Training Log Archive: blairtrewinIn the 1 days ending Apr 14, 2017:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | ||||
| |||||||
| Fr |
Friday Apr 14, 2017 #
Event: Oceania Championships 2017
3 PM
Run race ((orienteering)) 21:42 [4] *** 3.2 km (6:47 / km) +40m 6:23 / km
spiked:23/25c
Oceania Sprint at Unitec Carrington. This is an area which I don't have good memories of - it was here that my 2005 Oceania campaign came to a spectacular end on day 1 as an elbow-versus-pavement contest ended up in an emphatic win to the pavement (although I did finish the course). I suspected that this experience would probably make me pretty tentative here, although I tried to convince myself that cyclists and racing drivers must have to go back all the time to places where they've had bad crashes and they seem to cope.
At least I knew before I started that we wouldn't be going back to the exact scene (it's now underneath a building site), but it was unhelpful to have a heavy shower about 30 minutes before the start, and probably also to have a string of ambulances heading down past the start to what I presume was a road accident. (Also slightly distracting pre-start was the Finn with bells on his shoes - I was wondering if someone had forgotten to tell him that there are no bears in New Zealand, but in fact he was aiming to avert head-on collisions with other competitors after a bad experience at WMOC in Tallinn last year).
Felt reasonable warming up and on the first couple of controls, but tight on the first climb and from there I knew it was going to be a struggle - never really able to speed up. Was reasonably happy with my navigation through the first section, then lost 15 seconds or so on the first control into the gardens through not seeing the first path in. Had a good section through the complex bit in the later part of the course, but blown away for speed at the end. Well off the pace and will, I think, need to find at least a minute, perhaps two, to make the WMOC sprint final, but I guess not finishing the day in hospital makes it a step up from last time.
The presentations (running late) were an "interesting" experience. I was delegated to do the honours because the Orienteering NZ President was otherwise engaged, but what I hadn't realised was that this was going to mean 30 minutes squelching through the mudbath in front of the podium - spent some of this trying, and failing, to imagine various Olympic honchos doing something similar. A further downpour unloaded when we'd got up to the 70s and in the end we left the elites for tomorrow.
Before the start of proceedings, I caught up with an NZ forecaster friend for coffee. She's had what could politely be described as a busy fortnight (most of it outposted with Civil Defence, the NZ equivalent of the SES) and was, I think, grateful for the opportunity to unload - could barely get a word in edgeways :-). Having a Civil Defence sticker which in effect means "park where you like" is definitely an asset when it comes to getting to inner-city coffee locations...
At least I knew before I started that we wouldn't be going back to the exact scene (it's now underneath a building site), but it was unhelpful to have a heavy shower about 30 minutes before the start, and probably also to have a string of ambulances heading down past the start to what I presume was a road accident. (Also slightly distracting pre-start was the Finn with bells on his shoes - I was wondering if someone had forgotten to tell him that there are no bears in New Zealand, but in fact he was aiming to avert head-on collisions with other competitors after a bad experience at WMOC in Tallinn last year).
Felt reasonable warming up and on the first couple of controls, but tight on the first climb and from there I knew it was going to be a struggle - never really able to speed up. Was reasonably happy with my navigation through the first section, then lost 15 seconds or so on the first control into the gardens through not seeing the first path in. Had a good section through the complex bit in the later part of the course, but blown away for speed at the end. Well off the pace and will, I think, need to find at least a minute, perhaps two, to make the WMOC sprint final, but I guess not finishing the day in hospital makes it a step up from last time.
The presentations (running late) were an "interesting" experience. I was delegated to do the honours because the Orienteering NZ President was otherwise engaged, but what I hadn't realised was that this was going to mean 30 minutes squelching through the mudbath in front of the podium - spent some of this trying, and failing, to imagine various Olympic honchos doing something similar. A further downpour unloaded when we'd got up to the 70s and in the end we left the elites for tomorrow.
Before the start of proceedings, I caught up with an NZ forecaster friend for coffee. She's had what could politely be described as a busy fortnight (most of it outposted with Civil Defence, the NZ equivalent of the SES) and was, I think, grateful for the opportunity to unload - could barely get a word in edgeways :-). Having a Civil Defence sticker which in effect means "park where you like" is definitely an asset when it comes to getting to inner-city coffee locations...