Training Log Archive: Lizzie

Swapped roles and played support team for Mum running 6days. I was pretty good at the pre-race coaching thing and carrying gear. But crap at the finish support - I was too busy talking and eating and completely missed her finish!

And on the 7th day the orienteering gods said "let there be rest"

Amen to that.

Morning jog. Very slow. Pretty stiff.

Did not even hurdle the very small white picket fence next to the hotel. (was wearing shorts which miraculously have no holes in them yet, but that wasn't the reason)

WOC Relay

Awesome result for us as a team today :) Kind of the opposite to yesterday, happy with the result but not really my performance.

Interesting race right from before the start - being led as a group up the hill toward the castle,..and infront of the big screen just as they ran through the course for the spectators?! We were far enough away that I don't think you could make much out (I hope not?!) But as a group all the first leg runners were stunned they'd do something so stupid! I was caught thinking 'I shouldn't look...but everyone else is and I might disadvantage myself'...but opted for not trying to make anything out.
Then we were suddenly told there was 90s til the start, which made us wonder if we were even getting a map for todays race, or if it would be a memory race off what was seen on the big screen? But we were then informed we'd be allowed up to our maps at 15s before the start?! So you had to know damn well where in the grid your map was!

Once we actually started, it was all business as usual. Fast open forest to begin with and a very large group which slowly stretched out. I was somewhere lower-mid pack, when we punched #5...and EVERYONE in front of me turned hard right out of the control. But my next control was definitely straight on?! So I stuck with my plan and within 5s was all by myself! For the second time in two races I was suddenly in a position I hadn't really prepared for, and I lost a lot of time on the next leg through hesitation, lack of confidence, and a subsequent bad route choice. I quadruple checked that I hadn't skipped a control, and that I was reading my course right. Continued on the leg, but still absolutely nobody around?!
I spotted a couple of other countries as I re-entered the nice beech forest on my next leg, ending up with Ukraine and China post-split. I found the rest pretty tough mentally as I got angry that I'd had some bull-s*%& by myself and the front pack was now obviously un-catchable and getting more uncatchable by the second out ahead of me.

So plugged away in our small little group, but I made two parallel errors. One just after the map flip, and one later on just as I'd put a gap on China, Austria and Ukraine and had almost caught France. Both lost 1-2minutes which is disappointing. Kept picking myself up though, even when I missed the gate to the finish (not the only one, very confusing on the map!). And eventually made it down the finish chute in full-body cramp mode to hand over to Renee.

Very angry and confused post run as to how I was all alone on that split when there were 30 odd countries in the mass start?! Only now I see that GBR and SLO had the same but went the wrong way with the pack going to the northern splits. Very disappointed to have pulled the short straw on the forking, and how I reacted to the situation, when it was so important to stay with the leaders on first leg. But that's the nature of relays. Another day I'd have got the shorter/faster/more popular split.

Her and Laura both had good runs to pull us up to 14th :D

C • Forking Hell 2

WU/WD is getting shorter as the week goes on...
Quad took a while to warm up and stiffened right on up afterwards. Calf muscles aren't in the finest nick either.
Rest day will see 'em right though :)

WOC Middle.

The most satisfied I've felt with a WOC middle yet. Happy with my performance, would have been nice if the result was a few spots higher, but can't complain!

Was warned to be ready for anything when I picked up the map - and felt ready. Smashed my right quad into a log on the way out of the start triangle, which wasn't exactly in the plan and was flipping painful! Despite concentrating on accuracy, I didn't have enough control coming off the hill before #1 and misjudged reentrants and depressions, losing 1min. As I left #1 I thought I could hear the rustle of bushes as Anne-Margrethe, who started 90s behind me approached... I took #2 and #3 steady, just regaining confidence after #1 and making sure I got them cleanly. As I exited #3 onto my routechoice I saw A-M making her way up and over into it and knew, depending on which route she chose to #4, she'd either be with me, or past me by the end of the leg.
Sure enough, half way through the leg she popped out on to the track behind me, then passed me heading up the spur in the open beech. I'd been prepared for this pre-race and knew that the decision had to be made whether I tried to stick with her (and risk losing contact at higher speed, and being dropped), or run my own pace and navigation.
What I wasn't prepared for however, was that as soon as we came off the track into #4, she slowed right down, and I went past her and lead into the control. And that's how it stayed right through the technical part...a scenario which I didn't fully adapt to. Instead of being confident and running my own race, I was more hesitant, worrying too much about what A-M was being so hesitant and careful about, and not trusting my own navigation completely. As a result, although I was clean through 4-12, I wasn't smooth.

I caught up Fanni and Susen in this part too, which certainly made #12 easier. Once out into the Beech forest at #13, A-M made her move and came powering past, leaving Fanni and I to watch her open up the gap on us as we hit the felled open part. Once back out of the felled bit, it was fast running and a matter of gritting my teeth and staying mentally strong through to the finish.
As I came into the arena I knew it was performance wise, probably my smoothest WOC middle, so I have to be happy with it. No winning the race at the 2km mark like last year, but also no major blow outs like previous years, which is far more important!

Would have been nice to beat my 18th from France though... next year!

C • nice 2

As soon as I finished my right quad stiffened up from the bash to #1. Classic corked thigh.
Elin got all swedish physio on me though and made me compress it and look after myself properly :)

Middle and Relay model. Jogged around. stopped to talk to a few people.

joggings and stretching out. I definitely know my legs are there!

WOC Sprint Final.

Didn't quite go as visualised! My brain didn't engage at crucial moments in the more complex bits and my legs were feeling the last couple of days in the straight running sections (actually, that bit was visualised!). A disappointing, but not depressing result, it just didn't happen today.

Didn't feel calm at all through the first few controls, not entirely sure why. The start was different - having 2 corners and into an alley before you even got to the triangle, so when you first read the map you couldn't associate the triangle with where you actually were? (maybe? hypothesising why I was flustered?)
Anyway, missed the alley I wanted to #1 and ended taking the stairs and road, so not ideal, but not terrible. 2 was fine, with Mum apparating out of nowhere to cheer me on. 3 I took the correct route, but missed the early entry (didn't even read it, which is very unusual for me - i put this down to having walked the area where the control was a week ago, and having a preconception of the path. One reason I shouldn't scope out the area!).

First big blow was 4-5, where I took a hideous route choice out the back of the control to the main road. Why? I don't know? flow? maybe?

Then there was a lot of open running with not much thinking, until 10.

Entering 11, I was concentrating hard on spotting the alcove, and not on my exit from the control, so exited into the dead end alley like a lot of others did. On correcting I ran straight into Sara Luescher who had caught me 1min and was in the process of making exactly the same mistake (costing her a medal though :( ). Having corrected, I then missed the next gap in the wall that would take me into the control - it was well tucked in behind a building and with parked cars complicating matters. Having corrected this mistake, I finally made it to the control, punched, ran a few metres, then realised my card had made a really strange beep, not the usual cheery three ring beep. It wasn't flashing either, so rather than chance it, I turned and went back to punch again. Faaar out.

Once that control was out of the way at last, the rest was open park running. Seriously. What?!

I did hurdle the fence nicely though.


So yep. Not the race I wanted. But sometimes things don't come together when you want them most to. I'm annoyed with the nav mistakes, but happy with my legs, and really happy with my mental outlook. All of the dangers were there - tiredness, mistakes, getting caught (and well overtook), and the open running and emotional spectator value. Other days this would have precipitated an anxiety attack. But I kept mentally strong and pushing through to the end. And I'll take that :)

C • :) 5