tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33902892012-01-29T17:02:25.978-06:00Occassional thoughts about orienteeringMichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.comBlogger27771100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-4355451799105908182012-01-29T17:02:00.001-06:002012-01-29T17:02:25.987-06:00

I watched most of the Swedish ski orienteering championships this morning (thanks to SVT Play).  I thought the coverage was good.  The commentators noted that a viewer suggested helicopter views to show the skiers in the terrain.  I'm sure the coverage could have been even better with more cameras.  But, I can't imagine there's a bunch of money sitting around waiting to be spent on ski

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-6992791870284001562012-01-28T16:11:00.002-06:002012-01-28T16:11:49.202-06:00

I use OL Laser to generate images of the ground from lidar/laser scan data.  You can save the images and then open them as templates.  The images can be helpful for fieldchecking. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-12430320707488101302012-01-24T20:05:00.001-06:002012-01-24T20:05:39.408-06:00

I created a short "screen cast" to demonstrate how I use OL Laser to generate contours and cliffs from Lidar (laser scan) data. If there is any interest (and maybe even if there isn't), I'll make some more of these demonstrating how I use OL Laser. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-12540405794222488922012-01-08T08:56:00.000-06:002012-01-08T08:56:44.385-06:00

I'm starting 2012 with a modified 31 day challenge. The 31 day challenge is to orienteer (i.e. run a course on a map) each day in January.  I did 31 day challenges in 2009 and 2010 - meeting the challenge in 2010 but failing in 2009. This year's challenge is "modified" - instead of running 31 days of orienteering in a row, I'm going to see how long it takes to reach 31 days with some

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-72090113045155648712011-12-13T19:54:00.000-06:002011-12-13T19:54:14.822-06:00

Joe ran the course with a headcam. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-45447181982628386172011-12-05T20:29:00.001-06:002011-12-05T20:30:42.995-06:00

Here's a quick base map of the mountain bike/hiking trails at Perry. The area is small (the magnetic north lines are 150 meters apart). The contours (2.5 meters) are generated from OL Laser. The grey shading are Lidar slope from OL Laser (using all categories of data and last returns). The grey blobs cedar trees and groups of cedar trees in the forest. The trails are GPS tracks from a

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-57746028911461840212011-12-04T09:01:00.001-06:002011-12-04T09:13:35.900-06:00

I've been experimenting with trying to map vegetation - the runnability of the forest - from laser scan/lidar data. The map below shows one of my tests. I created the map using OL Laser.  I used the software to measure  object heights. I created different colors to correspond to object heights. The yellow is ground height. In this particular map, the yellow areas are mostly open fields or

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-77129631747785702822011-11-28T20:02:00.001-06:002011-11-28T20:02:42.370-06:00

Back in the day, Aspleaf predicted the future of orienteering as an olympic sport.  The race shown in the video isn't quite what Aspleaf predicted, but it isn't that far off....and it looks pretty cool.   I came across the video at Semidesiert-O.  It is worth a look for the unusual orienteering maps. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-70220748257308158762011-11-27T17:14:00.001-06:002011-11-27T17:19:30.449-06:00

Here's some very nice terrain that needs to be mapped. This is a small section of the terrain at Rock Bridge State Park near Columbia, Missouri. The map clip shows a small bit of terrain (about 750 meters wide). The entire park is large, but the karst terrain covers just about 1 square kilometer (and only about half of the area is forested). Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-14521620720014165632011-11-25T15:53:00.001-06:002011-11-25T16:17:02.762-06:00

I've been experimenting with laser scan data and the latest version of OL-Laser. I've been learning more and more about how to use the data and what sort of information I can get. Here's an image that combines the laser scan contours and cliffs generated by the OL-Laser software. You can tweak the contours and cliff settings, but the image is just to give you an idea of the basic information

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-33888076130420098902011-11-21T19:17:00.001-06:002011-11-21T19:39:44.650-06:00

Here's a comparison of the current orienteering map and some laser scan (aka lidar) data of the same area. First, take a look at the current orienteering map with 5 meter contours. I'm not sure of the source of the contours. I think it might be USGS "DEM" (I think DEM = digital elevation model). Now, take a look at the laser scan contours. The countours are drawn at 2.5 meters (with a

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-80045075459306659832011-10-23T19:40:00.001-05:002011-10-23T19:40:26.803-05:00

There's a theory out there that you need 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in just about anything.  That's a lot of practice.  But to be really good at something you need to practice a lot.  To be a great orienteer, you need to do a lot of orienteering training. I've been casually following Dan.  Dan is in the early phases of an experiment.  He started to play golf with the idea of

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-80186689886240168332011-10-22T09:47:00.001-05:002011-10-22T09:48:37.676-05:00

I watched an old Swedish TV sports report about orienteering that Per Frost sent me. The video features two of the all time greats - Annichen and Jorgen. As TV coverage of oreinteering it is pretty good. You get some "headcam-like" footage in the forest to start the clip. The rain drops on the lens enhance the feeling of being out in the forest. You get some competition footage of Annichen

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-22129665385771548082011-10-02T16:59:00.003-05:002011-10-02T16:59:45.079-05:00

Our local event yesterday was a sprint score orienteering course followed by a point-to-point race.  Both events had a twist.  By rule we could only run on the trails in the forest. The rule made the orienteering more interesting (and it kept us out of the thick forest). You can also see the score course as a GoPro headcam video+GPS track+map. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-21833406579868764272011-09-30T19:09:00.002-05:002011-09-30T19:09:12.889-05:00

With all the talk about the World Champs of the future, I thought it'd be interesting to reflect on the WOC of the past. I started orienteering in 1980.  The first World Orienteering Champs after I began orienteering was in 1981 in Switzerland. The first thing that you might notice about WOC in the past is that WOC was only held every other year. The winners of the individual races were two

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-16025107888112169862011-09-25T19:25:00.003-05:002011-09-25T19:26:28.123-05:00

Back in the early 1990s, Lou Betros began using GPS for making orienteering maps. This is his early set up. The GPS is a prototype from Garmin. He added batteries and an external antenna. The gear is attached to a board that fits into a backpack. Lou passed away last week. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-66565270561058056632011-09-18T19:53:00.002-05:002011-09-18T19:54:01.022-05:00

The "long" sprint orienteering course from today's "National Orienteering Day" event. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-13367496664719555942011-09-06T18:57:00.001-05:002011-09-06T19:03:24.369-05:00

Mary and I just got back from a long weekend of orienteering practice in Wyoming. I shot a bit of video of the terrain. I put the video together as an experiment - trying to see what I could do with just a few minutes of work. I shot all of the video on an Iphone in about 5 minutes. I edited the clips in another 5-10 minutes. It was not a lot of work. The segment where I ran behind Mary

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-89499551196871479572011-08-31T20:13:00.001-05:002011-08-31T20:15:41.387-05:00

I spent some more time looking at the GPS tracks for the section of the WOC women's middle distance final that I wrote about yesterday. But before I got to the 14th leg, I noticed a couple of runners taking a trail route on the 12th leg. Most of the runners followed the line straight to the control. But, two of them dropped down to the trail, then came back up to the control. In the first map

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-36421870744383476922011-08-30T21:11:00.005-05:002011-08-30T21:24:54.974-05:00

You can make a case that the leg to 14 was the hardest leg on the entire course for the women's middle final at WOC. I was looking at the splits in WinSplits Pro. I looked at the "performance index" for each leg on the course. Performance index is the average of the fastest 25 percent of the split times divided by the specific runner's split time. The higher the number, the better the runner

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-51298317730027398172011-08-29T19:54:00.004-05:002011-08-29T19:57:26.028-05:00

This is one of the better training log entries I've read in a long time, from Alex Jospe, on the day she ran the WOC qualifier: I think everyone assumed I'd be nervous for my first WOC race, and pretty much everyone I saw yesterday and this morning tried to offer me advice. I figured it was easiest to just ignore them all and do my own thing - I know how to play this game; other people may be

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-30611468001031651512011-08-21T17:53:00.002-05:002011-08-21T18:16:20.931-05:00

I thought this was one of the more interesting routes from the WOC relay. It is leg 5 to 6 on the first leg of the men's relay. I've shown the routes of the medalists - Philippe Adamski (France), Carl Waaler Kaas (Norway), and Anders Holmberg (Sweden). What caught my eye was Norway's route. I saw a number of legs throughout the WOC where it looked like there were route options like this - out

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-6745638250840253342011-08-20T16:46:00.002-05:002011-08-20T17:08:19.227-05:00

Now that the World Champs is over, I looked at how Ireland did against each of the peer nations. I used my usual list of nations (USA, BEL, CAN, IRL, PN, NZL and POR) and calculated a win-loss record for the Irish runners. Overall, Irish runners' won-loss record was 39-48. That's a winning percentage of 45. To put that into context, in 2009 Portugal's winning percentage was 60. The other

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-21450755164506008602011-08-17T19:30:00.003-05:002011-08-17T19:46:18.701-05:00

One of the characteristics of most of the "peer nations" is that they suffer from "The Brian May Effect." What's that? Essentially it is that a single orienteer can make a huge difference in how well the team performs. Take that orienteer away and the team's performance suffers quite a lot. The easiest way to illustrate the B.M.E. is to look at a simple goal - take qualifying for the finals -

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-56270269903001503462011-08-15T19:50:00.003-05:002011-08-15T20:07:21.248-05:00

On a discussion at Attackpoint, Hammer wrote: ...Anyway, good luck to all in the sprints tomorrow. Should be some exciting online WOC coverage. how many North Americans to the final? My "batting average" model would suggest that 2 North American runners will qualify for the sprint finals. I also took a quick look at sprint results from the last 3 world champs. It looks like the North

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-21770594820348605952011-08-14T15:00:00.002-05:002011-08-14T15:30:32.149-05:00

Seven runners from today's middle distance qualification race from USA, BEL, POR, CAN, IRL, JPN and NZL. Here's the list: Ali Crocker (USA) Aislinn Austin (IRL) Lousie Oram (CAN) And then four qualifiers from New Zealand: Chris Forne Lizzie Ingham Penny Kane Amber Morrison New Zealand had a good day. They had a bad day yesterday. New Zealand has historically been at the top of my peer

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-56160557489918041692011-08-13T13:23:00.005-05:002011-08-13T13:42:39.794-05:00

My "batting average" model of WOC qualifiers is batting 1000. It expected 4 qualifiers from the group of runners from USA, BEL, POR, CAN, IRL, JPN and NZL. Here are the 4 qualifiers with their nations and places in their heats: Lizzie Ingham (NZL) 6th Ali Crocker (USA) 10th Carol Ross (CAN) 14th Chris Forne (NZL) 15th I think it is always fun to see younger runners doing well. Ingham and

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-16653885369017268332011-08-12T19:45:00.003-05:002011-08-12T20:07:45.666-05:00

With the World Champs starting in France tomorrow, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at the teams from the peer nations. "Peer nations" are a group of countries that I use to compare. The group is: USA Belgium Canada Ireland Japan New Zealand Portugal I put the list together years ago. You can read about the method if you're really interested. 54 runners from the 7 nations are

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-49918102280497613122011-08-07T13:07:00.009-05:002011-08-07T14:00:07.646-05:00

It is about time I wrote something about our 2011 Orienteering trip to Iceland. Mary and I went to Iceland in 2007. At that time, there wasn't any orienteering, but we managed to get a couple of old orienteering maps and were able to explore a little bit. I wrote a bit about those maps back in 2007.Since 2007, orienteering has gotten started (or re-started). Iceland now has an orienteering

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-69150712250606647592011-07-27T19:13:00.004-05:002011-07-27T19:20:49.154-05:00

The Swedish O' Federation ran a short article the upcoming WOC terrain. If you can manage the Swedish, it is worth a read. Here's a quick translation of a bit that caught my eye.For Peter Oberg it took a lot of training sessions before he felt he could handle the WOC terrain.Peter always simplifies the map and terrain, a method that doesn't work in this type of terrain. The first training

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-59650878327205623212011-07-23T18:41:00.003-05:002011-07-23T18:50:37.743-05:00

I began an experiment today. I was inspired by three things. First, the temp hit 104 F (40+ C). That's just too hot. Second, I read a story in Runner's World magazine about running in hot weather. Third, I watched riders warming up for the Tour de France time trial and remembered reading about riders using cooling vests before races.I created a home made cooling vest. It is pretty simple.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-46964544267572266832011-07-17T16:49:00.004-05:002011-07-17T17:43:15.138-05:00

Mary and I attended the orienteering events in Nuuk, Greenland, last month. I thought I'd write up a few notes about orienteering in Greenland.Best terrain in North America? Greenland certainly has some of the best orienteering terrain in North America. Check out the maps around Ilulissat. The maps around Nuuk aren't quite as spectacular - check out some of the maps at Nuuk. I think Nuuk has

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-21071471544010820722011-07-09T14:03:00.002-05:002011-07-09T14:09:40.546-05:00

I ran one of the races in Nuuk, Greenland, with my GoPro headcam. You can see the Video+GPS+map to get a sense of the terrain around Nuuk. The weather was perfect for making a video. Sunshine. Blue sky with a few clouds. The views of the terrain surrounding Nuuk (around controls 7 and 9) were especially nice. The wide angle lens on the camera makes the surrounding mountains look further away

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-84705243090692675812011-06-23T20:04:00.003-05:002011-06-23T20:29:18.347-05:00

I watched the Swedish TV coverage of the sprint world cup races in Gothenberg. I thought the coverage was some of the best orienteering coverage I've seen. Personally, I'm not sure I like the "knock out" sprint format, but I think the coverage was strong.You can see a clip of one of the semi final races below. The entire clip is about 10 minutes and gives you a good idea of what the entire

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-1961972468880586922011-05-07T10:58:00.003-05:002011-05-07T11:02:44.128-05:00

I discovered a couple of GoPro orienteering videos filmed with a chest mounted camera rather than a head-mounted camera. I was interested in seeing how the chest mount worked. I was also interested in seeing the Brazilian maps and terrain!The deep grass on the way to the first control is impressive. We've got some terrain like that in Kansas.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-81788894061353462442011-05-02T19:23:00.001-05:002011-05-02T19:24:37.424-05:00

This is a cool toy/tool for practicing ski orienteering legs. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-37876183512617326612011-04-26T19:58:00.001-05:002011-04-26T19:59:24.140-05:00

I think this is the current state of the art in headcam video display for orienteering.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-39390879923257551192011-04-19T20:14:00.003-05:002011-04-19T20:20:08.476-05:00

I was struck by the parallel between driving mistakes and orienteering mistakes in a news story I read today. Here's a bit of the story.Teenagers are notoriously bad drivers, accounting for 10 times as many crashes as middle-aged ones. But short of keeping them off the road entirely, is there a way to make their driving safer — for them and for the rest of us?New research suggests that there is.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-4522323976816218812011-04-04T19:07:00.002-05:002011-04-04T19:10:34.367-05:00

Developing the Modern Athlete is a panel discussion, lead by Malcolm Gladwell, that is full of interesting ideas. You need to go about 15 minutes into the video before the presentation begins. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-14903699929512409982011-03-31T19:54:00.002-05:002011-03-31T19:59:17.159-05:00

At the sprint race a couple of weeks ago the top two juniors (Matt and Joe) ran with my GoPro headcam. Below you can see each of their races. You can get them in sync (roughly) by starting one and then immediately starting the other one. It makes for a head(cam)-to-head(cam) race. The course map is below and it can be interesting to follow along and see the different routes.Back to

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-66560964000926354172011-03-30T07:11:00.002-05:002011-03-30T07:14:58.509-05:00

I thought this comment from a few days ago was worth highlighting.Hi! I was one of the athletes skiing the sprint relay and I just want to say that the sprint relay is the most funny of all the distances, also for the athletes! It's a first man to finish race, which means a lot of close man-man fights and there is always happening something. It's also a relay so you're skiing for your nation and

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-68290464158138327552011-03-28T20:14:00.002-05:002011-03-28T20:21:29.751-05:00

The video clip shows a bit of yesterday's run.I discovered that Youtube has a video editing feature that lets you stabilize the image. Here's the stabilized version (with some music added).I was impressed with how well the stabilizing worked.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-4009497233681967632011-03-27T10:50:00.002-05:002011-03-27T11:14:48.513-05:00

I've spent a bit of time watching the video from the Ski Orienteering WOC and been interested to see a couple of new (to me) ideas in action: the mixed sprint relay event and the use of the live headcam video. It has also been fun to see some strong performances from the US team.Here's the sprint video:I'm not sure what the competitors think of the mixed sprint relay format, but for TV it has

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-54247022342675753002011-03-10T18:51:00.003-06:002011-03-10T18:54:00.233-06:00

I'm not sure who this is from, but it is about sports and fans..."To understand what it means to produce sports in the creative economy means everything. It's not about production, but engagement."The various discussions about orienteering as a TV and spectator sport have largely focused on the format as the issue. Some people have put effort into the production issues (e.g. GPS tracking and 3d

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-8544367713005042142011-03-06T18:12:00.002-06:002011-03-06T18:22:18.506-06:00

The map is one of 4 short courses from yesterday's event at Dad Perry Park. I asked Matt - one of juniors from PTOC - to run the course wearing the headcam. The video is short (the course is only 1.2 km and Matt ran it in just over 8 minutes.It is fun to watch the video and follow along on the map. The terrain and course are straightforward, so it isn't too difficult. Though it is a bit

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-24725579788782793242011-02-21T15:28:00.002-06:002011-02-21T15:44:59.971-06:00

I came across some discussion over at Attackpoint about how to measure map quality (part of an effort to make some decisions about priorities for updating maps).My first thought was that deciding which areas are priorities is more about the club's "values" than about any objective measures of the areas. My second thought was, it'd be a lot of fun to explore all 60 maps and check them out. I

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-46916138512268006322011-02-13T17:08:00.003-06:002011-02-13T17:15:27.453-06:00

Marianne Andersen wrote about keeping your head up while orienteering and described some training exercises for working on the skill. The article is at Kontrol (and is in Norwegian).The map above is an example of a way that I train to keep my head up and look far ahead in the terrain. I design a course and then run it, but instead of actually going to the control, I just go to a spot where I

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-63505793408212546692011-02-06T10:43:00.002-06:002011-02-06T11:02:09.088-06:00

The graph shows how often I looked at the map during yesterday's training. LAM/min means "looks at the map per minute." I counted the looks while I was reviewing the GPS+video+map at Attackpoint. While I watched the video, I counted several things. I counted how often I looked at the map; how often I looked at the direction I'd leave each control on the way to the next; how often I fell down

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-68746740611192296972011-02-01T16:28:00.003-06:002011-02-01T16:35:32.527-06:00

Worth a look - some discussion on Attackpoint about orienteering, thinking, headcams, etc (see also the comments on this entry).Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-68568537125777323292011-01-20T19:42:00.002-06:002011-01-20T19:53:25.497-06:00

This is a fascinating map. The mapper must have been able to draw the vegetation from air photos. Some of the symbols are a bit odd. What are those brown lines near controls 46 and 47? What about the thin black lines along the streams? It looks like a very special, and very interesting, place. The Google image gives you a sense of the terrain. Thierry Gueogiou describes is as, "One of my

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-46565575752006500042011-01-19T20:21:00.004-06:002011-01-19T20:30:51.029-06:00

A Canadian swimming coach designed a way to work with video of swimmers who are watching races where they made some sort of mistake. The coach has the athletes do three things as they watch a failed performance on video:1. Express the feelings they had when they watch the failed race;2. Think about what went went wrong; and3. Imagine performance changes for the next race.These three steps

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-75280500342321191592011-01-15T17:29:00.003-06:002011-01-15T17:37:06.955-06:00

From Kristoffer Henriksen's dissertation on the environment of successful sport clubs:Common to all three environments was the perception by participants that there were limited financial resources. Set alongside this was a shared reluctance to let this fact be a barrier accompanied by a positive focus on other available resources. In the 49er team the prospects did not have a coach of their own,

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-18210316736748168822011-01-15T08:37:00.003-06:002011-01-15T08:48:14.767-06:00

A few days ago it struck me that a lot of the people who I follow on Attackpoint get sick and injured a lot. A few years ago, I tried to see if I could predict injuries and illness. I picked out a few runners and each day I'd check their log, read what they wrote, and give it a score. I'm having trouble remembering all of the details, but the score was something really simple, like a 1-3 scale

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-21168079267773769322011-01-13T19:20:00.003-06:002011-01-13T19:24:36.709-06:00

Here's another video+GPS experiment (from Jagge):And the current "state of the art" from Attackpoint. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-89003540613343107172011-01-01T09:56:00.004-06:002011-01-01T10:12:58.111-06:00

The latest version of the Attackpoint GPS+video tracking adds a very nice feature - the video syncs with an orienteering map from QuickRoute. You can see an example from a training course I ran yesterday. Click to start the video and a dot on the orienteering map tracks the progress. Check the box for "follow" and the map will stay oriented. Very cool.I made the tracking video by running the

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-90920513057499805172010-12-30T17:30:00.002-06:002010-12-30T17:36:59.920-06:00

The image shows a bit of the basemap for an orienteering map I've been working on. I prepared the basemap from laser scan (lidar) data that I got for free. I used OL Laser to create a "lutning" image. The "lutning" image seems to be the best base material for this sort of forest.The circles show some of the features that I can pick up from the data and that I show in the video below. The

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-58356481026711519752010-12-30T08:31:00.002-06:002010-12-30T08:49:46.053-06:00

Ken has created a new tool for combining video and GPS tracks at Attackpoint. You can see an example here. The video and GPS track are synchronized. Click to start the video and the GPS track follows along. A version with tracking on an O' map is not far away.The low-tech version - watching a head cam video with the O' map in your hand - works really well, too.Several orienteers on

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-18352532394119218132010-12-26T10:03:00.002-06:002010-12-26T10:19:57.740-06:00

The map clip shows a bit of terrain that I fieldchecked yesterday. The cliffs in this area are fairly low - mostly about 1.5 meters. I've used the boulder field symbol to show areas where the cliffs are either broken up or too low to be mapped as cliffs. I've been using a laser scan (aka lidar) basemap with 2.5 meter contours and a "lutning" image from OL Laser. You can see a clip below.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-71838578610486673762010-12-12T17:46:00.002-06:002010-12-12T18:04:41.206-06:00

A few notes on orienteering head cam videos...Watching a head cam video lets you count how many times an orienteer looks at the map. Map reading frequency is something I've been interested in for a while. The camera I've been using - GoPro Hero HD 960 - does a great job of picking up the voice of the person wearing the camera. You could run a course and narrate what you're doing. It wouldn't

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-46548965793419836482010-12-10T19:37:00.003-06:002010-12-10T20:01:27.148-06:00

Cristina ran last Saturday's race with a headcam. Here is a low resolution clip of part of her race (from 1 to 2):I don't know much about video editing. I need to figure out how to get a reasonable sized file without losing so much quality.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-58469068260617107952010-12-06T20:14:00.002-06:002010-12-06T20:23:47.150-06:00

I spent a few minutes today looking at the OUSA Strategic Plan (PDF). Since I've been especially lazy about updating this blog, I was struck by one of the "metrics": The Senior Team will generate new content on at least a twice monthly timeframe on its official blog: http://usa-orienteering.blogspot.com/So, I took at look at the page and...well, the Senior Team has updated the page at least

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-58133926746507640462010-12-04T08:49:00.002-06:002010-12-04T08:51:19.138-06:00

Here is the terrain for today's local event. Not exactly dream terrain, but truly classic Kansas terrain. I like that it is just a 10 minute drive from my house. I'll try to post the main course later today. Peggy set the courses. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-63729377988260475412010-11-20T13:42:00.003-06:002010-11-20T13:52:26.005-06:00

The map is from some training I ran last weekend at Surebridge Mountain (the 1993 WOC classic terrain). For the two longer legs, my training was to plan the leg while stopped, then put away the map and run the leg. I like training that way. You're rewarded for seeing the overall terrain structure, keeping your head up and actively looking for features to lead you to the control. It is also a

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-38846595307544803362010-11-11T07:09:00.003-06:002010-11-11T07:12:25.938-06:00

This graph caught my eye. It shows the hours of orienteering technique training by two of the WOC winners from this year. If you can understand Norwegian, the entire presentation is worth a look. You can find it at orienteer.no.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-51802457880787873622010-11-07T17:30:00.002-06:002010-11-07T17:33:38.770-06:00

I ran a local event at Tall Oaks today. The forest has a bit of underbrush and thorns which make route choices more interesting. The map has 2 meter contours, so the hills are smaller than you might think.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-35201490670364958982010-10-29T20:51:00.002-05:002010-10-29T20:54:14.349-05:00

Research on using video games to improve map reading:You can read more about it on Brian Verdine's web page.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-49790441433379426772010-10-28T19:57:00.004-05:002010-10-28T20:04:54.136-05:00

My friend Leslie linked this cyclocross video:Cross Crusade Race #4 PIR from Burk Webb on Vimeo.As I was watching it, I thought, "we ought to do videos like this for orienteering." An orienteering could easily include some interesting images and rough conditions.Cyclocross and orienteering have some of the same appeal. Both are tough sports that attract fairly small crowds. There is definitely

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-26334934136628491922010-10-24T16:11:00.002-05:002010-10-24T16:18:40.883-05:00

Below is a laser scan (lidar) image of a section of forest that I was fieldchecking today. I created the image with OL-laser.I highlighted a few features:1. These blobs in the forest are individual cedar trees. They are quite useful to have on the base map. 2. The east-west running linear feature is an old rock wall. Most of the wall is no more than 0.5 meter high. It will be drawn as a

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-84023509364284861912010-10-24T09:51:00.004-05:002010-10-24T09:54:22.769-05:00

Aspleaf posted maps from 1966 and 2010.The course is from the 2010 district night champs.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-89357649939582005232010-10-23T10:41:00.002-05:002010-10-23T11:02:53.255-05:00

Comparing two maps of the same terrain, posted by Jagge at Attackpoing:You can argue and discuss whether this sort of development is good or bad. I'm not really sure. It seems consistent with the development of orienteering maps over the years - a move toward more and more contour and runnability detail.I don't really know how much further it can go. With laser scan (lidar) data for basemaps,

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-20993144315381598732010-10-10T16:18:00.004-05:002010-10-10T17:00:23.438-05:00

OL Laser is a program for creating orienteering basemaps from lidar (aka laser scan) data. I'm far from an expert on either lidar or OL Laser, but I've been playing around with the program and thought I'd write up some notes.I'm impressed with OL Laser and have found it easy to use. I'm sure I've just scratched the surface of what it can be used for. I'm far from being an experienced user.OL

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-27486918388037830742010-09-19T16:14:00.003-05:002010-09-19T16:26:24.264-05:00

Orienteer Kansas hosted a "National Orienteering Day" event today. We tried a new (for us) format. We had 4 courses and orienteers could run as many (or few) of them as they wanted. Most people ran a course, then rested a few minutes, then ran another course (or 2 or 3). It is basically the format from an "Urb-O' Cup" in Norway. Courses ranged from about 1.1 km to 1.6 km. If you ran all four

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-64213023661450383522010-09-06T16:08:00.002-05:002010-09-06T16:23:09.241-05:00

Another day, another experiment with a lidar basemap. The image below shows 2 meter contours, trails that I added last winter (based primarily on GPS tracks from a few trail runs) and the lutning image created in OL Laser.The image is shaded based on the slope. The darker the area, the steeper the slope. I think that the slope is based on comparison of surrounding points. I don't know the

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-60666525465856885912010-09-05T19:20:00.002-05:002010-09-05T19:25:59.613-05:00

One of the really cool things about lidar data is that you can create a decent basemap really quickly. It took me about 20 minutes to find and download the data, create the contours and generate the "lutning" image that results in the map below.The "lutning" image does a great job of identifying buildings, trees and walls. But, it doesn't show roads and parking lots. So, another few minutes

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-4968029924283509492010-09-03T20:07:00.003-05:002010-09-03T20:11:41.127-05:00

I spent some time today playing around with lidar data and trying to learn how to get more out of it than just contours. Here are three images based on the "all returns" data from an area nearby. If you're familiar with Lawrence, you'll recognize McCollum Hall in the top left of the images.For my previous lidar experiments, I've generated contours and used the intensity files (which is

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-36438804346569781642010-09-01T19:11:00.003-05:002010-09-01T19:23:17.286-05:00

I've been playing with an app on my phone that buzzes at random times and asks me to collect some data about how I feel and what I'm doing. First, you rate how happy, relaxed, and awake you feel (on a scale). Then you record some information about where you are (e.g. indoors or out; home, work or someplace else), who you are with, and what you are doing.I started doing it out of curiosity. But

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-23219518943548865382010-08-29T17:51:00.002-05:002010-08-29T17:55:16.538-05:00

I spent a few minutes playing around with a video re-run of a leg from some hilly terrain - more a test of concept than a finished product.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-15540974348499652962010-08-28T20:41:00.002-05:002010-08-28T20:44:49.983-05:00

Orienteering fashion, lifted from Aspleaf's page. I like the part about being like the old "gubbar" and using the retro-style rain visor. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-11460463458107798572010-08-25T20:46:00.002-05:002010-08-25T20:51:25.014-05:00

From a NY Times article on research about music and exercise:Just how music impacts the body during exercise, however, is only slowly being teased out by scientists. One study published last year found that basketball players prone to performing poorly under pressure during games were significantly better during high-pressure free-throw shooting if they first listened to catchy, upbeat music and

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-28426637827495955972010-08-22T15:45:00.003-05:002010-08-22T15:59:59.557-05:00

Ali and Boris have both set goals of finding 2000 controls over the next year. I'm a big fan of control counting and it'll be fun to see how they do. 2000 controls is a lot. If I were trying to find 2000 controls in a year, I think I'd: Go to a few training camps. Training camps are great ways to get a bunch of controls in a short period of time.Run more than one course at local events. Try

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-52514859806673398872010-08-21T19:07:00.003-05:002010-08-21T19:11:45.513-05:00

I finally got around to finishing the Norwegian TV coverage of the WOC relays. Among the highlights of the coverage were a couple of short comedy sketches about orienteering.Even without understanding the Norwegian you can probably get a sense of what's going on. The first gives an idea of orienteering as a spectator sport.The second is like a movie trailer for an orienteering-based thriller.I

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-87732071942539151952010-08-17T20:44:00.002-05:002010-08-17T20:53:12.065-05:00

I've watched about half of the Norwegian TV coverage of the World Champs. Five thoughts:1. This was the best orienteering coverage that I've seen.2. I liked the use of pre-recorded interviews. The coverage included a segment on university student orienteers in Trondheim and an interview with Francios Gonon about training in Trondheim. Both were interesting.3. I liked the use of live

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-63324534568609952492010-08-11T20:15:00.002-05:002010-08-11T20:24:38.691-05:00

I spent a few minutes looking at Samantha's training and comparing what she's done this year versus last year. Since I look at her training most weeks, I was confident I knew what I'd see.Check out the volume by training type for the 210 days prior to July 31, 2009. Now compare it to the same time period for 2010.Two things will stand out. She's done a good bit more total training (210 versus

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-46818272711512997932010-08-10T20:01:00.003-05:002010-08-10T20:24:47.258-05:00

I spent a few minutes comparing recent (2005-2009) US and Canadian WOC results. I was inspired after reading this on Attackpoint:USA closes the gap with Canada.... winning the Kjellstrom Cup at the NAOC.. and now in WOC qualifying heats... USA Women 6 Canada Women 3... USA Men 5 Canada Men 4.... Overall 11-7 in favor of the USA!!!"Closes the gap"?Over the years, I've used various measures of the

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-37160624738032002852010-08-07T17:47:00.001-05:002010-08-07T17:48:59.460-05:00

I ran a local sprint race at English Landing in Parkville, MO, this morning.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-6208405733678604042010-08-06T20:02:00.008-05:002010-08-06T20:17:36.430-05:00

I did a little bit of fieldchecking on the downtown sprint map. I hadn't worked on the map in quite a while and, in fact, I was really more interested in testing out a new mapping tool than making much progress on the map.I'd mapped the area show below as open with scattered trees. But showing the individual trees seemed like a better approach. I had a few minutes over my lunch hour to make

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-59486987914513160942010-07-31T17:15:00.002-05:002010-07-31T17:22:10.191-05:00

I ran a sprint race at Bonner Park on Thursday evening. With the warm and humid conditions I decided to start a bit easy and pick up the pace as I went. That seemed to work out ok.The map is a bit sketchy. The GPS track around 6-7 and 10 reflect some of that.I was moving slowly on the way to 9 because the grass is knee deep on that leg.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-31445323272008971672010-07-26T20:01:00.003-05:002010-07-26T20:06:03.542-05:00

"A mistake is a mistake even if you get away with it."That's why I've been trying to come up with a good way of counting "near misses" - mistakes that don't cost any time. So far all I've come up with is sitting down with the map and going over my route trying to remember any near misses. Maybe there's a better approach, but I haven't figured it out yet.The quote is from Ed Viesturs, a mountain

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-37539776389847603072010-07-25T17:25:00.003-05:002010-07-25T17:30:04.145-05:00

The video is from the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Champs sprint race (see Stodge-blog for more). I'm not sure if we could bet permission to host a mtb O' event in an urban environment in the U.S. I can think of places that would work. JCCC on a weekend is an example. The terrain is interesting enough. The campus is mostly empty. That said, I'd think organizing an event and getting

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-84394168491336617102010-07-24T14:27:00.001-05:002010-07-24T14:28:46.455-05:00

I ran a sprint course at Johnson County Community College today. The heat and humidity made this a tough effort. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-29940162533656305552010-07-23T20:30:00.003-05:002010-07-23T20:34:28.031-05:00

My course and most of my route from the night orienteering a few days ago. It is always tricky to run night orienteering when you haven't run night orienteering for months. I was a bit cautious throughout the course.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-47403012971518302212010-07-22T21:35:00.001-05:002010-07-22T21:38:21.898-05:00

The Map That Came to Life is a book that teaches map reading. You can find the entire book online. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-34512172479739998262010-07-15T20:14:00.003-05:002010-07-15T20:20:00.915-05:00

I was psyched to see an active orienteering club in Iceland (thanks for Patrick for the discovery). Iceland is one of my favorite places.When Mary and I visited a few years ago we visited a couple of orienteering maps but never made contact with any local orienteers. We tried, using an email address acquired from a Swedish mapper.Now that there's an active club, I'm starting to day dream about

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-13309711066148496442010-07-12T20:07:00.003-05:002010-07-12T20:14:28.784-05:00

I've never noticed this way of mapping sports fields before. Notice how the mapper used "contour lines" to show the tennis courts and soccer fields. I don't think that's strictly ISSOM, but it is an interesting way of showing the detail. By the way, the map is from Allesio Tenani's blog. Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-50446248104894282842010-07-11T20:56:00.002-05:002010-07-11T21:02:42.472-05:00

I spent a few minutes comparing JWOC results for the US and the "peer nations." I don't have my notes in front of me, but the summary is that this year's results are almost exactly the same as last year. One of the reasons I like making comparisons with peer nations is to get a chance to look a bit more carefully at the results outside the top 10. New Zealand impresses. I know next to nothing

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-22396023858624423552010-07-10T19:20:00.004-05:002010-07-10T19:26:41.310-05:00

Today's sprint race was a good chance to test my new orienteering map reading glasses. They worked fine. As you can see from the map, the terrain wasn't tricky or difficult to read. It was, however, fun. More fun that you'd guess from just looking at the map.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-78360089729044790532010-07-07T20:22:00.005-05:002010-07-07T20:34:04.023-05:00

I spent some time looking at splits for the US women at JWOC. I was particularly interested in Hannah Burgess' races. I look at her training on AP now and then, but I've never met her. Hannah was the best US woman in the sprint and the worst in the long. But, what caught my eye was that she was the steadiest in both races. If you look at her split graph you'll notice that her line is the

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-71116158660184650012010-07-05T16:02:00.004-05:002010-07-05T19:56:47.791-05:00

I finished watching all of the Nordic Orienteering Tour videos today. A few general comments...To make good TV, orienteering needs to show more going on and less shots of the forest or the town (for the sprint in Stockholm). I guess that's obvious. The problem is that showing more action takes more cameras. More cameras make the production more expensive.What's the easiest way to make the

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-73487254227826127972010-07-03T14:25:00.003-05:002010-07-03T14:33:12.895-05:00

Some psychology researchers suggest that asking "will I?" rather than declaring "I will" can improve performance. I'm always a bit skeptical of psychology papers, but I thought the idea was interesting. It reminds me of Kent Olsson talking about beginning to prepare for a World Champs by starting with a bunch of questions.The concept makes sense to me intuitively. You're better off asking

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3390289.post-53778017096049029202010-07-01T21:07:00.002-05:002010-07-01T21:15:15.980-05:00

Here's an article about trying to encourage kids to play with orienteering maps. Even without reading the Swedish, you can probably figure out what they're doing. It is hard for me to figure out what a kid would like. But, when I was in grade school I'm pretty sure I would have had a lot of fun with orienteering maps.Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06129175522144032637noreply@blogger.com0