Training Log Archive: Lizzie

Spent 5 hours walking around Venice :)

3 days of trenches long.

Took every scrap of motivation I had to get to the startline. The post travel bug has hit, so I was hesitant to push it with the long...then a heavy thunderstorm came through the arena 30mins before my start! But I told myself to harden up and hit the start.
Didn't hit the course with much purpose as I still had it half in mind to pull out half way through. So was slow and scratchy in the first loop, missing the flag inside the circle on 5 of the first 6 controls. Was a really cool area though, with plenty of negative topography (filled with snow in many cases!). Then from 7 the climb got serious, first straight up, then a long long downhill to 8, which i slightly overshot.
Riina caught me up 2mins here, which didn't surprise me in the least given my start. My competitive edge then took flight and I started pushing more consistantly. Though the downhill 7-8-9 didn't give me the chance I wanted to read ahead the long leg on 10 as I didnt want to do an ankle or miss the control.
So my route to 10 was wide, safe, but slower than straigher routes. Made the decision to keep going for the final loop after 12, as was feeling ok, and enjoying myself and the to and fro with Riina.
The final long leg was another around or straight. We stuck on the track, again, safe but probably a bit slower. The straight route does seem to be fine in this terrain, just pick a big AP and don't read too much detail until then. (and climbs just need to be tackled head on, rather than shied around).
As I lead us into #15, we were joined by Ida (10mins caught up!) and a couple of others. So there was a good little train from here to the finish, leading to a fast finish and probably bumping me up a couple of spots in the results.
8th overall, which I'm happy with. Again, safe route choices, and steady running. I could gain more places with more risks, but could also lose them. So risks can wait til I'm more in tune with the terrain ;)

gps; http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20140602itawreW/

3 days of trenches middle

Really nice to run in a top quality field, but with no pressure at all. Went out just wanting race practice in this terrain, and to pick up some decent world ranking points.
Took #1 carefully, going high on the tracks and dropping in to it. Missed the pit though, losing 20s or so. Spotted Saila Kinni behind me for the first time here (started 1.5min behind me) She went straight and fairly nailed it I think.
#2 was Ok, but was expecting a much bigger rock! Ended up 2 contours down from where I wanted to be. Similarly the knoll at 3 was tiny! My compass was well off, silly really as I just had to go to the top of the hill...
#4 was OK, I drifted into the valley a bit, by the time I punched, Saila was right with me. #5 I went a little too high, going over the ridge by the lookout tower thing, could have saved 15s or so staying lower.
From here Saila was just infront, and although we varied in our routes through terrain, we spiked most controls. Having someone to spot the flags with is definitely faster! We caught A-M Fincke at ~#13. 14 was a fast contouring leg, but the clearing at the end was obvious, so a good AP. Not sure about the GPS coming out of #14...it doesn't match up with what I thought I did! Getting through the rocks took a fair bit, but after that it was just about height maintanence.

There was a fair bit of tracking through the last few controls, which just emphasises the importance of having a good World ranking and thus start place for WOC.

REally happy with the run all up. Probably could be a bit faster with less jet lag and without the travel cold I've picked up. But then, I'd have made more mistakes if I didn't have Saila with me, so it evens out pretty well I think!
http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

Event: WOC 2014 Selection Races / 3 Days of Trenches
 

Went out to the E part of the Lavarone map and ran a middle training (nicked off the French DOMA this time!)
Beautiful Forest! Really, really nice to run in. And my legs felt good after a few days of lead like heaviness. Just cruised around, as racing in the afternoon. Again, almost all of the control sites were taped, which was nice. Ranging from toilet paper, to tapes, through to full controls! My compass work was a bit off to start, and control circle accuracy too.
DOMA time includes stopping to talk to Ness and Greta on course :)

http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

3 days of trenches sprint relay leg 4.

Bit of a rude reintroduction to European town sprint racing! Easy #1, and long leg #2, so I had a quick scan and selected my RC for #2 early on. Then focussed on not missing my alley to #1...too much! Turned in to the first one, then belatedly realised there was no way through to the path I wanted! So had to go back...20s down the drain straight away grrr.
Then exiting #1 I realised there was an uncrossable wall on my quickly scanned route to #2, so wanted to switch to the upper RC (which was the fastest it turned out). But misread the path to the R as being stairs...and couldn't see stairs on the ground! So assumed I'd already passed it, and was committed to the lower RC. Executed it fine, but was definitely slower.
3,4,5 were fine, but again, on reading ahead to #6, I'd seen the stairs on the map and assumed there was thus a gap in teh uncrossable wall. Nope. Again, an easy fix, but lost me 15s or so on RC I'd say.
From there, the shorter controls were fine. I got into the flow of things and finished off strongly.
Frustrated about uncharacteristic mistakes with uncrossable walls, but to be fair to myself town sprints here are a lot different to uni sprints at home! Have to adapt :)
http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

Was going to go training once Alex, Lachy and Ness arrived in the arvo, but after some delays opted for a rest day as going to training would mean not getting home til ~9pm.
Happy with that call, and got a solid sleep...until our hostel roomie got home at midnight and turned lights on/crashed around. Some people don't have much clue about hostel etiquette!

Middle distance on Lavarone Rochette. Just cracked 10min kms! Legs were ok but lungs still smashed today.
http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...

7x1min on/off around the tracks and off track on the map. Good to get the legs turning over properly! Got back to the bags just as it started pouring with rain, which was a good excuse to find a cafe to sit in and have coffee while waiting for he bus home :)

Middle distance on Folgaria. Took a while to get in to the map, plus some unfortunately placed logged areas. Great to be back in continental forest! Lungs and legs feeling the jetlag (and altitude?). Was an extra bonus to find flags at the controls too! (apart from no1, apparently I didn't find that one...)

http://ogang.org/doma/show_map.php?user=lizziei&ma...