Training Log Archive: ndobbs

Stomach not right yet. Went for a walk in Barra da Tijuca with Chris. Cold and wet, but (AOWN) we did see a world's largest rodent!
This isn't the picture Chris took:

Stomach dodgy today, didn't run before travelling back to Rio. The ferry to Angra cost 4.50 reais. Had to wait a couple of hours in Angra as the buses were full, but got to eat a proper lunch. Zzzz.

Ilha Grande,
again a great breakfast (thanks Hostel Holandes), then walk to the beach (via beaches and hills), 2h+, swim, chill, chat, chill, swim, then ran back. Picked up a Manuel early on, or maybe an Imanol, since he was from Bilbao, and he kept the pace high, though we did walk the end of the big hill. Fun to have company.

AOWN. Penguin :)

And another lovely dinner in the evening, good company from all over. A good day!

Ilha Grande, back from Dois Rios... rounded up since I walked there, 2 hours and a bit.

Ilha grande

Nearby AP users, by location:
1: Sao Paulo
2: Cape Verde
3: Mali
4: Haiti
5: Costa Rice
6: Jamaica

And only one in each location...

C • Nearby 2

So I set the alarm on my phone last night for 4:30am, NY time, 6:30 here. Google said it would take 1h15 to get to Parque do Trovador by bus from Chris', and I figured between breakfast, margin for getting lost and time for registration, 7 would be a good time to leave.

So the alarm goes off, I have a wee breakfast, no stress, then look at the time and its nearly 8. Stress! Wake Chris, tell him he has to leave in three if he wants to come, that didn't work, so leave him, put on running gear and head out.

Run past the street the bus stop was on, mistakenly, so ran another few streets and picked up another bus heading towards Vila Isabel. It doesn't seem to be particularly direct, and turned off before the Parque, so I got out at the terminus and ran 500m or so to the Parque. Arrive flustered (without a watch), but it's only 8:42. Yay for Brazilian bus drivers.

Do a little jogging and drills to warm up.

The clock problem, I believe, is because my phone, which I have been unable to switch to Brazilian time, decided to switch to EST winter time overnight. Aaggggghhhhhhhhhhh

I Copa Sprint Elite CO

Vila Olímpica Arthur da Távola
Vila Isabel, Rio de Janeiro

Woo, first time orienteering in a new country in years! Ronaldo André Castelo dos Santos de Almeida and his friends (incl Thaiane) put on a good show on a 1:1500 map in a small park.

The map wasn't perfect, and the control placement was occasionally slightly off, but it was pretty fantastic. They charge 15$ or so for entry (but let me run for free), have SI, preprinted maps, microphone and speaker, medal and snack for finishers, and 41 controls in 2.6km!

It seems they know what orienteering is about. Racing, good times, and thinking fast. Clearly to become excellent orienteers in the woods, they will need to develop a lot more, but they are starting in the right direction.

Put it another way, in more developed countries, the emphasis is more on marking the pitch correctly and having excellent referees rather than passing the ball and scoring goals.

Elite CO also has really nice O-gear!

About the race, lost a few seconds here and there, mostly after the turning the map over (two maps, "laminated" together), in the woodsy area where the map was less perfect.

I think results-wise I was at the end of the leading pack, with Fabio, Vanderle and another guy all just ahead of me.

The Brazilians ran on 22 maps in the two weeks they were in the US. It's a pity I was no longer in Peekskill, they would have been good to host.


And of course, results go up within a few hours of the race -
1. 5729 Sidnaldo Farias Souza 15:42.
2. 1860 Vanderlei josé Bortoli 15:48.
3. 0 Neil Dobbs 15:58.
4. 5689 Fábio Kuczkoski 19:40

Fabio is the guy who won the Bethel sprints by a mile. He had issues finding the first control today, hadn't flipped the map :)