Training Log Archive: nmulder

1215 - I ran the Open 5 course at the public event today (It was the NOC Relay - no RSA team :-( to chase Germany 2 and Ireland). The Open course used the same part of the areas as the latter half of yesterday's long. It was nice to get back into the area. I ran much better, with speed comfortably down to 8 min/km. No major mistakes, and few minor ones as well. Nice to be running once again at 1:10'000.

And it is a nice sunny day. I can finally wear a pair of shorts.

Rest day tomorrow (I'll go to the model area) then Middle WC on Tuesday and Sprint WC on Wednesday.

Event: Nordic Orienteering Championships 2009 (WCup 2009, 1&2)
 

1044 - Nordic Champs Long Distance, Salo Finland. I had a fair run, with a few big mistakes and lots of small ones. I finished 63rd of 73 starters, beating Neil of Ireland by 38s! Yay! (I see revenge on the horizon however). If I take away the 2 big mistakes, I only move up 2 positions however, as there was a major gap between 2h00 and 2h20. From there, I'd need to improve my micro-o in the circle (was standing less than 20m away from control on many ocassions), but would still be 10 minutes off the middle of the field.

I had a fair start, one or two wobbles on the way to 1st control (long leg). Settled down, but few more wobbles at 3, 4, 6 before my first big one at 7 (compass!!! - also got distracted, 5 min mistake). I beat Mats Troeng to 8 (highlight of the day). Next big wobble was going into 11, the common control, which cost me a full 10 minutes. I couldn't read anything to start with, and even then, I still found the control a bit by luck. Once again, I had beeen less than 30m away from it right at the beginning. Things settled down nicely after then, with no further major or middle-type wobbles, just a few seconds here and there.

Felt strong on the last loop after the spectator, which means my stamina is at least there. The only problem is speed on the terrain, which was poor. I don't have enough confidence in my ankles and general stability over the rocks and moss.

Results, splits and GPS tracking are available here. Great use of online GPS tracking. Also rather embarrassing for me.

Oh, and it rained on me again. But only for a few minutes this time.

Warm up.

1500 - Model event for the NOC Long tomorrow morning (I really don't enjoy 1:15'000 scale maps!). Went okay, nice area with some sheets of bare rock in the forest. Quite runnable apart from the odd cliff at the edge. No major problems today, but I was going reasonable slow. Oh, and surprise surprise, it was raining.

I'm going to get flattened by the rest of the field at NOC tomorrow. The only country present whereI stand even a vague hope of beating their runners tomorrow is Ireland (i.e. some of them will need to make big mistakes). I've also got a fairly late start, just ahead of the Red Group, so I definitely will be finishing after the race winner is in and when they've started packing up.

Off to Finland now for NOC / World Cup. I've got 7 WOCs under my belt, but somehow this is only my 1st WC as a competitor.

Have added results and splits to last weeks races.

C • good luck 4

Have updated the squad blog with lots of pics.

http://rsaorienteers.blogspot.com/

C • Northern Hemisphere compasses 8

1230 - My first O' run in Slovakia, I can tic another country off the list! This was the selection race for the Czech national team for Long Distance. Course was 16.3km, 3 maps and 31 controls. I only got as far as #12 before I headed back for the finish. Lets just say that I had a very, very bad day at the office. The terrain was typical of the long distance, lots of sink holes. There was also a fun section of semi-open / scattered green bush that is very hit or miss as to whether you pass through it or not. This might end up being a twist in the tale when we get to the WOC Long Final, as you can easily loose 30 - 60s by being unlucky with the vegetation.

In the end a beautiful area, but I was too mentally frustrated to appreciate it for it's orienteering potential.

My knee niggle seems to have worked itself out nicely, as I haven't felt is once since arriving in Hungary. That's now been made up for by nettle itch. My knees haven't stopped itching, although ultra-hot showers seem to help. Is it just my route choices or does everyone suffer this bad?

Skipped the morning training session. Needed some rest for my itchy knees.

1530 - Control picking. The training course was actually much longer (7.9k) and more controls (45). I wasn't up for it however, so I cut off one or two short loops and went at a nice steady pace, focusing on the nav instead. Map (which borders on Middle F and Relay as well) is a bit oldish, with many veg changes. Mapping of rock features was a bit strange (or absent) in places. Nice area if the map were more updated and if I was there outside the nettle season. One wet branch sent me face first into a clump.

C • 63km 2

1056 - Ran the Herman O' Relay in the Bukk Moutains in Hungary (Tekenos map), next door to the Relay area for WOC. Teamed up with a Polish guy and Kiril. After 1st leg we were about 8 - 10th out of about 20 teams. Kiril then took over and had a snorter catching 4 minutes on the leaders to bring us home 50s behind the Austrian leaders. PRESSURE!!!!! Well, not really, as I didn't stand a chance. Kovac caught me by the start control, but we had different gaffles through the first few controls. I dropped a few more places despite running well until # 6 where I had my first mistake (20s). On the way back I was a bit slower in speed, then made a big mistake at # 9 (2 min). I was clean from there in. Don't know what our final position was. 7th? 8th?

Overall though a good run, with only 3 - 4 mins lost overall. I was running well, can feel that my speed is already better than normal. Now to find the next gear.

We finished 6th! Looks like I didnt loose any further places after 1/2 way Results and Splits.

C • Either 8th or 10th :) 2

Warmup before the relay. Still very wet weather, which didn't help... and Kiril caught me a bit off guard with his fast run.

1636 - Interval training on the Hollosteto map, near the Middle & Long Qs. Four sets of intervals of 1.5 to 2.3km, with most of the legs slightly downhill. Walk 300-400m to next start. Great training. I had a good run, although the last interval was very scrappy. The intervals were quite long as well. 6 min/km for the first two, before I started slowing down. :-(

A - 1.5 - 8.49
B - 2.3 - 14.04
C - 2.1 - 14:48
D - 1.6 - 14.28

To the start and a long one back from the finish.