Training Log Archive: Joshosh

Dooby and conor were doing middle distance training again today so i said i would come a long and trot around. Didnt do the whole session, just took in 6 controls. Missed the first one but then got into it and was solid without being spectacular for the rest of the course. Nice to have figured out the forest a small bit more than yesterday at least.

-Map- (further south than yesterdays run but cant find a map yet so might have to scan it up when i get home

Plan for today is 2 middle distance areas for the guys to get used to the forests. Ill be running aswell and hopefully try and get my head around the complex areas on show near Koli

My first taste of middle distance terrain here and id definetly did not go down a treat, got stuck in my throat big time. 1 was ok, 2 i was a small bit too low but still ok. 3 pretty happy, knew where i was and where i would be, and knew i was just above the control so dropped a contour and into it. Then the wheels came off the wagon, i had an ok route planned to 4 but drifted all over the shop and couldnt re-locate for the life of me, every hill here looks very similar to every other hill. Bailed on it and headed north to find the line of crags, back down the track towards the finish and popped in to get controls 13 and 14 before the finish. The long distance terrain went well and this, well it didnt. Need to be better on the compass and trying to figure out what features to use as attackpoint and collecting features. ''Your not in Ireland anymore''.


-Map: http://www.kalevanrasti.fi/kartta/show_map.php?use...

The plan for this afternoon was intervals type training on Tahkovaara, another KR map. Totally different to this morning, lots more small hills, marshes and bare rock......what i imagined finnish forest would be like. Got the compass to work a bit better for this session but again found it difficult to understand what i could use for attackpoints etc. At points i was realy near the control site but just not pinging them as i would want to and should be. And in other cases i was just stopping up too early.

-Map: http://www.kalevanrasti.fi/images/kartat/tahkovaar... (we ran to the south of Lietukka lake, to the west of the embargoed area and around Luulampi

So today didnt go as i would have planned or liked it, but i learned a bit about how to orienteer in this terrain and talked to conor about what features to use seeing as he is skilled in terrain like this. Tomorrow is on a middle map again so ill be running easy and hopefully getting things right. Then on to Vuokatti where I can eat sprint maps for the week.

C • Maps 2

sprint training around Karsikko this morning with Dooby. 8.30am and its 27degrees outside. Plan was to run before breakfast so we can be ready to travel further North later today. Took a different route to darren for the first one and then only saw glimpses of him afterwards. Much more in the forest today, although the map was 1:5000. Some of paths in the forest part were very difficult to spot. Never really pushed, just cruised around enjoying the map, the weather and orienteering.

-Map: http://www.kalevanrasti.fi/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c... (we ran in the area in the North-West sector and a few controls in the forest south of the main road at the west of the map)

This afternoon we are moving from Joensuu to Koli for another 2 nights. Apparently this is near the Finnish middle selection race was held so might have a gallop on that map in the coming days, although it wont be too hectic as im here to sprint. Donie said to do 8*3minutes this evening but it depends on whether we are sprinting again this evening, it can be moved at least. We leave Koli on saturday to travel further north again to Vuokatti to settle in for the WOC week

arrived in Koli at about 4, i slpet for the majority of the trip up which was grand. had to wait a while to be left into our rooms. Looking forward to going orienteering in the morning again.

Donie said do 8*3minutes on the 27th, but changed it to only a 90sec recovery as knew i wouldnt be hitting top gear. Even though im hundreds of miles away i could still see the tache saying, keep relaxed and your looking strong. went down the road a bit, but then came back to the grass infront of the hostel and just did them there. Glad i got this in. Legs felt ok, and it was a chilly 23 degrees or so, but very humid.

Should have read back in my training log and i would have seen it was only 6*3minutes not 8, ooops silly mistake but felt pretty good the whole way through, was thinking that 14minutes of effort was a bit above what should be done for sprint

jog from accomodation to start of a spint course darren had planned for us. Rather warm here at the moment and clear skies, stark change from the fog, wind and rain in the rogaine. We went to bed last night at 12 after playing cards and it was still bright outside

C • Cards... 3

nice sprint around Joensuu Yliopisto with Dooby. First run in Finland for me and a good start. tottered around in a nice gear just picking routes, reading ahead and generally enjoying the run.
- Area: http://www.kalevanrasti.fi/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c... (we ran in the South-East corner, around the university and Areena areas, the map that we ran on does extend more to the East)

map run with Dooby just looking at how things were mapped, and then a jog back to the hostel

Think it is long relevant training this afternoon so i will prob go for a short run on the map and have a look around.

This afternoon we travelled to Kuusoja for to run on a long distance relevant area. Im not running long but wanted to get out there and have a run anyway so i aimed to just be moving for ~35minutes or so. The start of the course was gaffled butterflies so didnt really see anyone except conor coming out of my number 4. For the most part the area had good visibility and was just a pleasure to run in. Missed my first control in finnish forest by ~10m or so but relocated pretty quickly, then the next 5 were all pretty clean aswell. Was nice to be picking features and, even though in cases i wasnt sure where exactly i was, i knew where i would be. Little bit confused back at the butterfly control as there wasnt much to go off. Then to 8 i drifted a bit off my bearing but relocated well off the vegetation change. 9 i was a bit to the right but had my head up knowing i was a bit off and saw the kite. Back into control 10, which was theh same as control 2 but from a different angle, happy with how i got this, no hesitation and accurate. 11 was the same as 6, but from 180degrees opposite, slightlyy overshot this but hit the boulder beyond, curved around and into the re-entrant in the green. 12 was to the south, on a bearing, clip the side of the green with a marsh in it then passed the depression, between the hill top and another depression and into the kite. 13 was the same as 1 and 7 but again, a different angle. took this cautiously and went on my compass picked off my features along the way and got it cleanly enough. Then navigated to where the finish would be where i found conor.

First experience of finnish forest and its amazing (although i can only speak for the long area). you can see and run through the terrain nicely.....however the flies are a problem. On the plus side they do provide a motivation for you not to have to relocate as they cant eat you as much if your on the run. Oh and it was a hot 33degrees or so aswell

Map: http://www.kalevanrasti.fi/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.c... (we were in the areas of palokangas and Kissakallio)

run with conor from the finish to the car and lake

Left home yesterday at 11.45pm, drove to cork to catch the 1am air coach to Dublin airport, currently waiting for the 07.40 flight to Helsinki and then find the bus to bring me to the train so I can get to joensuu. Should get in around 19.30 later today

Long day travelling and when i arrived ndobbs had a stew ready for dinner. Rest day prob isnt a bad idea after today and ahead of training camp. First one since christmas

C • WOC 2

Garmin decided to pack it in yesterday it seems. had condensation inside the screen, the start/stop button and split button weren't working, and it randomly decided it wanted to stop the timer and start it at other times for no real reason. had to reinvest this morning prior to finland. hopefully this lasts as long as the last

easy recovery day after yesterday with dad across the cliffs. Off to Finland in the early hours of the morning so ready for a rough days travelling.

See robrunners log for details, no time to do a full write up as organising bits for Finland. we planned a pretty good route, made a few errors, buts still won the 6hr open team category with 1400points in total and no penalties importantly. First time ever doing one of these for me, and even including the few rough patches it was a great experience, with a great team mate who kept me going. Perfect training for WOC sprint, running on a 1:30,000 map with 15m contours over mountain and bog, that perfectly tailored training in my book :-)
write up link: http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_8719/p...
results: http://www.orienteering.ie/results/FullSIResults.p...