Training Log Archive: expresso

Up early for big road trip to Tampere and then Kankaanpaa for Fin5. Packed everything in car - except my pillow - cleaned cottage. Charlie drove to Gulf of Finland port town of Oulo. Stopped there for early lunch at nice market with delicious food (salmon, meatballs, potatos, mmmmm). I drove to Jyvaskyla and Tom finished the 7 hour trip through rain to Tampere. He parked on the curb by his hotel and we marvelled how he efficiently whisked his bags out and into the hotel for a quick goodbye and we were soon off for Kankaanpaa (we found out later that he left his itinerary and jacket behind). We drove by the massive Fin5 competition center on the way to the event center. We were checked-in by helpful local and shown the classroom which would be our dorm for the week. It included a foam pad, all the elementary art supplies we could ever want, 3 Japanese, 2 Estonians, a Portuguese and a Brit. It was quite a change from Erkki's cabin and I did not know how I would ever get to sleep sans sleeping bag after having lost my pillow. There were few restaurants but we were referred to nearby kebab (i.e. gyro) and pizza joint. I split greasy pie with Charlie and started an emotional slide. Took a walking tour of small village of Kankaanpaa - not much. I knew I could not easily sleep on bare foam with no pillow so we decided it was time to drink. Stayed out really late playing pool and drinking beer specials. Passed-out until...

Up at 7:45. Weather was cloudy, muggy but good temp. Mine was a 12:44 start; late in C final because I had a good seeding (and high hopes). As I left the car for my initial exploration of the finish area, I saw a brand new o-backpack sitting on the ground with a note offering it to anyone needing it. Well I had come to Finland in search of one so I took it and thanked the o-gods for their generosity. I watched Charlie finish his good race and jogged enough for a good warmup.

I felt calm at the start with a goal to place in the C final (like I was seeded). I think I got a little wound up because (as I got my map) I just started running along the tracks (with a plan) but things just looked wrong and I immediately began losing map contact and had to stop. I relocation was flawed and I made a beginner-level parallel error. It was just terrible but I quickly calmed down after getting myself together and finding the first control because I knew my hopes of placing were gone and I could just take the controls as they came and enjoy the run. In fact, I had the second best split to 2 and 3 as well as the best split to 5. I should be able to learn something from this about how I operate under racing pressure. I lost a lot of time to 7 and some to 9 by running without thinking. So I made the same errors as in the qualifiers (and in many US races) and still need a fair bit of work. Fortunately, I still have five Finnish races next week to focus on this.
Finished 22 of 78 in the C final and am certain that I am capable of performing much better.

Even though I was dead at the finish, I had enough sense (and energy) for a good warmdown jog. Drank the last of my juice on ride home and ate the last of my bread and olive oil at cabin. Long hot shower, ahhhh. We headed into Kuusamo for decent Chinese dinner and cash. Took one last trip to the event center for internet and WMOC shirt.
We headed north for the 90 minute trip to the Arctic Circle. Saw tons of reindeer on the way up and Tom herded them with the Roomster. Found a great pub at ski resort. Had beers "Kippis!!" with Martti the barkeep and learned about Finnish resort life (fishing, berry-picking, ski seasons). Headed back for our last night in the cabin and were asleep by 12. A VERY busy and fun day.

Rest & tourism day did a good job salving my low spirits from yesterday's race. Up at 8:45 & off to Oulankas National Park tour via bus with Tom. Sat across from Sharon Crawford and heard about the accommodations in the gymnasium; made Erki's cottage feel like a palace. Boring PP presentation, good for a quick nap. Beautiful waterfall then nice ridge hike down to cool river. Quick hike back because the bus was departing. Sandwich & Digestives for lunch on bus. Tight schedule but back in time for river rafting tour. Tour included boots, waders & PFD and on quick bus trip. Tom & I in front of our 7 person raft with Germans in back and a young but competent Finn skipper. Short rapids right at the start. An old Finn on floating skis w/ poles us; very cool. Trip alternated rapids & motoring through the lakes. Some quick but exciting rapids. Served coffee & danish at finish lodge. Quiet evening including pasta dinner and planning for the heat C final tomorrow.

9:45 wake-up due to everyone's later start. we were shunted into the primo parking spots even with our late arrival. Cloudy but no rain, a bit warmer & humid. Got a good warmup in because I had the last start. Saw Tom come in with a good finish (on the A final bubble). He's an inspiration to me as another fanatical latecomer to the sport.

I felt pretty calm going into this race. I knew that I just needed to fix my concentration issues and I would make the B final. Unfortunately, things got worse before better. I took it easy on the first one to read the difficult terrain. 2 was fast and 3 started well but ended poorly as my concentration slipped during the long run and I overran the control. I was again rattled for the next few (see a pattern here?) before recovering for some good orienteering in the middle of the course. The "wheels" almost came off on 13-15 so I ended by dragging my nearly broken morale across the last few and the finish. This was certainly my worst race in a long time but I again reaffirmed that my problems are not related to navigation but rather to my varying mental state out on the course. Improving this will take a lot of work and I really look forward to the challenge. Finished 48 of 69 for the race and 42 of 63 in my qualification heat, putting me near the top of the C final.

Warm up/down around Qualifier 1 race. I had the early start so we awoke at 7:45 wake for my 10:15 start. It was rainy and cool to only slightly dampen my excitement for the real racing to begin. My warmup run took me to the start where there was a clothing drop to shed my orange shell. I decided to wear my brim hat because it seemed to be raining pretty steadily. Although I'd read about the complex start process, I observed a number of folks going through it so it would be familiar when my time came. I was fairly calm but that would soon change...

WMOC Qualification 1 Race. After ticking down the minutes in the different stages of the starting chute, I finally got my map and was off. I told myself to start slowly and ramp up as I settled into the map. The rain stopped soon after my start and I felt good as I took safe routes and spiked the first couple. I questioned myself to an easy control 3 made a significant parallel error which I did not recover well. This rattled me and my route choice to 4 was sub-optimal. The next couple were fine but then a loss of concentration to 7 lost more time. Other than another loss of concentration to 11 and a few bobbles, the rest of the race went well. I finished 41 of 69, just outside the B qualification.
I was impressed at how well I orienteered most of the course. I was also encouraged that my mistakes were unrelated to the Finnish terrain and more to my level of concentration. In other words, I don't need to come thousands of miles to make these types of mistakes. I accomplish them quite well at local meets. I found that my mind slips when I am thinking about running so I added a new mental process. I try only to think about 3 types of things while racing:
1) Where my feet are going to land and micro route choice through the terrain ahead.
2) Current leg active and passive navigation.
3) Future leg planning and route choice.
Basically, stay on your feet, find the next control and (with any extra brain cycles) plan for the future. I practiced this and got better with it over the next couple races.

Because of my early start, I had a lot of time to wait for Charlie and Tom to finish. I decided to try the shower tent and fortunately found a semi-private area and it was hot and very refreshing. Chowed a sandwich and saw Tom finish well. Back to cabin for laundry, event center for maps and email. Charlie stayed there for beers w/ Kevin while Tom and I headed back to cabin for spaghetti. I later got Charlie and he raved about seeing summer ski jumping there at the Midnight Sun games. We watched an interesting Churchill documentary then to the loft for dreams of an even better race tomorrow.

Up at 7:45, big breakfast of frosted flakes, cottage cheese, yogurt & bananas. Off to model 1. Needed to park and take the bus there due to limited parking. Then we immediately headed to model 2 after having a snack in the car.

Model 1. Cloudy and drizzly. I took the model controls out of order so I wouldn't be surrounded by dozens of people the whole time. My feet immediately got wet from the moss and swamps and I realized that I'd ALWAYS be running in wet feet so I'd better stop trying to dodge the swamps and just deal with them because they were they were reasonable fast because there was no muck, only moss. My orienteering was decent (probably because I walked most of it) but I had some difficulty with the pine saplings obscuring the contours and there seemed to be more clearing than mapped. I learned later that only very obvious ones are shown. Good practice, confidence is high.

Model 2. Different terrain from model 1 and billed as being similar to that of the final. It had taller trees and a bunch of similar sized hills making parallel errors a big concern. I managed to make one of these early and this was a good lesson to get in practice. I again walked for much of it got much more familiar with the mapping techniques. Confidence is high.

Back to the cabin for lunch, showers & laundry. To event center for internet connection; there were only four workstations so there was always a line and 10 minute limit. This was a big hassle but one I would have to become used to over the following two weeks.
Then we headed into Kuusamo for bank, Avis, dinner & the opening ceremony parade. This quaint little town by a lake had a nice main street with shopping but few restaurants (we finally learned that "dining out" is not part of the culture). Avis was hard to find but Charlie resolved the insurance coverage issue. We found a great Italian restaurant for chicken pasta dinner with cream sauce, parmesan cheese & pineapple. We finished just in time to see the parade come by wit the US at the end right before Finland. There were only five representing us so we jumped in for a few pictures. We headed back to cabin early to rest for the first day of competition tomorrow.

Event: WMOC 2007
 

Daddy, If you get my note, please write me back cause I really miss you!!
-Katie

Another note from Katie above. I finally emailed her today so and had a dialog with her the whole time I was there.
I again overslept and we dallied around before getting to registration at 12. We skated through quickly and the lines soon got very long. I found the computer room and fired off a few quick emails to let folks know that all is well. The other competitors were the same genre as WMOC 2005 in Edmonton two years ago. We were the babies of the group. We visited the merchants selling o-gear from their massive tents. They had every piece of o-equipment and o-shoe manufactured. I was overwhelmed but did find my favorite clue sheet holder which is no longer sold in the US. I bought 10 of them at 20% off. I considered other purchases but decided to visit them later. I had a reindeer burger for lunch. It was as tasty as it sounds. Then we made a big grocery store run (at the S or K Market, I forget which). The re was little fresh produce, great beards and the brands of processed food that I'd never seen before (except Dannon yogurt). My best purchase was a bottle of olive oil and a beautiful loaf of bread. I got a new loaf about every day and this made a great snack. We returned to the cabin to prepare for the midnight sun race. After the race we returned home for a monster pasta pack, laundry and bed at a sane time.

Morning run from our cabin. We were right on a lake but there was not the expected trail around it. We ended up on the opposite side of 5 running on some dirt roads. Ran with some reindeer for a bit and marveled at the amazing terrain with the mossy footing and pine & birch tree vegetation. Little did I know how familiar I would become with this homogeneous terrain over the next two weeks.

Awoke at the Hotelli Uuskiuu after a great night sleep on a very comfy bed. No visible clock to synch with during the inevitable morning stirrings so I kept going back to sleep. Finally decided to find my watch... Whah?? 10:45, I haven't slept that late since college. With all of yesterday's various naps, I was surprised that I was capable of sleeping so late. I thought I could quickly adapt to the 8 hour time change but I guess not. Quick drive to downtown Mikkeli where we found another Presso deli for a good sandwich. We sat on the second floor overlooking the Saturday Mikkeli market. I imagine it's been happening here for almost 1000 years. We then took in the only cultural stop on the Kuusamo express and visited the Finnish WW2 Headquarters. Enough was translated to piece together Finland's unfortunate role in the war. They seemed to be hung out to dry by the allies but had the strategic geographic advantage of being close to Leningrad & the Murmansk railway. Since they had already been fighting the Soviets in 1939, they were ready to ally with Germany in 1941 for self-preservation (or such was the contemporary spin). In the end, they lost a lot of land to Russia (including Karelia) as well as their Arctic sea port; a heavy toll.
The next 6 hours were spent zooming in the Roomster to our cottage up in Ruka (just north of Kuusamo). We had some difficulty finding our cabin and then figuring out where to get the keys. After searching, querying and sleuthing we determined that the landlord (Erkki) lived in a house across the street. We awoke him at 10:30 and got the key but had to return again because I could not unlock the door. He fussed and mumbled something (about braindead Americans, I'm sure) and drove over to quickly unlock it with our set of keys. After prostrating ourselves in apology, he returned to his nice warm house and bed, I'm sure. We fortunately found Pizza Ruka open late and they even had a passable salad bar. I had a lot of difficulty falling asleep. It will take me at least another night to get my clock synched.