An observation and some questions: we all know that with exertion comes a breakdown of clear thinking.
But some questions: just how is exertion related to the breakdown of clear thinking? What happens physiologically? Mentally? I suspect answers will have to do with low oxygen levels and low sugar levels lead to poor brain functioning, and to fix it, you take a breather and get some food. But I'd love to read if anyone knows better or more specifically.
More subjectively, how well do you notice that your'e thinking is getting muddy? What are the early warning signs you notice? How do you race to stave off unclear thinking to maximize both speed and accuracy? And how do you train to keep your thinking clear while increasing speed and endurance?
Answers from the scientific to the anecdotal welcome!
There are several ways I notice that my thinking is getting muddy when orienteering. For instance, I start looking at my control descriptions 3+ times instead of just once per control, because as soon as I memorize the next control number, I forget it. Also, I become a lot more likely to make stupid navigational mistakes that I clearly wouldn't have made if I was thinking properly. Unfortunately, when I am in the process of making such a mistake, I think that I am going in the right direction and everything is making sense. It is not until I realize my error that I understand just how stupid I was being.
I think that, at least in theory, it would be good to run the entire race (assuming it is at least half an hour long) at an even tempo pace. This way I could run fast but still concentrate reasonably well at the same time and therefore avoid some of the really dumb mistakes I might otherwise make. At the moment, I often get into a pattern of speeding up (when I know where I'm going) and slowing down (when I am not so sure) and this is not as efficient. (e.g. certainly it is easier to concentrate on some task when running steady 7 minute miles than when switching every few minutes between 6-minute miles and 8-minute miles!)
I am curious to see what others say!
Anecdotally, I start to "bonk" at around 60-70 minutes. My first sign is physical, that I tend to stumble and/or trip more while running in the woods. I may or may not make more navigation errors, but that depends partly on the difficulty of the course.
My cure, begun within the past couple of years (since I've started taking longer to complete my course), is
Gu -- it works for me. I usually have a sense at around 45-50 minutes in that I'm starting to get tired. The gel helps my brain stay focused. Some orienteers train their bodies to get past this stage without any added energy boost (they usually also compete on longer courses than I do).
There was a
discussion a couple of years ago on favorite sports drinks, and a couple more recent
discussions about
what to eat before a race.
ebuckley speculates on CT on closely related subjects starting Jan 20....speed & mistakes... thru to about Feb 2, I think, quite interesting.
interesting... i believe that a person can train to make better decisions when physically tired... my son's soccer coach runs the team hard for 2 hours, including a couple miles of running and then sprints, and when they are close to exhaustion they then begin scrimmage... and he specifically looks for good decisions when tired... their record over the past 1 years is 31-3.
Fascinating approach. A crazy thought--I wonder what value would be in riding hard on a stationary bike while playing a computer at chess, or working on a puzzle. Gets at the question--is there some way to train to make better decisions when physically tired (the ideal being to improve brain function while tired, or at least to improve awareness of muddled thinking and create guards against stupid mistakes)?
I often find an early sign to be a feeling of not wanting to look at my map ... or looking at my map a lot to rest a little but not being able to retain information from it very well when I look away. I definitely think that things as simple as running with a map even when not on terrain can train you to better visualize when running.
It's difficult to find scientific publications that are accessible w/o a subscription...
Here's one. It focuses on the physiological effects of exercise on the use of glucose by the brain. Not mental performance. Still looking.
It seems that in certain region's, the brain's reliance on lactate for energy increases with intense exercise (75% VO2 max) while the reliance on glucose decreases.
Of interest:
"Apart from exercise intensity, exercise capacity also
seems to be linked to brain energy metabolism. Trained
men had a more pronounced decrease in glucose uptake
in the frontal lobe area compared to less-trained men.
Regional analysis indicated that this finding was restricted
to dorsal anterior cingulate cortex which is associated
with cognitive, motor planning, emotional processing and
autonomic functions (Bush et al. 2000; Kubota et al.
2001; Critchley et al. 2003). This finding suggests that
physical training elicits adaptive metabolic changes not
only in skeletal muscles and heart but also in brain."
At the moment, I often get into a pattern of speeding up (when I know where I'm going) and slowing down (when I am not so sure) and this is not as efficient
Kat I would disagree with you. Orienteering is not a steady pace 5 - 7 mile/K race. You SHOULD be looking at it and striving for different pace at different points of your race. And forcing yourself to get out of your comfort pace. I think that this becomes more important as you become more and more physically fit. There are many many (20, 30, 50 ?) chances on a normal classic race of 80 - 100 mins where you have a chance to recover from an above race pace. The more fit you are you recover faster from these micro speedups along your course.
Personally in a race I try to look for sections/legs on the course where I can speed up and go in oxygen depth. Of course with the decicion where to speed you should make the decision where to slow down, and stick to it. You could be surprised how much you could improve individual splits and ultimately your time if you work on that.
sorry im too lazy to reply properly, try a google search with glucose as commonly mentioned, hydration amino acids like tryptophan, catecholamines and there is research linking ammonia among other things. rather simple relationships :)
When you exercise (mentally and physically) you need energy, this comes from sugars (glucose) stored within the body as glycogen. This is occus either as muscle based glycogen or liver based glycogen. Both you're brain and muscles need this whilst you are orienteering. The brain can only get it's energy from liver glycogen as it is this which controls your blood sugar level. Muscles can use glycogen which is stored within them, obviously. However, towards the end of a long race your muscle glycogen will often become so delpteted that your muscles will start to use liver glycogen as an energy source, and as a result your brain does not get an adequate supply of energy and you'll start to become mentally sloppy.
When I was studying sport science we did an experiment which involved doing the bleep test (to simulate exhaustion) and then we had to do a "mental task" which involved a 10 x 10 grid with the nubmers 1-100 on it randomly, and you had to cross them off in order. We had various athletes (Field Hockey, Soccer, Rugby, Track, Swimming and me as an orienteer). Our lecturer said that the team sports would outperform the endurace sports because their sport involved having to do much more cognitive thought whilst near exhaustion in comparison to an endurance sport which involves very little mental processing at any point. However, they didn't know about orienteering, which did best in the mental task. It was obviously only a small class experiemnt with millions of problems with it, but it got the point across.
The trick to fight this late-race mental fatigue, 1) make sure your muscles have as much glycogen laid down in them before the race by having a high carb diet the week before you do a long race. 2)towards the end of the race try having an energy gel or similar to keep blood sugar levels to the brain high. 3) train for it, you can improve cognition under fatigued conditions. imagine how bad you would be in you didn't go orienteering all the time!
Anecdotal...not scientific:
Years ago, I went through a season of races where I kept track of heart rate data and orienteering errors. I found a huge correlation between errors and a heart rate above a certain threshold.
Essentially, most of my navigation errors occurred when my heart rate was above 170bpm. (For comparison, I hit about 178 bpm on a hard interval work-out...I try to run most races in the 160-165 range). This is not to say that every time I went above 170bpm I made an error, but almost all errors occurred when I was 170+bpm.
Since then I have made a conscious effort to avoid making route choice decisions or executing difficult technical navigation when I am near or above my 170-error-line. I will consciously back off my pace and let my heart-rate come down or choose a slower but easier-to-navigate route to compensate. I've always felt that a clean run, at a slightly slower pace, ends up being a faster run overall.
As an orienteering newbie, I'm not sure that my thinking is ever clear - but what little clear-thinking I have seems to breakdown as soon as I start running.
I think it's because doing an orienteering race is kind of like running a 5/10k and doing a geometry exam at the same time, when you haven't properly trained/studied for either...
I think both aspects trigger a stong sympathetic nervous response and my reaction is to "run - hard - anywhere away from here!". But, I don't think this is the phenomenon under discussion....
train to not think is true. remember if you are pushing really hard, that requires attention
one theory goes: its just like when its hard to read a map whilst on hard. multi-tasking is possible, but it depends on the attentional demands of the tasks. We can drive and talk on the phone fairly easily because for most of us driving is fairly automated. the better you are at terrain running, or fitter you are, or less conscious attenion is required to navigate, the better.
nixon - blood glucose probably has a role, but I suspect not a large one. muscle isnt likely to threaten blood glucose except in starvation scenarios. glycogen can be broken down from inactive muscle and added to the blood glucose pool, same with most proteins in the body, and muscle uses more and more fat as exercise duration increases. diabetics may be different, I don't know.
I should have added an obvious one to my list above - temperature, brain doesnt like to cook.
There's probably some related research in the Scientific Journal of Orienteering:
http://www.ped.gu.se/scijo/scijo.htm
Elite orienteer does not need to be simple minded, but it helps ;)
Building right kind of habbits is the key. You will be making right kind of decisions even with sloppy brain, because you are simply so used to make that kind of decissions. If your performance is based on high concentration level you will be doomed to fail. Also, you are lot faster if your performance are powered by habbits/automation. Orienteering isn't rocket science.
Thats how I see it.
cmpbllj:
you sya you make mistakes whewn your HR is over 170, this is more likely that when your heart-rate is high your speed is high. the faster you run the more common mistakes become. You can run very fast early ikn a course and make mistakes because of it, but you couldn't really say you were tired
"you are lot faster if your performance are powered by habbits/automation. Orienteering isn't rocket science."
Maybe it's the academic in me ... I'm fascinated with how elites don't simply see and do things better (which they do); they see and do things differently. It's helpful for me as a beginner/intermediate to get a glimpse into the mindset of those way ahead of me. It sounds like the elites would have so much experience and development of good habits that they don't have to sweat the details so much. Maybe then this is a way to understand the point that "If your performance is based on high concentration level you will be doomed to fail": constant high exertion dooms high concentration, even as constant high concentration can tighten up the body, which interferes with efficient movement and wastes energy. The way out of the Catch-22 is to find a way to be "simple minded," which to me means being clearly focused on a few basic principles of racing and navigating instead of being preoccupied with all the details on the ground.
Something to keep in the back of my mind while I'm getting experience and developing good habits! Thanks.
and super-fast when powered by automated hobbits
The way out of the Catch-22 is to find a way to be "simple minded," which to me means being clearly focused on a few basic principles of racing and navigating instead of being preoccupied with all the details on the ground.
This wasn't your original question, but definitely, experienced orienteers try to simplify both what they see on the map and what they take in from the terrain. The more you can ignore identifying each boulder you come across (and finding it on your map) when your next control is a reentrant or hill, the faster you'll get where you're going. Learning to simplify (or be "simple minded" as you say) will improve your performance. Improviing navigation comes first; speed will follow.
This discussion thread is closed.