Training Log Archive: roar

WOC long selection, Ligatne. 1st Irish. Write up later.

Felt much better than yesterday in the warm up. Good, though left it a little tight for my start apparently. Started rather conservatively after yesterday though in a long there's kind of time for that. Made 1 easier and got my head in the game. Tried to pace myself on the hills early as could see it would be a tough day.

Picked around for 3 left, which worked out very well. Look at the straight/right option but reckoned it'd only be faster if executed really well and confidently. 2nd & 4th fastest on the leg took my way. Made the control really nice to take as well so a lovely start. Even nicer when I met Cillin arriving at the control at the same time as me.
I thought he join in for some fun but he was gone straight away. Nice route to 4 making it easy to attack and Shea came down the hill into it from the wrong direction, so I once again thought I'd have company. I kinda did some weird things going to 5 though, though there was a gap in the olive where there wasn't and had a zigzag route so Shea got away on his own route. Saw him leaving the drinks station when I arrived. The control was very easy.

Nice downhill to 6 and I caught back on to Shea. Was a bit unusual to just be crossing the massive river, in the end a nice way to cool down. She went up early and I got ahead again. Decided on low to 7, unsure which was better. Tough climb up to it and Shea missed it so he was gone behind me then.

Had planned ahead a bit for 8 and picked the all the way round option. Going a bit straighter at the end was better for Olav. Pushed on here and tried to keep the pace high while having a scan forwards. Had a tough time working out what to do on 11 and reckoned I'd need to read more detail on the climb towards 9. Again control 8 was easy from my attack side. As planned read ahead a bit climbing to 9, taking it a little easier. Then up to 10. Hesitated in the circle on 10 as I had been reading ahead and not paying attention properly.

Decided on taking 11 from below. Eskil Kinneberg was only very slightly behind Olav doing this but I felt like it was slow. Upon reaching the town there was a huge dog who sprinted at me barking before getting stopped by his chain about 5m away. Bit of a scare. The climb into the control was tough and very hashed green. Came up one re-entrant to the right so that cost a little too. Then saw Shea again when I got up to the road leaving it. Didn't want him getting back to me so pressed on to 12 a little. Happy with how I took this in the green. Rough to 13 as well bit nicely dealt with, focusing on the compass and trying to look up as much as possible.

Spotted the path to the left on 14 and took that. Striaght is a bit better but I was tired in the head. Lost track of myself a little along it somewhere and ran a little too far. Needed to correct up the hill and lost probably 30s there. Down to the road for some water and sugar. Spanish guy there was asking the attendant to get his gel out of his GPS vest. Rough job. Pretty straight for 15 while the forest was still nice. Tried to get as close as possible before the green and that worked well.

A different part of the course then began, both in terms of the navigation and how I felt. Struggled on the climb up to 16 and was wobbly on the compass to 17. 18 I got really nicely though. Decided on high for 19 but low was better. Climbing through the crap was really horrendous here and drained me a lot. Second loop of the butterfly was in nicer forest and I got a bit of flow. Was very surprised to meet Shea again at 21 and we were together to 22 where I spoke to him for the first time, asking if he had another loop to go. He did and he also told me the other two boys had abandoned. Wasn't sure what to make of that and tried to forget about it.

Interesting route choice to 23. Going through the hash seems to have been fastest surprisingly. I went left which felt ok but the climb at the end really did not do me any favours. Took my water and gel on the run through, where I got cheered by les abandoneros, further confirming Shea's info.

25 was my biggest mistake. Came around the hill but lost track of my distance a bit. Saw the path so no problems but then no control in the re-entrant. Ran up it, then down it but nothing. The went a little further and it was in the next one. Not happy with how that was drawn on the map ~1:30 dropped I think.

The last tough part was across to 26 and I got it nicely. Then it was a matter of trying to press on. Not the most efficient through the river valley, climbing more than needed. 27 was easy. 28 was a tricky finish in the green though. Veered a little and corrected it fine. Wouldn't have cost time except there was an elephant track if I had stayed on line properly.

Happy enough. Pretty clean. Small bit of route selection selection to improve and the last 30 mins were a bit of a struggle. Will need to do some more hill work in the next month but I think I can be in a good place come August.

Middle selection race in Ligatne, Latvia.
Was feeling a little heavy up the hill to the start and was focusing on trying to get up the hill efficiently. Lost map focus and teleported, resulting in a 4 min miss. Bad start. Tried to get my head back in and was good 2-3-4. Remember caught ColmM my 2 mins man and we were together up to 5. Miss on the circle on 5 and he got a gap. Easy 6 then big climb to 7. Are some emergency sugar I had in my pocket and was watching for the path on the right. Misinterpreted a clearing as the path and went on too early losing another minute so Colm was gone. Got a bit smarter after that and did the correct thing on the remaining legs. Didn't have huge motivation or energy stores but tried to fight on through the heavy stuff of 9-12. Ok splits here. 11 was fairly well hidden. 13 was suffer but sure. Picked right on 14 and gained 30s on the rest of the Irish who went left, though all the top guys just went straight. Meet Colm M again here. Panicked a bit then and didn't exit cleanly or have a particularly well thought out plan for 15 and dragged ColmM through a miss.

Fairly disappointed. Totally my brain that let me down with motivation and concentration being the issues. Fixable though, big thing is to trust my legs. I've been training well so can believe in that. Then work the orienteering and the map contact/flow. Looking forward to the long!

Event: WOC Test Races
 

Little bit of training before the races tomorrow. Got some maps from Albin and did a downhills training on the Sigulda map. Nice to get a bit of forest in. Grotty enough and physical with fallen trees and branches etc. Also the fairly massive climb to get back to the starts. Did two then jogged a bit and then 4x strides. Feeling good. May have found tomorrow afternoons entertainment in a massive luge style thing.

Took the lie in option instead of a run given tiredness levels yesterday. Could think about running in Riga airport during the 2 hour wait for Colm.

Went to bed nice and early, but then ended up watching the end of Colombia-England so it wasn't that early. Then couldn't sleep for ages so didn't get as big a sleep as I would have liked. That weight though, not sure where that's coming from, I had a ton of biscuits yesterday.

Headed towards the track in Gränby for some intervals (4x 5min w/ 90s, 5x1 min w/ 1min ) but realised half way through Svartbäcken I had forgotten my inhaler. Went back for it. That meant I was doing the intervals in the real world. Body was kinda tired all day and it never really got going that well, apart from towards the end of the first 5 mins. 4 was on the program but left it at 3 and 3x 1min. Nice to move the legs a bit quick and a couple of days now to recover nicely before the races at the weekend will have me in a nice place.

Certainly not feeling fresh and bouncy today but got out for a nice sunny evening run by the river after seeing Sweden score their goal on the checkout lady's laptop as I posted stuff to New Zealand. Perfect timing.
Headphones died after 1k but I had got started by then so it was ok. Few kayakers out on the river. Collected a swarm of flies at one point, but they were soon dispersed by a flock of swallows. Dropped my phone and headphones home before going to the usual place for 6x 100m strides. Nice to open up a bit but it felt like a lot of work.

Feel like I'm getting some form togther with the intervals last week and the long run yesterday feeling good. Building some confidence anyway. Selection races this weekend
Mon- 50-60mins easy - to/from climbing
Tues- 45mins easy + 6x100m strides
Weds- 15mins WU/CD 4 x 5mins w/ 90s + 5 x 1min hard w/ 1min rec.
Thurs- rest day or easy training (25-30mins jog). Flying to Latvia in the evening
Fri- 30mins easy jog + 4-6 x 100m strides. Should get on a model/training map
Sat- Middle selection Race
Sun- Long selection Race

Run to climbing. Gina on the bike again so nice and sociable. Unfortuntely it was closed, and is closed on Mondays for the rest of the summer which is dissapointing.

Run home after not climbing. Climbed a tree on the way as some form of alternative, and for fun. Stopped in Coop on the way but forgot to stop my watch.