Sunday 12 November 2017

2017 ctd.

It's been a while since I was collating my thoughts on here post-JWOC. It feels like a distant memory to me, almost like a grandpa reflecting on his youth, and yet time has skipped by almost unnoticed since the summer. It might be of interest to read about my successes since the summer, but I think the most important thing for me is to put my recent thoughts into writing.

Although JWOC ruined my body, it felt satisfying, like I had given it my all. 

My burnt, bald head, that still feels sensitive when in direct sunlight regardless of how much hair I now have (considerable amounts), was soon coupled with an infection in my knee. I can't be quite sure, but it seems a hungover dip in Tampere lake the morning after the JWOC party was probably the most likely point that something entered my bloodstream. On the journey home, my lower leg was totally swollen. I could barely walk, and I had a fever, so I was put on antibiotics when I visited the doctor the next day in Edinburgh. Those of you who know the city should find humour in that it took me approximately an hour to get from Bristo Square to Waverley to catch my train, so handicapped I was at the time.

A few worry-filled days passed at home in Aberdeen before even painkillers couldn't treat the pain nor the fever. My temperature nipped over 39 and so it was off to the hospital for two nights to get IV antibiotics. I felt mildly out of place and therefore guilty, in that my condition wasn't too bad. At least until the current batch of painkillers wore off and my knee felt like it had twisted itself 90 degrees. The doctors gave me morphine which made me almost pass out, that was fun, and had my x-rayed to ensure there was no bone damage that some thought would explain the inability to put weight on it. However, nothing showed and two days later I just about managed to walk out and take several more days off, enjoying the Aberdeen summer and watching endless movies, before I felt ready to jog again. 
Summer in Aberdeen ft. Mum

By the next week, I was chilling in Lagganlia enjoying some of the Scottish summer with some familiar faces plus enthusiastic 14 year olds. I hobbled round a few courses and tried to share some wisdom, but even walking was still met with substantial pain. The experience was great though and I really enjoyed taking the coaches seat for once. One highlight came from shadowing a pair of upcoming MOR stars round Culbin. Along with the rest of the squad, the potential and dedication I witnessed in these juniors was astonishing. There are certainly big things to come!

The Six Days rolled by and I was gutted to not be able to compete. I hobbled round day 1, jogged some of day 2, and attempted to 'race' around the third, WRE day. My orienteering was as lazy as my racing legs were, and I was relatively disappointed at how much I'd lost in the two weeks since JWOC. The party was as good as ever, day 4 was a quickly decided DNF after a day of parking duties, day 5 went well round a lovely course planned by Andyroo, and finally day 6 was a long, but as ever, awesome experience round Creag Choinnich's delights (save for smashing my compass). 

Creds Laurence Johnston

The next few weeks flew by with some cycling, S6D training kite collecting, a fun 10mile race round Newtonmore almost feeling normal again, and eventually normal training again by the second half of August. I raced Ben Hukins round the Lomonds of Fife hill race - one I've always been keen to try - and was delighted to win. Highlights were seeing Andy fly by in his glider followed by giving myself some very bad bacon descending West Lomond the quickest way (sledging on bare arse).

Lomonds of Fife

Fiina then moved back to Edinburgh and we headed back to Aberdeen together for a week of nice easy running while my knee reacted quite badly to the recent load. My left knee also began tugging due to an obvious imbalance in my running style. I was however, fixed in time for Braemar Highland Games race against a strong field of orienteers (GG, Pooboy, Shminty, Carcas) plus James E. I was second to the top, caught GG who's road shoes couldn't face the downhill too well, was caught my Pete, and then pushed out into 3rd by the end. Still, a good indication that things were in fact better than I was expecting. Fiina raced round to dip under the 45min cutoff as well, was awesome to see.



Back to Edinburgh before heading out to the Senior Home Internationals in Northern Ireland. My orienteering brain switched on and my knee pain switched off to perform well round a tough, but only 45min, individual race and take my third consecutive win. The relays however disappointed a little bit and England ran away with the trophy. It was a nice weekend regardless and fun race in some new areas.

Fresher's week hit and so did a nice little fresher's race up on Arthur's Seat. Enjoyed a slip n slide in my Salomon's and it was a while since I was as cold as I was at the finish in some classic September monsoon. Awesome course though and big respect to Dalkeith flat for setting it up!

That weekend, the last few days before uni began, Fiina and I met my Mum and Brother in Glencoe for the skyrunning weekend. Fiina took a last minute opportunity to race round Ring of Steal, while Oleg grinded round the full skyline on Sunday. Both performed outstandingly simply to manage and finish their races in one piece, and I felt extremely humbled by their efforts. Meanwhile I did a bit of running but mainly chilled out and supported their efforts. Sunday included a walk up Hidden Valley with Fiina and my mum, which exhausted me much more than it should have.

Special shout outs to Tim, Beth and Jacob who all ran insanely well too

Then uni began and all holiday fun was over. Illness came but training continued, and within two weeks it was time for the World Cup Finals in Grindelwald, Switzerland. Although the event holds a big title with high quality, senior competition and some of the finest terrain in the world, my mind wasn't in a state to put much effort into preparations nor enthusiasm. Nevertheless, I flew out with an adventure-orientated coach Oleg and the rest of the team to participate in the Long race on Friday, and the Middle the day after.

The terrain was indeed amazing, and with our pre-start at 2000m altitude, our already high 900m of climb on the course was ever more physically challenging. The technicality was moderate, but not high enough to make it any less a running race, and Kyburz made this clear. I shifted round fairly happy to simply complete this full length long distance (at least for my time) and finished in a comfortable 49th, a few seconds down on a tired Olli and ahead of some good names. 

The Middle went similarly, in that I finished 49th, but the packing was much more severe and 60s of mistakes I could have easily saved would have seen me almost half that position. It was a fun experience with a huge deja-vu to JWOC last year, and I took huge motivation out of the races to continue my orienteering in to the next year. 



The cherry on the cake of the trip however, didn't come until a climb up a glacial valley on the Sunday before our flight home. A huge climb with nothing but mist broke through to easily the most stunning views I have been lucky enough to witness. The Eiger poked up in the background, alongside blue skies, white scapes, and even a brocken spectre against the white mist below. It was quite a site.



By the next weekend, somehow, I was raring to race Pentland Skyline. The conditions were favourable, the competition minimal, and it was a really bliss day racing round the local hills with so many familiar faces encouraging me round, and crucially, an obliging pair of legs. The last few hills were grim as usual, but the gap was big enough to relax a bit and finish in a solo effort of 2:28.


The following weekend was a very special one, and it won't be leaving my head anytime soon. Haries finally willingly sent teams to the FRAs, in Llanberis, North Wales this year. I was on second leg with Jacob in a team of 5 orienteers/6. Jack got us off to a good start, allowing Jacob and I to pick off 4 teams to handover in 4th, with quickest leg time. Ali and Ewan pushed round to gain a place, and Alex completed the relay to give us a Silver medals! With such a young, familiar team, the experience was ever more satisfying, and the weekend was one well spent. 


After a weekend's recovery at home (would have raced but a punctured car tyre in Ballater disallowed anything of the sort), it was a fairly typical winter's weekend of National XC Relays on Saturday (young team of Totton, Cameroni, myself and Carcas finished 6th, 14th fastest time for myself) and Drummond Hill SOL on Sunday (ft. the annual cheeky finish ahead of a tired GG). 



However, the main success of the week was not either of these races and instead the weekly mileage of 166km. This was intentional, as a curiosity to see how I would take it. The results were: obviously very well. However, I was soon feeling it a bit, so I think a step back from this at about 145km is where I'm going to aim for most of winter. I've been keeping this up for quite a while (6 weeks now) and it seems to be going fine so we'll settle on that for now.

The weekend ahead was slightly more important: the Scottish Uni XC Champs for a space to the Inter Districts at Holyrood in January. The legs were heavy warming up and the competition seemed much more stacked than the previous year, but my recent training block rewarded me a very surprising Bronze after a somewhat chilled race round a course that likely suited me quite well. We'll see if I can keep up this form in the upcoming races; Braids, Liverpool, and East Champs. 


That takes us up to now, as I sit, finishing this blog post, at some Floorball match in Tikkurila, Finland after having had mixed experiences and results at a TuMe Jukola (Lahti '18) training camp. The night-o brain wasn't particularly there this weekend, albeit with a new, top-of-the-range toy from Mila (new Vega II Headlamp at reduced price), but I took pride in winning a mass-start night test after a shaky start (last at no.2, 3d rerun). Lack of sleep caught up with me for the rest of the camp though, and the next night proved to be almost catastrophic as I tried to push myself back into the forest for a night relay after being exhausted, and horribly cold after my first leg of 2. Warmth and food came soon enough after though for everything to be fine the next day.

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