Training Log Archive: Lizzie

Long WD with iliana and then eve

NM middle final, 20th.
Looking forward to the terrain after yday, and a bit more confident on being able to focus on orienteering rather than my ankle, after managing to get around unscathed in the qual.
Started out nicely on the first two controls before getting caught out by trying to use the track for easy runnnin to #3. Lost time on going straight, but mostly as I crossed the control reentrant too high and didn't see the flag, so dropped 30+s. Happy with my track route to #4 though, and clean through to 6.
7 was a diagonal downhill leg which I recognised as needing care. Unfortunately it was also very rocky u derfoot and my ankle required concentration and car too! Thought I was on-line, but got caught out by he track midleg extending further than on the map. Ended far too low in a reentrant that looked about eight but felt very wrong. Relocated and hit the control but lost 1.20 :(
Tough leg over the line of the terrain to 8, nailed 9, and happily too the track around to 10 (after not doing so a paying dearly in the same area yday). Unfortunately on 12 I came unravelled again. My mistake was coming a bit offline and not climbing high enough up the hill, which left me in a parallel error, circling in a reentrant system that was hidden under the uncut circle on my map. Grrr. If I'd been coming at the circle from the correct angle I suspect I'd have seem the flag from afar though. Double grrr. Another 1.20 gone.
Nothing special from there to the finish. Lost a surprising amount (40s) on 17 by going a bit around rather than taking a straight line through cliff city.

All in all should be happy after being doubtful about even being able to run. But of course I'm an orienteer, so im equally peeved about my mistakes!

NM middle qual.

Bit of a comedy really. Was very unsure how the ankle would go, but at least the warm up was along the road, so no issues there.
Started off OK on #1, but very unsure when i got to the circle and there was no flag in the reentrant? Double checked the map and was sure I was in the right place. Kept going 10m further up the slope, and there the flag was, in a 2nd reentrant! Very confusing with only one on the map. Swore at my messy start and headed off toward #2, ignoring the grumbles from my ankle on the downhill slopes. Mid-way to #2 I got a stick to the face, which then slid into my hair and pulled me back, stuck fast. Extricated myself and half my hair and continued on my way. Only to glance down to check my descriptions and realise that my description holder had also been ripped away from me! At this point, with snot running down my face, hair going everywhere, pain in my ankle, no descriptions, and losing more time unable to see the flag at #2, I had to have a dry chuckle remembering that we do this stuff because it's fun. (and glad that there weren't any photographers out in the forest today).

Actually from there I pulled things together and from #3-#9 went nice and smoothy and cleanly. #10 was a longer leg through detail, with a wider option taking paths and roads close to the control. Being a qual, I knew that the safe path-road option was a no-brainer...so I took the straight option (duh). So came a comedy of errors, losing track of where I was enroute, taking wrong paths, and then finally, getting well caught out in (or on the edge of) the circle. As the circle wasn't cut and critically covered the spur which I was erroneously searching around. Nice. Dropped 3mins before finally heading out to the track to relocate and finding the control enroute.
From there I figured I just needed to stay clean to the finish and qual should still be fine...So I went and blew another minute on a control which, no kidding, was a pit squeezed between two tracks... mmhmm. Beginner quality stuff.
Fast finish and still safely qualified, but not a race to be proud of. On the bright side, ankle held up. And by the time I'd made my massive mistakes, I wasn't thinking about it so much!

WU on the track to the start. Ankle OK on track.

My very shortened version of NM long. Took the first control, which was OK ankle wise as it was down a nice slope. Then headed off toward #5, and suddenly things were not OK. Going along the slope and very bumpy/rocky, all of the stabilising muscles and were verrrry grumpy. Ditched #5 and went straight toward #6, #7 and the finish.

Oh boy. peroneal tendon is not happy. Got Venda to tape it last night but had to take the tape off after three sleepless hours as it was making it more painful. Instant relief and able to sleep thereafter, but its really not happy with any wrong movement this morning.
This year of various ankle problems is wearing me down.

Having a lot of fun in the mud around høiås. Then as a bonus, the sheep at Eklimoen had broken out of their field and happily surrounded me for a chat when I stopped to say hi. Way more talkative than the squirrel, but way smellier too.

Attempted about 8 steps of jogging from the letter box to the front door this morning before getting a nice solid pain in my peroneal. So, looking hopeful for thursday. Might take my bike with me to NM as a back up option...

Someone stood on my big toe yesterday. Now it's a giant bruise which I'm quite proud of.

Easy jog to collect tapes at Kjeøya. But then I slipped over on mossy rock and aggravated my ankle. Wooo! Should have worn dobs...rookie mistake. After that it became a walk-hobble-jog.
Once again, either some of the tapes were gone, or I'm a pretty mediocre orienteer. The map was out of date and very odd (one that's OK at race pace, but when you slow down you notice it's kinda warped), so that didn't help my case.

Nice timing for the ankle with NM in 3 days...lets see how this goes...

1-1 mot Drøbak.

Good match, had most of the control in the game, just couldn't put the ball away it seemed. Happy to set up a very nice goal for Heidi. Learnt years ago that I'm not a goal scorer, but have a knack for doing the work, and passing it to someone else to score.

Proved my point by hitting the woodwork late in the game, with the ball ricocheting along, but not over, the goal line. Seem to remember the same thing happening last time we played Drøbak too. Standard.