Training Log Archive: fins

Straight line distance 4.4k

Ant, Rob, and I had to leave early to catch our flight, meaning we couldn't do the chasing start, which was fine by me! I did the short TD5 EOD course instead, 40 minutes before the start opened. No-one else in the forest - it was great! I hadn't taped my ankle as I was planning to go steady, but it was still the fastest and by far the cleanest run I've had all week. Felt confident and the map and terrain just seemed to fit. Even on the vaguer legs I knew what was what, what I was expecting, and where I was all the time. Really enjoyed it - it restored my faith in my orienteering ability!

Middle

Really looking forward to this one, as I thought I could do well. And I could have, but then I lost 4 minutes on number 2, and then 2 x 2 minutes later on (one mistake, one route choice). The other controls were clean but I wasn't feeling very fast, unsurprisingly. Lame.

Toni-moment of the day: we're out getting pizza in the evening and I ask what "sipuli" means, as the menu says that's one of the toppings on the vegetarian pizza. Toni tells me it's onion and, as I hate onion, he offers to ask if they can make a pizza without it. So when I go up to order, I say the name of the pizza, and Toni just goes "No sipuli". Always useful having a native speaker on hand...

Long

Mass start, three loops (something like 2.3k, 2.1k, 4.2k). Started well and continued well into the second loop. After messing up the final control on that, however, things began to go downhill. Very tired; even more so when I saw the length of the last loop on the map. On my own and couldn't find any motivation to "race", and made several large mistakes in the last loop.

Annoying, because I could understand if I did badly due to a lack of terrain fitness, but I have no excuses for making such big mistakes, apart from starting off too fast and being exhausted by the time I picked up the final map. But even so, I should have been able to run steadily and not mess up. I don't really recall thinking about the orienteering much during the last loop - more focused on wondering whether I was last, and how thirsty I was. Disappointing indeed.

Toni-moment of the day: to Ali McLeod, who was trying out roller-skis for the first time in his life: "Spon-gey, that is how old people ski!"

Sprint

It was a sprint. Meh. But I can't use that as an excuse for how badly affected I was by the number of spectators (you'd think Toni could have at least warned us!) They were crowding round the start, clapping you down the run-out, and standing by pretty much every control and all over the streets as well. I wasn't expecting this at all, but I should be able to cope with it by now! Instead it threw me completely, and I never felt in control and never managed to look ahead.

Came last... as I said, it was a sprint. Meh.

Event: Kainuu O Week / Euromeeting
 

Track/terrain warm-up jog for tomorrow

Head-to-head practice

More head-to-head

Sprint practice