Orienteering-Being the Best

[Lard]

Ida Bobach - well said!

"I struggled on my first senior years, I focused too much on running. Orienteering is in the end about orienteering"

[buzz]

It is indeed a balance. Physical conditioning is very important but it is much easier to resource and manage than other aspects of orienteering training which are all too easy to neglect.

[plain lazy]

It is indeed a balance. Physical conditioning is very important but it is much easier to resource and manage than other aspects of orienteering training which are all too easy to neglect.

I could do the navigation, but I could never (still struggle) get the management of my physical training sorted out to the point where I was able to navigate well, and at speed, and maintain it over a 75min race. I guess that's what sets some folk apart from the rest.

[Kitch]

You do have to be an exceptional athlete to succeed as Ida has.
what she is saying is that orienteering needs to be understood as the synthesis of running and navigation.

[frog]

Agree Ida is a talented runner as well. I'm with Plain Lazy in hating running training though. I enjoy orienteering but find the running training I need to do to take it seriously incredibly boring. I can happily go out for a 4 hour cycle but more than half an hour of running and I lose the will to live. It's different if I've got something to hunt for every few minutes!

[ifor]

If your doing a proper quality running session it will be too hard to be bored.

[Gross]

It's different if I've got something to hunt for every few minutes!

Ahhhhh.... real technical sporting terminology... never mind 'spiking' the control as a result of good navigational technique

Did someone mention that orienteering was a treasure hunt????

[plain lazy]

I didn't mean the running bit was boring, I meant that the other stuff - the stretching, the core work, circuit classes etc was where I struggled (and still do) to get myself motivated to make that more important in my schedule.
I love the running bit... even in the shittiest of weathers... even on roads (if I have to)

[andy]

As said above it's all about the synergy...

What if those early senior years spent focussing too much on running gave her the base to have the speed now to win medals with a bit more focus on technique?

If you have perfect technique but not the speed to beat others who are making little mistakes, you won't win.

[andypat]

Yep. And sometimes they change the goalposts when you are just getting going. I'd a very interesting conversation with a current elite regarding touch free punching.

I dont have the exact figures but it was along of the lines of prior to touch free punching WOC mens sprint as won in around 3:25 min per k (not straight line)with 3:30 being enough for a medal, WOC 2015 sprint touch free was won in 3:12 per k.

All of a sudden the skill of punching with teh deceleration/acceleration that entails is no longer required but the straight speed you need to be able to produce to win has gone up.

[Big Jon]

Or else this year's WOC sprint course was easier and thus faster running than normal?

[Snail]

Probably similar. I think the time saving with touch-free is something like 2 seconds per control (although it depends on whether you are running straight past or having to stop and turn/reverse, as well as how slick you are with traditional SI/EMIT). With say 20 controls on a 4km course that would mean a faster overall speed of around 10 sec/km - roughly as observed.

[Kitch]

ohhhh, the irony

[greywolf]

WOC 2015 sprint touch free was won in 3:12 per k.

Published course distance of 4.1k was a slight exaggeration - should have been 4.0k, which would makes the winning speed 3:18 per k - faster, but not as dramatically so.

Was also noteworthy that the top ten were all within 14 seconds.

Or else this year's WOC sprint course was easier and thus faster running than normal?

Basically yes: Forres is a pretty straightforward area, most of the athletes were very familiar with the area, and there weren't major new fences put up for race day.

Touch-free punching helped, but its effect was magnified by some very simple control placements: more or less in the middle of the road and visible from a long way off, rather than tucked behind walls - moving a few controls a few meters each could easily have added 15-20s to the winning time.

My understanding is that the planner wanted to make it a bit more difficult (and therefore a bit slower) but was over-ruled by the senior event advisor who wanted to dumb it down as much as possible