Summer 2018 and the start of a new adventure

Long time no post...
This summer has been a bit of a whirlwind and I just never got round to actually writing things up, despite meaning to a couple of times. Since I last posted around exams and the British champs, it's been a busy few months with various racing/training highlights as well as more notable life changes too.
Having finished up exams at the start of June, it was time to kick on properly with training in the build up to the World Uni champs in Finland. I'd set this as my major orienteering goal for the year and so my focus switched from building up my running ability in preparation for moving in to the seniors to the next few years, to targeting specific orienteering sessions to cope with the challenges that the terrain in Kuortane had to offer. Having finished in Sheffield, I had around a month of living at home to get ready for the champs. The terrain in Leicestershire really isn't on par with that of Finland so technically it was difficult to adapt my technique. But needs must and I just tried to make sure that every event I ran was focused on practising the process of orienteering well so I was in good habits come July. Having said this, a number of the sprint training's I ran, such as those in Rugby and Birmingham uni did pose relevant challenges and helped to become acclimatised to moving quickly with a map again. Having now looked back at training, my running form was really good at the time, clocking a string of PBs in a couple of weeks and moving well through training sessions. So in reality I probably prepared as well as I could have done in the circumstances. Perhaps getting over to Scandinavia when it wasn't school holidays would have been good, however I have relatively limited contacts over there and logistically it would have been a bit difficult with some other family events etc. However I feel like I headed to Finland with the rest of the team with a confidence that I hadn't previously had in international races and I was prepared to try and put the form I was hitting to good use.

Ready for the off

World Uni's was definitely the most fun international competition I've been to with a GB team. Having good friends around always makes for a much more relaxed atmosphere and helped to keep spirits up throughout the week. Having gone around the middle model map and walked around the sprint embargo on the Monday, I felt really relaxed about the races to come. Watching the MSR was also great as I think it really inspired everyone and showed that GB can mix it in with all of the top nations, something we were keen to continue.
My race in the middle began really well. Strangely for me at a major race, I felt incredibly calm and relaxed throughout the first section of the course, taking each control as it came and generally focusing a lot more than I normally would in such a situation. A few problems began to arise though when I caught both my 2min and 4min men in quick succession which led to me losing concentration and begin to race rather than orienteer. I became distracted on the longer leg to 7 but was still well on line to getting the control but had a massive brain fade and began questioning myself when I came off the path, ironically at what was the simplest part of the leg! I realised soon after but not before losing some time. In hindsight, if I'd reset and continued how I had started the race then my overall time loss would have been kept to a relative minimum, however I became a bit flustered and started rushing the navigation where I'd previously been calm. 8 and 9 were fine but this all came to a-head on 10. The mapping did seem a little strange at this point (which a few people commented on), however there's no use blaming this. When the control didn't come up in the place I was expected, panic mode set in a bit and I proceeded to 'headless chicken' for a bit before resetting and hitting the control. This flustered approach continued and reared it's ugly head again on leaving 11 with a 90 degree error, however this time I readjusted and hit the control smoothly. From there to the finish I was a lot more in command of my race.

WUOC middle with GPS

So a very mixed bag for this one. On the one hand, my early and last part of the race were very good, mixing splits with some of the top guys despite one of the earliest starts and physically moving strongly through the terrain which was a noticeable difference to JWOC last year. What let me down was when something went slightly wrong that at the time would have been savable, panic set in over a calm approach causing more time loss than was necessary. Generally I wasn't displeased with my race, but I was disappointed to have ruined a chance at a comfortably top 20 international result on avoidable errors. However this did spur me on to correct this in the sprint the following day.

So on to the sprint. Traditionally I've seen this as my strongest discipline as I think it's where running speed has the biggest impact and with moving well at that time I thought I could place well. Again, I didn't really feel particularly nervous before hand. I knew the pace would be high based off the winning time and from seeing the sprint relay so I was prepared for hard running throughout. Again, my race started well, getting the route to 3 right but then I was in 2 minds on 6 and changed my route at the last minute which was a bit of a rookie error. It paid off fine but meant I was less composed on 7 leading to cutting in too early and giving myself a harsher turn than I could have had. This probably also had a knock on effect on 8, missing the shortest route and taking a good running route as I never stopped, but adding on a bit of distance. 9 allowed a chance to settle with a long running leg up the road and an opportunity to plan ahead. Unfortunately I didn't plan well enough and made a stupid error on 11, cutting in way too early and losing a significant amount of time before realising. Chatting to Jonny afterwards, I should have been focusing on the car park to the north but instead was trying to count buildings which were obscured by a lot of trees/unmapped sections. This was really frustrating and led to further rushing on 12 and 13, costing further time through a bit of scrappiness. From here to the finish I became more composed, planning routes that allowed optimum running time and flow meaning a strong finish.

Grimacing at the end of the sprint

Having now had some time to properly reflect on this race from a less emotive standpoint, I'm annoyed at how I allowed myself to lose composure. Changing route plans is always daft and probably led to being flustered for the following legs. Rushing through routes, even basic ones, is a surefire way of generating potential mistakes and this is definitely something I need to work on. A calm head in a sprint is one of the most valuable assets an orienteer can have I believe. This was undoubtedly a race I could have done well in and it's hard to see it as anything other than a missed opportunity to really kick on at this level. Yes, my running speed was pretty good, but this is irrelevant if mistakes are costing a lot of time. In future, I need to work on keeping composure in these major sprint races and I should see myself rocket up the result list. I really enjoyed the race though but with a few minor tweaks to my racing technique it could have been much better.

WUOC sprint with GPS

My final race of the week was the relay. Being in a team with Matt and Joe was awesome, having trained and raced with them for 3 years in Sheffield, and even longer in the West Midlands with Matt, we were all really looking forward to showing what the Steel City had to offer. I'm still undecided on what leg I prefer to run in relays, I think I most enjoy 2nd and seem to be able to put together stable performances on them, with a greater emphasis on your own race whilst still being in contention with a lot of other teams close to you is a really great situation to be in. Today though I was to lead us out, along with Ben in the A team, so it was all about keeping contact with the pack and trying to give the other guys a chance to battle it out for positions. As we were the B team, I was to start on the back row, which was frustrating as the first leg wound up the hill through the green on a narrow trod with little chance to overtake the slower teams, as the front pack began to pull ahead. On the open top though, I found it easy to ignore the other teams and hit my gaffle cleanly, then managed to get in touch with the top pack on the path leg to 2. It was then a case of keeping contact with the map and hitting gaffles well, which didn't appear to be a problem, sitting just at the back of the front pack through to the forking at spectator. Unfortunately, myself and Ville Johansson from Sweden had the longest gaffle and this meant we lost contact with the main pack who had the significantly shorter loop. Then came my only real mistake of the course. I decided to take the round option on the open which to me looked a bit rough, however this turned out to be longer than expected and so I dropped off slightly further than intended from the pack to spectator. Up the hill from there, my exit direction was slightly off and so I drifted right and gave myself more work than intended, but hitting the gaffle cleanly meant I overtook some teams, then had a good battle with the Austrians back in to the finish to hand over. Joe and Matt both ran excellently, racing aggressively and climbing the results throughout both of their courses meaning we finished 10th (7th nation!). This was an awesome way to round out what had been a fantastic week of racing for the whole team and personally put a nicer light on results than my individual performances.

Relay map and GPS

Men of Steel

Overall, I can't say I'm fully disappointed with my races in Finland this summer, as many elements showed a massive development in my orienteering from the past couple of years. I felt more mature in my approach and confident that I was in good shape going in to the races which meant generally I was orienteering to a higher standard. There are still lingering issues with my competition technique though, making costly mistakes on controls that in training I would hit 99/100 times. It would be easy to put it down to nerves but for some reason I orienteer differently at big races than in training and it's something I aim to work on over the next year to be able to begin competing at a higher level.

After World Uni's I had the familiar post major race questioning of what to do with myself. I was still running and training a lot but contrary to last year, I was eager and enjoying it, relishing the fact that I wasn't constrained by disciplined training for an upcoming race. A week or two later, I ran the Lakes 5 days, which is always a fun event and being back in the Lake District was great and definitely made me think hard about what I want to be doing in the future. Generally I was running pretty well, a couple of minor mistakes but overall some good performances which gave me a lot of confidence. Physically I felt great, especially on the hilly areas which shows how much I've progressed this year, especially smashing around in Rivelin. The final day was a bit of a disappointment as I lost my SI card for 90mins and had to retire! But I'd luckily done enough to secure the win by then so this softened the blow a bit. Whilst there I also got a couple of good long fell runs in, which again I felt strong on throughout despite bad weather, adding to my confidence.

                                                                   Shots from the Lakes 5         
                                                
The only race I really had left to aim at this year was my final counter in the English Champs fell series. Annoyingly due to World Uni's and my impending trip "down under", it turned out that this year I was unable to race enough to get a complete score but this didn't mean that I wasn't going to take this race any easier. It was a gorgeous Lakes day, contrary to what the weather had predicted and we set off at pace up the blistering track to Seathwaite Tarn. I knew that this climb was a bit of a decider in this race so made sure to check my speed on the ascent to save enough for later in the race. Regardless, it was tough work and the sun beating down on us didn't make it any easier. I caught back with Matt who had set off in the lead pack at the start of the fell climb to Grey Friar and tucked in to the train leading to the summit. Encouragingly I could see the leaders who were still in contact ahead and began working my way through the pack to summit with Saville and a couple of others. To be honest, at this point I was kind of blown but I recovered well on the descent and following climb up to the ridge running on to Coniston and got to the top of that just ahead of Carl Bell and his pack, which was a pretty surreal experience. The next section really suited my current form and I set a good tempo leading over to the old man to summit there in 6th/7th position, fully racing now and with a growing belief that I could get a really good result here. The next descent was a bit gnarly but this suited me well and I hit the bottom in 4th, setting off to chase down Mark Lamb in 3rd. I took a slightly high line allowing the Keswick train to close the 10m or so on me and decided that these guys would know this ground better than I did and so I was happy to sit on them until it opened up and we could see across to White Pike. From here it was all about keeping contact until the last descent, hitting the summit in 6th to see Joss Naylor cheering everyone on. Having been descending well throughout the race, I saw this as a good opportunity to really have a good go and so I attacked the steep 3km back to the farm with vigour, taking Dan, Si and Mark by the time we hit the field. On the closing corner, Mark rallied a bit to nick 3rd from me but I was absolutely ecstatic to finish 4th in such a strong field.
I think this is definitely my best running result to date and has really motivated me to give the fells a real go next season where I hope to be challenging for the u23 title. The course suited me well but I was happy with how I attacked each section throughout and felt strong for the duration, just being out-kicked at the end.

The gruelling first climb

More importantly though, with this race done, it was time for a bit of downtime with the rest of ShUOC as we headed up to Aviemore for a bit of a holiday week. The social side of things were great fun but training also continued to as good a standard as it could, with some quality forest and hill sessions chucked in the mix. By the time we had to leave it was pretty sad as the realisation that uni life had finished began dawning on me and a few of the older members. But who knows, maybe it isn't over quite yet...

Then the big change came. In early September I flew out from London, via Hong Kong to take up a position as a coach in residence in Melbourne until the end of March 2019. Oddly, on boarding the plane I didn't feel at all nervous, but was just really looking forward to the exciting opportunity coming up. Since arriving it's been a bit of a nonstop time, with various coaching and races occurring from the get go, which means I feel like I'm only just starting to find my feet! 2 days after arriving I got the train up to Ballarat to help on a Women's Training Camp, then a week after I flew to Gold Coast to race in my first National League races for Victoria. These started as well as they could have, with wins in the Queensland Middle Distance champs and the Australian Ultra Long champs. Neither races were particularly good for me, with avoidable mistakes on both which would have been punished in a stronger field, but it was nice to get a couple of wins under my belt early doors. This following weekend has seen me race in the Victoria Long Distance champs. Frustratingly, I felt exhausted throughout the race having no physical drive. Realistically this shouldn't come as a major surprise given that it came at the end of my biggest running week ever (142km) but it was still annoying to be so far down. Again I was making some avoidable mistakes which ordinarily I would never make. Perhaps it has something to do with the different terrain and challenges they pose, but orienteering technique should be applicable everywhere, so I find this to be a bit of a weak excuse. Instead I think it was just my first few weeks out here catching up with me, leaving me both mentally and physically a bit tired to race at a competitive level. 3rd place isn't too bad, but I would be hoping for better from myself given how well the past few months have gone.

Racing in Queensland, couldn't fit maps in!

I'm currently setting about planning my racing and training diary for the next season. It's a difficult time in an orienteering career I think, the couple of years transitioning from junior to senior. The British ranks right now are extremely strong and so breaking in to any team will be a difficult task. There are no obvious goals such as World Uni's next year for athletes my age (with the exception of a couple) which makes training for dedicated races difficult as breaking in to the WOC team is unlikely to happen. There are a number of other races, such as the domestic champs and World Cups which seem more reasonable goals. However it is also a good opportunity to start looking further afield than orienteering and to target some races and goals which are outside of the JWOC/WUOC/WOC bubble. I'd really like to find a Scandinavian club to race TioMila and Jukola properly with this year, as well as have a real crack at the English u23 fell running title. Further improvements in running times are also a goal which will help to achieve those. Without that specific goal of a major summer international, it is more difficult to target training specifically, but being out in Aus will definitely improve my orienteering technique as well as generally improving my running ability. This should give me a good grounding to kick on and challenge for spots in teams in the coming season. It's both an exciting and frustrating time to be racing but I'm looking forward to any opportunities that come my way in the next 12 months. As I now have more time, I'm going to try and keep this more up to date as it gives a better insight to my orienteering than Attackpoint or social media in my opinion. Check back later for more updates on my training and races coming up.

Vic long champs 18 and a very tired spud