Nate O:
Today we got our first taste of what to expect from the competitors here at JWOC. We had some fun relay training against the kiwi's which had some interesting forking. The hardest part for me was finding the toliet paper in the woods even though I was at the feature. Later in the day we experimented more with the long terrain in the field areas. The map we were on was quite different from the updated version. Can't wait for the long terrain. I believe having a clean run with some quick feet in the faster part of the woods will lead to success.
Ethan:
The relay terrain was very basic, non-detailed terrain with the exception of the gully areas. The woods were very fast, and the greatest danger for me was usually running a little way past a control.
The gully area is a completely different story. This part was filled with dozens of ditches and gullies that all looked similar. It was very easy to miscount or mistake gullies, making the section very difficult, but with careful planning and focus it shouldn't be too bad.
The long terrain (a more open and dense vegetation mixed area) was much trickier. Often times the medium green was almost completely impenetrable, while in other places you could weave your way through. I guess the updated map shows a lot more dark green (as it should), but I think I will try to avoid those section at the cost of around fifty extra meters --or more-- of running. There were also a lot of scrubby sections, and I suspect running through fields can be very dangerous if one is not careful. The scrub can easily force you to run a certain direction, yet still permit you to make decent (although not fast) progress. I believe that the long terrain will provide MANY interesting route choices and variations during the competition, and I suspect mistakes will not be uncommon.
Meg:
Today we got our first taste of what to expect from the competitors here at JWOC. We had some fun relay training against the kiwi's which had some interesting forking. The hardest part for me was finding the toliet paper in the woods even though I was at the feature. Later in the day we experimented more with the long terrain in the field areas. The map we were on was quite different from the updated version. Can't wait for the long terrain. I believe having a clean run with some quick feet in the faster part of the woods will lead to success.
Ethan:
The relay terrain was very basic, non-detailed terrain with the exception of the gully areas. The woods were very fast, and the greatest danger for me was usually running a little way past a control.
The gully area is a completely different story. This part was filled with dozens of ditches and gullies that all looked similar. It was very easy to miscount or mistake gullies, making the section very difficult, but with careful planning and focus it shouldn't be too bad.
The long terrain (a more open and dense vegetation mixed area) was much trickier. Often times the medium green was almost completely impenetrable, while in other places you could weave your way through. I guess the updated map shows a lot more dark green (as it should), but I think I will try to avoid those section at the cost of around fifty extra meters --or more-- of running. There were also a lot of scrubby sections, and I suspect running through fields can be very dangerous if one is not careful. The scrub can easily force you to run a certain direction, yet still permit you to make decent (although not fast) progress. I believe that the long terrain will provide MANY interesting route choices and variations during the competition, and I suspect mistakes will not be uncommon.
Meg:
Today was extremely
uneventful for me. I got up for
breakfast and then promptly went back up to the room to sleep for the rest of
the morning as the team trained. I woke
up again for lunch then went back up for some more sleep. All in all, I probably slept for more than
half of the day, which I think is quite impressive.
Izzy:
Today I woke up really tired, but as soon as I ran the relay training, I was alert and awake. It was basically middle training, but a mass start with the Kiwis. It was helpful to practice running in the woods against other girls to get a sense of what the competition will be like. After lunch we set out to train on the long terrain. The actual training was nice. We hadn't spent very much time in the yellow and dense patches area of the long map earlier this week, so it was really good that we focused on that terrain today. Getting to the start was a pain to say the least. We had an hour long drive, then a 45-minute walk in the heat. The one good thing about the hike was that I was able to see the transition between the two types of terrain that are on the long map. I feel really prepared for the actual race in that sense. One thing that I need to keep in mind is that the green in the two types of terrain differ in how they are mapped. That was phrased poorly. What I mean is in the white, wooded part of the map the green is generally easier to plow through than in the yellow with patches of dense areas. I'm looking forward to more middle training tomorrow. So far, that has been the most enjoyable for me.
Erin's videos:
After the middle/relay training. Um, maybe we should explain that the control flags were toilet paper.
More.
1 comment:
Again, thanks for posting the videos. It nice to get a sense of what things are like there. Sure hope Meg feels better soon.
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