Training Log Archive: Zed

Woke up very tired today, as did Leith and Toby, so Toby dropped his plan for us all to do via ferrata. As I’d I woken up with a very sore lower back - I’d hurt it the other day picking up something heavy I sadly dropped another idea to visit some lakes on the north side of the valley. Instead we went back up to the alpine map so Toby could run on the part he’d missed taking my W 55 long course, Leith set himself another course and I walked around the first 5 controls of my course from 2 days ago to work out how I made such a big mistake on number 4. Turns out I was initially out only by a small amount eg 30 m because of not being careful enough of direction, still don’t know why I didn’t correct myself sooner. The 4 rocks I’d meant to use as an attack point were somewhat obscured by being covered in vegetation. Off to Verona tomorrow, on route to Portugal, sadly with no orienteering now likely, except maybe a sprint. Sounds like it will be very hot there.

Walk with Leith and Toby from Madonna do Campiglio to near Groste passe and back down passing by 4 Rifugios and stopping at 2. ( For lunch a d afternoon tea.) We had perfect weather conditions and spectacular views. Only downside is I wore my innovate o shoes and despite painkillers my feet are killing me. They are just too narrow (despite going up a size or 2. ) I need to find some light trail/ o shoes that fit my wide feet.

Just heard the news that JWOC forest races have been cancelled due to a country wide fire ban!

C • Glad you got some hiking in! 2

7.79 actual distance. Back up the Groste cable car to the glacial terrain, which I had been looking forward to. First 3 controls went smoothly but then I messed up 4 majorly . Think I didn’t pick the right rock as my attackpoint and also wasn’t careful enough with direction. Saw Leith looking for the same control he too had difficulty but worked out a better relocation plan - I barely had one, just suddenly felt overwhelmed by the huge amount of detail. Ended up going out to the track 2 x, second time properly working out where I was. Lost 22 minutes here, a 27 min leg. Rest of the course was ok, little mistakes but ok. I felt very tired and didn’t move quickly at any point.

Angus came 2nd today and 2nd overall in Ms elite long so we stayed for presentations and then went to the highest point the cable car went to, the passo de Groste. Had a nice walk around there. Then jogged back to the arena cable car and took this the rest of the way down. Finally arrived back ( via an ice cream in the town square) about 6.30 pm. Big day out. Leith was a bit disappointed with his run today (15th) but came 8th overall in M 19-20 which I thought was pretty good!

Stayed for the

5 days of Italy day 4 ( formerly day 5). Campo Carlo Magno Middle distance. The start was 140 m in altitude above the arena but we still had 135 m climb ( therefore we must’ve also had a lot of down.) The terrain was conifer forest with some rough open interspersed and there was lots of long grass. I found it hard to move well. If I had a local nearby I watched where they put their feet going down slopes. I lost time on 3 that was a bit of a bingo control a rock in thick green ( to my eye, not mapped as such) and didn’t have a good plan b. Turned out I just hadn’t gone far enough. Then went ok until 10 but then was asked for directions a couple of times or distracted by chatter and I lost my focus, that elusive thing, making many smallish mistakes. So I enjoyed this less than yesterday. I came 30 th way back with the winner doing around 40 minutes.
In contrast Leith had a great run ( and great fun), coming 5th in his biggish field.
Afterwards I joined the boys for a swim in the lake near the start ( back up 140 m) which was a lovely post event activity.

Italian 5 days day 3, stage 4. This middle distance event was held at a mere 1600 m - the planned stage 3 higher up has been postponed until the last day. Which is good news for Toby Caz who has just arrived tonight from Budapest as he will get to go up to the high map now. Today’s weather was benign, sunny and mild and it was another pleasant walk to the arena. It was quite a steep walk to the start and the ground was very muddy in parts.

Today’s map was fairly steep on forested slopes with some open areas. The main control sites were rocks and pits but we also had an old charcoal burning site. I found the going very thick and slow in parts, never really getting to a fast run. I was quite cautious with navigating too. I didn’t make any mistakes - quite a contrast to yesterday - but I also was able to read the map the whole time as the sun shone throughout. 3.5 km distance on my gps felt very short. 15 minutes down on the winner about 1/2 way down the field.
Considered having a run later ( haven’t done anything longer for a while) but felt tired as in sleepy.

C • Toby Caz 2

Italian 5 days, day 2. Long. Actual distance 7.79 km.

Not brilliantly executed ( finished last) but happy to have finished and survived.

Start was at 2000m - cable car ride to start. Sunny conditions to begin with then thunderstorm came while I was on course, I started to make mistakes. And jumpy with strikes nearby. Event got cancelled but I didn’t know until I finished. Lightning and pouring rain and couldn’t read map, ( glasses - my cleaning cloth was wringing wet) complex contours as glacial. plugged on slowly and thunderstorm passed Stuck at 2000 m for nearly an hour as cable car couldn’t run due to second thunderstorm!! Had an awesome hot choc ( ski cafe). Best hot choc ever and most expensive! 5 euro. Having a good time despite more terrible km rate.
Leith and Toby L finished too.

C • Mountain weather 7

Morning potter around M di C, exploring. Found some nice tracks contouring through the pines. Sun was bright and hot by 10 am. Still sluggish but better than yesterday.

Italian 5 days day 1 sprint. I was quite nervous for some reason, about this even though my goal was just to find the controls and have fun ( and find the start in good time.) Course was advertised as having straight line distance of 1.8, but control descriptions sheets said 2.4 - this was in fact the optimal route choice distance. I did 2.7 km. Missing as I often do the shortest optimal narrow routes choosing wide and simple instead. One optimal route choice would’ve involved going straight through a crowd of children in a mini sports day, I was never going to do that ! The first 3 controls were bush and I overshot 1, it came up so fast, tried to settle and keep checking direction changes but did a lot of hesitating. Better once out in the streets but didn’t really feel flowy except for the last few. There were people everywhere! Once I stopped I realised how hot it was! Then I went and watched Leith, who came a respectable 9th.
I was over 4 minutes behind the leaders in my group ( I would like to see their routes). Happy to come 16 ( out of 40 I think.)

It’s gone from heat to rain and thunderstorms so it might be a difficult long tomorrow. I am third starter.

C • Well done! 16th is great. W... 2