Sprint Adelaide and the controversy of Cross Training

It's been a couple of weeks since Orienteering South Australia held their sprint orienteering weekend. The format for the event promised excellent sprint-o in various forms including a night race, knock-out competition and traditional sprint orienteering. I'd planned to use this weekend as a good opportunity for some competitive sprint racing prior to the European season, commencing at the JK in a couple of months time, however sadly my continuing heel niggle would prevent these plans from becoming a reality.

The drive over to Adelaide took roughly 10 hours so I was glad for the company of Max and Joe who made it markedly more bearable. We stayed the weekend at Angus Haines's place in the Adelaide Hills which provided a more luxurious base than normal for orienteering weekends and allowed us a sneaky glimpse at the area for the impending Australian Beer Relay championships.

On the Friday we arrived, the weekend commenced with a night sprint at Belair Golf Course, a surprisingly tricky and vague area, made yet more difficult by the darkness. Having not night orienteered for a significant amount of time, I was looking forward to the chance to get back in to the swing of things, especially with my intention of running TioMila and Jukola competitively when I get back. Alas, the first problem of the weekend cropped up early on as after a small mistake to number 1, I tripped and fell, smashing my compass in the process on the way to number 2! What followed was around 15 minutes of desperately tricky night-o without a compass for direction. The results though were actually surprisingly impressive with only a few mistakes which were ultimately costly alongside the slower pace but nowhere near as disastrous as it could have been. So after a warm down and a bit of food, it was time to hit the hay before the next race the day after.

Friday night's course

The following day saw us assemble bright and early for the Australian Orienteering squad's 3km time-trial which would be used to contribute to their selections for the year. It also counted for the overall weekend. I had initially planned not to run this as it would aggravate my niggle which was a little tender following the night race but my competitive spirit won over and I found myself on the start-line alongside everyone else. As it turns out, this was definitely a mistake as was I off the pace I'm capable of running as I ran cautiously trying to minimise pain (which didn't work). A lonely run out for 3rd spot was really a waste of the limited time I could afford to run that weekend.

The next race was a really enjoyable evening sprint around the local school to where we were staying. Olly had recently done the map updates and course-setting and promised a fun and technical race, we weren't disappointed. Unfortunately for me, my heel hadn't improved from the morning and so I was distracted and tried to avoid pain throughout leading to numerous mistakes, without the ability to run aggressively to try and compensate. I finished very despondent and actually quite upset that I'd been so foolish as to aggravate and potentially worsen the injury I've been managing well for a number of weeks. After some difficult conversations with various people I took the sensible decision to cut my weekend short at this point.

Heathfield school course

What followed for me the next few days was a frustrating but ultimately accepted spectator role for the rest of the races. The knock-out sprint was excellent, really good planning on some quality areas which produced some exciting performances and close racing. The same can be said for the Monday race, making the best use of what wasn't the most technical area to still produce a technical challenge for the competitors. The rest of my own weekend consisted of waking up at sunrise (6am~) and tethering myself to the side of Angus's pool for a few hours of aqua-jogging. This was as mind-numbingly boring as it sounds but is unfortunately necessary. However I couldn't resist throwing caution to the wind a little and competing in the Australian Beer Relay championships on the Sunday evening, which myself and Joe duly won, a testament to our time in ShUOC! Again, the drive home was long and boring but for myself I felt fairly resigned to the fact that I would be unable to run for the coming few weeks which was both frustrating but also a calming thought as I'd stopped fighting against the injury I was managing and was instead taking proactive steps to fix it. So the next couple of weeks will be very cross-training heavy with any tough sessions being on the bike and in the pool as I look to gradually increase the strength in my heel and build running back in.

Australian Beer Relay champions!

For me, cross-training is synonymous with the word injury. The only times in the last few years that I cross trained for longer than a 30 minute spin on a rest day is when I've been forced to through injury. However, the time I've spent reading, researching and actually doing cross-training the last few weeks has softened my die-hard runner view of it. Whilst I don't disagree that in order to be a good runner, one needs to run, I am more open to the suggestion that cross-training could replace or supplement some of the mileage I run. The strain on the body is massively more prevalent in running yet often the desired effects are not muscular but at cardiovascular or aerobic. Therefore why could easy/junk miles not be replaced with elliptical/cycling or aqua-jogging/swimming work? The benefits would be the same generally speaking, an increased aerobic endurance capacity without the damaging effects on the muscle fibres and tissues that result from running. I'm obviously looking to get back to running myself and increase my volume to a level which resembles my pre-injury state, however I definitely think I will be increasing the amount of cross-training I do. This will likely be to supplement or even just in addition to the specific running work I do, but I think there are massive untapped benefits to be had from this.

Feels when trawling through articles, podcasts, forums online!

To a lot of runners this may sound sacrilegious but I think this results from an unwillingness of a lot of runners to adapt their training plans which they see as the only option for them to improve. Runners are often stubborn and a bit pig-headed, running through injuries or fatigue under the assumption that any deviation from what's written on their piece of paper will result in negative results on race day. This is probably influenced by things like social media, Strava, Instagram where athletes are exposed and feel they are under examination by their peers or coaches and as such need to replicate what others do or what they feel is expected of them in order to maintain their perceived status. I've listened to a lot of podcasts recently and read many articles which generally all boil down to committing to your own development. This has taken me way too long to appreciate and I would be the first to admit that I've been worried about what others think of my training/racing which has resulted in me psyching myself out or running myself in to the ground for some misguided sense of status. I've been really focusing the last couple of months of changing this attitude. The first step for me was deciding the parameters of why I'm training and who for. I drag my arse out of bed every day, put in 2 to 3 hours of training a day generally and then repeat, but why? The answer is because I want to be the best I possibly can be at a sport that I love, therefore I'm willing to do this. This made me realise that essentially I don't have to care about what anyone else thinks of my training or racing other than those that matter, such as coaches and selectors. This has been a massive weight off my shoulders and has allowed me to become more focused and confident in my own belief and abilities, which will pay dividends in the future. This self-belief and a trust in my own process and training is something that I have been missing in the last couple of years. Previously I have been guilty of chasing stats or maybe mimicking elements of others training because I perceived them to be better. Despite my current injury, I'm actually confident that this coming season will be my best yet, with a more focused approach and a clear idea of what I want to do. This better approach will allow me to better concentrate on my own process which should hopefully deliver results.

Cross training buddies make it a lot easier!

This post has been interesting to write from my point of view and actually getting these thoughts down on paper(screen). I'd be interested to hear anyone else's views on the matters I've raised and if anyone has any other opinions on cross-training/self-commitment. For now, it's back to the spinner for me to fix this pesky niggle then full steam ahead to the exciting season ahead! Check back next time to see how it's all progressing.