We had a more relaxed morning today, because we didn’t do agilities in the morning. After breakfast we packed up and got ready. It was a cold, wet morning… so we packed up lots of warm dry clothes (the ones we had left), and jogged out to the car. We had an hour long drive to the race site, and the people in my car slept for most of it (except for me, I had the job of keeping Jordan, our driver, awake 😦 ).
Matt sitting in the back of the car waiting for the rest of us to get ready for the training
The morning training for today was a contour-only exercise. I was really worried about it initially, because I don’t read contours all that well, and because I was expecting the same impossibly complicated intricate and tiny contours we’ve had for most of the trainings so far. But I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the map and went out to the first control. The forest was open and runnable, and the visibility was really good. I was actually able to distinguish contours from a distance, like seeing down a reentrant or picking out distant hilltops, rather than sitting blind in a maze of 2m hills and depressions (which was pretty characteristic of the previous trainings). The forest floor was still pretty wet and spongy, so it wasn’t as fast as hard-packed earth, but at least I could see in front of me!
This morning’s map.
I ended up making some pretty bad mistakes, though. Contour-only was hard, even with all the visibility we had, and I got confused on multiple occasions. I think it was still a great exercise, because I definitely don’t use contours enough.
Anne after the training!
Packing up for the morning
For lunch, we went to a nearby diner. It was probably pretty shocking to the owners, who spoke very little English, and probably never had more than ten people come in and order at a time. And with the Finns, who came with us, it was probably more like twenty orienteers that walked in—wet, bedraggled, and very hungry.
They were really obliging, and Eero translated for us, so everyone got their food eventually, and we took over some tables by the window to eat. The food was delicious.
Izzy waiting for food
My lunch! Steamed carrots, mashed potatoes, pork, and salad
I was feeling really sleepy, so I might have taken a little nap down by the heater under the bar…
Me sleeping in the corner. It was comfortable and warm… I have no regrets about it. Maybe I regret letting Ethan steal my camera, though.
After I woke up, Izzy, Ethan, and I went exploring. We found a couple stores that were closed, but then we lucked out and found this bakery with delicious pastries and rolls for sale. Izzy and I bought some dessert, then we jogged back to the car to drive out to the afternoon’s training.
Pastries, yum 🙂
In the afternoon, we ran a one-man relay, with some alterations. There were four loops on the map, and Erin wanted us to run two of the three that he selected, then save the last one for us to run together. I did the more technical loop first (the southern one, starting with number 6), and was okay on the beginning, but towards the end I started to feel really crappy (stomach pain, headache), and I lost focus a lot. I finished the loop and started on my second loop (around the big hill, beginning with 15), but I didn’t even make it to the first control. I got super lost and couldn’t reorient. I think I ended up somewhere in the area but really had no idea where the point was. I bailed back to the road.
The afternoon’s map.
When I got back the boys were just starting on the loop that Erin wanted us to save for last (which turned out to be a race, so I sat out). Izzy and Anne hadn’t gotten back yet, but when they did I talked to them and found they had similar problems on the northern loops. I think Izzy had bailed before hitting point 19. We ran a little cooldown and by then the boys had come back.
I was feeling a little better by the time we drove back, probably because I drank all of my water and then all of Anne’s after the cooldown. Which was good, because we weren’t done with training yet! We did a core and strength session with Erin’s direction (planks, front/side/back, all with leg lifts; superman(s?); bicycles; squats; tuck jumps; pistol squats with a partner; more that I forget). We did it outside, so we had been completely eaten by mosquitoes by the time we finished, and we were READY for dinner.
We fell on our dinner like… well, like very hungry kids who had run all day in the woods! And as usual it was delicious.
Dinner! I only remembered my camera halfway through so I had already eaten some of it. I was pretty hungry.
After dinner, we went to a sort of seminar with the Finnish team, led by Jussi Silvennoinen, about mapmaking. He went over map symbols and colors, the process he goes through to vet and fill out the LiDAR base map, and a little about strategies of looking at model maps and getting the most out of them. He did his best to translate everything he said into English, and with a little help from the Finnish coach, he got mostly everything across. He did much better than I could have ever done with Finnish, anyway.
Erin looking at a map with the Finnish coach
The presentation (Michael, Addison, and Ethan are sitting on the far side of the table).
After the seminar with Jussi Silvennoinen, we had a team meeting. We went over the courses for the day and Erin and Jordan each gave us advice about what they had seen in the woods. One thing that they mentioned that I found myself to be guilty of was not reading ahead to the next control at the right time. After I see my control, I get a rush of satisfaction, and I generally sprint directly to it, without a second thought. But then I spend the next 5-10 seconds stopped still at the control, and maybe the next minute slowly starting up to jog away on the next leg. So now I’m resolved to slow way down once I see my control, and spend some time thinking about the next leg before going in to get it. I think that will really help me to improve my flow.
Team members listening at the meeting
After we finished the meeting, I edited the USA team blog while most of the team continued to talk more about orienteering politics, and the challenges associated with the development of orienteering in the US. I kind of tuned them out, not that I don’t care, but I had to focus on writing. I would have liked to listen in more, because I don’t know much about the situation outside my own club and the bubble around me. It sounded like there was a lot of work to be done yet, and many more people need to become active and motivated towards improving the future of OUSA, but hopefully that will change as this current generation of juniors grows older. I think we’re a good batch.
I’ve worked a little on this blog, but I’ve so much to say I think I’ll finish it in the morning. It’s been a long day.
neon goes abroad 
“After I see my control…I generally sprint directly to it….then I spend the next 5-10 seconds stopped still at the control, and maybe the next minute slowly starting up to jog away on the next leg”
This is one of the biggest things to improve your orienteering and a very common…error in technique for mostly younger people but also many new to the sport. If you think about a regular running race, a generally even pace will give you the best time.
Once you have spotted the flag your navigational task is complete and all mental focus should shift to the next leg. Keep an even pace through the whole course (or effort). When you see the flag slow down or even stop on your way to punch and don’t let yourself punch until you have selected the your route for the next leg. With practice you will get better at pacing near the control and will barely need to pause while punching and be on your way to the next one. You will probably notice older orienteers that are moving slow but still have impressive course times, a lot from experience but also moving at a speed that they can maintain full navigational focus while always moving along their route.
Speeding up running to the flag is the worst thing you can do. That will raise your heart rate at the time when you need blood going to your brain to make clear decisions and not make careless mistakes because you weren’t able to think straight. The only control that matters getting to a few seconds earlier is the finish, save your speed for that. That said, fastest finish chute times are stupid. Pace yourself so you are coming in on the go control or even the one before at your final finishing speed. Again, a rapid change in speed will raise your heart rate to more easily make mistakes at the end of well executed course, so stretch out the harder effort over a longer distance to finish fast but still navigationally sound.
[More controversial personal aside: Don’t use control codes or control descriptions.
If you aren’t sure you have navigated your way to the location of the circle and that your observed surroundings match what is in and around the circle, you have already failed.
My opinion of control descriptions is they are antiquated and of a time when people had to personally copy from a master map or it was inked over a blank map and the center of the circle wasn’t always precisely were the flag was; now that isn’t the case. Control code numbers are meaningless distractions to mental focus. I very rarely check codes when I have spotted the flag but something minor in the surroundings doesn’t match my mental picture I have made with the map.
Instead of shifting your focus to another section of the map or separate clue sheet and memorizing numbers and descriptions, use all that mental energy to focus on the course on the map. And if needed slow or even stop and shove the map right up to your eyeballs to get the final fine nav details.
The map gives you all you need to know to navigate the course and what is at and around each control and its precise location at the center of that circle.]