Orienteering Hype

The fitness hype carried on as whilst I was home I went to Wiltshire Councils Sports Award Evening (Link to Wiltshire Page), which I was invited to as I received a grant for a grand from Wiltshire, which I had applied to on the spur of the moment, just thinking, they can only say no! It was a great evening, with a SEVEN COURSE MEAL ahaha, black tie (took my little brother with me as my guest) and radio interviews and shit loads of photos!! I LOVED IT! I managed to cram my face with food -never turning down the appetizers whilst getting to know the people on my table, who worked at M.J.Church an Event Waste Management company donating funding for the grants! The next day I was listening to the radio for about two hours waiting for my interview to come on (on BBC Wiltshire)...which yes I recorded. The event also got into the local newspaper and for an evening in my life I actually felt like orienteering was getting the respect I wanted it to have!

When I got back to university after this I attended my college sports presentation evening. I was sat on the women's football table which was awesome - we were very loud, asked to be quiet a few times ;) but we won the team of the year award!!! Only conceiving three goals in the whole season! And also I won a surprise award of the colleges Highest Achiever which was so unexpected but I was thrilled :D

I was also emailed in this week, congratulating me that I'd been awarded TeamDurhams Athlete of the Week!! And was asked to go into the sports union for a TV interview which can be viewed here :LINK TO ATHLETE OF THE WEEK INTERVIEW. Absolutely over the moon! Was feeling pretty famous then ;) hahaha

The last awesome thing to happen over march as that I was asked to be the motivational speaker at Durham High School for Girls Sports Presentation Evening. The previous day I ran up to the school to meet the head of PE who was a complete sweetheart and organising the evening the next day! It reminded me of when I was back at school, an although a little nervous before delivered a 15 minute speech about school sports, balancing orienteering and work and the troubles trying to be a sportswomen at school when being a sweaty, dirty mess wasn't exactly a trend setter. Afterwards I got to award the prizes and many teachers and parents congratulated me saying my speech, 'Came from the heart'. It was a great experience speaking in front of over 300 people and actually being able to make them laugh with my witty humour ;) 

SECOND VO2MAX!

See, you can just tell by the title that this one went better ;). Haaa, so this testing was the follow up from the testing before in September to see whether my trainings been good and paid off. Again I was not optimistic going into it but I was happier and more secure that even if I didn't have it down on paper, shown in a nice graph that I wasn't built to run or hadn't 'improved' I could still be fit and good enough at orienteering to be the best.

Again my weight had gone up....coaches can think what they like and put it down to fat, but I was stronger and to me it felt like muscle mass. My dad always says if you lose too much weight you begin getting weak, ill and injured which is true and over the winter I hadn't been ill of injured once! HAAAA. So I am chunky and strong but if that means I am better than the thin, model looking weaklings I don't think I'm going to complain when their bodies break and mine don't. ANYWAY enough bitterness, the testing went okay, don't really know, didn't really care that much!!

Afterwards I didn't dwell on it, was far too busy with university work and sorting out my life that I didn't think twice about it until the results came through a few weeks later.

By that time I had already been home and run in a 5km road race that I used to do when I was still at home every month. Since I'd started doing these my life goal was to get sub-20 and although on this particular time my legs were sore from squatting the day before I actually got this!! The course was 50m too short which is soooo frustrating working out from the pace I was running I still would have managed sub-20!! My best before this was 20.19 so I had taken a massive chunk off.

This was literally just what I needed and secured in my head that my training was going well, I was good and on track even if I had out on weight and I couldn't do vO2 max tests :P

BUCS 2014

BUCS 2014

Saturday morning, after finding the Durham minibus and dumping my bag with dirty kit from Portugal I had some hours to cover everyone in purple colours for Durham and get ready for my race. I was feeling incredible unenthused after my week of quality training, just wishing to be back in Portugal with Lillomarka.

Florence, who has a slow recovering stress fracture in her foot came to support with her crutches seeing as she lives practically on the area.

As expected I was really tired from my previous weeks training but I persevered even though the start was aalllll up-hill! After flying past control two and having to double back I quickly got in the flow of things and felt good until the last loop which took us back up the hill...at the top of the moor the last stretch was back down wooooh!! Which I absolutely loved! bombed it down and came back in first waiting for Charlotte who started 4minutes after me. She came in pretty close to four minutes after and got the splits back found she’d taken the lead by two seconds.

Aine, also in Durham did extremely well meaning the girls managed to collate a fair amount of points, in the boys we did not do as well with our best man: Peter coming in 8 minutes down. The head of sport at Durham also came to watch the race, or came to support as you can't really watch it adding a bit of pressure! It was a bit frustrating then that we hadn't done a bit better but we put the races behind us and looked forward to the social and relay the following day.

We stayed on the floor of a sports hall and the social was a typical mess with people still wandering in from the clubs after three. Therefore the night sleep wasn't at all the best preparation but everyone was in the same boat. The boys, started first, which always annoys me as the girls then have less people to cheer them on -_-. After probably the worst warm up ever (at least I attempted one!) we got ready to race with myself, Kirstin and Lucy Haines (Florence's little sister who is absolutely rapid!!) took the lead.

I came back in second place, (the relay courses were pretty gaffled) I had the medium distance one, handing over to Aine and then Katherine Bett. We finished in fourth, just outside the podium but I absolutely loved the race. It was so much fun and so so fast which I loved! Overall Durham came fifth which I was pretty disappointed with as we had come 3rd the year before...but we will just have train harder and boss it next year. 

PORTUGAL!!!

The year before I had travelled to Portugal with the GB squad for an orienteering event which was good but not amazing. This year however I went with Lillomarka and I had so so much fun!! I travelled down to Stansted with Kris Jones and Joe Woodley as the flights from here were a lot cheaper. We arrived into Lisbon, and  after a bit or issues with the car hire we travelled to our accommodation which even though asked by many people where abouts in Portugal I went I am still not too sure....Coruche maybe...no clue. Very bad I know.

Anyway, next day we were up bright and early for training. Travelled twenty minutes tops and arrived at this beaut area- open, sandy forests. We had some long training there which was lovely as a warm up back into orienteering and IT WAS HOT!!!!  Although the terrain was lush, for the first couple of trainings I was feeling pretty lethargic but after the rest of the team arrived and we did some faster relay training I felt a bit more like a runner and not just a little troll bashing through the woods. So I just bumbled around the course, already feeling tired but just from the travel the day before. 

So anyway training carried on being awesome, racking up some great distances in the mileage ;), I was in a room with Helen and Rina  who was joining us even though not part of Lillomarka and was just getting back into training after breaking her coxikz - I know this spelling is poor but I feel phonetically it is ideal.  That evening we had some 'bonding' where Helen and myself quickly made a game up which actually didn't turn out to be that much of a fail with us having to get into partners and tell the other as much about ourselves before the group gets to test the opponent, asking any question they like. I was paired with Helmut who had a memory like a sieve- typical boy really ;)- answering the easiest question (given to us possibly out of pity as we were losing badly) of 'How many siblings does Lucy have?" incorrectly too.  COMPLETE RETARD

Whilst at this accomodation, Helen decided she’d found me a perfect man who had a 'Cute smile' and worked at the place where we ate - not sure if I can call it a restaurant? However we never talked so those dreams quickly faded ;)

THE MOON!!

We trained in Evora for a sprint- turned out to be more like a bloody urban race but it was decent to get some fast threshold training in :) took us a while to find a supermarket, Gaute took us for a drive right around the whole town before. We also did some sick ass training on the moon...and it was Joe’s birthday, however this was near the end of the week so it was more of a training walk for me. Very rocky and I didn't want to injure myself. The other training we did included some relay stuff which was AWESOME! The first relay area was a nightmare though and my legs go so scratched up...i fell in multiple piles of brambles, but the following relay training was sick. 

Relay training

Birthday Cake

In between trainings I was working and we seemed to spend a lot of time in supermarket car parks - mostly eating rice crackers with chocolate on which I was told was cancelling out the goodness of the rice crackers or trying to learn Norwegian from Ingvild! Pretty soon it was time to fly back for BUCS orienteering but not after a birthday celebration for Joe and myself with some interesting party games AND CAKE! The way home was pretty traumatic with Kris having to go to the hospital at 5am but me and joe managed to make it in time for our flight...in my birthday -14hours of travelling was NOT FUN but it was helped with copious amounts of chocolate and a chocolate cake meeting me at Florence's house when I got to Ilkley <3

Chilling in the Car Park

Some Yoga after training...

WOC 2014 Training

Not really too sure what I was expecting for this camp in Scotland as it was my first orienteering since JEC- which did not go well.  I was focusing on getting the 'enjoyment' of orienteering back and trying real hard not to focus on the result which let's be honest is what everyone/anyone actually cares about. ANYWAY had a great accommodation in Dolphin bay suites, sharing with Helen and Charlotte, my Lillomarka budddiiieeesss :D

After the initial reminder of GB squad meetings and presentations, the training was awesome and I loved training in the mornings and having the afternoon to sleep and do training later- I literally could have lived how I lived in Scotland - sleep, eat, train, eat sleep, train, eat sleep. I also managed to cram in some university work!

Training was alright, wasn't feeling as fast as I wanted but everything was working and I was enjoying the fact it was training so I wasn’t getting wrapped up into the whole  competitive side- none the less I was still wanting to race everyone and obvs win, unfortunately when we first did some head to head relay stuff Charlotte twisted her ankle putting her out for the rest of the week :/

The weather stayed bright and I went to Rosalie - undebatably MY FAVOURITE PLACE TO ORIENTEER! It is unbelievably sexy...fast forested sand dune with technical parts too :) so I flew around some training there which was just what I wanted! We did a fair amount of WOC relevant training too which was a bit tougher than Rosalie showing the weaknesses in my strength but good for my body to get back into terrain running - which was tough at the beginning of the week!!

Me and Helen cemented our relationships with lots of Singing- including Bonnie Tyler and Brave ;) the GB boys chat was of an exceedingly high standard as per...press-ups given out to any shit stories. Ralph got hold of my camera at some stage in the week...and i feel he has brought it upon himself for this photo to be shown online ;)

At the end of the week we were asked to fill in questionnaires on the week, this is difficult for me...I DONT KNOW HOW I ORIENTEER I JUST DO. One of the questions which caused a fair amount if abuse was 'what will I do differently do become excellent’. Having full confidence in what I'm doing and where I am going with it I simply said: ‘Nothing, I am on route to excellence.’ The boys thought I was being lazy and that this meant I was not striving to constantly improve...I took it merely as I am happy with what I am doing and the need to change it would mean I am not happy with it.

Me being cocky...

My one to one with Pippa was also interesting with my goals and aims for the years performance based although knowing this wasn't was I was 'suppose' to be aiming for i decided we should stop beating around the bush and just admit that EVERYONE WANTS TO WIN. That's why we are in the squad, that's why we are training, that's why I miss parties, that's why I've given up drinking...not to have fun. To win. Makes sense to me.

Finding everything a bit tough...

Being in the development squad for orienteering means that I get subsidised physiological testing at Manchester university. So on the 18th of September I had my 5th VO2 max test. I stayed overnight before the testing with Will and as ever had a pessimistic view on the whole thing. It's not that I didn't like them, I am perfectly happy doing the testing if only my body did what I was training it to do- show improvement. Although I know my training had been reduced after JWOC, I was still training more cross-training instead.

So anyway I got drawn on, measured and pinched, blood taken from my fingers before I finally started running on the treadmill. The test as per went pretty awful, starting the test at a lower pace than previous ones and finding it difficult and challenging even at paces I knew I could run comfortably in the forest. At the end of the test I was feeling pretty neutral knowing that it wasn't incredible but then I wasn't expecting it to be. Only after speaking with the coach did I begin to get really frustrated with the whole thing as everything had got worse. I'd put on weight, lactate threshold was very lower, I accumulated lots of lactic acid quickly, HR was sky high and my VO2 max had got worse.

Although being told not to compare with other people, I obviously did as I knew that the coaches would be doing it, deciding it hypocritical to tell me not to. Instead they said I should just compare it with myself. So I did. This was even worse as I fished out my previous results, comparing them and realising I had become worse at running than I had been 3 years ago? Not understanding my body, feeling fed up with training, especially after the disappointment of JWOC I seriously considering throwing in the towel as it was pretty clear in that instance I just wasn't enjoying it. The results weren't there, the explanations weren't there and I realised I wanted to live my life as a normal teenager at university instead of training and committing to something that I wasn't getting the rewards from.

For the following month, before I started back at university, my head was neither here nor there with orienteering. I was still training as it seemed I would get more depressed about not training but then I was confused about what I was training for. I was also getting obsessive with the fact I'd put on weight, never really being completely happy with my body and this just securing the fact that my body wasn't optimum. This messed with my head even more as I got my priorities of what was healthy mucked up, eating little and then binging and then feeling so bad and guilty and it was just feeding into a negative cycle.

My mum told me to get a new focus, away from orienteering...so I did some swimming and entered a triathlon! Although it was a super super short sprint one or something I was still excited for it, entering with my work buddy and old primary school friend, Emma Chambers. We had to get up really really early as it started at like 6 down in Boscombe! My brothers and dad came along to support which was so lovely, not expecting it at all! The swim, definitely my most hated part was a 300m swim in open water around some buoys and back to the shore. I felt stupid at the start, not having a proper wetsuit so using one that we used as kids when we went to Cornwall which had brightly coloured stripes and made me, quite frankly, look like a whale, we also had to wear bright orange swimming hats adding to the 'joke' look I had going on. So the swim...was horrifically traumatic, I got kicked in the face about 10 times, swallowed a gallon of water and couldn't for the life of me swim in a straight line as I could never lift my head high enough out of the waves to see where I was supposed to go! At one point, after finally getting into some sort of rhythm I lifted my head to realise I was swimming in a 90degree error to everyone else! Complete fail. Anyway, coming out of the water, I made a quick transition and was soon on my bike :) the bike and run ran smoothly and I pulled up loads of places. However I had shorts on, and after the water and the size of my thighs led to extreme chaffing and to this day I still have scars on my legs from it!

In conclusion, it was a pretty fun experience, only wishing the run and cycle was a bit longer but to get triathlons with that the swim also gets longer which I don't think I can handle!

I then headed back to Durham the following week where I had decided, after support from my parents to do whatever made me happy. As it was my last year junior, I knew it would make me happy to win (obviously) so I was decided to give it a go...give up (and yes it feels like that) another year of my life to get what I've wanted and been training for all this time. 

NORWAY - NightHawk

Not really too sure what I was expecting from this trip…first orienteering after JWOC and I still wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy it again/wanted to be doing it. Hahaha had a complete mare getting to the airport, waking up at 5 getting tom to give me a lift to Southampton train station cept we couldn’t find Southampton Airport Parkway…went to Southampton Central instead. Then we couldn’t get out of Southampton quick enough, so tried to chase the train down to Basingstoke but failed so Tom ended up taking me all the way to London Gatwick :S WHUPPSS…the rest of journey went smoothly and the plane to Oslo was A MASSIVE one!! With nine seats to a row and TV’s and everything!! Never ever been on one like that before J

Landed in Oslo and got the train to  Lillestrom where I was staying with Matt and Elin. That evening there was Lillomarka training in an area similar to that of NightHawk (Il Tyrving), so ran on that along with some other clubs J That was good fun, terrain pretty similar to some parts of the lakedistrict/scotland and by the second loop I’d got the hang of it J watched a bit of Sherlock that evening with Norwegian subtitles, helping me learn some more of the language before bed. The next day I had the house to myself as Matt and Elin both had work, went for a run on a local area (Skjettenkollen) which was ridiculous that there are areas so close!! Literally nothing like that here in England, and if we do the areas are a pile of crap and not worth going to! I came back from that and then moved into a different part of Oslo to stay with Ingvild and her family J In the evening we watched some TV series ;) and took their dog for a walk – again around a local area which was gorgeous!! And then before bed had oh my gosh BROWN CHEESE! Which I love…miss it so much :L The following day (Friday) was the first day of nighthawk but it wasn’t until the evening so I went for a little cycle ride around the area we walked around before and having been used to road bikes, was not used to a mountain bike and how hard it gets on the up hill :L Showered and chilled out in the day…also had compulsory ice cream to help with Ingvilds sore throat ;) In the evening we made pizzas…which I failed pretty badly at, couldn’t make the base work. It just stuck to everything!! Stupid thing! They turned out pretty yummy and then Ingvild worked her magic on my hair..doing some crazy ass braiding before Siri picked me up for the race that evening.

PIZZAAA :D

Hair braidingg..

It was the first Nighthawk Event and I was running in both the night and day in a 5 man relay with a twist. The night part was a massive mass start with three runners from each team all starting together with their times added up…giving an overall time which then set apart the teams for the chasing start the next day.

The race itself was 4.7km in the dark – so I had a headtorch and the area was SO WET and muddy! I fell over loads and in the Lillomarka relay white suit it didn’t go down well! At one point I was wading around in this river trying to find the edge again without getting stuck in mud and marsh! It went well, really enjoyed it, especially in the parts where you could pick up the pace a bit instead of battling the green and crawling around on the floor. As a team we had done pretty well and headed off home after the race, looking and probably smelling like a drowned rat :P The next day I was the middle leg runner and we were racing on the same area as the day before. Siri had done well pulling up a couple of places which I basically lost again as soon as I left :P it was at control 3. I was basically there and then had a sudden lack in confidence convincing myself I was completely lost and had run in the wrong direction so then ran 90degress wrong before realising I was a fool and running back to the control. 

Event Area

The rest of the course was pretty solid except I was so so tired from the race the night before as well. After Linn had run and finished we ended up 4^th which I thought was pretty good :D and we won a waterbottle woooohhh, which I think they were handing out for free afterwards anyway -_-. The winners got running shoes!!! I was very jealous :P That evening I went to Nightflash where we ate the winners pig :P and there were challenges for groups to do, while everyone was drinking :L pretty amusing but I was knackered and happy when I got to bed!

Andrine and Vidar picked me up the next morning and we travelled to Rauland where there was a camp for juniors in areas similar to JWOC 2015 (which I will be too old for but decided it would be good quality training to do anyway!).