Training Log Archive: nmulder

A bit of a longer run from our hotel. Out along a few old tracks towards Evron before turning back to the lake.

Business trip in France near Evron. Ran around a small lake near our hotel (Etang de Gue de Selle). Beautiful trail.

Business trip. First to Dusseldorf, then via Maastricht to Paris, then Evron.

Event: Urner OL
 

Urner OL
Gemsfairen, UR
1:10'000
HAL course

High altitude alpine middle distance event. Meadows and rock slopes. Okay to #1 but struggled to get into the map. Better 2-4 but only really clicked after 3. Long leg to 6. On leg to 7 there was a notable cliff missing off the map that caused a lot of hesitation and I even stopped (1 min). Same problem when we crossed back over the area again 10-11 (30s).

First real mistake was 12-13 where I could make much sense of things. I also underestimated distance here (45s). From there to the finish was good, but with a bit of weird planning 16-19 where I ran past 18 twice on way to 16 and 17 before finally getting to punch it on the 3rd pass. Wrong RC to #20 (15s)

Finished 10th. Got as high as 7th at #10.

Results

Short run around Dafto Resort, down to the water edge and back along the main road.

World Orienteering Champs Long Distance

I lucked out with the start draw, being given the 2nd start slot. We overlapped with the ladies race a bit, meaning that I was out on the first part of the course with the top seeded runners which forced me to push hard once or twice on some roads and tracks!

Map flip was a shock as we had a very short S-1 and then an ultra long leg to #2 (about 3.5km). So I think most people just jogged to #1 from the arena whilst studying route to #2. A bit of a waste in my opinion.

I made a direction error out of 1. Cost me about a minute. Then I took a northerly route that linked up some tracks. Went okay, maybe would have been a bit faster going straighter. Lost a lot of time with speed going straight over a rocky hill later in the route where some recent felling had taken place. Another few minutes lost by staying too low for too long to #3. 3-4-5 was processional (follow the camera cables). Then the next long leg to 6. Went okay, slowed down a bit in the middle with steep cliffs and then a small orientation wobble late in the leg through a marsh. 7 okay and another wobble to 8. Getting tired already here.

At the theta loop from 9-14 I finally got into a good rhythm and also stayed with a couple of passing guys. 17 I also hit well.

From there on nav got easier. No problems 18-20 but then I got real tired. Stupid RC error to 21. Arena passage to 23, but then I was well blown despite eating and drinking well. This was already 2h in on extremely physical terrain. Messed up >1 min not understanding the map at 23. Got caught by Nitsan going to 24. Stayed with him to 26 where he pulled away. 28 okay but very tired and slow into 29. Didn't attack properly either and tried to take an 'easy' way in.

Finished about 12 mins behind schedule. Very tired afterwards. Lack of preparedness for the very high physical demands of cliffs and marshes being the main issue. Also once again, no recent racing experience in similar terrain.

62 / 69 incl. 4 dsqs. 173.9% of winners time is also below where I should be.

World Orienteering Champs Middle Distance

Had a good start draw towards the back of the early batch. Felt good on the day as well, but was quite unprepared for the physicality of the terrain in that I was never able to get up to a good speed.

Hesitant to #1 but hit it okay. Struggled down cliffs to #2, then missed #3 on the low side quite badly - couldn't read the detail. Lost about 2 mins. To #4 I chose a route choice with way too many cliffs and lost more time. 5 - I lost bearing a bit. 6 - hesitant and didn't see the control even when I was close on this short leg. 7 - Came in from the wrong attack direction. Ross caught me here and I tried to hang on. Saw him making a mistake to 8 and I corrected before him :-) To 9 we took different RCs. I saw him in the distance going into 9 up an extreme cliff but he pulled away here as I struggled up. 10 and 11 were good. To 12 I took a circuitous route that still worked okay. Contours were misleading with so many form lines otherwise I would have run a bit straighter. 12-13-14 -15 also good but not as fast as I needed to be. Hesitated into 16 and also out before deciding to go straight to 17. Good choice but map also not ideally represented here. Easier from here on, just more green. Struggled to find the mapped path to 22 but at least I didn't try to go straight like Olav.

So about 5 mins down on the time I wanted. Lost time with not being smooth enough and lost a lot of time not being fit and fast for this specific type of terrain. More pre-WOC prep needed, including races.

HKG, NED, TPE, KOR, MNE behind me + dsqs. 67th out of 76. 175% of the winner, which is a good 15% below where it should have been.

Tanum Lycke
1:10'000

WOC Middle Distance Model map. Nice area bordering on tomorrow's middle Final, so should be nice. Once again, cliffs not as bad as expected.

Kasen
1:15'000

The WOC Long Distance model map. Ran all the controls. Less cliffy then we were expecting?

Event: WOC 2016
 

Halle
1:10'000

Ran the majority of a course used for a race earlier in April this year. Lots of cliffs on the map, so route choice was important.

Nasinge
1:15'000

Ran on the map used as the WOC test for long distance. Took a 10-control section of the course. A few errors.

Tjarndalen Stromstad
1:10'000

WOC Training
Area used as the WOC test for middle distance a few months ago. Still some streamers out. Quite a lot of cliffs out there.

Flew out to Oslo for WOC in Sweden. Up against the Norwegian border near Halden.

Warm up prior to some ROC club training at Delta Park.

6.5h of mapping

Big turnout of just under 700.

7.5h of mapping

7h of mapping

7h of mapping

6.5 hours of mapping

Day 2 of the Wolkberg Trail Run.

A relatively flatter day, but still 3 decent up's during the race. Started and finished at Stanford Lake College, with the looping going out through Wegraakbosch, Cheerio Gardens and then looping back via Ebernezer Dam. Cold and cool day, so nice running temperatures.

Went out at a steady pace. Was more single track than I expected as they've built some new MTB tracks in the plantations. Then some beautiful indigenous forests before climbing into Cheerio Gardens which were absolutely stunning. After that things settled down a bit and I caught and ran with David B for a few kms until the last waterpoint. This was nice steady pace that allowed me to recover just in time as Piers and a small group was coming up from behind. I picked up the pace and managed to go harder for the last 9kms. The 22nd and 23rd kms beside the dam even proved to be two of the three fastest as I was feeling really good at that stage.

So overall a much better feel to the run and a better result (24th, with a combined result of 23rd). Beautiful run and well organized, so I'll be back next year.

First day of the Wolkberg trail run, which is part of the Sky Runner series. Started down in Georges Valley at the canopy tours (about 1050m) and climbed up to the Iron Crown (2150m?), so about 900m altitude difference. First part of the route was through plantation and indigenous forest, very beautiful. I had a decent start and felt strong going up the tracks, even running through all the switchbacks. When we got up into the grasslands I started feeling less great, with my feeding scheme not working out as I wanted. Ended up walking too slowly up to the Crown itself and loosing contact with some of the runners I had been with till then (including David B). Went over at 2:03:45.

Over the top we went through the Wolkberg plantation which will be used for the next Big 5 O-Week at the end of 2017. I started feeling a bit better on the descent, but still tired legs. Got passed by Alex, Piers and Nando (Brian was way out in the lead group, finishing 4th!). I was feeling good again at the last water point with about 7km to go, but I mistimed taking an energy gel and blew about 1km out, just as I had started catching a few people again. :-(

The last section was a swing through the Haenertsburg hiking trail, which is always difficult, even if not at the end of a 35km trail run. There was also a final kicker leading into a quick drop into Haenertsburg town where I walked a good portion of the down. Final position was 26th overall.

Around Bryanston after dropping Steph off.

7.5h of mapping

4 hours of mapping

Fourways suburbs

5.5 hours of mapping

Craigavon loop plus extra inside the estate.