Training Log Archive: Lizzie

12 hours driving back to Rome. Beautiful scenery through the alpine pass, really wish i could stay over in europe just running in the mtns for another month or so!

hard time staying awake after the last night and last week, but managed but for 1 hour or so, and was rewarded with urban giving me a first hand account of the history of orienteering :) (and plant genetics, and a fair few other topics!) Some amazing stories really.

1st leg with penny on 2nd and amber 3rd.

Was fine with running first, only concern was what speed the others would set from the start. So was surprised at the slow pace in the mass start! Once there was enough space i ducked out to the side and joined the front runners and was sitting about 4th when we hit the forest.
I've heard comments of how it looked like i hadnt read my map in the start: would just like to assure everyone that I had read the first control and had it planned up til my attackpoint, it was actually a pretty short control once you were in the forest :)
So yep, 1 was fine, number 2 the pack went straight while i split left, joined by the finn. we took a small track and popped out at the control cleanly. Took a moment to realise we were the first two there, at which point i must admit as it was a tv control, i smiled at the thought of kiwis seeing me in the top 2 lol. But was a big bush bash out to the track to 3, was making my own way but when the pack went trhough on my left thought it would be better to hop on the train. Dropped off the back of the pack going through 3 though, and was by myself to 4 where others seem to make mistakes.
Missed 4 in the circle but only 15s or so. Then led Ukraine into 6 and 7, though hesitated at 7, not quite understanding the map.
Ida and the Norge popped at 8, where i got stuck in some thick bush, then the 4 of us ran together 9,10 and spectator. Helena turned up out of nowhere too, last time i'd seen her was as i headed into 4.
So stuck with Helena through the spectator, had no idea if we were the first group or not (fin and cze were ahead it turns out). Then we had the same final loop, keeping pace with eachother fine. then to the penultimate control helena and another (est?) went left, while i chose the open reentrant to the right which lead into the control much cleaner. Managed to stay ahead right to the finish, coming in 6th. :)
Made me feel a whole heap better following my middle dist

Not sure where the swiss came from though? - she has the same finish time as me, but for the life of me i can't remember whether she got me in the finish or i got her?i dont even remember seeing her!

Oh and got pulled off for random drug testing straight after (random, sure) so had to watch the rest from my little quarantine pen. got sunburnt too, not cool.

all warm up, cos the drug testing people wouldnt let me out to warm down :s

Still grinding my teeth (like amber in her sleep) over this one...

Didn't have much of a warm up at all as for some reason i believed chris on the call up time, not myself (well half :)
But wasn't too fussed as i knew this race would be about technical strength as much as running strength.
First control was alright, took it cautiously. considered the road option but decided i could hold it together going straight. Hesitated in the circle but clean enough. 2nd control, again cautious: infact you can just assume that for the rest of the course! It really was a matter of checking my position every 50m or so. Headed up the l/h reentrant, hit the track by the cliffs, up between more cliffs and cleanly into the control. 3 ok. 4 was actually an easy control, through the depression and follow the reentrant, I was too hesitant on it, could have got 20s off easy.
I'm not sure I can really explain 4-5-6-7 apart from taking it really slowly, constantly reading the map and checking stepping stones. 7-8 I never really considered the upper route choice, it looked too detailed. though looking now the tracks would possibly be fast, certainly the top runners got time on me here. Instead I came low and up between the large cliffs. executed it fine, but dropped time. caught vanessa as i left the track into 8 and hoped she'd see me and follow me in. 9 and 10 were easier but i was slow. Slightly unsure at 9, hit it a bit low.
Half way to 11 Dana crashes out of the forest to my right...what?! I shouldn't be catching her up. We run into 11 together as i'm still a bit disbelieving. Through the spectator 3 things happen that play on my mind like they shouldnt: 1. just catching Dana 2. I hear the speaker say im in 2nd, 1min behind. 3. I take a sip of water, pour the rest on my head. Then register the taste...it's not water, it's sports drink that turns my face into a sticky rock hard mask! eugh

12. i got straight through the forest as Dana heads out to the track and in again, get there just behind her. I'm being overly cautious. 13 out to the track and in, miss it by 10m and Dana gets a bit ahead. 14...head off after her, don't check my direction enough. Obviously not being overly cautious now! The one time this week where i've forgotten the big DIRN written on my hand :( The bush is so thick that I'm by myself within 15m, I count reentrants but because im on the wrong line i end up short. I see the cliff, and misread it as teh one further up the hill, stuckin the wrong reentrant i can feel seconds slipping away. crap. I can see these random tapes in the forest but no idea what theyre for (turns out they were on the ruined fence...did not see that!)
Anyway, im bleeding time so head to the open to relocate, head up the correct reentrant this time...the control is still way further up than i expect. Difficult to push to the finish, but I figure it's world champs so grit it out to the finish with a wry smile on my face.
Not to be. 18th. top ten next year :)

C • Teeth 4

small w/u and w/d after with the aussies

Aim for the day was to not worry about it being world champs or anything, and just to make it through the course. Considering how awful my legs felt during and following the sprints, I was preparred for a lot of pain.

And the start didn't disappoint! As if getting up to the start wasn't bad enough, from the start to the triangle was then a good 350-400m and uphill. I remember thinking 3/4 of the way there "god im stuffed and i haven;t even reached the start of my course!"
And you'd think that given that long run in, i'd have the 1st control planned by the time i got there. but no, apart from seeing a mess of contours, and a track, i had no idea! So i started along the top track, trying to read a good place to head down, or go all the way round? Pretty much headed along until i knew definitively where i was on the track, then cut down. Hit the small track above 3, but then left it again by accident. Immediately realised though and kept my bearing. Luckily hit the track above 1 by the steep reentrant with cliffs so knew where i was straight away. From there it was a careful read into the control...and then I was at 1. Out of 21! nice :)
2. hit it a bit high, lost 20s. 3. so tired already! had to walk a bit uphill, but otherwise just follow the reentrant.
4. route choice. up to the track or straight? There was a clear AP going straight, and the bush wasnt too bad, so i opted for a bearing. And it would have been fine too. I kept my shadow infront of me and went for it, was physically tiring but I had plenty of stepping stones and hit my AP fine (the large depression with a cliff, 100m before the control). However from here I needed to climb 3 contours. Did not read this and ended up far too low. Quickly chose to relocate back off my AP and got it 2nd time round, but not before losing 4mins :s
5. bit too high. Cuaght Heidi here, she must have passed me at 4. Stopped for a good drink.
6. long leg. Had briefly considere the right route choice, but opted for straighter and more climb. wasn't looking forward to the open stuff though with the heat! Heidi took the same choice but was quickly 20m ahead of me. Managed to maintain that gap though, and gained on the uphill even. However i went right around the last patch of trees before the control while she went through it. Couldnt understand why at the time, but was quickly clear when i then had to reclimb into the control - should really have read that one.
Gel and drink at 7. Heidi got away a bit saw her going out of 8 as i was going in. overshot it a bit. 9-10 ok. 11 recaught heidi and the bulgarian(? hungarian, not sure?) who was following her. anyway i went straight, the light green was kinda like nz light green in the sand dunes, they went to the track and around. 11-12 downt he track, along the yellow, the split from heidi in the forest but we joined up again at the yellow depression midleg. split again near the uncrossable fence but joined once again heading into the control. 13 was simple, but so tired and it was boggy to boot! 14 i lost a bit on heidi and the lithuanian we were now with. but caught them on the route choice to 15 as they took the crossing and i shuffled under the fence (allowed- was told in team meeting:) led them up the hill to 16 as my reserves kicked in. Then raced heidi to 17 as we dropped the lithuanian. Split from her going into the control as i went straight in while she went around the yellow. SHe caught me again as i took my 2nd gel though.
Then 18 decided to stick with her so took the smaller track and into the detail from the open. however i had my direction slightly off. missed the control by 30 and thats all it needed. took me 30s to get to the control from there through all the stuff on the ground! Heidi was goneburgers.
which left me 19 which i got fine. then heading out of 19 i managed to full on faceplant, right infront of the tv camera...thought it had missed me for a moment as last time id looked it was following the finnish dude infront of me. But no. so i gave it a wry wave and headed on my way. And i mean this was a fullon faceplant-no hands. Ive got the graze on my cheek and bruised nose to prove it! It did make the bloopers after prizegiving, kinda gutted i missed seeing it...
Anyway headed wrong dirn out of 19, so got the longer track route, not too fussed but time loss all the same. and from there it was a slog into the finish.

sigh. done :) 13th, too tired to be as happy as i should with that!

5 before, 5 up to the start and a pathetic 5 after haha

A very early start to get out of the hotel and embargoed area by 7am. Plus side was we got a mint set up in the quarantine (a judo school), by the time the swedes etc strolled in there wasnt much space left, we'd pretty much made ourself a new home in the corner of the gym :)

Anyway, the race: First control was straight up the hill, literally. Hill sprints for the win! Def. felt their effect here and felt good not only to the first control, but more importantly from the 1st control. Had a nervous moment at 3 as it was at the bottom of an uncrossable cliff. Still not sure if i went over it or not, I tried to go around, but who knows quite where it ended?! Kind of landed at the bottom, then realised what I'd done :s not a good feeling!
Was angry at myself to 4 for potentially screwing up my sprint, made 100% sure i went around the cliff at 4! which is the one everyone went over, and the organisers decided to allow or noone would be in the finals. By that stage had caught Annika from Estonia, who must have had a shocker in the first few controls, she went straight over the cliff and gained 5-6s on me at 4.
Right to 5, and read 6 correctly as on top of the wall, which Annika didn't...didn't see her after that, but she dnf'd i think. Up and around the curved road to 7 and fast splits to 8 and 9 (1st and 3rd fastest) despite thinking i took slower routes in our post race talks!
Then my brain died. Did a 180 turn at 9 and came back the way id come in, but then realised my intended path was blocked by an uncrossable wall. Decided i'd come too far to turn around and go back through 9 to the optimum route so kept going. (looking back it would have been faster to turn around, but atleast the way i went i missed the dodgy bit of green that a few people got dsq'd on!) So went aaaaall the way around the casino to the control, losing a good 30s. (40 on maja).
Legs cramped up here as well and the rest of the course was a struggle to get through! Pretty simple nav for the rest, and luckily i read the olive green in the final park and didnt venture off the paths like so many did!
Complete cramp at the finish, had to collapse :s

angry warm down, knew i was fast enough to qualify, but nervous about that cliff at 3. more of a walk than a jog as had nothing in my legs.

Ah first final time...had a decent run through to the arena before starting to get my mind on the task. had ida bobach starting 1min infront, so could hear the crowd roaring for her before i got there :) Start could have been intimidating if you let it get to you, amazing crowd! Just kept concentrating on my first couple of control descriptions, checked out the map change (saw grace go through it while i was waiting), checked my compass about 10 times. unfortunately didnt see the spectator control high up on the castle though.
And then it was straight into it! Through the crowd, around the corner and into the little alleyways :) loved it! Talking to toby and others after, they almost convinced me my route to 3 was the slower one - but i have 5th fastest split so think i'll stick with my methods! First time loss came on 5-6 when i hashed the route choice. stupidity but, heat of the moment, can't say i wouldnt do the same thing if I ran the course again! In the end i took a mix of the two route choices - not that i changed my mind half way, it was just the way it worked out. dropped bout 15s. next point of (maybe) interest, was the spectator up on the castle. It turns out nearly everyone did the same as me, and went out of the control straight, only to find the pathway stopped dead! I guess going at speed on the map the lines make it look like the path could keep going.
But corrected, and got the map change...tried to grab the first map...missed. My hand then ran along the line of maps as i vainly tried to grab one, only to pull about 8 of the 12 or so maps onto the ground! ahaha, even then id missed them all, so had to turn and pick the last one off the ground. SMOOTH!
What else? more little alleys, dont remember too much tbh, must have been in the zone. Last few controls really suited me, tight and changes of direction, gained a few places in those ones. But lost my top 10 in the finish chute which is disappointing. Have to work on that one :)

Beautiful area, wicked map. A bit disappointed that some of my team mates called the course 'easy'. Try running it before you say that sort of thing aye.

around the sprint model, kind of felt i should despite the legs being pretty damn tired from quals.
Mispunched our little course as i went around the loop the wrong way! first time ive ever done that lol, got it out of the system :)

Nice dip in the lake with all the duck crap and slimy carpet bottom to recover

will try update things tomorrow, incl day5 SOW and WOC long and middle quals

C • doing well 1

C • woot woot 1

Event: WOC 2011 + O'Festival Savoie Grand Revard
 

Long model. Meant to go for an easy 30-40mins but you just get carried away in this terrain!
Made a horrible mistake on one of the controls- good boost for the confidence! Still having trouble with reading the detail correctly. Also faceplanted over one of the unmarked electric fences which was fun :)