Running on Volcanoes

Have had a pretty good weekend, not too hard :)

Took Fridays training as an easy day as I needed that bit of recovery for my body. Saturday was the usual drills and circuit training in the morning, then in the afternoon, Duncan and I went for a bit of a cruise around the streets and Mt Eden.
On Friday night, Rassmus and I planned my training for the next few weeks leading up to JWOC. It looks really well structured as I think that is what I need. Since I have no classes after next week, I am able to do some easy 45min runs in the morning as well as my training in the afternoons. My intervals will be a bit shorter and hopefully a bit quicker, ie. I usually do 6x1km reps, now I will do about 4, but at a slightly higher or same intensity.
Have tried to study a bit this weekend as I have a test next week, although managed to do a 90min run today with Duncan.
We took it easy as we both want to do respectable times in the 5km race on Tuesday night. As we were about to head out the door, I realised it was such a nice Autumn day! I suggested that we take a camera so we can capture the sites of where we run most days. So here are a few photos and a video of our run today. Sometimes better than words! ;)

Sorry about the wind noises and the crazy sunlight :)

After our long run, I sculled back some Raisey's, and did a bit of stretching as my calves were a tad tight today. Overall a nice easy weekend :)
Very much looking forward to next weekend. 3 long distances, a sprint and a 2 person elite relay all in 3 days!! Very excited!! :D

Oh and I am going to leave you with this awesome as Nike add! I am not sponsored by them, but I think it is pretty wicked! :)

Training + Study

So I have decided that both of these 2 activities do not mix so well. Over the past week I have had some really good training sessions and also had a butt load of uni work to complete...

Saturday started with the usual training session of 8am drills, strides and the 'killer circuit' with Mike. Felt pretty tired from a busy week, but was such a sunny morning that it almost made me feel really good :)
The drills and running techniques are very important to me at the moment. As I am improving with my running speed, I want to ensure that I am training my muscles to run in the most efficient way. Although my running style is not the greatest, I believe that it is slowly improving with the help of these drills! After the technique training, we apply all of what we have practiced into strides. It is really hard to concentrate on everything we have to think about, but once you start running it feels pretty awesome!
The 'killer circuit' training is next. Duncan and I went together again this week. We had 2 minutes at each station...altogether it is a 40min workout. We found all of the cardio workouts were really tiring today, but was a good contrast with all the weights and core exercises. Later in the afternoon I had to pick up Amber from the Airport as she is back home (Hawkes Bay) for good now! :) We went for a nice cruisey hour run up Mt Eden and around the Domain a few times...was good to run with her again.

About 20min into the 90min rogaine

Sunday was the final of the NWOC Rogaine series. It was all the way out at Slater Road which is quite a steep map, so I knew it would be good training for Poland :) Results are shown here. I won the Open Women's grade and won the whole series overall and claimed the $100 prize! My route is shown on route gadget here. It was a tough rogaine as I had no idea what order to get the controls in...I think if my route was a bit better, I could have come very close to getting them all! Thoroughly enjoyed this series as it gave me the chance to get a decent run in each Sunday it was on whilst making me read my map at the same time too! Next Orienteering event is at Queens Birthday Weekend in 2 weeks! I am competing for the New Zealand Pinestars as we have a test match against the Australian elites.

Tired at the end of the Rogaine

Winners of the day

Sunday night consisted of staying up till 2am trying to finish an Environmental Science Project report. I was so tired I just had to get some sleep even though I hadn't finished.. I got up at 7am to finish it off to hand it in at Uni at about midday. I was extremely tired and was contemplating not even training as I didn't think it would be very beneficial at all, but I decided I will just try to do Hill Tempo. I managed to feel pretty good on the warm up, so wasn't too worried. I felt so strong on the tempo! It was kind of weird and crazy?!? So I just pushed! Towards the end I was really feeling quite tired, but it was good. I managed to do a PB on this hill loop! I did 26min, a whole 1min faster than I have ever done it before.

Hill Tempo on Mt Eden, I do 3 laps.

Tuesday was still an interval day in my mind, so I decided to get Jaime and Anna to join me for 6x1km around the road in the domain. I was really feeling the effects from no sleep! My first interval was 3.34min which is good for me, although towards the end some were getting up to 3.50min :S ...I wasn't so happy about this, but I knew why I just couldn't push. Jaime stopped at 4 because her back was a bit sore, then joined in on the last one. Anna did all 6 with me. Was a good session especially because we actually did the whole 1km as I was borrowing Duncan's Garmin watch, although I just wish I felt a bit better.
Cruisey day Wednesday and had Physio too.
Thursday was time for some more intervals!! My legs have been feeling rather sore and tired from all this speed recently, so I just tried to see how it will be. We did 10x400m. They were good, although my shins were getting really tight about half way through...managed to do them all, although I will definitely take it easy on Friday for sure!!
I have finally finished all of my assignments and Labs now! weaaayyy!! But I do have a test next week and 3 exams after that :S but that is all!
This weekend is a study weekend with some easyish trainings as I am planning on doing a 5km time trial on Tuesday evening. My goal is to go under 18.30min, but we shall see...have to get a lot more sleep if I want to achieve this goal! Will keep everyone updated!
I have been looking at the results from the World Schools Orienteering Championships in Italy as my Dad is over there coaching the NGHS and NBHS team. They have been doing awesome! Very proud of our NZers :)
Rassmus is currently on a training camp with the National Swedish team in France, and it looks amazing! The photos and maps look so awesome! I wish I could be training there right now...

Lovely Polish terrain!

I was looking over all the maps, results and photos from the Baltic Cup which was held in Poland over the weekend. It looks pretty fun and really fast! No room for mistakes as it will cost you a lot of unwanted time! The Swedish team were selected over these races, and it looks like a very strong team! Can't wait to race against them and kick some arse! ;) hehe


P.S. 26 days till I fly out!!! :D

Posting for the first time

Hey everyone!
I see blogs are the new trend, so...I decided to make one for myself! This blog will include postings of my training progress and in general what I get up to. 
I am currently in my 3rd year of study at the University of Auckland and am aiming to finish my Bachelor of Science degree in June 2012. At the moment I am training for the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Poland during July. I fly over straight after my last exam on the 22nd of June at 10:05pm. Although we only have 9 days to recover from jet-lag, I will still ensure that I have the right preparation in order for me to perform at my highest level in Orienteering. My goals for JWOC this year are to:
-make the A-final in the middle distance and place in the top 25.
-top 25 in the sprint.
-top 15 in the long.
-podium in the relay.

Sprint Podium W20, National Orienteering Championships 2011.

The ultimate goal would be to get on the podium in any of these races. I know that I can achieve this ultimate goal regarding my recent performances at the New Zealand National Championships in April. Winning both the Middle distance and the Sprint distance in W20 elite gave me that confidence boost in which I have been seeking for for the past few years! My motivation is high and my strength to push harder in training is definitely working at the moment. Not only winning W20 at nationals in the sprint, I was also able to beat all of the W21E grade. This boosted my motivation even higher than it was before! I know now that I can really do it, and can definitely achieve my goals I have had in place for JWOC easily. 
I am sponsored by Raisy's Orginal Sports Nutrition who help me on my way to achieving my goals at JWOC this year.

Raisey's Original

Last year was definitely not a good year for me. First off I decided to take 3 papers in semester 1 instead of the usual 4 papers so I could focus a bit more on my training as my goal was to do really well at JWOC in Denmark. Unfortunately, my races were terrible and it definitely showed on the results board. I felt rather tired when I was racing definitely not 100% at all! It felt like all my preparation had just gone out the window. I went on to run at the World University Orienteering Championships in Sweden, and then O-Ringen. Both of these competitions also reflected how my form was not quite there. Even though I was sorely disappointed with my entire Europe trip in 2010, I guess I did gain experience on racing and how I can improve. 
I also had another highlight to my trip which was meeting a very nice young Swedish gentlemen who helped me see the positive things about my trip. Rassmus and I got to know each other throughout my trip through Denmark and Sweden. He then followed me back to New Zealand in September to train and enjoy the New Zealand summer till April this year. 
Soon after I arrived back in New Zealand at the start of August, I became very ill and was shortly diagnosed with Glandular Fever. This was a major set back for me, as I was very motivated from my Europe ordeal and wanted to just train and train. I had a few months off not doing any exercise at all,  and missed weeks of uni. It was hard to stay positive and I was always feeling a little depressed. Once I was on the way to recovery, I decided to take it easy and just start again with building up my training. I was unbelievably unfit and found it so hard to even go out for a small easy run, but I stuck to it and just tried to get back to where I was before I got sick. I have Rassmus to thank for my positive attitude in getting fit and fast again. He helped me and even ran with me (i was painfully slow!) to ensure I felt good about myself once again. 
I could go on for ages about my eventful year, but it is more important to talk about the present and what to look forward to in the future. 

Leading the Middle Distance at Nationals 2011

Over summer I managed to build up a pretty big base for my training. Over the past few months I have been sustaining this strength whilst adding a lot of speed work into it. In Auckland we have an awesome group of athletes in which we do interval sessions and hill tempos together to make sure we push harder in every training. As I advance towards JWOC, my speed sessions will become shorter in time and larger in quantity to ensure my speed is there for racing hard in Poland. 
Since I have been training more effectively and efficiently, it has remarkably been seen throughout some of my results. In the end of February, I managed to win Course 5 at the Kaweka Challenge in the open woman grade. This race is the highest mountain race in New Zealand, which definitely reflected how my base and strength training had paid off. Earlier this month I ran the O'Hagens pub 5km series. The conditions were not ideal as the ground was wet, it was very windy and it was very dark. I had no idea of how well I could go. I had not really run a 5km race since the previous year in May. I managed to do a time of 18.42min which is a personal best for me by about 1min or so. I was extremely happy with this time and it gave me a huge motivational boost to better it next time I do it before I go to JWOC.
As this post gives you a summary of my life in the past few years, I will now keep you updated with a post on everything I get up to.
Hope you enjoy reading about my progress through my sport and feel free to make any comments :)