Training Log Archive: JoshuaDudley

10mila

8th leg second team IFK Göteborg. Aim to start approx 0430. Had managed to get some little hours of sleeping as excited and nervous for the race. Had a good technical understanding of the terrain and felt well rested.

First time I have worn gps which I just ignored although occasionally it went through my mind that everyone can see what I am doing. After the warm up was raring to go. Many mistakes were losing teams time so my aim was to be clean as usual, especially in green areas.

It was a mix of clear sky and showers just under 10deg. Going from dark to dawn. I spotted my 7th leg on the run in. It was time.

I set off out the arena, lots of mud. 1st control looked easy, stuck to paths to get used to the map. Had a crap attack point however. The vegation boundary I wanted to come off was not obvious so I ran past the control. I fannied around like a chicken looking for the control until I got my head in order. Stupid mistake need to take more care.
The next few legs went well, aimed for simple route choices. The white forest felt thicker than test maps. 5 straightforward leg out to path. I switched off here and drifted out to a joining path. Lost some minutes here until I relocated. Another frustrating experience. I just put it behind me.
The next few legs were hard , in quite dense forest with little to go off. I was very focused on them and checking compass. I came through clean.
Then I entered an area of green, several controls after each other. It was quite a fun challenge. I completely slowed down to plan into the control, as in the green there was no vis. I ticked three off, had another stretch over a path. I drifted left and got myself confused. Yet again the terrain boundaries had me lost. I spent sometime working out what I had done. Aimed into the green but missed the control 10m left. Zig zaged back and found it. Annoyed with myself I set out of the green trying to stay positive.
Next control my head was trying to catchup with the orienteering. Bearing to control just left. A small group caught me here which gave me some energy to push harder. Started picking controls off. Hit a gaffle wrong one shit, ahh was just left quick over to mine. This is what I missed about the relay the competition in the forest taking slightly different routes. Ruslan appeared from Ravinen.
We came through change over and I was tired it was a really slog. Then up a steep hill the other side. The group were getting away but I was determined to keep them in sight, and be clean on the technical hill. Bearing into control was off a bit right. Then up over hill. Forest was more runable here and stones were great to pick off. Had a good line over and down into control knew where I was, attacked into and found nothing. Crap had dropped into wrong renetrant to far left.
Next few controls was being accuarate reading map lots and trying to forget the pain and fatigue in the legs. It went well, until I got a branch in my eye. Down hill to finish, had a control on boulder. I was left again getting a little confused in the green. Strong finish.

I was disappointed in my run. I felt I let the team down. Dropped 8 spots and made approx 10mins of mistakes. With the strong team I had we finished 25th which was within our top 30 goal. We could have been top 20 with a cleaner run from myself.

From analyzing my performance and also past races, I feel as if there is a weak link in my performance in big events. When I want to perform the best I make some mistake(s) which cost me. I have good technique however under pressure it seems to have a limit and crumble. For this reason I think I need to focus more of my training on orienteering under a more pressured emphasis to get over this hurdle to ensure I orienteer the same every time whether an easy run in the forest or big comp.

C • tio 2

A team jog to loosen the legs up before the race. Felt good, but wanted to rest still.

Model event training before 10mila to get some daylight training close to the forest. As I knew we had a lot of controls I wanted to focus on shorter legs, and changes in direction ensuring my bearings were good and I had a better idea of how the forest was in daylight.

Vegetation boundaries were poorly mapped, with white areas feeling quite green sometimes, but also could be lovely runnable birch forest (couldn't tell due to oversimplified map). Contour features still felt quite vague and sometimes indistinct. Rock features seemed well marked, however cliffs usually could be hard to distinguish. Going into green areas on the map were low vis and slow, so having a clear plan going in is vital. Made this mistake on one control, keeping a strong pace in and not focussing enough on the control, ended up looping back. Marshes seemded ok to run through, not too wet.

Revisited the nighto course I had done the previous night as I wanted to clear out some controls and made sure that I could do them and my technique was good.

13 and 14. I still had a little trouble on 13. Previously I had come off the path hit the spur and begun following it up and then cut acrossthe renentrant just below the line, hitting the hill below the line and having to come left. This time I continued up the spur to the flat. Nearing the control i drifted left and hit the pair of boudlers down the rentrant from it.
14 went much better I really focussed on keeping my line and picking up the detail as I went so i knew where I was attacking from. after crossing the marsh it was so easy to get pushed right by the hill and veg but I kept solid beaing and come up over down the rentrant into control.

Also went back to 2 which I had on the hill. I was pushed right by the line of hills again. So I did a 90 deg into the marsh until I hit the edge and from here it was easier to locate into the control.

10mila relevant terrain night o. I wanted to go out and get a good feel for the terrain again. My initial plan was to go with good bearings out of control, have a simple plan picking off features in line and keep the head up. This worked sometimes however the ground was so rocky in places it was hard to map read whilst not breaking ones foot.

I started well at an easy pace studying map and taking it all in. Aimed for the large hill to come round bottom and then bounce off pit into control. Line into control crucial. The contours felt quite diffuse and vague making it easy to drift.
2 was poor however I passed a large set of rocks and couldn’t work out where they were on map, didn’t seem to be mapped. This was the case for a lot of rocks, only the large prominent ones were mapped. In all he contour detail I had a poor plan so I didn’t know which hill was which, I need a better plan and map contact next time in these tricky areas.
I found myself getting pulled off the compass line a lot, I think this comes back to poor plan, not really knowing what you are aiming for.
For long legs it pays to take a smart choice and not always straight. The rock can be slow or tough running underfoot compared to a path.
Going through green to 14 was fine to run but it threw me off line a bit. I came out a bit right of line and was following wrong veg boundary. I had a poor plan to get to the control, and I drifted right into unexpected terrain. I eventually relocated on a small pit. THTid area was tricky, diffuse, low vis and rocks everywhere. Many rocks not marked.
16 and 17 real bearing testers, my bearing was good on line however control sites were small and in distinct. Not much to go on if offline.

Summary
- the details into control have a clear simple plan, slow down and break it down, check the compass this is where a lot of time can be lost
- be confident and check bearings as easy to be pushed with contours/green, have something to aim for
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Feeling tired and sore from the long but decided to start a slow long warmup early. Any sort of gradient felt tough but after 15 mins the legs were feeling much looser and ready for the relay. Got some strides and speed in as I knew it was going to be fast. Mental prep reminding myself to be good on compass and not miss the control, speed will be what will be.

First leg for MAROC first team. Myself, Alistair Chapman and Matthew Gooch. A strong team.

I knew i was tired and that pace was not my biggest strong point against some of the guys on first leg, so my strength was accuracy and not losing time. Therefore my aim to be clean, pick good routes and push when I could.

Overall I ran an excellent race, in reflection, I ran my own indivudal race, using the others more as a physical push rather than technical assistant. Gaffles made this a great tactic as I found myself heading to different controls, I think I had a sightly longer gaffel than most. I kept my focus throughout keeping good map contact to ensure that I was looking for the right feature, and not running too far. my bearing out of 13 was a bit left however I clocked it and was fine. I took the right route to 18 to try and pass some guys but I think it was little slower. Had an excellent finish. After my last loop, 3 guys had a shorter gaffel and got infront, but I used them to reel me in and finish strong 2mins off the leader. however Alistair was not in the start box so we lost 2 mins sadly just shouting for him.

Summary:
- usually when you are tired, everyone else is too, dont let the orienteering worsen because of it - good focus throughout.
- keep good map contact in fast detailed areas, especially druing relay

Feeling tired and thirsty ready for a rest. Slighly sore feet.