Picasa Photos

For some more photos from the last week or so and for during jwoc week check out Norm's Picasa Site. The link is:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Norm.Jager

Currently has photos from Asiago but Norm will keep them coming during this week and next.

Ciao Primiero!

We are now in Primiero. We arrived the day before yesterday after a pretty cool drive from Asiago. Instead of taking valley roads we went across the plateau straight down into the valley then straight up the other side. The Italians sure know how to do switchbacks.

Primiero has a much more alpine feel than Asiago, we are very much sandwiched in between mountains. We have awesome views from pretty much anywhere in town.
Training yesterday was our first run on one of the official JWOC training maps. An area called Passo Cereda which is about 20 minutes drive up out of the valley. It is supposedly quite similar to portions of the middle map. We had a course with controls set by the organisers which most of the team did in its entirety. Some of us tested out some of the Leppin Sport products we are using. The forest had less scattered rock than Asiago and contours in places that felt a lot like Weiti, between 3 and 4 for instance with teh re-entrants ending part way up the slope. The rocks on the map were alot easier to read than in Asiago. The vegetation varied across the area, up by control 10 and 11 was perfectly clean and lightning fast, whereas 4 to 5 was quite green.

We encountered the ther teams for the first time today, Russa, Japan, South Africa and Hong Kong were all out on the map training at the same time as us. We expect to see heaps more of the other countries as the week progresses, as Primiero isn't a very big place! JWOC is being promoted much more than last year in Sweden. There are posters and o flags up in shops all over town and most of the lamp posts have JWOC 2009 flags hanging from them.

Everyone enjoyed the map and is happy with how the preparation is going. This morning some of the team are doing sprint training on a training map provided by the organisers with a pre marked course starting from our accomodation.

Passo Cereda training map:

Last day in Asiago

Jourdan hanging it out


Andrew on the charge

Today is our last day in Asiago. We are packing up in the moment to head up to Tonadico near Primiero. On the way we are going to be stopping for some 1:15000 training on a map along the route. Simon arrived last night so we are a full team of 14 now.

Yesterday we had two sessions. The morning, which most of the team did was a downhill course focussing on navigation in the rock detail around here. The last few controls were supposedly very relevant for the terrain in the JWOC middle. The morning was quite wet but not too cold.

In the afternoon we headed into asiago for some sprint training. We had a course set around the center of town that inclded some parks, some tight alleys in the town center and some more open streets. The slippery streets made it quite tricky. Lots of discussion afterwards about optimal routes, especially on the legs from 20-21 and 21-22.

Todays sprint map:

Asiago History

Cow with cowbells



One of the many caves

With the long race at 1800m, we thought today we'd train further up on an alphine map. The crazy italian roads seem to be made for only one car, so with perilous drops down a few hundred metres, and nasty blind bends, we put our trust in Norm and Mark to battle the trucks going the other way! The road workers seemed content to leave their digger in the middle of the road and refused to move it on the way down.

It was nice to explore a map that didn't have ankle breaking rocks with every step. However, while this meant we could run faster, the World War 1 trenches and monuments that we came across slowed us down somewhat. This lead to exploring caves made during the war, presumably to store ammunition and for sleeping. The trenches, covered in trees, were in fine condition- giving us a glimpse of how scary and terrible it would have been. Barely shoulder-width apart, well over head, and with small dugouts along the walls, it was an interesting experience. In fact, Jourdan and I managed to run a few hundred meters, following the bends and turns in the trenches- there were even old tins in them! We also got to try out our Italian on a local man searching with a metal dector for bombs (and presumably other WW1 artifacts)!!

On the way back, after another training session in a different forest, we stopped at the Asiago War Memorial; an imposing white marble arch, set at the end of a tree-lined promenade. In the crypt below, the walls were lined with the names of the fallen, with well over 25,000 from this area alone. Amist the photographs was the cemetery we ran across the other day- who would believe that the area was once completely devoid of trees.

The Italian front around the Asiago area saw fighting between the Austrians and the Italian forces, with support from the British artillery. A 1916 offensive by the Austrians drove the Italians off the plateau. However, subsequent coutner offensives in 1918 managed to reclaim this territory. The trenches we found at training represent the front line from 1918. Many of the deaths occured just prior to the Armistice.

Todays second map. Faster orienteering focussed on detail.

Full Team Training

Had our first training as a whole team yesterday. We went out on one of the maps adjacent to our accomodation. A map called tanabek, really rocky but with good visibility. The rocks here are mapped very minimally so a bit difficult to be confident especially into the circle. Map has a couple of World War 1 cemetaries on it and lots of trenches from the war. Really interesting to look around at.
Today were heading to some maps a couple of town over for some shorter, more detail focussed exercises. Maps and photos to come.

Tom

Almost a family again

After waiting for 6 hours at Bassano Train Station for Mark, Georgia and Angela, Greta and I had some friends. After some delayed flights and non functioning cell phones we eventually met up after a day waiting by the beautiful Bassano train station (not).
We headed up to Asiago and Cesuna where our accomodation is. We are staying at a place called La Pineta, right in the centre of a whole heap of training maps. The terrain is very rocky, the maps don't seem to have much rock but that's only becuase there is too much to map. The area also has lots of old trenches and cemeteries from WW1.
After some adventures around Gallio and Asiago with just the 5 of us we spent yesterday waiting for the arrival of the rest of the family.

Andrew, Kate, Rach and I arrived in Venice airport after a wicked flight flying over the dolomites, making us very excited to finally be in italy after what seemed like non-stop travelling! Norm, Scott, Toby and Jourdan soon arrived too and we all got in the van and started our venture up to Cesuna. After driving around about 15 hairpin corners and through many small italian mountian towns, we finally made it to Cesuna and were greeted by the rest of the team!

This morning we are heading out training onto a map right next to the accomodation. The first chance for all of the recent arrivals to try out the white rocks and white pebble tracks through the forest.

Ciao
Tom and Nicola


The view from the frontdoor of our big house


Tom and Greta getting ready for training at Kasselruth


Greta looking out over Bolzano


Looking back towards Vols am Schlern up near Bolzano

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Probably the theme of our week. We are both getting pretty good at waiting. Waiting for buses, waiting for internet, waiting for more buses, waiting for cablecars. Luckily its a pretty cool place up here and Tom has a real simple mind, so it hasn´t been too bad.

Training for the last few days has been full of variety. We have been to some maps north of Bolzano, little towns called Völs and Kasselruth. Both of these maps were luckily right on the edge of town, a couple of hundred meters from the bus stops. Steeper than Wölfl and with more cliff detail. The vegetation is resonably well mapped and the boulders seem to get bigger on every map we go to. Both of us now feel like were over the jet lag and looking forward to seeing the others tomorrow (Mark, Georgia and Angela).

We have been up another cablecar, apparently the oldest in the world. We have also seen the Ötzi (The Iceman), a 5000 year old mummy in one of the museums here. Tom has also seen lots of logs floating in the river and has lots of cranes to look at while we wait for things.

Tonight is our last night here before we head to asiago, and once Norm arrives in 3 days we should be able to get some photos and maps up.

Ciao
Tom and Greta

Wölfl

Went on another exciting orienteering adventure today inthe hills around Bolzano. On the menu today was a map called Wölfl in the middle of nowhere. No cable cars today instead we had an hour long bus ride that went through tunnels, up a gorge that makes the Buller gorge look pussy and up and down some ridiculously steep hills.
We got off at a little town called Nova Ponente and walked about 3km to the map. We didn´t mind the walk because the panoramic views of the Dolomites sprinked with snow took our mind off it.

The map was amazing! It is my new favourite. Had a forest floor like Gothenburg last year, the rocks were a little bigger than yesterday but still quite small andthe contours were a mix of flat swampy plateaus, big round hills and STEEP gullies. We did a course with some short legs to get into it and then some longer legs to finish. We are going to visit this map again later in the week. Its worth the 2 hours of bus ride and hour of walking return.

Some exciting things we saw today were a MASSIVE snail, a squashed frog, Heidi´s house, a St Bernard dog, a bus stop at a skifield.

Ciao
Tom and Greta

Cable car to training, why not?!

Bolzano is very cool. 3 cable cars from town up into the mountains. We caught one to training today. We had light get-into-the-map session today and chose a map called Jenesien (Can´t get it online right now sorry). Turns out the best way there is via cable car. So we took the tiny cable car up over 1000m with some Italian women who looked quite surprised at our enthusiasm for what must have been a daily journey for them. Amazing views.
Map was fun, relatively clean, steep but not too bad with lots of subtle re-entrants. Rocks were like midget versions of what we would see in Aussie. Did a short course after we had got into the map.
Had our lunch on the edge of the forest in view of a house that could have been straight out of The Sound of Music. This combined with the German street signs and Cowbells made the area seem much more stereotypically Swiss or Austrian than Italian. Tomorrow we are heading furthur out to a place called Wölfl, no cable cars tomorrow only buses that conveniently run into the middle of nowhere.
We are working on figuring a way to get photos up and will bombard you once we can.

Ciao
Tom and Greta

Bolzano

Greta and I have made it to Bolzano. After 3 flights, 2 train rides, a bus and carrying our much too heavy packs a fair way we made it. Bolzano is amazing, more German than Italian, with lots of castles, a couple of big rivers and huge mountains all around.

We came through Dubai and Venice. We had a chance to have a quick look around Venice before getting a train to Verona for last night. Another train up here today and into the mountains. We will head out to a map tomorrow and see what o here is like. We will try and figure out a way to get some photos up soon too.

Waitaks Run

Instead of writing I thought I'd do a photo essay as I thought it would be quciker. Of Course Murphy's law came into effect and its probably taken longer than writing! Anyway here it is.

1) Setting Out

2) Near the top of mountain road. Downed some Leppin while I was taking the photo

3) Near the top of my run. A panorama sweeping from north to the city. Its hard to make out due to it being an average day. The stick on the right is the radio mast. The centre is the city and Rangitoto

4) A shot toward the city and Rangitoto, Radio tower on right

5) The radio tower and the highest point of my run

6/7) A lookout on Scenic Drive. This is looking roughly SW

8) Looking south over the Manakau Harbour. You can see one of the dams in the foreground

9) 180 Degrees from the spot where I took eight. Looking N. The strip of water you can see is the Waitemata Harbour

10) One of the magnificent Kauri Trees

This was a long run. I wanted to go out in the bush but it had been raining quite a bit so I thought it wouldn't be worth it. However I highly recommend any one going out there for a walk some time. There are some amazing views and the tracks are well looked after. The best place to go is to park at Cascade or Waitakere Dam car park and head for Upper Kauri Track.

Flying away

This evening the first team members head over to Italy. Greta and I are making our way up to Bolzano for some training. Huge thanks to Jonas Rass who has helped us out with maps and trainings. We will try and get some photos and news up as often as we can. The rest of the team still has exams and will head over in the next few weeks.

Also I am really lucky that another company has come on board to support me. Icebreaker, makers of New Zealand grown Merino apparel are helping me out with some cool gear for racing and training. The skin baselayers are great heat modulating insulating layers, and the Icebreaker range includes some awesome jackets and jerseys. All New Zealand Merino of course.

Check out www.icebreaker.com for their products

Overtraining

Overtraining is a topical issue for us athletes at the moment, as most will have been training for a months in the build up to JWOC. While everyone is pumped and motivation is high to get out the door and run, it’s important not to flog the body. Being the fittest you can be at your race means that you need to at least be able to run- and being so shattered/injured that you can’t means you might as well have not trained. With that in mind, here is a little bit on over training.

Overtraining occurs when training beyond the ability of your body to recover. Thus without rest and recovery, hard and intense training (to try and win your race!) will actual backfire and decrease performance. When viewed in conjunction with the overload training principle there is a real risk that athletes will hit this ‘wall’. Orienteers are particular susceptible, as well as long distance athletes, due to the long and often monotonous hours of running.

Common warning signs include:

• Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
• Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
• Pain in muscles and joints
• Sudden drop in performance
• Insomnia
• Headaches
• Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
• Decrease in training capacity / intensity
• Moodiness and irritability
• Depression
• Loss of enthusiasm for the sport
• Decreased appetite
• Increased incidence of injuries.
• A compulsive need to exercise



The hard part is distinguishing between fatigue from just going for a run, the stage of your training programme at the moment, and overtraining symptoms.

A simple way to try and objectively measure this is by recording your heart rate over time. If your pace starts to slow, your resting heart rate increases, and you feel some of the above symptoms, you may be heading towards over training. Another important monitoring method is by recording your resting heart rate each morning- a noticeable increase from the normal might mean you aren’t fully recovered.

Heikki Rusko (while working with cross country skiers) designed a method to try and recognise overing training. It goes as follows:

1. Lay down and rest comfortably for 10 minutes the same time each day (morning is best).
2. At the end of 10 minutes, record your heart rate in beats per minute.
3. Then stand up
4. After 15 seconds, take a second heart rate in beats per minute.
5. After 90 seconds, take a third heart rate in beats per minute.
6. After 120 seconds, take a fourth heart rate in beats per minute.


Athletes who are well rested should have a consistent heart rate in all measurements, but Rusko found those with an increase of 10 bpm or more in the last measurement where on the verge of over training.


HR monitors can help

The best (and by far the simplest) method, is to take a moment and check for psychological signs/symptoms. Do you have decreased positive feelings for the sport? Increased negative feelings after/towards training? Increased perception of exertion during training?

Unfortunately, most of the warning signs often go unnoticed, and many athletes do burn out.

So find the balance between pushing the body and resting it. Don’t feel pressured to get out and train when you’re feeling buggered- the people hassling you aren’t going to suffer if you push yourself too hard, you will. Sometimes the best form of training is actually resting!

Peace out,

Andrew
"Note: some, possibly all of this might or might not be correct."

Training today

Had a fun o session this morning. The aim was to really focus on executing my plan and being in control of my direction. Secondary to this i wanted a fast hit out which had the potential for some fast legs if the navigation was clicking.

So with that in mind I searched my old map box and found some maps from the Royal Rogaine Loops Race from a couple of Queens Birthdays ago. I had 3 loops from that race and planned to do them back to back and build up the speed as i went. I have scanned in one of the maps and put it below.




On this particular course I swung off the track so that i didn't just track run on the way to 1. High point just south west of the control was attack point. No problems. Two was red line using the green strip hilltop to confirm distance. Three got me swinging left, i wanted to try and bounce in off the hill by the track, a little indecisive cost me seconds. Four was compass with head up looking for clearing shape. Five, I didnt initially like the look of the detail to the north of the line, but i wanted to stay in the white. Tried to simplify, using the hill to my left as a guide. So open that using detail was unnecesary. Up the small spur under the redline and up into the control. Lost some time on the way to six, getting pushed off line by boxthorn and flax. Stayed left of the line and into the control through the line of u depressions. Vege boundary to finish. Next loop.

I found the dunes most challenging, couldn't quite get enough confidence to really push the speed. The lack of big features in the white was probably the biggest challenge. Made it hard to pick a strong feature and really be positive i was coming up on the correct feature and not drifting in the last 50m or so. Guess that's the difficulty of not having controls out.

Was a beaut morning and a great way to start my Sunday. Not really Italy specific, but getting some o in which i'm happy with.

bing bing bing

For those of you who are into Google Earth, Norm found a much higher resolution version. It's part of the new Microsoft search engine called Bing. Go to www.bing.com/map

Some searches of where we are going:

via pineta, asiago (training camp with Mark)
primiero (host city)
jenesien, italy (one of the training maps Greta and I are using)

Queens Birthday, Angela's view

Angela in action at JWOC 2008

Wow. What a fun weekend of orienteering. Despite the cold, sometimes damp weather I had a very enjoyable time. Thank you to the organisers.

The first three events were held at Wharepapa South, and lead us over broad farmland and into many tricky patches of limestone rock. An excellent area for final JWOC training.

I was reasonably happy with my run on the middle distance. Although I was slightly too hesitant at times and not careful enough reading the rock detail, especially around number 12. I went too far , crossed an extra fence, then realised as I turned around and spotted the control and had to climb back over. Meanwhile, I was almost caught back up by Tessa and Claire whom I had passed earlier.

I learnt from these mistakes and orienteered much better the next day. It helps to focus all your time on navigation and planning ahead so you can flow around the course, rather than running hard out and then being unsure coming into the control. As I was planning ahead a tricky decision was which way to go to number 12. The first option I saw was over the spur and up the stream. But sometimes following along a stream is rough and slow. Next I saw the track option out to the left, fast running to the top of the hill then attack down the spur from the water trough, but this might be too far round. I was near control 11 and had almost decided on the stream option when I spotted another choice. Over a saddle, contour around to the right, up the re entrant and then up to the control checking off the single trees on the way. This looked like smooth running. Georgia was also just leaving the control heading for the stream so it was a good chance to compare routes. We met near the single trees at the bottom of the valley about the same time, but my direction allowed for a smoother angle into the control, easier running than straight uphill. This could be something useful to remember for Italy and incorporate when planning route choice; it is easier to keep running when contouring gradually than trying to push it straight up.

Heading into the final race of the junior super series, a mass start at Aramiro, Georgia and I were very close with points. I was able to stay with the front group, but coming up the hill towards number 6 I was slightly too far left. Everyone else spotted the control in the depression but I didn't see it and after only a short time finding it the others were long gone. I tried hard to keep going the rest of the course hoping to somehow catch up but I had wasted too much time. A fun race though with plenty of deep swamps. I thought I might lose my favourite INOV-8 shoe in the sticky goo. Just as well it was tied on tight. Overall in the super series I came second for junior women.

Check out the course at:

http://www.routechoice.co.nz/gadget/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=map&id=37&kieli=

Queens Birthday Weekend, Kate's View...

Superseries placegetters

The weekend was a good set of races for our preperation towards JWOC.
My car load arrived a bit late to the first day, so i had to literally jump out and race to the start. When I got there, they were calling me, and i had 20 seconds till I started! When I started, my mind was obviously not in a clear, focussing state, as i did many mistakes on the first 7 or so controls. After that, the rhythm started kicking, although it still was not perfect. I was not disappointed with my first race, but was not happy with it either.
We had a bit of a wait before the night race, so we went along to Brent Edwards Adventure race talk. It was so interesting to see how he competes and what motivates him to do such an extreme sport! I would love to do adventure racing, but i think I will stick with Orienteering for the moment as it seems a lot more tame. I would like to thank Brent for the really inspirational talk, im sure it helped to motivate many of the juniors, and seniors to keep on going and pushing through those difficult times in a race.
The night event was very different. We had a mass start for the women, it started off pretty well. Most of us were together for the first part of the course. People were sinking in mud, getting caught in blackberry and falling in streams. It was raining as well, making it a lot harder to concentrate on the orienteering. At number four, i was in the lead as i had a feeling we were too low, so i started running up the rocky hillside a bit more to get a better view, but i could not really see a thing...not until one of the others shined their torch in my direction, and then i could see the control! After this control, I think i was trying to run too fast, and trying to keep in front of the large torches so i could see better, but i over shot a control, and had to run back. By this time, I had lost the main front pack which had all the powerful lights. Amber and I were left working together as we both and very dull head lights and mine was not staying on my head anyway. Oh the joys of night orienteering. We kept on going, not making too many mistakes, just had a bit of trouble when we got closer to the control circle as we could not see very far. In the end, we got beaten by about 10min by the front 3 that had awesome head torches. It just goes to show how much of an advantage those headlamps are! If I had the money I would invest in one, but i dont really see the point, when we only do one or two night races a year. Overall a very fun and challenging race! Really helpful for concentration on orienteering techniques.

Day 2, C.D champs. I was originally supposed to start at 11.16am, but the W20 grade had to be moved to 2 hours later as there was a clash in start times. This was a bit disapointing as we did not get to run in the sun, and instead got the cold overcast weather conditions. Overall it does not make too much of a difference as we are all in the same situation. This race was ok for me. I made quite a few costly errors on the first part of the course, which left me in a postion to work hard. I got caught up by Georgia, as she started 2min behind me. I found it hard to get away, and stay ahead. I made a small error when I was with Georgia, I was looking to early, which left me to fall behind her and Angela, who had just caught us both up. I found it hard to keep up with these two once they were that bit ahead of me, so i tried hard to not lose too much time on them. I could see them alot on the long legs, which was challenging to try to catch them up. In the end, the course was great, but my result and orienteering was not as good as i would have like to have done.
My loop for Arimrio mass start

Mass start at Arimiro. This was another very interesting race. I became submerged in mud at least 6 times! It was such an experience for me, and my upper body which was trying to support my weight in order to get out of the deep stream sides. I was on loop b, which was not as competitive to the other loop group. It was Amber, Rita and me that were battling it off for the first part of the course. Then at the last pivot when the loops met up again, I managed to get stuck in mud quite deep again, and just found it hard to keep up with Amber along the track. This leg was quite a route choice leg, and I was really hesitant in which way to go...track (hill) or marsh (flat)...in the end i chose the flat option. Whilst running around the flat to the control, I got stuck in a jungle like terrain and really marshy undergrowth. I thought to myself, "what are you doing? no one would have gone this way!"-then happened to find out at the end that a lot of people went that way. After this control, I didnt end up making too many mistakes, just pure strength when wading through the mud and streams was the hardest part. Angela caught me up at number 14. I was very suprised to see her, as i thought I had lost a lot of time at number 12. Me and Angela both went down an extremely muddy track to number 17, which was possibly a bad route choice as we were sliding around everywhere!! From then on, it was ok, and Rita caught me back up somehow, which I was suprised about again.
Great weekend of racing, although I was not entirely happy with my racing. I hope it will become a lot more smoother as JWOC creeps up on us.
Overall in the Superseries events I came 3rd in junior women. I did not know this could possibly work, as I had missed Waitangi weekend because of my injury, so it was quite cool to have this end result, and it also meant I won a head lamp(could have been useful for the night before :P)
Thanks to everyone that organised the weekend. Definitely worth the break from study! Also found out and experienced this weekend that winter is definitely here this year :S

QB 3Day video

Mick Finn has put together an awesome video from the weekends races down in the Waikato. It's about 5 minutes long and has segments from all 4 events. the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsSSW_O2GIk Check it out!

Leppin Sport, JWOC Supporter

Today we confirmed the support of another sponsor for JWOC this year. Leppin Sport will be the fuel behind our training and competition. Long term supporters of orienteering in New Zealand we are stoked that Leppin are helping us again. Squeezies for pre and during races and Enduro Booster for pre race preparation and post race recovery.

For more info on Leppin products have a look at www.leppinsport.com

Queens Birthday, Tom's view

A weekend of rain, mud and freezing cold weather. The mighty Waikato really was true to form. The weather map have been rubbish but the o was hot. The rocks of Wharepapa were perfect for starting to switch the mind into rock-o mode.

The middle on the first day was for me pretty good. Under coaches orders to take it easy up hills I began focused on my navigation. Ensuring i was executing my plan and being decisive in the control circle. I let this occupy my mind too much at times as I lost time needlessly in a couple of pieces of detail by not taking simple, cleaner option. The rock was tricky in places, especially descending as features were often concealed. Toby was fastest out of the boys team, putting 10 seconds on me with a minute or so back to the others. Darren added to his Superseries lead with another win.



How we do icebaths at NZ orienteering

I didn't run the night event, still watching my shins, and personally i preferred watching lights bobbing through the rain from the warmth of my 5 layers within a nice waterproof raincoat and pair of overtrousers. After getting all warm and dry listening to Brent's cool adventure racing presentation, everyone going back out into the cold and dark to run deserves a pat on the back (maybe i'm just soft).

The next morning was a long on the same map. My plan for this race was to nail the nav while managing my shins. I did the initial short legs fast then eased off for our longer route choice legs. The terrain was really good for practicing simplification within rock fields. I tried to pick a key feature and focus on shutting other rock detail out. Still needs some practice, but got some improvement throughout the course. I took a short cut to keep my run at about 60mins and jogged back to see how everyone else fared on the course. Toby was again top JWOC boy. Good signs so close to leaving time. Darren and Lizzie, both basically winners before the weekend started, clinched their respective Superseries titles. Proving the need for not only consistency but the ability to win multiple races in the title race.




Thanks to Lizzie and Tessa for their photos and no thanks to Telecom for switching us down to dial up internet.