Training Log Archive: djsanton97

Finnish long distance champs M21E, quali
I felt really heavy jogging to the start but I still wanted to fight for a spot in the final. First 30min were a total disaster physically, I had no energy to run, none at all. Walked all the hills and was so slow(atleast I thought so). Going into the last long leg, I found my pace and I started pushing more. After that leg, we had 3 short, very technical legs before the finish shoot. I kept my focus and found them on the flow. I still kept pushing all the way to the finish and was so tired and trashed I thought I didn't make it... After my cool down, not only to my surprise, I learned that I made the A-final. THE A-FINAL!!!!

(PS: Take that whoever said no before the quali.)

C • Congrats! 4

A short run after the drive up to Mikkeli. Tomorrow is race dayy!!

Back in Helsinki! Felt really heavy so didn't go for as long as I had planned. Tomorrow heading for Finnish Long champs!

Travel day: after both planes, from Whitehorse and Vancouver, were late, I made my way to Toronto for a nice 9hour layover. Took the PU down and toured the city for over 10k around in downtown and then the UP back to the airport. Now on my way to Helsinki!

C • theSix 4

NAOC Sprint, 3rd place
Didn't have that last bit of motivation for this one but I was ready to go out there and enjoy. I didn't really agree with the mapper tho... First 5 controls were so badly marked on the map(control circles and leg lines cut in too many places and the color was too lightly printed, not IOF standard color) that I was not able to ready it properly but I still enjoyed it. Carcross center looked really nice and this wasn't your typical sprint as most of it was in the sandy woods or on gravel roads.

HPP fundraiser mass start, control picking in the box
This was fun! Sadly I had my thumb on one of the controls and had to go back to that one, the lead guys coming towards me on that leg, sadly.. But So much fun!!

NAOC Sprint - C-6a - Splits

NAOC relay 1st leg's 1st and victory in the relay with Michael and Greg!
First leg fun time! This time it actually felt like fun, not like in Latvia at WOC... Emma started at the same time and v fast she started! So once we got to the forest I had to speed up a little(lol). The guys were following me just behind until #3 but going to #4 I sprinted a bit on the trails to see if I could shake off the others. Only Adam Woods(or Eric kemp, can't remember which one) kept up with me. Getting around #4, he went too high up on the right and I picked up the flag easily on my left. After that I was on my own all the way until change-over. Going through the spectator loop, I gave a bit of push to my speed to give more of a lead for my team mates. And it turned out pretty well for us ;)

Not too many spots to have internet so just gonna log more detailed later.

Relay - Senior Men Leg 1 - Splits

NAOC middle 1st place, WOC middle spot secured for next year!!
Today I wanted to do a solid performance with NO mistakes and so I did, as easy as that(NOT). Start: flipped my map and couldn't find #1, oh right, it was right next to the start point on the map, haha. Focused from early on, I kept my speed to a minimum and my focus high. Every time I thought about running harder, I urged myself to look at the map again and again. Through the whole course, oddly with the slow speed, I found a very good flow and that kept me going. Only a small hesitation to #10 and #12. After crossing the railway on my way to #16, I caught up to Michael Svoboda and he helped me run a bit faster at the end plus we had a good sprint battle on the finish shoot. Fun race and a very stunning view by the lake at the arena!

NAOC Middle & WRE - C-11 - Splits

NAOC long 6th place:
Wanted to start easy to get into my orienteering and make sure my legs were ready after all the travelling. Felt fine through the long leg and the short ones after it, keeping my navigation on point. Going to #8 I started getting tired and losing my focus to the race. After finding the control on my way to #9 I had a longer chat with a bigger creature...
I MET A BEAR, ugh.... It was sitting less than 10m away from me, eating berries. It noticed me so I stopped, as I was taught on the previous day, and started talking to the bear. It lifted its head to smell the air so it was clearly just curious. I started slowly walking away from it while keeping the chat up. The bear STARTED FOLLOWING ME!!! Oh god, I thought to myself. I kept slowly walking away and talking to it while it kept slowly walking with me, still curiously smelling the air and "enjoying" the walk. After a few hundred meters it finally stopped so I did too. After a few stares back and forth, the very kind bear started running away, luckily.
At this point, I had no idea where I had ended up backing away from the bear. I tried to understand where I was but no clue. Fortunately, Damian, who started 3 min after me, caught up and I admit to following him to #9. After a few small hesitation to #10 and #11, I got my directions right. I kept a good speed running with Damian and actually lost him on #12 when he did a mistake and I found the control.
Once again, the last 2k proved that I'm still not ready for a long distance. After the spectator control I lost my way sooo so badly... took 10mins on #17, that tells you all you need to know... So tired at the finish but mayde it all the way. Next up Middle!

NAOC Long & WRE - C-11 - Splits

Event: NAOC 2018
 

NAOC 2018 model event

Hike up to Grey mountain with Emma and the fam