Superseries Final Preview....

"The outcome of the 2009 Silva Superseries for orienteering will be determined this weekend over four races set in the intricate boulder fields of Wharapapa South and the pineforests.. of Aramiro. Darren Ashmore, leading the mens Superseries is relaxed and in good shape for his last major races before heading to Chinese Taipei for the World Games in July".... from Sportzhub.com, read more here

Hellzapoppin

Orienteering is about keeping your head while running wildly right? Making spontaneous decisions and going with the flow. Maybe we should all take up swing dancing! Watch this video to the end you won't regret it.

It would be a great thing to spread internationally as well, it would sure make for a better WOC banquet theme than the "whose the hottest Finnish guy humour...."

1st Control Blues

I have to admit Jamie did a post on this a few months back when I emailed him with advice. After Katoa Po weekend I was really frustrated in that I would completely mess up either the first control or one of the first three. It has been a hallmark of my orienteering career from when I started a couple of years ago to now. For the life of me I haven't been able to figure out what I am doing wrong until now, perhaps!

Jamie's first bit of advice to me when orienteering was navigate before you run. This has been my mantra since then (Labour weekend 2007) and despite that it is the one thing that I consistently do poorly on either the first control (9 times out of 10) or one of the first three controls (1 time out of 10). So, can the solution be that easy?

I have realised in my process of getting going at the start of a race I just pick up the map and go. No time taken to aligning it properly, read the terrain to the first control or anything. Instead I am running around like a headless chicken trying to work out every 50 metres where the hell am I. It must look great to watch to those observing. However, not fun when it is happening to you.

It is clear I need to slow down and take an extra 10 seconds at the start of an event to read the map properly even if I don't move at all from the start. Surely this will give me some time to think things through and plan properly. As much as this has come as a revelation to me I still haven't had the chance to put it into practice - maybe at the Heights of Winter rogaine when I take off for the first control and leave my more calm and collected partner (wife) doing things properly.

If anyone thinks I am on the wrong track comments are appreciated. Or, just add in your own experiences and techniques for dealing with the problem if you have come across it.

Good luck for all those competing at Queen's Birthday weekend. I will be keeping up my training regime with a wedding at a winery in the Hawkes Bay!

GPS Watches

There is a lot of discussion about the recent banning of GPS watches by the IOF in WRE's etc. Contrary to what seems to be a majority on World of O, Attackpoint and Maptalk, Im in favor in the IOF's decision.

Seems most people think: "Oh no, now Im not going to be able to track my route anymore..." this is crap you can still use a GPS to track your route, the IOF has only banned devices with a screen. Why do you need your GPS in watch form in a race? If you want to be able to upload your route using Quickroute etc then a GPS data logger can do just the same. (One example from World of O is the Globalsat BT-335 Data-logger). What advantages does your fancy Garmin have over a little black box if your not going to use it in a race? Maybe it logs your heart rate as well? just wear a heart rate monitor then. Im not sure how much feedback on your HR your going to get from a race anyway, its more of a training tool than anything. Just suck it up, take some harden up pills, buy a data logger, build a bridge and get over it.

News

Whats going on around the place? Over the ditch they have named their WOC team, with no men present. Australia has finally fallen victim like us to the difficulties of the annual event. The dilution of the WOC brand continues full steam ahead. For those interested in their introspection and insecurities there is a long discussion over on attackpoint.

Meanwhile the JWOC blog continues to provide interesting reading with Jourdan bullying some weekend warriors into submission in the Cape Brett B grade race and Tom map reading while aqua jogging!

Chris, Ross and Bryn have all been quiet, although Chris rumour has it, has a job starting in September which should see the wolf from the door, and keep them happily in Norway for a while. The poor Norwegians won't know what they've unleashed when he gets to grips with their terrain. It reminds me of a Pearl Jam song....

"seemed a harmless little boy...but we unleashed a lion....."

And the rest of us are looking despondently at the forecast for the Super Series final on the weekend. Storms. Its another Simon Addison inspired event: middle on detailed rock and night sprint, followed by a long fast farmland classic then a mass start romp around Aramiro. Should be awesome!

The Moneghetti Fartlek

Seems that down this way Moneghetti Fartlek's are all the rage at the moment. A Moneghetti Fartlek is a fartlek session devised by Steve Moneghetti, who represented Australia multiple times in the Olympics, and now as a master continues to terrorise younger Australian runners ....(in much the same way as Carsten in NZ!)

This is what the session involves:

• Run two sets of 90 seconds hard (little bit harder than 5km pace), 90 seconds easy ("Float" or steady pace, just above a jog).
• Run four sets of 60 seconds hard, 60 seconds easy.
• Run four sets of 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy.
• Run four sets of 15 seconds hard, 15 seconds easy.

Because the sets are based on time and not distance, you can do it up a hill, cross country or on a track which makes it an excellent session for Orienteering training. You can read more about it at: http://www.runforyourlife.com.au/downloads/issue4/Session_Of_The_Month.pdf

Map of the Day

I went hunting for maps today and first stop was the best english orienteering blog by a speaker of another language.

No2 is a good leg, would it be too "cute" to go around to the right checking out 6 and 5 in the process?

Todays Lessons

A couple of quick thoughts from the Wellington OY today. It used to be that when we visited Waitarere we were treated to superlative sand dune forest, now regrettably it is open box thorned dunelands but our time will come again.

It was a short OY with the course modified at the last minute to avoid an infestation of motorbikes and four wheelers, which looked like damn good fun.

I went hard and fast through the first three controls and was very in control. Faced with the route choice leg to four I considered the three options...right (which the planner thought was best) which I didn't like the angles of, left which was better than that, and straight which I decided to go. I figured if I could go hard through the tight green stripe(appears white in photo), slightly to the right of the red line I could break out to the track in good time then follow the obvious lines to the control...

Unfortunately the green didn't go. It was a jungle in there. I bailed out to the farmland to the left and lost four minutes which I was unable to recoup in what was quite an easy and fast race otherwise. Talking to mapping guru Michael Wood afterwards he informs me (and I should probably and may have sometime known this already that tight stripe can mean anywhere between 20% and 60% runnability. This is worth knowing when facing decisions like this and balancing what is a positive aggressive route choice and what is a wild gamble....what do you stand to gain or lose in the context of the race as a whole?

The more common mistake on the day, catching some very experienced orienteers, including Penny Kane, Todd Oates and a resurgent Jason Markham (watch for this guy at QBday weekend!) was the adjusted course which not only knocked one whole loop off, but also cut out ctrl 11, the above went to or towards the original ctrl 11. If you look at the map now you will think "what a dumb mistake", but you see it time and time again. When something "funny" is going on in a course alarm bells should be rung. The little man on your shoulder should be flicking your ear(to go with the previous granny gear image from a few weeks back it could be your granny if you prefer). Its not just map adjustments, but elements like spectator areas, marked routes, map changes (please no comments about the Oceania Classic) and drink stations stationed in the wrong places. Those purple or red map symbols are especially dangerous!!!!