Did I achieve something? What can I learn?
I’ve had some time to reflect on another WOC and form some ideas about what I’m trying to achieve. Last year I was of the opinion that as long as I rock up in good physical shape from hard training in New Zealand and mentally relaxed so that I can focus adequately on race day I would get good results. Now I’m beginning to value the contribution that racing in the first half of the season has on WOC performance. There is an autonomy and confidence that comes from doing more racing that may have been missing this year. I’m not saying that this is the most important part of training for WOC – I think that the biggest difference between me and the top guys is still running speed – but it is a part I failed to acknowledge for some time after years like 2014. In that campaign I rocked up to O-Ringen straight off the plane, raced like a beast, then got some of NZs best places at World University Champs 2 weeks later. I was fit, I was focused, and the results followed. Racing Jukola almost straight of the plane last year is another good example. Next year I plan to spend more time in Europe to observe any improvements that come from placing more big races into a WOC build.
So what happened at WOC this year? I was on the form of my life, then I got a mild virus, then I travelled across the world on a plane, then it was no longer a mild virus, then I got a brutal gastro bug, then I struggled to eat, then I got another gastro bug (or the same one again?), then I still couldn’t eat much. I did very little training over these 3 weeks and my running speed was at a low for this year. I was optimistic for a full return to form once I started eating properly a week before WOC, but this didn’t happen and I raced like a slow person. Tough luck, I did everything in my power to race fast, but it was not to be.
But even if my results were not noteworthy, was WOC a failure or did I achieve something?
Training is my lifestyle and analysis is my style. The “effort” I put in is not a cost towards redeeming some future reward, it is a reward itself. The common idea of effort breaks down completely when you are doing what you love. That said, a great result is also a reward, but a more tenuous one, one that I am less interested in relying on as a source of satisfaction. I’m currently in Austria at the moment, staying with Austrian athletes, experiencing orienteering in some new terrain and exploring the hills on long runs. Enjoying the experiences just as I did when I picked up that map at WOC and battled the forest for over 2 hours. I loved doing it! I love the wild, I love the mental flow, I love the overcoming the challenge.
The other most important part of WOC (and racing in general) is the relationships I build on the way. And I’m not satisfied just bumping into people, I mean actively building meaningful connections with people at these events. This has always been a huge appeal to me ever since my first time at JWOC, when I was arguably too friendly ;). The relationships I built in that week and the subsequent weeks of that race-heavy trip in 2010 still matter and have opened so many doors for me. The people, including the New Zealand team, undoubtedly make the majority of the experience for me.
