Training Log Archive: blairtrewinIn the 1 days ending Aug 10, 2018:
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Friday Aug 10, 2018 #
10 AM
Run race ((orienteering)) 50:00 [3] *** 6.2 km (8:04 / km) +105m 7:26 / km
spiked:11/14c
Latvian O-Week, day 5. This one was on an area not used for WOC but advertised as relevant to WMOC 2019 (which I probably won't be coming to, but worthwhile anyway). The old map was 70% marsh so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. What we got was very open forest, a fair bit of marsh (not boggy or wet, but definitely harder to run than the non-marsh), and sand-dune type contours in between the marshes.
Took the first leg to get the feel for holding direction, what was up and what was done, but navigating reasonably well after that (on a course made easier because several of the controls were very visible). Really struggled with the running early on, and although that improved, I was never particularly strong on an area where the soft ground demanded it. Given how open it was I expected someone to get close to 6 mins/km, and someone did (think I ended up 11th).
This was another hot day, this time with a strong, dry, gusty southerly wind (an unusual situation for northern Europe, where heatwaves normally come with little or no wind). It was the sort of day where we probably wouldn't have gone ahead in Australia because of fire danger, and in the evening at the medal ceremony, I did smell a hint of smoke on the wind from the south (although I don't know where it's coming from). A change is due tonight.
Driving in Latvia has had its occasional moments; most of the driving is conventional, but every now and again you get a reminder that some of the behaviours you've probably seen on Russian dashcam videos were learned before the breakup of the Soviet Union. Of course, it would not be in any way stereotyping to note that those drivers with a I-don't-give-a-f**k-if-you-have-right-of-way-get-out-of-my-f***ing-way attitude (one of whom required some evasive action on my part on the way back from the event) are almost exclusively to be found in expensive German or Italian cars. (In a similar vein, apparently some scurrilous soul has been putting up official-looking posters in London: "Drive a Jeep or Range Rover in the city? You could be entitled to free penis enlargement surgery on the NHS").
Took the first leg to get the feel for holding direction, what was up and what was done, but navigating reasonably well after that (on a course made easier because several of the controls were very visible). Really struggled with the running early on, and although that improved, I was never particularly strong on an area where the soft ground demanded it. Given how open it was I expected someone to get close to 6 mins/km, and someone did (think I ended up 11th).
This was another hot day, this time with a strong, dry, gusty southerly wind (an unusual situation for northern Europe, where heatwaves normally come with little or no wind). It was the sort of day where we probably wouldn't have gone ahead in Australia because of fire danger, and in the evening at the medal ceremony, I did smell a hint of smoke on the wind from the south (although I don't know where it's coming from). A change is due tonight.
Driving in Latvia has had its occasional moments; most of the driving is conventional, but every now and again you get a reminder that some of the behaviours you've probably seen on Russian dashcam videos were learned before the breakup of the Soviet Union. Of course, it would not be in any way stereotyping to note that those drivers with a I-don't-give-a-f**k-if-you-have-right-of-way-get-out-of-my-f***ing-way attitude (one of whom required some evasive action on my part on the way back from the event) are almost exclusively to be found in expensive German or Italian cars. (In a similar vein, apparently some scurrilous soul has been putting up official-looking posters in London: "Drive a Jeep or Range Rover in the city? You could be entitled to free penis enlargement surgery on the NHS").