Training Log Archive: Bashman

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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Ante
Chill loop with Jacob in the rain. Stitch coming back after Sunday making things quite uncomfortable though.
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Ante
Barely slept a wink with tingling legs and rave going on next door so rolled out of bed and went for a run. Think the legs needed it anyway. Out to the centre again to be even more pleasantly surprised. Got back, hostel locked, banged on the window in the pouring rain and eventually convinced the owner to let me in. Then made some high quality porridge/coffee to combat the mega sleep deprivation coming my way.
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JK Relay - Mens Premier - 3rd Leg - GOLD

Great work from Alex to keep within touching distance and then an outstanding performance from Jonny on second leg set this up very nicely for me. Off at a bit of a rushed pace feeling fairly sleep deprived, but soon woke up from the endorphins flooding in. Quite a safe orienteering approach for the first two thirds of the course, double checking all codes and taking the best lines I possibly could, while also thinking about a potential tough finish with a heavy climb.

Then saw a very scary sight of Will G and Spongey homing in on the western loop so put myself into fifth gear and began trying considerably harder. Really good effort all the way up the hill and noticed my respiratory rate hadn't been so high for a good while. Relieved to see the assembly field, with Tim offering me a sandwich while confirming I had a good gap. Hit the run in with Jonny, met Alex at the finish, no MPs, great stuff! A trophy I've been hoping to get before I left the club, so very happy to bag it with a year to spare. Made the mud and rainy weather somewhat less horrible.

R - http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2018/JK2018/re...
RG - http://www.jk.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#76&course=1