An interesting article comparing the Swiss
performance at WOC with the World Athletics Championships
Peter (hopes URL works)
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=107&sid=6010744&cKey=1124124039000
Athletics v Orienteering
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A lot of what the journo says makes sense (did I really say that?!), but....
"Also, though we shouldn't take anything away from the Swiss success in orienteering, bear in mind that Switzerland has only recently excelled in this sport and this is primarily down to one person: Simone Niggli-Luder."
Where was he in the late 80's to early 90'ss when the Swiss men won three consecutive World Championship Relays? The Swiss have been at the top for a fair while, even if they are particularly strong at present.
"Also, though we shouldn't take anything away from the Swiss success in orienteering, bear in mind that Switzerland has only recently excelled in this sport and this is primarily down to one person: Simone Niggli-Luder."
Where was he in the late 80's to early 90'ss when the Swiss men won three consecutive World Championship Relays? The Swiss have been at the top for a fair while, even if they are particularly strong at present.
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awk - god
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awk wrote:A lot of what the journo says makes sense (did I really say that?!), but....
Hmmm..... I was particularly amused by
"One reason for this is the infrastructure. Budding orienteers basically just need a forest [to train in]... whereas [track-and-field] athletes need much more in the way of sports facilities,"
and there was me thinking that all you needed for a training run was to step outside the front door!
Ian
- Ian W
yes, but going for a calorie burning jog on the roads from your doorstep won't make you a world class orienteer. funnily enough, to be able to run fast in terrain you have to train by running fast in terrain. likewise, cycling on roads from your doorstep won't make you a good mountain biker.
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mharky - team nopesport
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In fact, athletics is one of the few sports where it's not as helpful to train in terrain (ie. on tartan) - the running track is designed to be perfectly smooth and accurately measured, but this means it's of limited use for training runs. I try not to do more than one training session per week at the track for that reason: reps are far better if they're done on a softer surface, preferably with an incline, and some slightly uneven ground. After all, even though some people dislike cross country, who in their right mind would run 10k on the track but never do road races?
- sgb
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sgb wrote:In fact, athletics is one of the few sports where it's not as helpful to train in terrain (ie. on tartan)
Obviously my attempt at irony failed. The point I was trying to make was exactly that there were a number of branches of track & field where a good proprotion of training can indeed be done starting from the front door and needs no specialist facilities or travelling.
The view that Orienteering training simply requires running round a (single?) forest shows a complete misunderstanding of the sport.
Ian
- Ian W
I disagree. There are very few places where one can train well from the doorstep. Concrete is good for getting injured but not much else. I reckon that whether I'm in Oxford or Brighton, the first mile or two of any training can only be counted as a warm up on the way to a decent training area.
Good training for orienteering (especially technical training) is obviously harder still as it is difficult to reuse training areas effectively, whereas running clubs can repeat key sessions ad nauseum.
In summary, the journalist was wrong on all counts: orienteers need more than 'just a forest', whereas track athletes can find their areas more easily, but won't necessarily be using a track or city roads.
Good training for orienteering (especially technical training) is obviously harder still as it is difficult to reuse training areas effectively, whereas running clubs can repeat key sessions ad nauseum.
In summary, the journalist was wrong on all counts: orienteers need more than 'just a forest', whereas track athletes can find their areas more easily, but won't necessarily be using a track or city roads.
- sgb
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Ian W wrote:"One reason for this is the infrastructure. Budding orienteers basically just need a forest [to train in]... whereas [track-and-field] athletes need much more in the way of sports facilities,"
sorry, this is seeming silly. Ian's point was that in switzerland, they reckon its easier to win world champs medals in orienteering as all you need is a forest, where as athletics athletes needed lots of facilities, where as you can clearly become a road runner by doing sessions from your front door.
to a point, the article is correct though. to compete at these sports, (even at grass roots level, or for practise), you need:
for orienteering- a forest /maps- there's lots, low cost
for athletics- equipment/track, (expensive facilities!)
which is exactly what the above quote states. Ians point was irony. though the article says you need facilities, you can clearly train for track events from your front door, where as you have to travel/run to a forest.
Pictures are better than words because sometimes words are big and hard to understand.
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Mr. Furness - light green
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sgb wrote:There are very few places where one can train well from the doorstep.
With respect to straight running not orienteering, what complete and utter rubbish. Over the last twenty plus years I've trained on a regular basis from doorsteps and hotels throughout the UK and beyond, including most of the major UK city centres. All it needs is some imagination and a good pair of shoes. Worrying about facilities for a runner is just making excuses not to train.
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thats because i think sgb was talking about orienteering training, but i don't know why because that wasn't what ian w had suggested anyway.
Pictures are better than words because sometimes words are big and hard to understand.
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Mr. Furness - light green
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mharky wrote:likewise, cycling on roads from your doorstep won't make you a good mountain biker.
True but a top mountain biker (XC at any rate) will do a massive chunk of their training on roads. I don't think it comes across to O quite as much but if you want to concentrate on aerobic sessions then terrain gets in the way. You obviously need terrain sessions to build skill and strength for terrain be it bikes or running but tarmac has its uses. Personally it's good for giving me shin splints...
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FatBoy - addict
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Verges provide a sort of substitute if worst comes to the worst. I'm fairly certain I remember Heather Monro telling a Lakeside junior training camp that was how she tackled the lack of terrain for physical training when in Cambridge (still flat though!).
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awk - god
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