Training Log Archive: nmulderIn the 31 days ending Aug 31, 2007:
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| We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Friday Aug 31, 2007 #
Road Running 33:08 [2] 6.3 km (5:16 / km) +79m 4:57 / km
slept:7.5 shoes: Asics Gel Nimbus 2004
0830 - Went for a short run, still feeling a bit stiff to start with. Cliffview, Fairlands, Berario area. Once again nice weather for running.
Thursday Aug 30, 2007 #
Mountain Biking 1:07:37 [3] 22.37 km (19.9 kph)
shoes: Specialized Epic Comp 2006
0700 - Rode out to Emmarentia and back. Fractionally chilly to start with, but otherwise a nice temperature. There are a few new tracks in Emmies in my absence. Av 19.8 Mx 42.1
Road Running (Randburg TT) 22:08 [3] 5.0 km (4:26 / km)
shoes: Asics Gel Nimbus 2004
1745 - Started feeling sore from gym work day before, so first 1.5km were done at a slow, stiff pace, despite a bit of a warm-up and stretching before starting. Then started increasing the pace nicely. Did quite a big stretching routine afterwards.
Wednesday Aug 29, 2007 #
Gym (PF Roodepoort) 1:15:00 [3]
0730 - First gym work in about 5 weeks, so I didn't go crazy today. I don't appear to have lost any strength though. Traffic was a nightmare... but maybe I've just forgotten about SA traffic. Must move to a closer gym next year anyway.
Trail Running intervals (Emmarentia) 46:50 [5] 9.0 km (5:12 / km)
shoes: Salomon 3D Pro green #7
1700 - Starting from Dabs, did a warm up through the park for 15 minutes.
5 x intervals of 3 mins at hard pace across the grass and gardens, with 1 minute standing recoveries.
1 x hill session on Mark's Park embankment, sprinting diagonally up slope 5 times, jogging back down to next point. 3:58 .
12 minute warm down jog back to Dabs.
5 x intervals of 3 mins at hard pace across the grass and gardens, with 1 minute standing recoveries.
1 x hill session on Mark's Park embankment, sprinting diagonally up slope 5 times, jogging back down to next point. 3:58 .
12 minute warm down jog back to Dabs.
Tuesday Aug 28, 2007 #
Note
(rest day)
It's was very enjoyable being lazy.
Monday Aug 27, 2007 #
Note
Flew back from Ukraine to Johannesburg.
Sunday Aug 26, 2007 #
Trail Running (Hydropark) 31:42 [3] *** 6.0 km (5:17 / km) +7m 5:15 / km
shoes: Salomon Speed Cross
0615 - A loosening up jog after WOC around Hydropark map, an island in the Middle of the Dnieper in Kiev. Went with Jeremy, catching the metro to and from the island. Nice run on small and medium footpaths. Quite a lot of revellers on their way home, but quite out in the forest.
Saturday Aug 25, 2007 #
Orienteering race (Pirogovo) 1:10:33 [5] **** 8.6 km (8:12 / km) +175m 7:27 / km
(sick) shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1200 - Pirogovo. 1:10'000. 5m. WOC Relay. I ran the first leg for the SA relay team. Normally this is a position that I don't like, but the thinking was that better me than Richard or Jeremy. Normally I'm too slow for an early leg. After the start, this was the case, as I hung onto the back of the field for the first 2. However, when the climb started on 3 and 4 I was immediately back with them, running with Ireland, China, USA and a few others. I made a small route choice error early on as I adapted to the map (green was very runnable for a change... this was the same map for the Classic final, so the people who ran it had an advantage). I made a big mistake though at #10. I thought I had read the map well, but did not double check, running up the wrong gully in highly eroded terrain. I ran up the wrong ridge, got to the top and saw Ireland (30 secs behind) punch the correct hill top two ridges away. Took me a while to get there. I then made my next mistake by changing my following route as I was starting to feel very weak (probably due to illness in last 3 days). I decided to run around all the erosion, rather than back through. I ended up doing significant extra distance, plus I still had to climb and drop through numerous gullies. My time estimate is a loss of 3 min + 4 min. I though I would be way out of it, but at the spectator control, they gave me a time split of 1 minute to Ireland (Andrew having a worse day than me). The next loop was easy, I made no mistakes and re-caught Taipei. I brought the team in in 35th position, surprisingly 2 min ahead of Ireland. Richard L than had a good to fair run to bring the team home in 33rd overall. Jeremy ran 3rd and also had a few big mistakes. We finished 36th overall, well below our goal of improving our seeding of 33rd. 10 minutes faster would have pulled us up about 3 places. Nice terrain, once again more easy to run in than originally expected. Very little in the training camp was applicable to WOC.
Friday Aug 24, 2007 #
Note
Have been feeling somewhat ill the last few days. I think its a combination of hayfever, the muggy conditions and sleeping in a warm draft.
Monday Aug 20, 2007 #
Orienteering race (Bortnychi North) 38:01 [5] **** 4.9 km (7:46 / km) +70m 7:14 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1031 - Bortnychi North. 1:10'000, 2.5m contours. WOC 2007 Middle Distance Qualifier. Had a good start over the first 5 controls, catching Pavel the Israeli (started 2 mins ahead) before 1 and running together till 5. Then he sped up. The rest of my race wasn't too great. I did not have enough contact with the map, and I was slow and uncertain on the medium and long legs. A few times I was out at the control, and a few others I got lucky as I didn't read within the circle well. In the end Pavel ran away by 4 minutes from me. Even if I had stayed with him, I would still have been 3.5 mins away from the 30:35 qualifying mark. Finished 27th out of 41 runners, including a few dsq'ed because of mispunching and over-timing. I've now got nearly a week of rest before the Relays.
Sunday Aug 19, 2007 #
Orienteering race (Golosiivsky Park) 1:15:44 [5] **** 8.9 km (8:31 / km) +360m 7:05 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
Golosiivsky Park. 1:15'000. 5m contours. WOC 2007 Long Distance Qualification. As opposed to yesterdays heat and high humidity, this morning was nice and cool, perfect running weather. My bus was on time (unusually) to the start, so I had a nice, but painful warm-up. Got off to a decent start, but was a bit despondent due to the large number of running legs. After the first water control (#6) I made my biggest mistake in years by heading for #8. Got 70% of the way there before realising and returning for #7. Mistake was about 4 mins. From there I settled down a bit, but lost a bit of interest, thinking that I was now well out of it. My fitness pulled me through though and I made no more serious mistakes. Crossed the finish line and was surprised to see so many people behind me by big margins (10 min plus). Took a lot of scalps. I had a total of 5 mins of mistakes, but this only would have put me up 1 or 2 places, nowhere near qualification. Finished 24th / 36 competitors. Probably my best WOC result yet in terms of position, but definitely not as a % of the winner's time. Left Austria, Belgium, Serbia, Romania, Turkey, Moldova, USA, Canada, Ireland, Kazakstan, Portugal, Hong Kong behind me. China finished 2 secs ahead of me.
Saturday Aug 18, 2007 #
Event: WOC 2007
Orienteering race (Golosiivsky Park) 16:20 [5] *** 2.8 km (5:50 / km) +85m 5:04 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
Golosiivsky Park. 1:5'000, 5m contours. WOC 2007 Sprint Distance Qualification. Men A heat. 33th / 39 runners. I was a bit hurried at the start due to delays in the organiser's transport system. Only had 20 minutes to change and warm-up. Didn't think too clearly for the first two legs, but didn't make any disasters either. Had a pretty clean race all round, only loosing about 20 secs on mistakes / poorer route choices. Felt a little tired on the last hill but otherwise very happy with my time. Was 3:27 behind winner on my course, which is purely down to my lack of speed. Richard L had a good fast run (best of SA's), whilst Jeremy not so great, as he felt tired and slow.
Friday Aug 17, 2007 #
Orienteering (Brovary) 15:00 [1] *** 2.0 km (7:30 / km)
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1000 - Brovary. 1:10'000. WOC Model Middle Distance training. The usual greenery under the forest. I managed to avoid most of the nettles. Pretty green map, so it's not going to be too nice on the Middle Qualie. I just waltzed around a bit. Looking at runability of green areas.
Orienteering (Feofaniya) 20:00 [1] *** 2.5 km (8:00 / km)
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1230 - Feofaniya. 1:15'000 and 1:5'000. WOC Model event for Long and Sprint Distances. Less greenery under the forest, but mainly for the sprint area. Nice parkland and little rubish for a change. Once again, did a slow plod around the course, mainly looking at interpretation of vegetation types.
Thursday Aug 16, 2007 #
Orienteering (Obukhiv) 42:55 [3] *** 5.2 km (8:15 / km) +130m 7:20 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1200 - Obukhiv. 1:10'000. 5m contours. Finally, a decent area! It was a mission to get there (2 metro rides, 1 mini-bus taxi and 1 private taxi when we got lost plus 2km walk), but it was worth it. Nice contoured landscape with good detail, some splotches of green, but good pine forest with not as much undergrowth. First event that I've enjoyed since we got here... I think it will only be relevant for the relay however... the Long Q will still be a b****. Training went pretty well, no major mistakes, with me cutting it a bit short as the original 7km was a bit too far. This was the last training camp event... now for rest.
Wednesday Aug 15, 2007 #
Orienteering (Vyshgorod) 1:14:11 [2] **** 5.0 km (14:50 / km) +230m 12:04 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1130 - Vyshgorod. 1:15'000. Our first long distance training map, a few kms north of Kiev (metro and taxi ride). It turned out to be a bit of a horrible experience. Most of the forest was variable densities of green (whole fields of nettles and other bush under the trees), with some incredibly steep erosion gullies to cross. To some degree I can't believe that WOC is being held in an area like this. My run / walk was definitely not pleasant. I spent a lot of time avoiding nettle fields, sliding down embankments, climbing up the gullies on the other side and occasionally crossing marshes with a very unpleasant colour. Then there is the rubbish and the roaming wild dogs....
Tuesday Aug 14, 2007 #
Orienteering (Bykovnia) 45:13 [3] 5.0 km (9:03 / km) +18m 8:53 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1030 - Bykovnia. 1:10'000. Training camp for WOC. This was a middle distance training area. Very flat, with a few occasional sand mounds (dunes) rearing up under the mixed broadleaf and pine forest. Mixed densities of forest, but generally good runability. Quite a few areas of undergrowth representing nettles and raspberry brambles. Definitely one to stay out of. The first half of the course was weird... very flat and what contours there were didn't make any sense. Didn't agree with the mapping on many occasions. 2nd half had more sand dunes and was much better. Ran 1 or 2 fast legs towards the end... compass quite important here.
Orienteering (Zaliznychnyi) 21:36 [3] **** 2.4 km (9:00 / km) +109m 7:20 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1715 - Zaliznychnyi. 1:5'000. 2,5m contours. A sprint training map in the suburbs of Kiev. Getting to the training events is quite often interesting... they generally start with the Metro (+/- 80 S.A. cents fee), then a 20-seater mini-bus taxi ride if the venue is slightly outside of Kiev (R2 fee). This area was only about a 800m walk from the nearest Metro stop. It was a mix of park land and urban forest... not too green but incredibly littered with rubbish. I had a fair run, taking it reasonably easy. Have decided to focus more on getting accustomed to the mapping styles, my physical training is over.
Monday Aug 13, 2007 #
Note
Flew from Manchester through to Kiev for the World Orienteering Champs. Arrived very late / early at the hotel. Interesting place...
Saturday Aug 11, 2007 #
Orienteering race (Anagach West & Heathfield) 1:15:42 [5] **** 10.0 km (7:34 / km) +260m 6:42 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
Anagach West and Heathfield. 1:15'000. M21E. Day 6 of Scottish 6-Days. A fair run, but definitely not the best of the week. The terrain was quite undulating (esker and kettlehole moraine landscape) with lots of ups and down across small ridges. I started poorly on the 1st leg (poor focus and didn't adjust to map scale) before settling down. It was a reverse order start, so I caught the guy 1 place (and 3 mins) behind / ahead of me at one of the early controls. This threw me and I made a few weird route choices. The rest of the day was similar.... poor concentration all the way though. I recaught and was caught by 2 others at various stages. Finished 41st for the day and 28th overall after 6 days. Am very happy at least with the overall result... much higher than I had originally set out for. Overall, some superb terrain and fun, enjoyable orienteering.
Friday Aug 10, 2007 #
Orienteering race (Camerory (near Grantown)) 40:47 [5] **** 5.1 km (8:00 / km) +110m 7:13 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1320 - Camerory. 1:10'000. Short (Middle) Disntace event. Day 5 of the Scottish 6-days. I had another good day, similar in performance to Day 3. Quite a few of the better guys made a few major mistakes... I suspect the map might have had an influence... with small inconsistencies in some tricky places. Most of the course was on sloping hillside with debris strewn rocky slopes that slowed the fast guys down nicely. Some of the other courses made it out onto the moors (deep heather and quite marsh), but not us. I finished in 24th place, moving up to 29th overall. Only made less than a couple minutes of mistakes, mainly on 2 consecutive legs where I was distracted and strayed off the best route. Only 1 day to go. Moving up another position is going to be quite hard given that there is a 5 minute gap... Thankfully it is also fairly large behind me now as well.
Thursday Aug 9, 2007 #
Orienteering race (Culbin) 1:12:39 [5] **** 9.6 km (7:34 / km) +100m 7:12 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1220 - Culbin (near Nairn). 1:10'000. Chasing start on elapsed time. Sand dune covered forest, quite runnable in most places, but occasssionally very low visibility light green with intricate contour detail. A butterfly loop was incorportated. I started about 30 secs behind a Fin (whom I never saw again) and about 4 minutes ahead of the next batch of runners. Hopefully this turns out to be the only bad run of the week. I was 50th (or so), a poor result place-wise, but not too much as a % of the winner. It was fast terrain which didn't suite me, neither did I seem to luck out with the bunches, running almost the whole course on my own. Got caught by the chasing bunch of 4 just 1 control before the finish. I made my biggest mistake of the week so far, loosing about 2 minutes on 1 control where I had stopped reading the map. A really stupid error on one of the easier controls. I've now got 3 people just seconds ahead of me that I need to retake in the overall rankings. Currently lying 33rd overall.
Wednesday Aug 8, 2007 #
Mountain Biking 45:00 [2] 13.0 km (17.3 kph)
0900 - Cycle to the MTB - O. Lovely country roads.
MTB - O race (Uath Lochan & Inshriach) 48:32 [5] *** 13.5 km (16.7 kph) +166m
1015 - Uath Lochan & Inshriach. 1:15'000. Short Course. Took part in a Mountain Bike Orienteering Event held in conjunction with the Scottish 6-Days. Hired a bike from nearby Laggan Wolftrax... not the best, but also not the worst. Good tyres and front shock, which definitely helped. Changed courses at the last minute to short (from Long). Good decision! It was fun and challenging... got to get used to reading maps at high speed on single track. Almost lost it a few times. Managed to take 1st by 3 minutes. No idea how the competition rates though.
Mountain Biking 40:00 [3] 13.0 km (19.5 kph)
1230 - The long slog back to Kingussie.
Orienteering race (Kingussie) 18:41 [5] *** 3.0 km (6:14 / km) +60m 5:40 / km
shoes: Salomon Speed Cross
1700 - Kingussie. 1:5'000. Men Elite. A Sprint race around town. Nice and fun, but have had more technical sprints before. 1 route choice mistake and 1 instance where I took a few steps down the wrong road. Otherwise quite good. Finished about 22nd (I think), about 3 minutes behind the winner (GG). Good turnout with lots of spectators.
Tuesday Aug 7, 2007 #
Orienteering race (Inshriach West) 1:43:44 [5] ***** 14.0 km (7:25 / km) +390m 6:30 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1230 - Inshriach West. 1:15'000. M21E. Day 3 of Scottish 6-Days. Classic Distance. I've orienteered in Inshriach West once before, in training for WOC '99. I remember not enjoying the training then, and I rediscovered why today. the first half of the race was in a working forest... so lots of branches on the ground, deep ruts and morraine boulders hidden under the mossy surface. I managed it better this time round though, catching a few guys early on in light green forest with some good navigation (keep it simple tactics as well as heading out to paths whenever possible). The remainder of the course entered an open pine forest with much faster runnability and fairly easy (slightly boring - monotonous) technicality. I'd caught a Swiss runner earlier on who pulled me through a lot of this terrain. He was a fraction faster than me, so I pushed hard to keep him in sight, closing the gap occasionally when he made a mistake. I was ***gered over the last 3 controls. Thankfully it was close enough to the finish when I blew, with the tracking on the ground making nav and running easy. My best run so far (one of my best ever), with me finishing in 23rd position today. Left some decent names behind me. Am now 31st overall.
It's a 'rest' day tomorrow. i.e. all I'll be doing is a 20km mountain bike orienteering event in the am (13km cycle to, 13km cycle from the event) and a sprint race in my home town (Kingussie) in the pm.
It's a 'rest' day tomorrow. i.e. all I'll be doing is a 20km mountain bike orienteering event in the am (13km cycle to, 13km cycle from the event) and a sprint race in my home town (Kingussie) in the pm.
Monday Aug 6, 2007 #
Orienteering race (Balavil) 43:02 [5] ***** 5.0 km (8:36 / km) +180m 7:18 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
Balavil. 1:10'000. M21E. Day 2 of the Scottish 6-Days. Short distance event. Had a fair start. Was quite a technical day, both physically and technically. First third was running through thick heather, then the remainder was pine forest with intricate rock crag detail. No major problems once again, although I could have chosen slightly different route choices on a few controls. The technicality helped me finish slightly higher up the field, 37th and now 40th overall after 2 days.
Sunday Aug 5, 2007 #
Event: Scottish 6-Days
Orienteering race (Alvie) 1:20:58 [4] ***** 9.6 km (8:26 / km) +415m 6:56 / km
spiked:24/24c shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
Alvie. 1:15'000. M21E. Day 1 of Scottish 6-Days. Lovely orienteering! Nice map and lovely terrain with a bit of everything (including a short moorland / heath section). Started well (uphill), but the soft terrain took some getting used to. It had been raining most of the night and started again late in the race. I had a clean run for the most part (maybe 1 or 2 route choices could have been more direct), but am generally pleased. Position 45th out of about 68.
Saturday Aug 4, 2007 #
Orienteering (Beachen Wood & Heathfield) 40:37 [3] 3.4 km (11:57 / km)
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1730 - Beachen Wood & Heathfield West. 1:10'000. 2nd training area. Steeper than the 1st training area, and not so nice in places (old quarries). Some lovely Swedish-like blueberry forest out there. No major problems apart from 1 'crag' (1m boulder) in 'semi-open' (head-high bush).
Friday Aug 3, 2007 #
Orienteering (Moor of Alvie & Speybank) 50:00 [3] 5.0 km (10:00 / km)
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1400 - Moor of Alvie and Speybank. 1:10'000. First training area for Scottish 6-Days. Ran together with Liz (short of maps), taking it in turns to navigate to a control. Nice areas... white, blueberry undergrowth with rolling morraine topography. Lots of hills, reentrants, etc. No major problems.