Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Tuesday, December 24, 2002 Mook on physical trainingMook wrote a bit about physical training. It is worth a read. Here it is:I think my physical training for orienteering is best when I make it well rounded. I presume everyone is different, but I respond best when I have put in runs of many different types. That means runs that are long and slow, short and fast, in resistance-less areas (like roads), low-resistance areas (like unsmooth trails) and in high resistance areas (forest or something similar). I strive to do runs that are long climbs, flattish areas, and rolling hills. Running an orienteering course is also excellent physical training, but certain specialized runs allow you to concentrate on one thing at a time. I decided to philosophize about the types of runs I do... Short and fast runs, particularly intervals, build up most of the physiological adaptations a body should have to go race pace, especially for courses requiring a lot of variation in running intensity. I think this is well documented. Intervals make rough, nasty days. They build mental toughness. I rarely do intervals shorter than about 5 minutes. It seems too Old School, like something people were doing in the 70's. I can't do that in the summer anyway because my body temperature will go through the roof and I'll feel too sick. Another reason is that I don't have a track to run on. The Rillito is sometimes crowded or has uneven areas and little up and down dips. The streets are even worse and have traffic. Running really fast there, and getting cramped up, is slightly dangerous. More importantly, I think leg speed is not a big part of orienteering. Running at an intensity around the lactate threshold is and long intervals do that. A good session for me is 3 15-minute intervals with 5 minutes rest between them. A heartrate of upper 160's to lower 170's will send me flying along. Long slow runs put a great deal of stress on joints and things. After doing enough distance work, I get quick recoveries from one day to another and my level of energy is higher. They are usually the most interesting runs I can take since I can go to interesting areas. I do a lot of this on trails. I'm an advocate of significant amounts of training for times longer than the expected competition time. A good long run for me is 2.5 hours or more. A heartrate of 130 or 140 is probably enough. These runs are good for finding out about what effects different food and drinks have on the run. They are good for burning excess fat as well! Running high resistance areas works muscles needed for orienteering meets. I have some muscles that only feel worked when I run in such areas. The more I run there, the more efficient I run. Mapreading and concentration is improved during an o' race because moving through the forest feels comfortable. If I run with a HR around 160 or 165, it is a good orienteering effort. I need a pretty fast forest to match that however. Running rolling hills feels like orienteering where the effort is usually varying. If I kept the same effort going up as going down, I'd crash into a tree going downhill and slow to a crawl going up. I don't orienteer like that. I recover going downhill and can dip into an anaerobic state on some uphills. Training for that is invaluable. Running big climbs spikes the intensity level as high as you'd like it to be without requiring fast leg turnover. If you didn't have to descend, it would be a great way to have low impact on joints while keeping the cardiovascular system working. Climbs are a way I can run off-road at high intensities and it is fun. The top of a mountain is a good tangible goal. A big climb for me is 60-90 minutes. If my heartrate is in the mid to upper 150's on a reasonably smooth trail, I'm putting in a good day. The heartrate on the descent is maybe 100-110 (not too hard) so I don't have to hold back that much on the way up. Running somewhat longish in low resistance areas can be a way to recover from bone or muscle strains while doing something in the way of work. A heartrate in the 130's for 50 minutes or so isn't wasted. I can squeeze in such a run just about anyday, anywhere. posted by Michael | 9:24 PM 
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