Student Champs

It's that time of year again when the British domestic season really starts. Only 8 days until our first test race, 2 weeks until the Easter JK festival, and a month until the British Championships. The first major test was the University Championships, which were down in the Forest of Dean. A lot of the top British guys were there, including 3 of last years WOC team - so a decent field, and my first time running for Sheffield Hallam University.

My preparation was pretty mixed - while I wanted to do well and I was really motivated on the day, I didn't want to sacrifice my training for the upcoming season, so I didn't rest at all in the days before the race. I also decided to drive to the race on the day - almost 3 hours each way - not the best pre-race preparation!

I had last start, 2 minutes behind Fraser, so I set off pretty quick! I thought he might sweep up the runners in front of him, leaving me to have lonely race, but I caught and passed a couple of runners, and when I came to the spectator control I was about 30 seconds down on Scott in 2nd place. I ran pretty fast after that for a few controls, catching Matt Halliday. Then I started to get some pain in my stomach and some cramping, and the course became more physical. I also started to get some fatigue in the quads - too many squats in the gym! Anyway, the last 2km I lost 2 1/2 minutes to Scott - I was tired and stared making some stupid small mistakes, so I ended 2nd place, 3 minutes behind!

Results here

Routegadget here

Still, my best ever performance in this competition after 4th in 2003, 3rd in 2004 and 3rd in 2005. Must be time for a win next year then....

I didn't stick around for the relay (I didn't have a team) or party, back home to sort my stomach out and back into training the next day.

Tomorrow I am travelling up to Scotland for 10 days, taking in a SEDS weekend, then a camp with the national team leading up to our first test races and World Ranking Event in the Trossachs - should be fun! The Trossachs have almost a mythical quality in British orienteering - fantastically physical and technical - the contour interval seems to be 10m even though it is 5, and running under 10 minutes per km is a good achievement.

Inspiration

Very early season

So January has been a really good training month for me. It is hard to compare with last year when I spent the whole month in Dullstroom in South Africa, but here is a comparison anyway!

January 2009

55okm running, 55 hours aerobic training, 6 hours strength and conditioning

January 2010

390km running, 40 hours aerobic training, 14 hours strength and conditioning

Quite a contrast! A huge amount more of my training this year has been in the gym and in terrain, and so my average running speed has been lower and I have run less kilometers. This is a big change in emphasis as I prepare for WOC in Trondheim which I think will be a lot more about leg strength and less about running speed. My plan is to increase the running hours a little in February and March, and maintain the strength training at about 4 hours each week.

We had one amazing training camp in the Lake District with a really good group of athletes - there was some ice and snow, and the forests were really tough and slow!

Couple of maps below from that, as well as from a couple of local recent races.

Northern Champs this weekend, we had a middle on Saturday at Beeley and a long at Big Moor.

Middle results, routegadget

Long results, routegadget coming soon...

Last weekend results, routegadget

Lakes training

I claim dodgy map and gps signal!

Northern Champs middle

Last orienteering of 2009

Today I ran my last 'race' of the year, a local event put on by my home club, Mole Valley. I had good memories of the area from the last time I ran there about 10 years ago, and the area lived up to expectation. Really nice forest and a good course.

This is the end to a mixed year - the highs being top 10s in the World Champs Long and World Cup Final, and lows being missing NOC and World Games through sickness.

I started the year living in Stockholm, and now I live in Sheffield. After 1 term of my Masters degree, I am already enjoying it more than my previous degree, and I look forward to carrying that on in 2010. I am also enjoying Sheffield life, with plenty of training in the beautiful Peak District - perfect physical training for Trondheim!

For the first time in 4 years, I am not going to South Africa in January, instead I have 2 exams, and assignment, a training camp in the Lake District and lectures to look forward too. I am off to Portugal though, for POM and NAOM in February.

I have finally drawn my routes on the maps from the Sheffield City race, which was probably the best orienteering I did in the UK this year (although there were some really good races!).

Routegadget for prologue here and final here

Here are the maps from today.

Venice and a quick catch-up

Been a while since my last post and I have been busy!

In the last 2 months I have found a new place to live and started my degree. I am now sharing a house with Marcus Pinker (Irish number 1) in Broomhill in Sheffield, and I am taking an MSc in Sport and Exercise Science at Sheffield Hallam University.

Winter training has started well, and I have a really good program in place including strenght and conditioning at the performance centre at Hallam University.

I have been doing a little bit of orienteering too (not much!). Winning street orienteering races in Cambridge and Oxford. I also went to Venice last weekend. Unfortunately I was a little sick in the week before, so I wasn't quite in best shape, but I was satisfied with my 5th place, about 2.40 down on Mamleev. Not bad for a rookie in the streets of Venice.

This weekend I am doing my last race of the year, the Sheffield City Chase which should be really exciting! Sheffield is my new home, but I haven't explored it much yet, so hopefully I will know it a little better after the weekend.

Some other exciting new developments include a new job - lead coach of South Yorkshire Orienteers - probably the most successful club in the country, and last night voted Sports Club of the Year at the South Yorkshire sports awards, and a couple of new sponsors who I will write about soon.