Training Log Archive: Ollie

Should have been to/from uni, but I missed the lecture (first this term!) after needing some serious sleep following Venice. So cycled instead in to Old Street for some pubbing to celebrating a friend's 30th.

28th Venice International Orienteering Street Race. Running M A - one down from M E, the top class. Actual distance run was ~14.5-15km, according to my GPS. Two features of the course I was expecting didn't materialise - there were no very long legs, and no legs I call "50:50" where there's two obvious routes, both equidistant from bridges across water and both requiring signficant deviation from the straight line.

I had a pretty clean run, only making one significant navigational mistake when I lost concentration (fatal in Venice!) and missed a turn. I had to try and retrace my steps in order to relocate. This probably wasted around 90 seconds of time. I was 29th out of 103 finishers, less than 12 minutes down on the winner - although I was running M A, not M E (Elite). The elite course was only 400m longer than mine - I should have done that!

It is very difficult to remember exactly where I went on this course, with such an incredible maze of streets and bridges. I had my GPS with me and it seems to have logged my route pretty well, but with quite a large error (10-20m in places) due to the narrow alleyways and high building sides. Also, the satellite photo resolution isn't quite as good as I'm used to in London.

So, to spot my mistakes, I'm going on significant deviations in my race position on each leg.

Here's best and worst 4 legs:

Good legs:
Leg 4: 14th, gained 20 places. This was a relatively straightforward leg as long as you spotted that the control was only approachable from the right, not the left, of the straight line.
Leg 5: 18th, gained 7 places. Again, quite a short leg. Two obvious routes to go - my way must have been the best.
Leg 14: 10th. Here I was 18th overall - my highest position. I was familiar with the area around here - it was where my hotel was. I was also lucky with the crowds, the area here is normally extremely congested.
Leg 16: 12th. Another dodge-the-crowds leg, I was quite good at these in general.

Bad legs:
Leg 2: 93rd, lost 45 places. Ran into a dead-end, and had to go back. Also, there was a better, shorter route than the way I went.
Leg 3: 74th. GPS shows I went wrong here and had to double-back.
Leg 17: 94th, lost 10 places. This was my biggest mistake - I lost concentration and ran into a maze, not knowing where I was. Nasty.
Leg 20: 91st, lost 7 places. Found the crowds a real nightmare on this leg. There was no obvious alternative route.

Event: Oxford City Race 2007
 

Event: Venice Street O
 

Via Globe Town & Regent's Canal. Headwind again. Cold.

C • gps question 4

Via Globe Town and Regent's Canal. Strong headwind.

Via Regent's Canal and Globe Town.

To/from UCL, by Tottenham Court Road. Out via Bank and Farringdon, back via Old Street and Bethnal Green Road (nasty.)

From Broxbourne back home, mainly along National Cycle Route 1 from Cheshunt to Mile End, doing some route-mapping for OSM. Never really pushed myself - so I was actually feeling colder at the end of the cycle ride than at the beginning - it was a chilly day. The only significant hill on this route was right at the beginning, and it was only 40m. HR stayed in the 100-130 range for most of the route. I guess I should therefore rate this as intensity "1" - previously I would have rated this as a "2". The crazy amount of sleep recorded meant there wasn't that much daylight left when I got up. I think I was catching up for the early mornings over the weekend.