MTBO TRAINING SESSIONS – REPLY SLIP

Please fill out this slip, if you are considering attending any of them, as i need to book accom and maps.    Put YES / NO /MAYBE           Insert any comments.

NAME:
1) NSW Feb 16  Wingello training day
2) ACCOM feb 16 Wingello area
2) NSW Feb 17 Belanglo event
3) VIC March 8-10th
(Will be am and pm training Sat and sun based near Castlemaine, daylesford and Creswick, plus until about 2pm on Monday finishing at Maryborough)  Definite meeting places later
Accom will be in Daylesford.     Tony Clark will be assisting me with training thru shadowing etc.
4) ACCOM Fri March 7                 Sat March 8                    Sun March 10
5) Pre-trial Training Thurs April 17th
6) Pre-trial training  Fri April 18th
7) Pre – trial accomodation Thurs April 17th
8) Trial Accom (Ballarat area)  Fri  April 18th
9) Trial Accom    ”            ”    Sat April 19th

Other able mtbo’ers are welcome to attend the training but I need warning asap to organise maps.   Any more junior girls out there?  Please encourage.

10 weeks to go to the Aus Selection Trials – what is your training like?
The closer one gets to important races the more important becomes the SPECIFICITY component.
Ask the question – what fitness attributes and skills do I need.?
What are my strengths and weaknesses in mtbo?
Where can i gain / lose the most time on an orienteering course?

The area most riders can improve upon will be in their map reading, even with many of those who already have represented Australia.
How often will you be mtbo racing in the next 10 weeks?       Races
– either bush O, street o / adventure races, all are specific to MTBO with their MR demands.
The Vic summer series of mtbo events is a great lead in to the bush season.
In SA, and some other states, we have no races before the trials.
In those situations you have to improvise.

Everyone should be riding at least once a week with a map and course on their handlebars.
a) Race   b) Do a simulated race on a map
c) Use a street / topographical map and ride around the suburbs checking out every park and small track via a course you have set / someone has set for you.   Canberra has great maps for this.  SA has reasonably detailed cycle maps to use.
d) Ride around streets / bush tracks / an outside velodrome with MTBO maps and courses from another state / country and practice your route choice and map memory.

DO ride at race pace, if safe to do so, while doing this.  You need to simulate the demands of a MTBO course.  That is:
a) you take a quick look and get as much info as possible in the shortest amount of time to make your route choice decisions / to reaffirm where you are.  Lots of practice will develop better map memory skills and reduce the no of times and length of time at map reading.
b) O is not a straight out road time trial but a series of fast intervals with small micro-rests while you map-read or punch.  So you need to practice map reading while under physical stress.

You could incorporate route choice leg decisions while doing interval training on the bike.
Ride hard (90%) for 5 minutes then slowly for 1 minute to recover.
Look at a Route choice or two for the first few seconds of your recovery and look again in the last 15 seconds to see if you remembered the important features.
Do 10 x 5 min intervals or so for a 55 min or so workout.  If you aren’t so fit reduce the intensity of the effort, just as if you are pacing yourself in an O event.

For physical training, its good to race to gain / maintain fitness.  Dont be fussy – if no mtbo, use xc, enduro, road races (especially criteriums), do adv races or triathlons (perhaps just the cycle leg if youre a non swimmer).

Think about incorporating tempo or hard rides over the different mtbo race winning times.
Potentially you could ride faster in a 25 min sprint, though the detailed tracks at Nerrina demand respect and “go only when you know” stategy.

The Duo O at Macedon (Vic) was good fun by all reports.
The old fox Jim Russell (96mins) won the mens long course by 4 mins from 2007 team member Tony Clark, while Braemar college youngsters Peter Markworth (5th at 109mins) and Heith Jamieson (11th at 125mins) demonstrated their fine potential.  Carolyn Jackson took quite a few male scalps whilst leading the women.

Adrian Jackson took a few more scalps at the MT Beauty XC national round the other weekend, finishing a fine 6th in a big field and only 7+ mins down on Chris J, the national champ (and a South Aussie to boot.)

The OZMTBO website is being disbanded and all MTBO info henceforth will appear on theAustralian Orienteering website, under the mtbo heading.  www.orienteering.asn.au/
I’m hopeful of getting a stock of maps and courses up there too.

The 2009 World Champs will be in Israel in August. Here are some comments from Michi Gigon.