Training Log Archive: nmulder

WOC Middle Distance Qualifier

On the finish line I was quite disappointed with my run. Nothing seemed to have clicked during the race. I felt like I was bouncing from tree to tree and out of contact with the map for the majority of the course, with only one clean control (#5) in the more complex terrain. I hadn't run with a watch again (the altimeter makes it illegal), so it was a surprise to finally see the results board and realise that I was actually quite high up. The one thing going for me is that I had not made any major mistakes, which seems to have been quite important today.

1 - Found the scrappiest vegetation to bundu bash through. Stopped short at a ladies control on a knoll (which looked like a N-S facing marsh - huh?). Should have been quite a few seconds faster with more confidence.
2 - Dropped down to the path, and took a good AP at the river crossing. Should have contoured around below the cliffs rather than climbing over. More secs lost doing so.
3 - Slow climb out to the left along the slope. As a result was too low down, which I realised immediately when I got to the lower extension of the re-entrant. Some more secs.
4 - Got taken by surprise. Hadn't read ahead, and didn't know how to start the long leg. Was going north to the path before I decided on the western route choice, so I should have climbed immediately instead. The rest of the route choice was perfect, but my running was kak.
5 - Spiked it! Finally. Got 15th split for my efforts.
6 - Crossed the marsh and found myself going further west than expected according to the power line pylon. This gave me a good contouring option on runnable ground. However, lost contact with map (concentration!). Kept running and relocated on big open marsh, but then was playing catch-up. Thus slightly overran on the high side. My catch feature was the big hill ahead of me.
7 - Contoured and straight down the cliffs. Straight in, but not really very fast. Semi-spike. Found Novikov and Pavel halfway along (they passed me to #6) after Novikov went through his ankle. Pavel stayed with him.
8 - Contoured, but this time got caught out on cliffs. Immediately found a nice niche to descend ot the marshes below, but it wasn't the most direct.
9 - Down the main spur, but kept being pulled left onto the cliffs. Anoying. More seconds.
10 - Aced, but it was so easy.
11 - 'Aced', but once again, stupidly easy. Lost lots of time on the last two in running speed.
12 - Surprisingly 'decent' finish. The steep eroded downhill to start helped.

Ended up 26th out of 34. Beat USA, CAN, ESP, BRA, ISR, JPN, NED, CHN. So a good result, helped by the technicality and slow running speed in the terrain. The big problem was my lack of confidence in the terrain and in my running over it. Some proper racing here before WOC would have helped for this.

Splits

Long Q tomorrow. Hopefully lessons learned today will be utilised.

No HRM data once again.

GPS said I ran 4.3km.

From Orienteering Maps

C • Well done! Awesome run. 1

Event: 27th World Orienteering Championsship
 

WOC Sprint Qualification

I had a fair run, but am ruing the missed chances (2 big mistakes). After the warmup and very long progression from pre-start to start, I was quite focused and nailed #1, despite it being a short leg. We surprisingly went around the old farm museum area first and I managed to find good rhythm on all the controls and made no mistakes.

My first one was on the leg into the forest, where I didn't read the impassable fence bordering the museum and came to a dead standstill on the field. I hesitated as to which gap to take, and chose wrong. 20 seconds.

Thereafter settled down and ran nicely in the forest, playing safe and clean. One little wobble to #14 where I lost the main path. Split to #15 was also too slow running speed. Next big mistake was to #16, where I again didn't read the impassable fence well and didn't see the gaps in it. Stupid, another 20 seconds. Thereafter it went clean again.

So a total of 45s or so lost. What annoys me the most is that the impassable fence situation also cost me at last year's sprint Q. It's now an official trend. I finished 32nd (out of 34), +4:26 on Mattias Mueller. Without the mistakes it would have been 28th, equalling my best Sprint result (Sweden 2004).

No HRM data, as my watch is banned in IOF events (the altimeter). I reckon I probably only got to TE 3.7 or so.

No GPS either, as I accidentally turned it off at the start. Duh. Best I could do was draw my route on my map...

Splits Heat 1

From Orienteering Maps

Event: Gauteng Colour Coded Sabie 1
 

Ran the Model event for the Forest qualification areas. Decided to run on the 1:10' version however to get a proper feel for the terrain. It's a bit more stoney under the moss than I expected and a bit tougher going in general, but no big shocks. Nice complicated terrain without being hideously difficult.

Jeremy and I ran through 12 controls, meeting up and discussing after every 2 or 3. Body still a bit tired, as I've had a very slight cold / fever, but it seems to be over already. Looks all good for Sprint Q race tomorrow.

TE 2.6, Epoc 52, 378 kcal.

Need a rest day, body feels tired and sore.

Ran a 1:4' sprint map on the shoreline to the E of Trondheim. Didn't push it hard at all, so succeded in getting an error-free run. Used it instead as a decent warm up jog for the 2nd session in the forest.

TE 1.8, Epoc 20, 148 kcal.

Ran a 1:10' control picking exercise. Nice area, map not too old, but slightly overmapped on the green. Once again, steady pace meant I hit most controls okay, only making mistakes later on. Some big climbs.

TE 2.6, Epoc 56, 551 kcal.

Went to Kalvskinnet sprint map, west side of Town (1:4'). I didn't run, but just walked around with map in hand. Terrain is only really relevant for Sprint F. Will go for a proper run later today.

Ran a shortened 1:15' training on a map on the NE side of the Grakollen region to the west of town, from the same parking lot as my first training run. Some long legs to test route choices, particularly though the long marsh strips. Only 3 hiccups, always in areas where the map was vague or outdated. Jeremy ran the 1:10' course that I did on that first session.

I saw 2 other orienteers, one of whom I ended up running into in the middle of nowhere.

TE 2.2, Epoc 38, 607 kcal.

Drove out to near the Middle and Long Q areas to run on an adjoining map at 1:15'. The area was wetter than the previous one (by Trondheim standards). Took it at a slow comfortable pace, but still tough going amongst the blue berries.

Wasn't too tough adjusting to 1:15'. The maps quite readable in this type of terrain. Cut off my planned route a bit short because needed to pick up Jeremy from the airport.

Jeremy and I headed off to an easy Sprint training to the south of town, one that had as little marsh as possible as J's bags didn't arrive. Nice terrain, but only partly relevant for Sprint Q. I took it fairly easy once again, just getting a hang of the terrain. 1 compass angle error and 1 overshoot.

TE 2.6, Epoc 54, 259 kcal.