Training Log Archive: Nielsen

need to recharge from this weekend. And, I've got a pretty nasty blister on my left foot. First in a long time. A bear came to visit us while we ere grilling on the porch !! So cool !

more warming up. Turns out warming up or not warming up has little to do with my retardedness on the third controls of races, but does improve my running in the races overall. So warm up I did and I will continue to from now on.

c1 great, c2 overran but recovered rather quickly. c3 NAILED IT! But actually before I found c2 I found c2 for the red(canada 7) course first, not because I thought it was mine but just because it was on the way. So, in a way my c2 was the 3rd control I went to. So am I still stuck with the c3 curse? I'll have to see during the next race.

The rest of the race was clean but slow. I've got a good amount of conditioning to work on before I can run three races in two days with full power. The control legs in the long were, well long and used almost no trails. Lot's navigation all the way through the course because of poor visibility in the woods. There was four legs in particular that were really difficult and slow travel. I was clean on them but running very hesitant the whole time. Had good map contact but even still second guessing myself a lot because of the level of poor visibility and lack of mapped features.

Overall a fun weekend in the woods!

Event: OOC Eastern Canadian Orienteering Championships
 

warmn' up

So! I had this hypothesis about warming up which whether or not she wanted to hear it I shared with Erin before my start on Saturday. Every O race I've done this spring(4-A's - 1 training) I've blown the third control, in various degree of error ranging between 4-15min. My thought was that because I never really warm up properly for O races by the time I reach around control number 3 I've exhausted the 'starting-a-race' adrenaline/excitement and all of a sudden get a flood of fatigue. This is temporary and within a few minutes my breathing regulates and I settle into a pace. But I was thinking that the reason I always screw up c3 is because I have a lot of trouble thinking clearly during these few minute of being physically strained.

The answer, or so I thought, was to warm up properly. So I did, I ran around at a good pace for 15+ minutes. I even did a few hill repeats to get my heart rate up and muscles to temp.

The rest is in the next log...

When I started the race I felt really good and had the best first control I've ever had in any O race. Number two was almost as good with a slight bobble costing me only 30sec or so.

Control 3 !! 16min! WTF! To my credit I think there was quite a few people that had varying degrees of trouble with this control but I of course had to out due everyone and be the guy standing around scratching his head for the longest period of time.

c4-c9 was awesome! some of the best orienteering I've done. Moving really fast through the woods and naving at speed with ease. The next control was 200m down a hillside and it took me 24min to find. It was on a small wet pit of which I found three total all in the same general area, but low of where the mapped one was. Eventually I ran all the way back up to the preceding control and attacked again this time slowly just staying on my compass. Found the control in under 2 mins and even saw my foot marks where I had stirred up the leaves running on a knoll right to the left of the pit the first time around. The woods up there were extremely green(like a night-o almost, but instead of blackness it was green) so I just ran right by it and didn't see it. So frustrating!!

The rest of the race I ran clean but slow, sulking along. Idiot!

only two errors, but big ones! Tough course and not the greatest map in certain areas. Winning time was estimated at 35min and the actual was 51min.

Way more technical sprint then I've done before... I've only done 3. I didn't do so well, had a 4min error on c5, 1min on c7, and 2min on the c14. Stupid. I tried to get clever on c5 and it screwed me all up. The rest were just sloppy. Not sure sprints will ever be my race but I think at very least I need to adjust my strategy. I think one is moving to quickly to work the map a lot, I'd be better off just running on a bearing and trying to look for obvious features to pull me into the control.

Thus far I've done an urban sprint in Hamilton, a mixed woods/fields/buildings at the flying pig in 2005(?), and the one at west point this year which was very easy nav but with lot's of changing direction (22controls in 2k). This one this weekend was mostly in the woods and pretty technical for a sprint.

work and travel

Ken Walker Sr., Erin and I met at Burnt Mt. I had drawn up some courses and printed them out for us to run. The controls are all out there already in the form of double(red & yellow) flagging.

I had a rough day botching two controls. Although I was running what seemed quite well, the actual course was only 6km, not 9km as I've logged(I ran at least 9km). Lost 3-4min on one and then about 15min on another later on the course. Then after spiking the last control somehow ended up leaving for the finish and took a wrong turn somewhere, all on trail, and turned myself 180 degrees. I was half way to DHMC before realizing I was running north rather than south. SO! lost about 20 min on the last leg to the finish.

I suck at this sport... not a big confidence booster for going to Ottawa this weekend.

C • you don't suck, you just need ... 2

A 'long' run with E and L around a hilly loop east of our house. One of the three roads, Country Land rd, is a hilly, winding, gravel road that had the most amazing little farm on it. Lot's of animals all over the place just running around freely. We didn't see a single car the whole time we were on the road and judging by the uproar that took place with all the animals they don't get visitors very often. They also had the most interesting woods/fields. They were more like thinned woods with grass growing throughout, with rocks dispersed here and there. It was truly like something out of a fairytale.

Maybe Erin and I can convince them to sell us their farm, animals, and all their surrounding land. Then we could map the whole thing, put in some single track MTB trails and some nordic ski trails. Oh, man!

Set out more flagging. All the southern part of the map is flagged now. Only ten or so left to do on the north end as well. Was moving pretty quick today, feeling light on my feet. Also feeling good about my orienteering, things feel as if they are starting to come together. We'll see how this weekend at Gautineau in CA goes.