Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Wednesday, January 21, 2004 O is for O' Technique TrainingRandy wrote something interesting on mapsurfer.com a couple of days ago:The problem is the off-season technique training (I guess, among other problems). I've been re-running old courses as my off season training. This is a mistake. Its not the same. One thing I've noticed is that I seem to have a phenomenal map memory. I've been designing courses in my head without the map present -- I guess this is a handy skill, but I think it has been working against me in the technique training -- running these old courses is like going to the store for milk -- you just sort of know the way and go there. I don't know the solution, as I know all the local maps really well. If I draw a line O, I'll simply instantly recognize everything as I draw it, and those images are burnt in my head. Since I have the terrain memorized as well, that key connection is not trained. How do you train O' technique on familiar maps? Here are the first five thoughts that come to mind: 1. Using masks (see my entry from January 14) can make a familiar map feel new. 2. I like Line O' for very familiar terrain, but I agree that it is easy if you draw the line yourself. So, get someone else to draw the line for you. 3. I've found that I can force myself to concentrate better, even in very familiar terrain or very easy courses, by talking to myself. If I talk about what I'm doing, it seems to force me to orienteer carefully. 4. I've re-run courses with rules like: run a straight compass bearing on each leg or running on any trails is against the rules. The rules change the way you do the course enough that the course feels fresh. Gene designed a training course at SMP last summer where the rule was you could only run on pavement. Legs that would be very simple if you ran the course under normal rules suddenly required a lot of route choice. 5. I wonder if doing O' technique training on familiar areas is worth the time? I've heard that running on familiar maps lets you get away with bad technique, and that breeds bad habits. Is that true? At first thought it makes sense. But, maybe it doesn't really matter. I don't know. Certainly running in the terrain, on a known map, is good physical training for orienteering. Focusing on some specific aspect of technique (like running a straight line) might be worthwhile when you train on a familiar map. Does running on a familiar map help your O' technique at all? Will you really develop bad habits if you train on a familiar map? I don't know. I suspect the best form of O' technique is running courses on unfamiliar maps. I suspect -- but don't know -- that running O' technique on familiar maps is better than not training technique and that using some special approaches (like the ones noted above) can make familiar maps more beneficial. Or maybe I'm wrong. posted by Michael | 6:58 PM 
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