Training Log Archive: Joshosh

So today was eventful! Relaxed morning, got to see Jurmala beach which is pretty cool. They have signs up for "area of active recreation" and the other one points to "area of passive recreation" :D The afternoon was filled with multiple calls to the Latvian police since someone scratched our rental car. In the end we drove to Jurmala police station which it turns out was locked so more googling ensued. Headed back to Riga then to try find the police station, eventually found the door which is around the back and up some sketchy steps through an uninviting door. Then nobody there spoke english and we had no Latvian. Next thing google translate was out and the police and us were typing in to try and communicate that all we needed was a police report of the incident to cover ourselves. Dad tried to locate the latvian coach at JWOC but no luck. In the end after trying robrunner I rang Jens in Copenhagen to see if he had a number for Agris in Thurles to be our translator. Eventually got Agris and then he was able to sort out the whole thing. Best part was when Agris answered I said " Hi Agris, Josh here, I'm ringing you from a Latvian Police Station and I was wondering if you could do me a favour".......to his credit, he asked no questions whatsoever! Anyway long story short, paper work sorted and they were impressed how well my team had done to get to the World Cup in Russia......they were convinced I was Icelandic! Booked in to the Park Inn hotel for the night to treat ourselves and went for a short run down near the Sprint Relay embargo (but not in to it) and then down along the waters edge looking across at the old town. Just ordered pizza from the hotel and had it in the room before watching Russia v Croatia in the 1/4 finals.

Event: WOC Test Races
 

Nervous all day since the whole year was coming down this today. But got to the area nice and early, about midday which was >2hrs before the start. Went in to quarantine maybe 1pm ish or a bit after. Sorted my kit out and then the other Irish rocked up. Felt more confident once I got the warm up map in my hand and got some jogging and strides in. Focused once I got to the -4 start box. As Donie always says "the hay is all in the barn"

WOC Test Race - Sprint - 1st Irish


Usual start routine and had a fair idea where I was on the old map that
had been on the website in the build up to the race. Smooth run out to the start kite and into the game.

Note: Letters in brackets refer to the route I took, shown in the Course Analysis Link at the end of the post.

Choose the left option to #1 (A) andthen didnt quite spot the control. Right seemed best to #2 (A) so headed that way and started to look at the route to #3 (B) which was, as the first 2 options, just left or right. Went left which seems to have been ~20m longer than the right hand route. To 4 (B) the southern option was clearly shorter, if you had spotted the gap in the walls. #5 (A) was a poor route choice. I didnt spot the alley which the line to #7 crosses so went wide right, adding ~28m running. To #6 (A) I didnt even see the option of running through the grass and took the route along the main road, 15m longer. Only 1 route to #7 (A), straight. To #8 (B) I went right and took the same to #9 (A) through the trees and in. Out through a small gap and then the first right before getting around the wall to
#10 (A). Exiting #10 I went out under the underpass and straight across in to the courtyard, I think I stumbled and lost map contact. Had intended to take #B but I kind of panicked here and just ran hard on the A option, ~8sec lost in the mistake and then ~22m longer route choice, although I could get some good speed and plan ahead. Had closed in on ColmM here (1min) and we both took the (B) shortest option to #12, I hadnt a clear idea of the control location and thought it was the steps until he shouted tree! All options to #13 looked pretty good so I picked the one with the straightest lines and least grass (A). Then back in the same gap to #14 (A). Solid to #15 (B) and was starting to be caught by the Latvian who started 1min behind me at this stage. #16 (C) I exited the same way as I came in but slightly missed the gap while looking at the 16-17-18-19 section where it got tricky. Again back out the same way (B) and up to #17, good planning to mix it up a bit here. Theres a theme here, back out on myself again and down past #16 to #18 (B), looks like Hubmann ran A and Leandersson took C, just .1 of a second between both on this leg. #19 (B) was almost a gimmie control after the tricky section, on gpsseuranta.net everyone took the same, B. Stayed wide to #20 (A) and then no route choices to the finish, just running.

So i guess in terms of mistake time loss it was ~10/11 seconds (the error leaving #10 and the hesitation at #12). But as regards the longer routes I ran 115m more than the optimum routes (based on shortest distance), based on my avg pace (3:43min/km) that is ~22seconds extra running.

Travelled to Latvia to win the sprint selection race and get my spot and that box was ticked. Come away a bit cuter about what the terrain is like out here and with some things to work on/be aware of. Now to plan for the next few weeks to come back even better for the 4th August.

Pushing to the end

Chats and discreet snot rockets

Splits
Results
LiveResults (Intermediate Splits)
Map

Course Analysis

Token cool down with Kev and Shea before throwing on some layers and taking in some food. Happy camper for the evening now and on our drive to Jurmala for the night, bit of a spin but I'm not driving so I just have to not fall asleep!

Norwegian Sprint Test race in Cēsis. Saw that Oystein had put it up on Strava so I just copied down the course that they ran. Nice area and I think a bit more relevant to the Sprint Test Race area than yesterday. Quite smooth but one poor routechoice to #9 just losing some focus. Finished off with a few strides.

All set tomorrow now, feeling pretty good and no niggles at all. Time to just fuel up and keep taking on water for the rest of the evening and maybe do some last minute nerding on the map. We know where the finish is and I doubt we will be in the southern section of the map at all, also seems the area will expand beyond the old map area.

Then time to find our place for the night, looked dodgey on google street view but was perfect in real life.

Chilled training in Sigulda to start the camp off after getting sorted in the hotel and doing some shopping. Just jogged around a course gently to get some time on a map. New shoes fit well, plan to use them on Friday for the test race.

After a short wander around some of the Castle grounds in Sigulda we parked up so I could do another run on a map. The Latvians and I think one of the Turkish guys were there too and a few other orienteers passed too. 5*SprIntervals this time to get moving a bit faster. Got caught on interval *3 with some building work going on so had to go a bit further around than I had intended.

I think it is now Hesburger O'Clock!

Last run to work for the week

Off to Latvia for test races this weekend