Training Log Archive: Brodie Nank

Wanted to do core yesterday evening but ran out of time so did it this morning instead.

JWOC forest training at Vesterskoven. Everyone wanting to have a go individually so just ran around the course and chatted to people here and there. The forest was mostly very lovely, quite enjoyable terrain and very doable for us Australians. Knee was good on tracks where I could keep up cadence, fine on uphills but sore on downhills. Attacked climbs at about 80% so I could take the downhills a bit easier. Feeling a bit tired by the end which meant I got a good hit out.

Putting half of sims controls out as warm up and picking tapes up from WU map + some more as a cool down. Knee actually feeling quite non painful in cool down.

JWOC Sprint Sim - got trashed by pretty much all the boys (here come the excuses...)

Ran the start for 20 minutes after warming up and then rushed to start so the others didn't have to wait for me - not before a kind local allowed me to utilise his bathroom. Knee had felt good running easy in warm up but it was quite sore once I started running fast. Also feeling quite heavy in the legs, maybe some leftover fatigue from the weekend/lots of terrain recently.

Technically I cooked 25-30" on 3 and made a few poor routes but Aston and Angus had me covered for speed easily outside of this anyway - good to seem them moving fast!

C • Pathetic 2

Bodyweight leg strength. Still avoiding power exercises to look after the knee and not doing anything where I could feel knee pain.

Wanted to head out for a tourist recovery run after a crappy short nights sleep after getting to my hostel in Copenhagen at 1:30am. Knee sore so stopped after 800m and started walking. Got bored of walking and need to get back in time for food/get to airport on time so started running again 20 mins later. Felt ok when I kept the cadence up and no worse after.

Running the sprint training to pick up tapes after the others had run. Knee still sore but no worse than this morning, better if I keep cadence up.

O Fest Chasing Start Long Distance

Overall pleased with this, but a bit of reflection required on how I run with other people as quick as me (which doesnt happen very often in Aus) and how I then transition back to individual orienteering. Could feel my knee on warm up, then it went away and then I became aware of it again approx. 2/3 through, mostly on the downhills. But then I didnt really feel it afterwards (although my warm down was pitiful...). Physically I felt quite tired at the start but worked into it, actually feeling like I could have done another 20 minutes of running at the end.

Control by control:
1 - started 7 seconds ahead of a guy from IL Leik and as I did yesterday wanted to ease myself into it, taking the wide track option (dont think you would attack this any other way though).
2 - IL Leik guy passed me out of control so sat behind him on the left option i was looking at taking  anyway. Stopped midleg when we crossed the track/open/powerlines to check we were going into the line of hills the most optimal way, but IL Leik guy kept moving and i didnt want to lose him. This meant i went right of the small cliff hill when left would have been better (+20-30"). But i knew where i was here and took the lead, then in my rush towards the final stretch i foolishly climbed up on the ridge too much and dropped back behind again (+10-15").
3 - we caught two other runners out of 2 and i was at the back of us. Navigated this leg well as i could only see glimpses of the others through the trees, entering control just behind them.
4 - our pack of 4 quickly became 3:  me, the IL Leik guy and a guy from NTNUI. We did 4 well.
5 - 2nd in pack here but maintaining good map contact. Small hesitation just before control to decide left, right or over a small cliff hill (10"). Over it was (right may have been better) but i was most in contact and led into control.
6 - short tricky leg and passed by IL Leik guy as i had to slow to maintain contact. No issues with getting control.
7 - back into 2nd in pack and again IL Leik guy had chosen the right route choice i had picked. I had been looking at trying to sneak in between two small hills just right of line (fastest route on livelox so far) but the other guys were dipping back left to get the track around instead and i didnt want to lose them so went with them. Passed by NTNUI guy on last part of track and it was coming into 7 where i gave myself a corked thigh running into a thick tree branch.
8 - following this you could say i was a little distracted, maintaining a small and then very minimal amount of contact on this leg. Not great but lucky that the others got control with no issues.
9 - happy to sit on the back of pack of this one as they were going the way i wanted. Popped a gel, maintained much better contact and tried to forget about my thigh.
10 - bit of a split here, IL Leik guy went for straight option and NTNUI went for left track option. I was still hobbling a little so opted for track option and read a few of the long legs to come. Think we were faster left as NTNIU guy gapped me when I cut the corner poorly (+10-15") and wasnt at control when i got there but IL Leik guy was only just leaving.
11 - orienteering well as others just out of sight but came together with them again at control.
12 - had decided on left option and found it hard to stick to my guns when the others went right but did. Orienteered well, only losing 10-15" coming into control when i dropped below a cliff I should have gone above. Thought i may have got away from the others but no, there they were coming in from the right.
13 - very poor control. Had an idea of what I wanted to do but changed my plan and went with the others. We fluffed across most of the leg, missing all the good lines in the terrain and not really knowing where we were - up to 90" lost here.
14,15 - no issues, navigating again. Caught Silkeborg guy.
16 - went right with the rest and then pushed to front of pack. Then took a bad line from track to track and dropped behind again (+10").
17 - again should have been doing my own thing but exited with NTNUI and Silkeborg, way too far right and had to deviate back to water (should have climbed a couple of contours and gone straight - 15" loss). Then when we got closer to control deviated from NTNUI and went my own way - only to drop behind him again (I assume the dark green he crossed wasn't so bad - 15" loss).
18 - by myself (NTNUI in front, Silkeborg behind, IL Leik who knows where) and sketching out a little so went a very conservative way - a big S to get some track time. Probably not the fastest but may have been best for me at that stage.
19 - 2nd biggest error on course. Just didn't have the confidence for short control, pushed off line by hill and then didn't go far enough. Took a long time to relocate, even though it was such a small area - +60-70". Silkeborg back in front.
20, 21 - run through and then ok.
22 - saw Silkeborg heading far left and I was already thinking that so confirmed it for me and ran hard.
23 - back in front of Silkeborg and good till the area and then very very hesitant entering the control (+15").
24 - again left track option looked best so went for it. Hesitated near the end to decide whether I should duck in and cross green to control but decided against it. Fastest on this leg all cut across the green but whether or not I would have been faster is another story. Small hesitation into control (+5").
25 - home time.

Overall taking points:
Not sure I got the running with other people 100% but it also wasn't a disaster. Main taking point for me is that I should go with my gut and do my own thing when I think its best and only decide to stick with the pack if (1) its my route, (2) I am 50/50 on routes or (3) I haven't planned it yet and on a quick look no red flags.

https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Norsk-o-festival-me...

Pitiful

Easy with the sic boi himself. Didn't do a proper warm down so wanted to turn the legs, move the corked left quad a little and then have a stretch. L quad very sore but only some minor knee feels so relatively happy. Now off to Denmark for JWOC - will monitor the knee and train accordingly, want this niggle to be well gone by the time I get back to Aus for my last 3 weeks of training.

Short warm up, partly because I didn't want to push the knee and partly because I had 100 things to do once I got to the start.

Overall not a horrible run but also not my best. Started well in quite overwhelming terrain, even if i did feel a bit disjointed with my orienteering. However quickly fatigued and by 10 (less than halfway) i was cooked. My orienteering suffered from here to the finish, missing small details and having minor brainfades, but i managed to avoid any large errors which was nice.

Control by control:
1 - didnt want to throw myself into it straight out of the gates so chose the wide right option. Good entry into general control area but not enough contact once on top of the ridge and binned 20" too far to right/hesitant++
2 - no issues
3 - again good to control area but didnt have the confidence for final metres, trying to interpret which knoll was mapped/was control site (+15")
4 - should have aimed purposely one way at start so i was confident which way i had to run on track when i crossed it (+10"). Once i placed myself back on map was good all way into control.
5 - good, catching my 4 min man
6 - exited in same direction as 4 min man which was different to what i had planned - therefore suffering with a steep cliff descent (+10-15") Looked up on descent and hit road well, taking a brief lead. However i didn't see high track on map and went low, going wider than i needed to (+15-20"). Popped out near control back behind again, but took control fine together.
7,8,9 - trailing here but maintaining contact when he either made a small error or i saw him coming out of control. Good orienteering.
10 - getting tired and dropped on the track. Saw 4 min man exit 10 towards 11 but thats the last i saw of him. At least seeing him made me take control well.
11 - no issue
12 - pushed right by green but registered where i was when i hit cliff on edge of spur. Probably should have looked up from further away (+15").
13 - no issues apart from being hesitant in circle (+5")
14 - navigating to 15 until just past control, so overshot and needed to put myself back on map (+15-20").
15 - caught by 2 minute man leaving control. Led into control but not reading fine details and dropped to left. By the time i climbed back up and got control he was gone (+15-20").
16 - bit annoyed i hadnt used my 2 minute man at all and did 1st half of this a bit distracted. Crossed green to powerlines to see if i could get a cheeky shortcut through line of hills but got duped by a path like line of crags and ended up back on the track i could have run along (+15"). Good to end of leg where i was letting fatigue dictate where i went, climbing much further right than i needed to and saving 0m climb... (+20").
17 - this time fatigue affected me reading the map, missing the small track and running through two steep gullies i didnt need to (+20-30").
18 - orienteering again.
19 - tired, went to cut in early off track and then changed my mind, back tracking (+10") and going to equal with control before cutting in.
20/21 - no issues
22 - not paying attention to exit and stood in front of a huge cliff before back tracking and following the tracking out of control... (+15").
23 - took the track option cause i was cooked, best idea for me but straight was probably quicker.
24 - back out to track and then didnt orienteer when i left it, stopping too early (+15-20")
25 - extremely hesitant (+10") as not wanting to bin anymore time. Took control fine once i had convinced myself i was reading the map right.

So all up nothing huge but at least 4 minutes lost on small things.

https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Norsk-o-festival-me...

Minor knee feels, fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Knee test - better but not good enough for training today if I want to run on the weekend.

Core followed by stretch before catching dinner with my two favourite Oslo orienteers

Knee same if not a little worse than yesterday morning so just did some bodyweight leg strength (avoiding any potentially aggravating exercises).

Then was a good little tourist and spent the rest of the day exploring Oslo before Lars cooked up a ripper BBQ for dinner - both of which were great distractions for my knee.

Corridor at Kirkebygden.
Knee hurting on run to start so started with just walking, did a little jogging for about 500m on flat ground in corridor and then went back to walking due to pain. Very difficult corridor, I was having trouble staying inside while walking.It was very narrow and you couldn't get a proper grasp of the contours - hard to tell what was up or down when most of it was cut off.

Knee more sore at the end which led to a grumpy Brodie drive home. Think it was due to all the ups and downs in the corridor. Will be avoiding terrain over next couple of days if no improvement, hoping I will be able to run this weekend.