Training is coming together

I have had a few really good months. Placing 32nd at Run Jozi (out of 10 000) and then subsequently some good sprint races, a good training camp and a new 3000m PB (9:32). I am starting to get into the zone preparing for WOC 2012 in Switzerland.

Run Jozi

This weekend I will be racing my first cross country race of the season. Next weekend is the Western Cape Orienteering Champs. It will be great to test my fitness in the forests of Grabouw.

Big 5 O week Sprint

Training Hard

It has been a long time since I have posted here and a lot has happened since then. I didn't have the best performance at my first WOC. I was quite thrown by the sprint and the pressure of competing against the best in the world.

The big 5 O week in South Africa was a great opportunity to compete against the world's best in our own backyard. I had a good performance on the long distance WRE, but I was quite sick before the sprint (my goal race) and made many mistakes that cost me dearly.

Training has been going quite well without any injuries or illness that have required me to take some time off. So far we have only had 2 sprint races this year. I am looking forward to those in a more urban setting to prepare for WOC this year in Switzerland.

Good week for O, not so much for my running

The week began with a very unwelcome sore throat which put a damper on many of my running plans for the rest of the week. I was forced not to run my usual Sunday long run and Tuesday track session. I have finally begun to feel better and had a really good track session today.

I ordered a Silva Jet for WOC (thought that I should finally own a Jet :) ). Silva decided that they would sponsor the WOC team. Thank you Silva!

Jeremy and I also organised an event for HSBC which they used as a team building event. It provided some much needed money to pay for the entry fees for WOC. The event went quite well (still need to get some feedback), but hopefully other companies will also approach us to host an event.

Training is going well

Slowly I am starting to sharpen my training so that I am ready for WOC. The change has been toward more interval sessions of slightly shorter distances. Within the next few weeks this will probably turn toward 400s and 200s.

On Saturday I participated in perhaps my last cross country race before I leave for France. It was held in an area that has been used for a short course event last year (sprint final as far as I remember). I was an interesting course and most of it could be seen from the start. I attained a PB for a 4km course with a time of 13:30. Still not ridiculously fast in terms of some of the other runners, but I am steadily improving.

On Sunday it was time for another of the colour coded events (this one held at Stirrup Glen). I decided not to push too hard and focus on other aspects of my orienteering. Many of the maps are outdated and so vegetation is in no way accurate by any means. It's this switch between navigating in the forest and navigating in the bush that tends to trip me up. Many obvious features in the forest cannot be used in the bush and the runnability in the forest is far better, making some features more noticeable (at least in my opinion). The week before WOC will be invaluable to try and work out which routes are best and work on my technical skill for the middle. However, my focus will be the sprint and therefore the middle will be merely an introduction into the world championship arena and exposure to highly competitive racing.

Nightmare at GOC Champs

Our fundraiser at WEC started off well. We made quite a bit of money and may be able to cover the entry fees for a race or two. I really enjoyed the junior fundraiser night O. Isuppose that it isn't really fair because I know the campus quite well but it was still an awesome experience to put the speed back to full use (colour coded events don't really allow for much in the way of speed).

The middle on saturday really didn't start well. It was extremely frustrating to, at times, see exactly where I needed to go but have to slog all the way there. Running speed is around 40% unless you manage to hit a road and it is really terrible terrain (putting my ankles at risk of more damage). The long on sunday was not much better an

d I really lost my head as soon as someone caught me (or I caught someone). On both days I finished around 10th. Not the worst, but extremely frustrating considering the training I have been putting in. I was told by one of the other orienteers that I should calm down because they are not expecting anything from me from these champs...it was still one of my "I hate orienteering" weekends.

I suppose that it doesn't help that these championships are so early in the season (after just one normal event) so it takes time to get your head in the game a bit. I am looking forward to the forest at SA champs in September though.

Had a bad training start to the week when I started with speed on tuesday (600s). Was feeling much better yesterday with the 400s. Looking to really improve times and hopefully be competitive this year at WOC. I am looking to the future though, in a few years time I should be very competitive...

Cross country race this weekend and hoping to do some sprint training soon. Good luck to the juniors leaving to go to Poland!

Here is a photo from the last race:

Road to WOC 2011

Training has been going really well the past few weeks. I have found someone to train with and we have been doing most training sessions together. Although he has slightly different aspirations to me (he is a 1500m runner), we are both working towards similar goals.

I am running with some of the best athletes in South Africa including the South African 800m champion Mapaseka Makhanya [I can just keep up with her] and I even had a word with Hendrick Ramaala.

Only a week left of (the rather monotonous) base training and then I am going to start sharpening for the WOC sprint. Hoping for a good result, but it's going to take some time. I only have a 9:56 for 3000m (set on monday).

This weekend is the Gauteng Championships (middle and long) and it has been turned into a rather awesome weekend of O with two fundraiser events tomorrow (one for the WOC team at my campus [Wits education campus] and then a night event at Wits main campus).