Training Log Archive: IanW

Shoes went in bin - they definitely weren't salavageable. And they wouldn't even have been in Slovenia had the Royal Mail not gone on an unofficial strike and the new ones ordered over a week before I was due to go out turned up. I love the Royal Mail...

Still, Slovenia was absolutely stunning and I want to go back just to see that amazing scenery again - the view of forested foothills and towering mountains from the airport on arrival was typical of what was to be seen the rest of the week.

OO Cup Day 5. Horrible wet weather, area very British - lots of paths and route choice because of them. Other shoe fell apart at the heel around #12 on the steep slippery slopes and so cut it short there. Would have been nice fun area in the dry - the map suggests it was very green but the mapping seems to be of visibility - you could run full pace through some of the "walk" sections...

OO Cup Day 4. More of the same nice karst, two areas separated by big steep slope. Almost gouged my eye out slipping on wet log on way to #1, walked next couple of controls until stopped bleeding. No mistakes until #15, much better than previous day. Roll of tape in pocket came in handy to keep the shoes alive - tape didn't like the wet so much.

OO Cup Day 3 - Short distance on Letus.

Nice karst terrain, forest generally open and runnable with little rock underfoot. My orienteering perhaps most inconsistent of the week - spiking controls then making really basic mistakes. Got pissed off and walked the end bit, not mentally with it. Shoes survived again, as I was to later find out this was because it was dry.

Started off well, spiking first two controls, then drifted too far north going round a big depression to #3 ending up nearer to #4, 2 minutes gone. Really should have gone to the obvious path/overhead line crossing. Major parallel error on #5 cost 5 minutes, had hit an open/slow run combo as indicated but couldn't find the two boulders. Because I was in the wrong one... Next 3 were fine, esp. #8 which I really hit well, then exited slightly badly and got caught in a load of green grot. Went into the low rather than high gully system at #12, losing at least 1 minute there, really silly mistake. Then to #14 started trying to turn off at the wrong path junction, knew it was wrong, just couldn't keep the concentration going. So walked the rest of the course, still managing to find the crap vegetation that wasn't there on the map.

Not particularly happy at the end of this one - I think the early errors didn't help matters, esp. the parallel at #5 where I thought I'd hit it well, still can't quite work out where I was there. Good 15 minutes lost today...

OO Cup Day 2 - Middle Distance on Mala in Velika Planina.

Complete contrast to the previous day's terrain - almost completely open with a few patches of scattered trees. Weather really quite hot, even at 11am, making running far more of an effort - pretty much every climb was a struggle. Shoe was taped up at the front and survived, mainly as it was dry and the terrain wasn't too rough.

Orienteering was generally good, but a bit sluggish and hesitant. Went through gate to #2 when could have quite easily hopped the fence/wall, then far too hesitant in - perhaps getting used to a 1:10 map again. Probably wrong route choice to #3 but spiked it, was right on #4 but knew what was going on. Lost at least 30 secs on #7, drifting right too high. Big mistake to #9, thought had good route and must have been within 20m but didn't see it and pissed around for far too long, along with Alan who'd caught me. Obvious route was to the south and in through the big depression, lost at least 3.5 mins on a 90 second leg. Being 'lazy' to #11 trying to avoid climb ended up costing time. Started looking for #16 too early, poor route to #17 meant had to stop at the edge of an OOB and U-turn, others ahead of me hopped the fence and went straight through... after that pretty clean.

Was surprised how much the heat slowed me down today, always seems to affect me quite badly when abroad on these multi-days, at least wasn't as bad as last year where I was reduced to walking on many an occasion.

As yesterday...

Event: OO Cup 5-Days
 

OO Cup Day 1 - Tiha Dolina, classic distance, 1:7500 map. Running M21A this week, along with the majority of the guys there.

Perhaps some of the toughest orienteering I've ever done, technically as well as physically, to give an idea the top elite just went under 10 mins/km. Heat wasn't too bad today as was mainly forested, generally really rocky underfoot, going around on paths was a good option. Map didn't live up to yesterday's training map, the 'white' was variable to say the least...

Was always going to be a slow and steady day, hit first two well, then got caught in all sorts of grot in the 'white' to #3, hesitant in but spiked it. Surprised to catch Chris M 10 mins at #5, which was on a 'white' hill covered in small leafy trees... Not quite sure where I went on #6 but overshot and missed it too low, minute lost. Safe route to #7, 8 was easy and visible, undershot #9 losing another 30-45 seconds. The vegetation mapping to #10 took the piss, it was horrible, light green at best, but mapped 'white' - should have picked up the path and open route but didn't realise it would be quite so bad. Spiked the control though :) Slight hesitation into #11, 12-16 all spiked with some nice road/path route choices, would have missed #17 by all of 2 metres had Chris not been there. Just over an hour in and going pretty damn well through all the complex stuff, having lost about 2.5mins total to #18, then on the way to #19 front of shoe partially disintegrates and running affected. It was almost then that I switched off, missing 3.5mins on #19 going in too late, 8 mins on #20 after not keeping contact with the map at all and taking the low rather than high route choice; dropped too low and then really really struggled to relocate, Ian Elder caught me again and we somehow stumbled across it. Then #21, not sure if it was the heat getting to me by then, but thought was higher up hillside than was and wandered up to the top roughly in the right direction. Well so I thought, another 3.5 mins gone and my good run destroyed by 15 minutes of mistakes right at the end of the course.

Looking back, I think the bit near the end was caused by physical and mental tiredness, and probably by a certain amount of dehydration. Also, I'm not sure how much effect it had but the first two days were at 1500m - whether it was my general lack of fitness or an altitude effect, I did seem to be finding things slightly harder than usual on the physical side. But you really do have to just keep the concentration up, even if that means slowing down, throughout the entirety of a course and not just where you think it matters...

Up to the assembly area from the car park - about 1.5k with 300m climb as an estimate, and pretty hard work!

Slovenia training event - forest generally pretty nice and runnable where white, and various shades of green were varying densities of coniferous woodland, most of which was still runnable. Contour and rock detail mapped well, not too stony underfoot. Tracks/paths variable to say the least, could quiet easily run straight over them without noticing. Shame the following days' maps weren't quite so impressive in places...