it too. After I drank at the drinks control, I emptied the rest of the water before changing my mind and motioning the cup to empty onto my head. All to my embarrassment in front of the control watchers as it was already empty. I secured this failure by running directly into a crotch-high shrub and welping. At the next control, still punching with the wrong arm, I ran on for ten seconds, before looking at my arms, realising, and then returning while wondering how long I had been this foolish for. A late decision to change arm and being too hot are my only excuses here. I continued the rest of the race, walked the hills, jogged the rest and down the run in, only to be told I had MP'd which was met by the least fussed "whatever" they have probably ever experienced.
It was easy to blame the heat but I was worried there was a more serious reason I was so tired, such as exhaustion in the last few months of good training and racing. A mild headache since Jura on most days hasn't helped this view. Thankfully though, the next day was cooler and this seemingly allowed me to survive much better.
I started, dead last, at a relaxed pace. I lost a couple of mins to the pack runners on the long first leg but this was expected, and my route was quite nice. I continued on and soon found some people to play with. I joined in with Riccardo, another DNF yesterday, and we cruised round and through the phi loop. Unfortunately this new-found focus, as well as some unfortunate map origami, resulted in me missing a small butterfly loop joined into the phi. My assumption was there would be two straight gaffles, but I really have no excuse.
Another chance to make light of this was when I eventually finished, it took a further three hours, featuring lots of happiness with my time considering my start position, and renewed confidence-generation, before I eventually saw a map and realised. I probably don't appear to be the smartest cookie in the jar at this point.
Anyway, the rest of the race was actually a very good fun experience. Spongey came up from behind (having overtaken him with my cheekiness) and we romped round together for a few Jukola-style legs. Another long leg back separated us (this has happened a few times with Spongey) but we then rejoined soon after, before splitting yet again with Spongey falling and losing some oomph. Cruised round the last few kms very happily, enjoying some good Finnish terrain (as opposed to yesterday's grim slope) and finished comfortably. The physical and technical confidence, though somewhat meaningless without a supportive result, has regardlessly partially returned, so that's always nice.
Another chance to perform with the Sprint Relay tomorrow now, though with the weekend I've had who knows will happen. Maybe having teammates to deliver to will sort out my orienteering.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was always clear going into these races that I'd be:
a) technically unprepared and
b) physically struggling in the terrain given the only orienteering I've done since new year was BUCs and BOC, neither being not massively relevant
I think I have made a bit of a mockery of my selection with this lack of prep and resultant comedy/tragedy, and to the next reserve on the GB team list I wholeheartedly apologise. In the same way that m.adams at one point famously refused to warm up before a race, I guess I wanted to prove that the custom approach is not the only way and this is why I agreed to take the selection, with added encouragement from most close people to me.
At the end of the day, I haven't trained to orienteer this year because that would require more effort than just running from home or going to the Pentlands, and my laziness has guided me to this easier option. To say my university work or anything has made me too busy to orienteer would be a lie, as I have had my easiest year in those terms. Crucially though, maybe, it is this running and training style that is what I have enjoyed more than orienteering this winter/spring. And eventually, overall, the lack of preperation has been put down to following the paths of least organisational effort and least stress.
Additionally to this I haven't run orienteering races because firstly, I have prioritised races that I haven't been able to run in the past (XC, Hill, Road) and then eventually secondly, I have been to scared of poor positions, given my subsequent lack of racing.
I look forward to not being on the first team for Halden at Jukola, because I don't want to ruin their chances at a good result and I don't want the pressure, and then I look forward to going back to hill racing for the summer. Yes I will attend the Test Races and Oringen, but this is because it would be foolish not to with my semester and summer abroad last year, and Oringen is always fun (running H21L). Maybe I'll begin to enjoy orienteering enough again to want to spend future winters training for it, but for now I'm quite happy not having discipline and seasons to worry about, and specific races to prepare for.
.