Training Log Archive: JoshuaDudley

Countour only training:
https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Lidingo-Contours/on...
Aim:
to pick out the simple features and lines
To focus on the control entry and get it right by slowing down, hitting a scure AP, have safety, good line in knowing what to look for

1 - the right line of the hill side was clear all the way to the flat area, at the hill corner ensured line was good and took bearing across the flat to the control hill, aim to hit it right of control then look for the smooth reentant up and in.
2 - Line out of control was clear, over the hil top keeping a flat area on right side, towards control nice line with gradual down renetrant on right side. flat bit past first hill was nasty green shit, when on the ridge, took a nice bearing then ran until the valley cut through then slowed down and carefully navigated, up the rentrant, over the hill inot control, boom.
3 - aim was to follow the ridgeline again, keeping the edge close to my right, at the corssing valley then to sweeip left up to the hill top down into control. I came too far right and over estimated my distance, and came to the road. relocated on the hill and came back to hill, to control.
4 - along the road, then at the junction off over the first spur and staying left to approach from the . ottom of the spur to ensure that I wouldnt miss it, but bearing was slight right and came just above control, noticed the spur above and came back left
5- kept it simple, corner of flat then on the bearing over the hill to next flat, when coming down using the surrounding to know where I was approaching from. came perfect on line, so came up rentrant up and round into control
6 -hill top, baering focus into control, looking for obvious hill just left, boom
7 - follow hill round, up at rentrant, easy, almost ran too far
8 - following contour line round looking to cross . big flat section keeping a good line, picking off the hills on left side, this gave me good line up reentrant into control up spur keeping high point to my right and looking for rentrant
9 . keeping left of line into flat to stay left of marsh, cross road and contour round marsh aim was to then stick the bearing over the high part aiming for the flat corridor, then use the hill edge into control. Had poor control of direction following marsh so came too far right in a similar lookinf flat but direction was wrong, decided to come back where the mistake had started and rerean. surprising how a mistake can happen close to twice. raelly tried hard to keep the lione, visitbility was not great so had to reall work the compass, was confident on the hills so kept it and hit the control,.
10 . tricky little bugger but stuck to compass and aim was to cross the first hill come a little right and then contour left into control to ensure I didnt miss it, and not come too low. worked well but tricky to identify on ground.
11 - a clear line following the hill side along and out carfeul not to come too far round caught the small hill in the middle then took bearing when crossed flat, started checking the detail into control more. spotted rentrnt on right up and bearing to control. hit rentrant just below so came up aiming for hill top.
12 - using hill side and large valley on right to keep line, then kept simple aiming for flat infront of control, on a good bearing hard to miss, when hit the flat was tricky to know whee i was so slowed down and tried to fix location, was confident in middle, check control, big rentrant with high point on right, kept line and spotted renentrant so came left contol boom,
finish - high point and over

Summary
More work on those path controls
Dont go on autopilot, keep checking the compass
Better work spotting those Final APs but could be better still

Feeling good after warmup, exicited race vibe. Even tho its just training

Some night orienteering intervals:

Aim for the session was to push hard, orienteering second. I had three different courses on 2000 scale. so I used the opportunity as a sort of test. Each course just under 1km.
The first course used by going hard out. I navigated, but poorly which resulted in time lost being lost, relocating and finding controls, I had little confidence when enterring controls and my bearings generally were off more, I think mainly due to the lack of time invested leaving the control.
Second test I aimed to still push hard, but be more seelctive of when. And ensure that I invest the time to take good bearings, and read the map detail as I picked my way through. I was still running fast but maybe not quite as fast, althouhg I felt smoother, I was more concious and decisive of my speed instead of slowing down when I had fucked up.
Third set again wanted to prove myself that the orienteering counts. Following a similar setup to 2, I pushed hard, but was much more aware of a traffic light system going on you could say. With the short courses, big scale and high intensity it really drills it into you. Had a fall early on so was stumbling for a bit, but focussed hard on the orienteering, This one was 100% smooth,

So what happened, well from the times you can see a major improvement from 1-2, and more subtle improvment to 3, so each time I was quicker. Super good session.

For next time:
- better bearings
- pick the relevant detail when big shapes are hard to see
- be more speed concious (traffic lights)

Some night practice. Was pretty knackered after the week from busy work and illness creeping in. Felt stuffy headed, but had a wee nap before training. Was nice to get in the forest and just run about even if not much. Shows that I have some night technique to work on.

Aim for the session was building upon the Tuesday session, having good bearings and clear entry into the controls.

Green: The feeling was that i had good bearings and consistentcy but some of the forest was quite green and this would push me to the side without me able (or with my slow pace not wanting to push through the green) stay on the line.
Form line: Using clear contour lines to help guide the direction, was tricky with many form lines. in this situation better to look ahead for something more prominent and have faith in the line. eg to 1 on final approach, slope goes down right so easy to drift, but aim for the long hill by the conrol which is more prominent.

4 - plan was to contour into marsh then cut up reentrant which i did, but contour was so vague on top so i came left to boulder and realised where I was. Situations like this, ensure a good line, and safety to the right would ensure to come up the reentrant.

after seeing the routes on livelox, i was much better on the bearing than i first realised, and I tried to compensate more than i generally needed to, need to have confiedence in my bearings.

Summary:
confidence is key
look ahead, big features, distinctive (watch out for formlines)

https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Lidingo-Night-Corri...

Throat a little sore but ok to do some easy running. Pretty damn cold

Drills and hurdles.

An easy going technical session at Paradiset. some of the finest orienteering in Sweden. Joining the Ravinen bunch. A mix of short legs, longer legs and countour only map. Was getting a little dark towards the end.

Short legs - Some really good, good compass control and straight lines, generally the plan was also clear to me however sometimes I was sloppy sticking to the plan, and therefore would not adjust so easily to where I was. In this situation I should slow down and/stop and readjust the plan before it gets worse.

Longer legs - happy with how I performed, keeping close to the line and really trying to focus on big ffeatures that I could be a bit off the line and still hit. Tricky part dooing this is adjust on the entry to the control to pick up smaller detail. To ensure should alwyas have a concrete clear AP before enterring the control. Also path options were a weakness again, as i seem to lose track of how far I have gone along them.

Summary:
- maintain good bearings out of the control
- ensure a clear plan at control exit
- if plan changes, know why and adjust
- clear ap before control circle (esp on long legs, then change mindset)
- on paths, have clearer plan and pick up surrounds near exit point

Check these out and see if it works! :D

Feeling pretty knackered and a bit ill coming about

Chasing start for Euromeeting day 2. Slept ok night before. Felt a bit tired today and weather horrible. Positive attitude and felt an even clearer understanding of the terrain; How to pick out the simple features. So felt confident in my ability, and my plan for the race was to be clean like yesterday, good bearings, run your own race, and I know that I can push a bit more physically.

Was super exciting at the start with like 10 people starting within a couple minutes.
1- Go. Off I went, up the quarry again, got a quick idea of the course couple of butterflies, and loop back through green. Was a bit tired up to start, crossed start control then got my bearing out to 1. Quite simple plan aiming for the big reentrant down the hill. Using right edge and good line, head up looking for depression. Saw boy who started before me just leave the control, boom. Gaining some time.
2 - Set the compass, go. Clear spot, heading up the hill use spur as safety. Plopped through the depression before, easy and in. Guy before me drifted well left.
3 - rough bearing spotted the path, catching a small group ahead. Cruised to path then planned the last part of the leg. 1,2,3 count the depressions into control. Was a bit lower down then I expected just because the control circle was covering a contour line (crap map checker). But was confident on line. Let the butterfly begin.
4 - stopped check line, spotted plateau off right of line, others went left but I was happy. Nice spur line between depressions up over the hill then round the depression to the control, boom!
5 - quick map check. Spotted big flat in mid leg, then edge plateau at control. So quite simple breakdown on a good compass. Was cracking.
6 - check the line, aim for big depression past the spur, didn’t check my line after, aiming for the edge up over to the control, but came a little right found myself traversing the depressions in the green realised so came direct left over spur and passed small shitty depression. Put it behind me, focus on the next one.
7 - could have planned it better, but took a rough line aiming for the big flat near control, past the indistinct path, and looking for the curve in the plateau, saw reentrant off right so came left and dropped nicely in, shitty trwee in the way.
8 - stop, bearing, out and check map. Spotted green, and hill of right, so used hill to guide along in to control, end of spur, boom.
9 - similar to what I had done yesterday, along the bottom of the hill, quick check, second reentrant, pushed hard on this, had a fin with me for the last few controls. We were orienteering individually but we were consistent. Helping push eachother.
10 - easy bearing and just heading down. Felt a little left, guys infront of me so I spotted they had come into wrong reentrant, and I came more on the line, boom.
11 - climb to path, tank it. Fin was rapid on the path was trying to keep with him and know where I was going. Cut at the ride down to the arena, felt strong cruising in. Rough check of where I was going, straight back up.
12 - nice bearing climbing the sand. Simple leg, past depression then spur. boom.
13 - out to road, boom. Quick check before butterfly two, where I was going, good middle.
14 - up the hill along spur, and aimed to join the depressions, one funky shaped one then down into the big one into control worked a treat. Love these plans how the come together.
15 -back on my tail, simple follow the reentrant back. Edge of hill on right. Aiming for the hill top and dropping into the depression. Textbook
16 - knew it was common control so was a bit lazy planning, knew to contour, and safety was end of ridge, was a little high but came at top of ridge and right down, worked fine.
17- Stopped check bearing, back up the hill, decided to contour round green reentrant, a bunch of folk went right straight through. Came out on to the spur hesitated a little, nothing right, so headed up the hill boom. Leading some train.
18 - bearing, looking for the long reentrant again, staying along the line of the depression off right, came in a little left but safety so came right to control. Guy passed me but I was happy.
19 - took a bearing and line along the big depression. Crossed the path spotted the junction off to right so knew where we were going in, boys ahead stopped in a depression looking confused. I realised they had come too right and I led them into the depression left side.
20 - tricky leg, I wish I had taken this more carefully but basically stuck to the bearing religiously, came to a depression saw a control confident it wasn’t mine, checked anyway. Stopped spotted spur ahead of me, round and into the control. Lost maybe 20s here.
21 - focus hat back on, set the compass, spot big reentrant on right then gathered the ridge over hill and down into depression treat.
22 - other two went off right. I stopped checked the leg and set the compass, aimed straight down the drepssion and over the spur, then aimed to use the big reentrant hill edge to curve along. At the corner and down, just past little spur, cut left, spot on. Gained a nice lead on the others. Keep it together.
23 - in some shitty green, aim out to path, felt strong and eyed up the next couple legs to finish. along th path and decided to cut up the gradual hill early. Had big depression on left and reentrant on right as safety barrier. Popped into depression saw control. Check code just incase.
24 -out and set the compass, head up and just pick nice lines. Hit rentrant, slowed a little then picked in depression pit. boom.
25 - was excited and it was going alright on my own. This leg set the compass but left without a plan. Fuck sake. Should have broken it down simple and aimed for first pit then big depression. But just aimlessly stuck. Compass and hacked around through was slight left of line. Hit little depression stopped and tried to relocate. Decided to climb the contours a bit and then realised what had happened, by this time the boys behind me appeared again. Oh dear.
26 - set the compass just behind and aiming through depression and up to the path, along past hill and over spur into reentrant. Noticed how much slipping these boys were doing, they were really low on the spur so I clocked ahead.
27 - stay on focus, compass set, climb a little and contour round, over the big spur, right side of the green, confident into control, spotting the depressions. Felt good.
28 - set compass and go. Simple leg, aim to keep edge visible and just go for the big depression from yesterday. Finn push ahead of me across the path but I stuck with him, as I was feeling strong but I wasn’t finished yet. He punched left control I went for the right.
Sprint finish. He had a slight advantage but I push hard on the outside, gained good time, last bend before last straight on the outside he should of had me I dug deep this was mine. Felt like a breeze and got him.

Haven’t checked results but I believe I finished 36 in total. Gained 7 places today. Overall quite happy with my performance. Some quality orienteering and 90% under control, strategy worked well and technical ability felt solid. It was great to have some head to head. Because I could see where things really worked and tings didn’t.

Worked: Take that couple secs to check the bearing and leg spot to the clever route and it can save you 10,15s, or even more. 4,14, 21, 22
Didn’t: Just going on bearing happen twice, 20,25 both times had no plan

- Big indistinct lines like 20 that would serve as a rail
- Quick feedback loop, as soon as something is not right, stop/slow and check
- Interesting how much following others do, and how it benefits them but hard to compete against if its not gaffeled.

Overall weekend thoughts:
- Some excellent o technique, and strategy. Generally worked well and learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t.
- Strategy good, make it automatic
- Terrain keep testing and getting used to different ones
- When understand the technique push the speed in the terrain
- Keep building the physical endurance and speed in parallel
- Due to lack of confidence in terrain first day, and some mistakes, was a bit slower on the first day, never felt confident to push. Speed of top guys was impressive but it will take some time to build on my technique and gradually build up the speed (especially in different terrains). Atleast I know what to aim for.
- Second day, went pretty well, some annoying little mistakes (like 2 mins) but pushed harder. Based on times, is much more confidence boosting, that my speed is there and with a little more terrain confidence I know how hard I need to push and what the expectation is. Super excited for the rest of the winter to work on these things and big thanks to GB orienteering for giving me this opportunity. Until the next one.

C • report 3