Do Some Training!

As much as we may like to pretend otherwise, running training is an essential part of improving orienteering performance. Whilst training for other sports (such as rowing) helps, it's no substitute for getting out and running. With both men’s and women’s Varisty titles to defend and with a decent chance of coming 3rd overall at BUSA, it's definitely worth us all putting in a bit of extra effort to make sure we perform as well as we can next year. There are some pretty weird and wonderful ideas around for how to go about training, so I've put together a brief summary of the training you should be trying to do (based on the schedules used by teams/individuals with good records of success).

How to train

(1) Long, steady runs. There's no way out of this one. If you want to be faster, you need to put in the distance. By 'long' I mean at least 40 minutes, but preferably longer. As for steady, a good way to judge your pace is that you should be sweating (through exertion, not wearing too many clothes!), but still able to talk. You shouldn't come home feeling sick and/or needing a lie down. Vary the routes you use or you'll end up getting bored and losing motivation. Long steady running should make up the majority of the time you spend training. It's all very well prancing around doing intervals and the like, but if you haven't got the basic fitness base then you're just wasting your time.

 

(2) Having said that, interval training (alternating fast and slow running) should also form a part of your training schedule. Interval training is a great way to build up speed and stamina, but is not a substitute for long steady running. Concentrate on keeping the 'slow' sections no slower than half the speed of the 'fast'. Standard interval sessions are 5 repeats of alternating 5 mins fast with 2 mins slow, or alternatively 3 repeats of 3 fast, 2 fast, 1 fast, with one minute of slow between each fast. Experiment! You should do at most one interval session per week. For those expecting to orienteer outside East Anglia, you should also think about including some hill reps. Find a hill, run up it fast and down it slow, for 20 mins or more. Use this as an alternative to intervals, rather than an addition.

(3) Resting is as much an essential part of a training schedule as the actual running. Without enough rest you'll feel tired and lethargic on a daily basis, and, as is always the danger of running whilst tired, will probably end up injuring yourself. Everyone should be having at least one day a week off, usually more. It is also worth mentioning the rate at which you decrease rest/increase training. If you increase the amount of time spent training by more then 10 percent per week then you're just asking for an injury. Even if you manage to stay fit, you'll just end up losing motivation.

 

If you're doing all this already, then you may want to start using a more advanced training strategy, but for most of us this should cover all that you need to be working at!

When to train

The biggest problem we have to face is lack of time. With so many other things going on it's often difficult to find time to go out running. What works best for me is to try and find areas of 'dead time' in which, if I'm honest with myself, I'm not doing anything I could consider as

essential. As an undergrad it was the time between finishing practicals and dinner in hall. These days it's lunchtimes. Do I really need to eat lunch in the tea room with everyone else every single day, or could I go for a run and have lunch at my desk when I get back? Stop telling yourself that you're way too busy and actually think about what you do with all your time. And, lets face it, is it really a problem if you turn up to the pub a bit late? Or drink a bit less the night before and get up slightly earlier at the weekend? You are meant to be a runner after all!

So go and do some training! As a club we're in a pretty strong position, having just won both men’s and women's varsity titles, and with only one member of the teams leaving. And let's not forget, Oxford came 3rd at BUSA this year. If we can beat them so emphatically at Varsity then what's preventing us getting 3rd next year? With a bit of effort from all of us we could have a really successful year, so what's stopping you?

 

Alex Copley