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.