Rogaining World Champs, Estonia

The event terrain of the 8th Rogaining World Championships in Estonia includes the Karula National Park (start location at 57°42.75'N and 26°30.3'E), which is in the southern part of the country. The map covers an area 250km² and the map is 1:40 000 scale.

Although the difference between the highest point and lowest point is only 80 metres, the area is not flat. There are no big mountains but the area is known for its rolling landscape of hillocks, moraines and eskers, which are glacial in origin. It seems to be like Valley of a Thousand Hills on a lower scale. There are many lakes, marshes and bogs, which immediately means that we can count on wet feet for much of the race. Some of the marshes and ditches are wide and difficult to cross or impassable.

Some of the areas are open grassland, nice for as-the-crow-flies routes; and other are forested. Forested terrain ranges from open and runnable to thick, impassable undergrowth. Accurate map reading and terrain interpretation will be very important, so that we don't get trapped.

Apparently there is a network of tracks and also rides within the forests, which make for faster travel.

Rolling hillocks, typical of the area

There is not much in the way of hazards with the exception of the normal things you can trip over (roots, logs, ditches). We can expect to be bothered by deer flies and stinging nettles will need to be avoided at all costs. They "grow in marshy forest and by some ditches". We've been advised to wear long leg protection.

The weather at this time of year is mild, with daytime temperatures of 12-20°C dropping to 5-15°C at night. Night frost is not unlikely and conditions could be clear and dry, low clouds with intermittant showers or rain with strong wind. We're obviously hoping for the former rather than the latter.

What kind of distance could we cover? At the rogaines here at home we've covered 45-55km in 8 hours. We could easily log +100km in the 24hr period.

We do run through the night; and I'm very, very lucky to have my hands on the new Petzl Ultra, which beams brighter than a Care Bear Stare. The maximum beam (highest of the three settings; distance of 120m) will be great for spotting the reflective strips on the controls at night. Duration on max is only about 1h30, so this beam will be saved for when we're in the vicinity of the control.

We get maps at 10h00 and the start is at 12h00. We will carry most of our food with us (there are 5 water stations out there) and there is the option to pass through the event centre (hash house) during the race to get a bigger meal. We'll probably stash food at the has house anyway, build it in as an option when we look at the maps and then make the call when we're out there, depending on where we are and how long it is taking us to move through our intended route plan, which we have to submit to the race organisers before the start.

Heather and I will not be the only South African entrants. Nicholas Mulder and Liz Mulder will compete as a mixed pair. Liz and Pieter have immigrated to Switzerland, so it will be super to see Liz again. I fly out on Saturday night. Nic departs on Monday night.

More news on the Rogaine, next week, from Estonia. WwwwwoooooHooooo!

Rogaine, the most cunning running

Rogaining, the sport of long distance cross-country navigation, is one of my favourite, favourite disciplines. It combines ultra distance running with time-limited, point-score orienteering to create a strategic sport. The 24hr World Rogaining Championships takes place in a week-and-a-half, over the weekend of 13/14 September. It will be my first bash at a 24hr rogaine.

Unlike orienteering, rogaining is a team sport where the format is usually pairs. I'm running with friend Heather Graz, who has exceptional road and off-road ultradistance running credentials (from 800m track for Western Province to 100-milers locally and abroad) longer than this blog posting; in addition to a health dose of expedition adventure races, including the freezing cold Quest in 2002 and Patagonia Expedition Race in 2005.

My saving grace is that I have more orienteering and rogaine experience, so I'll be holding on to the map with a vice-like grip so that Heather doesn't run away from me. Truthfully, we should be well matched in terms of temperament, competitiveness and experience; and a mutual love for ultra distance cross-country foot races.

Heather has lived in Cape Town the last few years and more recently is over in the UK. We'll hook up in London on Sunday, flying to Estonia later in the week.

Aside from the use of orienteering-like maps, rogaining differs from orienteering in that it is vastly more strategic.

In normal orienteering you have to locate controls in number order, one-two-three-four, as fast as possible, chosing optimal routes. In rogaining you're presented with a map covered in controls and you have a limited period of time to locate as many as possible. In this case we'll have 24 hours, starting from noon on the Saturday and finishing by noon on the Sunday.

Furthermore, your objective is not necessarily to visit as many controls as possible; to spice things up a bit the controls are assigned points values reflecting their distance from other checkpoints (and the event centre) and the technical difficulty (terrain, navigation) of visiting them. So, the objective is actually to get as many points as possible within the defined time period. It is impossible to visit all of the controls so routes have to be planned to most efficiently gather points without wasting time zig-zagging between controls.

I first heard about World Rogaining Champs in 2004, when adventure racers Michael Tobin and Mike Kloser (Team Nike) dominated. This event was hosted in the US. Two years later (Rogaining Champs are held every second year) the event was held in Australia and some ex-South African AR-ers living now in Oz took part. I decided then and there that I'd be going to the next one, no matter where it would be held.

Estonia is the host for this, the 8th World Rogaining Championships.

Rest is training

Bull of Africa -a 6-day race for most teams - ended on 16 August. We're only two weeks post-race; why do you think you already need to start hammering the road again?

Comrades runners are advised to take 6-weeks rest (stretching, slow recovery runs, short distance) post-Comrades - and this is just a 89km, 11-hour road run. Marathon runners are advised to take 4-weeks off post-race; the rule being 1-day of rest for every mile raced.

Sure, the intensity is lower in a multiday adventure race than a high-intensity marathon, but if you consider that you've been through 6-days on rugged off-road terrain across multiple disciplines, where you've been on the go for 24-hour days with nutrition deficits and sleep deprivation.

An AR friend emailed me this morning: "Do you reckon its OK to get back into some training this week? I tried last week.....very unsuccessfully. Went for a run and it ended up a shuffle with my feet hardly lifting 2cm off the road. I struggled."

Friends, I have three words for you: REST IS TRAINING. Rest gives you a chance to recover, physically and psychologically, from the strain of the effort.

In his book "Everyone's guide to distance running" coach Norrie Williamson says, "The better the recovery, the better will be the quality on the other side. In many ways, recovery is the most important part of your training schedule and your training is only as good as your recovery."

This applies as much to rest days within your training week and larger chunks post-race. That's the whole deal with being a professional athlete... being a full-time athlete isn't about spending so many more hours training, it's about spending loads more hours sleeping and resting.

A few years ago, only a few days after a 250km, I decided to get into the gym for a treadmill run and workout. I got on the tread, powered up the machine and after a warmup walk I started running. Two minutes later I turned it off and went home. Although I felt fine walking around and doing normal every day functions, my body was still tired. I did no training for another two weeks and then worked on getting back up to speed. Now I look forward to the indulgent week I take off completely after any distance event. And then I start slow with walking and non-impact, low intensity activities.

Consider too that it isn't just the race in your legs. You've spent weeks and months in training for this race. Training and racing stresses your body. Rest allows healing and recovery so that you can come back stronger. Avoid rest and you'll suffer exhaustion, illness and injuries.

My general rule with a long race like Bull is to take 2-weeks post-race where you do absolutely nothing. A yoga or stretch class would go down well during this time. THEN, start by walking around the 'hood or spending 20-minutes on a spin bike (active rest). Other low intensity activities count too. Just let your body ease into it.

And check your resting heart rate and HR recovery rates. Just like whe you have flu, if your body is t.i.r.e.d your HR will be 10 or more beats above what it usually is. Go home and watch more DVDs for a few days.

A few days after starting to walk, add in a bit of run/walking. Up the stakes daily until you're comfortable running 4km at a nice, slow pace. And just keep advancing in little chunks over a few weeks until you're back into your normal routine.

Don't be lured into getting back into training early because of other events on the horizon. Remember that you're not losing anything by resting; you're gaining strength and healing your body, which will make you better able to handle future and continued training and racing.

Short changing rest time in favour of training sessions could worsen your performance, not improve it.

Blog update problems

I'm having problems updating from my computer (as of last week). Something to do with scripting... Can't create new posts nor save posts. I'm trying to get it fixed (this update typed on the computers at gym).

I'm away from 6-22 September at the 24hr World Rogaine Champs, running with my friend Heather Graz. Will try to do updates from the event, which takes place over the weekend of 13/14 September.

Till then, happy training and racing.

Lisa