Western Invitational and the Turkey Trot

On Saturday I ran at the Western Invitational in London (Ontario). This was a 10 km cross-country on a golf course, so soft but flat grass and some tough climbs. My time of 39:21 was ok considering the tough week of training (Coach's race report). The Waterloo team's aim is to peak for the Ontario Champs at the end of October, so we aren't resting up for these early races.

The training is getting tough, two long interval sessions a week and 45-60 min runs on the other days, with competition and a long run at the weekends. I'm sure it will be good for me in the long term but I am feeling it at the moment. My first impressions of Canadian university sport is that it is much more tightly controlled than in Britain. Teams are run by the university, rather than students. I can't say which I prefer, I think the all-inclusiveness of Britain is a good thing since it encourages casual sportsmen to become competitive, but there is still a great team atmosphere here and having a (free) professional coach can only be a good thing (and free race entry, free transport, meal allowance).

Next XC is this coming Saturday, our home meet. The Don Mills open. I don't think it'll be the most enjoyable course ever, certainly will be a lot of laps.

On Sunday I had my first orienteering experience over here; day 2 of the Turkey Trot. The area was Albion Hill and was a managed forest, with lots of bike trails (not all marked). It took me a while to get into it, a combination of not orienteering for about a month and being out late the previous night. The second half of the course was much better. The forest was tough going, definitely worthy of its slow-run screen and it was hot. There weren't many competitors (I'd rank its importance somewhere close to Twin-Peak or October Odyssey, but about a tenth the number of people and a very reduced number of classes to make that sensible competition) but they did have decent prizes for the top 3 each day on all classes and best overall.

Ion Gheuca and Janos Kuszalik

Next Sunday is the Ontario Relays, I hope to do better there, followed by the Ontario Champs (sprint, middle and classic) over the following Thanksgiving weekend. I've also just entered the US Champs (incl. a World Ranking Event) at the start of November near Washington DC.

As for uni, there is definitely a lot of work to keep on top of.