Trial and Error

The WOC official training camp started on Saturday with a regional middle distance race. The Israeli team arrived with 14 other national teams to experience and train on the World Championship terrain and maps.
The Israeli team met on Friday at Lyon airport. Pavel Gvozdev came from Russia, Eran Segal from Finland, Guy Sabo and I from Israel. The next day we dived into the cold water of French orienteering with the middle distance race. Pavel and Eran excelled with results of 32:30 and 34:52 (winning time 28:08). If allowed to use the previous metaphor again, I almost drowned. Everything I did was accidental; I wasn't sure what to orienteer by, and I was making very basic mistakes. This is obvious from control 1. My aim was to run on the contour line to the control, but as you can see my route had no resemblance to this plan.
Map: middle distance


This leg is probably the best depiction of my state of mind, since all the rest could be explained (in some ways) by the leg-breaking terrain. This leg only needed basic orienteering skills and I wasn't even using them.
We had no time to rest or slowly understand the area, since the French Long Distance Championships was a day later on Sunday. Pavel Gvozdev did very well (123 minutes) and Eran managed to finish, which was also an accomplishment today. I felt much better than yesterday. I made some mistakes on the way to control 1 and 2 but it was me making the mistakes and not mistakes made by accidental running. I was the first one in the forest, me and the dears, which was quite nice, except for opening up the paths in the thick French forest. I still lost time on many controls but besides for controls 2 and 9 that were results of misreading the map, I was feeling good. Everything ended at control 12. I lost my way to the control and I still don't know where I got to. I reached a big path after the control which I don't see on the map. I tried relocating, but by that time I was completely out. After an hour and 25 minutes, not finding control 12 sent me a message that I should cut back to the finish. I collected a few more controls on the way back for exercise.

Map: Long distance


It's sad to end a race in the middle, but I still have a whole week ahead of me to regain confidence and build up the stamina needed for running in the French thicket.
In general, the French terrain is beautiful, very demanding physically and orienteering-wise. We described this terrain as a mixture of detailed relief, thick forest, leg-breaking stony ground and steep contours. Running on the terrain is almost an impossibility, but orienteering correctly is possible. Hopefully, by the time we end this week, I'll feel more comfortable with the area.

3 Weeks ago we (my wife, my 1 year old daughter, me and 48 other Israelis) participated in a training camp in the Czech Republic. The camp was structured around our stay and included a 3 day competition "Hana Easter". The most important thing about this week was the great atmosphere (the practices were a bonus).
In this post I include all the training maps prior to the competition.

Map: First training- Simple session (straight off the plane)


Map: Second training- Running by the order of controls

Map: Third training- Messed up controls 3 and 4. The first stupidly trying to detour the climb and the second misreading an erosion gully as a contour line.

Map: Fourth training- couldn't find control 41 (The area wasn't mapped well).

Map: Fifth training- Good and fast to end the training part of the week.

Map: Reches Hatotachim (first leg)
Map: Reches Hatotachim (second leg)
Map: Reches Hatotachim (third leg)


Mapmaker: Z.Liscinsky P.Matula
Year: 2006
Pace: 3.30-10.00


I had just read an interesting article on general sports (Golf, Soccer and Basketball) that discussed the topic of mental blocks. I think I might be suffering from that exact symptom as head to head individual relays go. This was my second individual relay training in the past 4 weeks and I lost my head again on the first leg (my first time can be seen at this link. This time I was leading the way to control 5 and then had two catastrophic mistakes which made me lose 4 minutes. Control 5 can be explained by misreading the control description (A knoll was in fact a pile of stones) but my major mistake was on the way to control 6. I was so eager to correct my ways that I stormed down the hill only to find myself way to the west.
Control 2 in the next leg was also a mistake created by my eagerness to close down on the runner before me. Only once I relaxed (from control 3 of the second leg to the end of the third) I managed to take 3 minutes off the clock.
In sports psychology there's a phenomenon called "instant Amnesia" that allows the sportsman to forget his last mistake (or success) and pull out his best performance at every moment. This was spoken about Tiger Woods, but the same applies here. Mistakes can happen when we dwell in our mistakes, when we dwell in our success, when we are broken down and when we are in the lead. Some say that it's best to be second coming into the final bend without the pressure of being first, but that's exactly the same problem I just described.
Solving the problem shouldn’t be by trying to be second, but by focusing again and again and again, no matter what happened before. "Instant Amnesia", that's the trick.

Map: Samara
Mapmaker: Daniel Griff
Year: 2010
Pace: 3.30-10.00


This competition was held as part of the high school league in Israel. The controls were all placed extremely close to paths but there are some interesting route-choices, which I would like to discuss.
In my last post I wrote about the one aspect that I don't like about orienteering, this time I will focus on one of my favorite aspects of the sport, the fact that optimal route choices are almost never to be found. The optimal choice is always dependent on the runner; It’s about picking the correct route for yourself. An orienteer has to know his strong points and weak points. A fast runner should try and avoid bushes and delicate paths and on the other hand a mediocre runner but strong orienteer might prefer the short route through delicate paths. Same might be said about contour running versus hill climbing.
The terrain of Samara is mainly sandy dunes and low vegetation. The three controls which posed a question of route choices were controls 6, 8 and 10. Control 6 raises the question on whether one should cut across the vegetation or climb on a sandy road. In retrospect it might have been better to try and climb higher (not on the path) and avoid the zigzags in the green. Perhaps my path would have worked out if I were slightly more aggressive today (a major factor while running through bushes). Like I said, an optimal choice is dependent on the runner. I should have noticed my unwillingness to get "dirty" and avoid it if possible.
Control 8- I was too impatient and just ran. My choice was based on a general direction and not a clear path. This might have worked if I were in the right direction. What I should have done was the same thing but focus east. My aim should have been the great depression west of the control or even the path in the north. This wasn't a good terrain to "just pass through". A green terrain has an ability to drag you further and further away from your destination.
Control 10- I should have used my compass better. The light forest (semi-open) between controls 9 and 10 wasn't clear and I ran to reach the road. But even this choice (which wasn't bad in itself) should have been done better. I decided to ignore the objects on the way (a clever move when the control is located in an easy spot) but never took the correct bearing to my destination.
In conclusion- I tried to avoid sandy climbs in control 6 but got thorns and greenery struggles instead. I tried to avoid delicate orienteering in control 8 but deviated greatly from my control. I tried to avoid unclear terrain but detoured too greatly. The reasons for my decisions were good but the execution was poor. The choices would have been different for other runners but once the choice is made, what’s most important is doing it appropriately and not sloppy.

I'm not in full shape at all, but I can finally run (which is a big plus).
Yesterday I went to an orienteering practice at:
Map: Moshav Ben Shemen
Year: 2009
Mapmaker: Daniel Griff
Pace: 3.30-10.00

The map was path-less and the terrain was mostly good for running. My aim was to create a flow but I wasn't very pleased with the results. It doesn't show on the GPS but I was too slow to leave the controls, too hesitant on my way (controls 2,3,6,9 and 10) and too sloppy at the controls (1,2,9,13 and 14).

Today's race was much easier and was good for re-adjusting my running speed and my map reading skills while running.
Map: Park hayarkon
Year: 2009
Mapmaker: many but updated last Zef Segal
Pace: 3.22-5.50


The pace was fierce (it felt good to feel the legs move properly) and I slowed down from the middle of the course by about 10-15 seconds/km. A fast course is fun as training for speed and no-oxygen-orienteering. I was debating throughout the course over the following legs: 4-5 (straight or around the hill), 9-10 (left or right- I think I chose wrongly), 10-11 (left or right of the second complex) and 12-13 (left or right). When running as fast as you can, questions seem to get harder than when looking at the map, but I think I answered wisely.
I have three more weeks to shape up physically and mentally for the Israeli championships. Next on my to-do list is getting my rythem and flow back in order.