A night orienteering race was a brutal and effective way to kick start this training block after a month of rest. Katoa Po night relay has always been a worthwhile event for me, as the extra challenge of racing at night brings out all the problems with my navigation that I often get away with in the day light. Getting beaten around by some tricky Taupo terrain has brought a wave of motivation to jump start my next training block and I’ll need this to sort myself out quickly with NZ Champs only 3 weeks away! It was great to help the NWOC 7-person team defend their title for another year, with stable performances from everyone. Here’s a quick look at my race.
On the technical side, I am very undertrained, and this showed up clearly in the first half of my race where I wobbled my way in the general direction of each control and had to relocate numerous times. This is all reasonable given the last time I orienteered, apart from Sprint Auckland Day, was in October last year. I got into the groove later on in the course and began to feel some flow, although any faster and I would have been unstable once again. I could feel good habits being reborn and the feelings associated with them were still there, so I’m hopeful it will only take a few sessions in the forest to feel the autonomy once again.
On the physical side, I am very undertrained, and this was clear throughout the race. I got up to what I considered to be the right speed for all of 300 meters before frantically reassessing. I was not just lacking stamina, but also power on the numerous punchy climbs. I found myself clambering where a month ago I would have been bouncing. So the baseline is clearly set and I expect each run for the next few weeks will feel better than the previous as I rely on my solid base to get me up to speed asap.
2 days later and I’m now very sore. The worst offenders are the stabilising muscles on either side of my calves, hugely overworked on the rough ground not usually faced on my lunch time stroll around work. My arms and back have also taken a hammering from the clambering and jumping. All good stuff to note so that my massaging and stretching can be most applicable.
I was also testing a new Mila headlight for GKO. We are always looking for new gear for outdoor and adventure sports and Sweden’s Mila are a leader in running lights. The illumination of the Mila Orion is wide and smooth with a daylight-like light quality, as opposed to a white light with a typical narrow beam. We are also testing the Orion for mountain biking and adventure racing and so far it’s has really impressed us. I ran with 1500 lumens out of a maximum of 2000 and it can be set to 20 different light levels allowing you to get the optimum trade off between battery life and brightness. Please get in touch if you are interested in these lights!
