24 May 2008 - Phew a busy busy week.....

Berlin is a long way........Thank you to Gunnar who let me stay overnight on the way out and back.

The orienteering was great and I was made very welcome by TCO. I entered the 5 point on Saturday Morning, the M course on Saturday afternoon and joined a team event on the Sunday. The 5 point went well - I found 1 point and was within 2 m of the second when I timed out. On the M course - not so well, I has set my compass to 0 deg and not 355, so that meant that I grazed the turning point on the wrong side - doh. On the team event I failed to meet the rest of the team - although again I seemed to be within 2-3m of them but couldn't see a thing in the 1-2m visibility. http://www.tco-ev.de/

I had not anticipated the need to read map bearings directly off the table using a compass (was thinking of a scale paper map) - but fortunately I had a spare arm compass I could use - although using the wrist strap as a point of reference probably added to my inaccuracy. Some changes to make before the next one I think.

Meanwhile its back to the training for the next long distance continues at Staines - 48 mins for 4k on Wednesday and earlier today 58 mins for the 5k (with 47 mins at 4k). I think Staines is faster because you can see a buoy line to follow down half of the course - or at least the sun rays in the water to help stay in a line.

Thursday evening was my first go at track cycling. Nice not to have to deal with traffic, potholes in the road, gravel, road junctions etc. I do need to up my gearing though as I couldn't spin my legs fast enough. 200m time was 16.7s.

First British person to enter Underwater Orienteering Event

Well this weekend sees the UK's debut in Underwater Orienteering. I am going to the Spreepokal, which is run by a Club near Berlin. No-one seems to remember the last time anyone entered such an event, although the sport used to be popular in the 70's. Anyway if you look on the CMAS website I am the only person in the UK with a competitor licence.
Ive no idea how I will do - but I expect I will learn heaps.

which way is North.......oh yes the pointy end

Fixie - Revisited........

Here's my bike after a good tidy up and respray - lots of new authentic bits and artwork. Very pleased with this. Here's to some nice bike rides.......

Belgian Long Distance 4k

Ok here's the first official result of the year:

4,000 m open water at Seneffe in Belgium - 53m 48s

I was hoping for something nearer 48 mins based upon my recent times around Heron Lake - but in the end its how you do on the day. So lots of work now to build up my pace before the next event: 6k in Germany. Starting tomorrow at 6am. At least its sunny.

5 May 2008 - Long distance & Orienteering

The last few weeks I have been stepping up the training again. Heron Lake near where I live has opened for open water swimming between 6-8 in the mornings - yawn. Actually its quite nice when the sun comes out. Once round the lake is 1km. So for Ive done 3 x 3km and 1 x 4km. Water is about 9 deg - so wetsuit needed. Found that wearking the wetsuit 'inside out' with the smooth oustide is faster than normal - by about 10%. Time for 4km was 52 mins. A place to start - I was hoping for under the 50mins - but my foot started to complain and thats with the wetsuit in its slower way out.
This weekend off to Belgium for a 4k canal race......
Following weekend a long trek to Berlin area for my first underwater orienteering.....

Decided to do the long distance in September for World Championshis in Italy - I think it will be faster in the warner water with no wetsuit.