Valstad struggled with less-than-hoped-for results this year. He decided something had to be done before the WOC. So he went back to things that had worked in the past: long technique training, lots of short and long competitions, lots of hill training, and long runs in the mountains.
Valstad's race wasn't perfect, but it was close. He figures he lost 30 seconds at the 10th control when he didn't see the control marker and 30 seconds at the 23rd control when he stopped too soon.
Before the WOC, Valstad had struggled with reading the map in the WOC terrain. He worked to figure out how fast he could run without losing control of the map reading -- figuring out where he could run fast and where he'd have to slow down. He used a magnifying glass, so on that between controls he'd read a 1:15,000 map (i.e. without the magnifier) then switch to 1:10,000. "Without the magnifier, I wouldn't have won the gold yesterday."
Valstad needed to keep rough directions during the long legs. But he isn't good at just using the compass. One thing he did was rely on the sun's shadows to help keep his bearings.
If you can manage the Norwegian, take a look at the Valstad's article. It makes for interesting and inspiring reading.
posted by Michael |
7:02 PM
