Above are all 7 maps in the official training camp before JWOC here in Turkey.
I’ve been training here along with the other athletes: David Runde, Jessica Colleran and Ben Brady.
My impressions so far have been pretty mixed. The first two maps above were meant to be relevant to the middle however they weren’t similar to each other at all.
The long relevant terrain also is not VERY similar to the leaked Long map.
Although judging from the description and photo in the bulletin I expect the long will mostly be on the west side of the map shown below.
Anyways, so far the training has been going quite well for me. I’m a bit rough around the edges at times making small mistakes, but the mistakes have been going away as I do more trainings.
Only after 4 forest trainings, I feel pretty solid about the upcoming races, especially after watching some of the other team trainings.
I had a really good training in the same area many teams have been training (number 4/5 in the map gallery above).
We did a simulated mass start between the Ukrainian, USA, Japanese and Spanish teams (like the first leg of a relay).
And I managed to beat everyone, running barely over 6 min/km in pretty physical terrain.
I recommend watching the replay here if you are interested. It doesn’t have very many routes, but if you look at my route it can give you a good idea of how to run through this kind of terrain (when / why I avoid green etc.)
It wasn’t a perfect race, although I was cleaner than most and physically managed to push pretty well. Before this one I took the trainings really easy too so I probably had some extra energy.
Anyways, I felt really good about that race and hope I can pull off something similar in the actual relay and also a fast / clean race in the middle and long as well.
The last thing I want to cover is the first training we did which is probably most relevant to the middle.
Here is a link to my route (bad map quality sorry).
The scattered and detailed rocks map it look very technical, kinda like in the Czech Republic this year.
However, the rocks are very over-mapped which is a bit odd. Most of the mapped “rock piles” are very small. The cliffs and boulders are also usually minimum size or smaller.
This makes the terrain not as technical as it looks at first glance because if you keep your head up then it’s easy to see other features or just spot the control. But I still think you can get confused if you are looking for one rock in the middle of a bunch of rocks ESPECIALLY if you don’t stick on your compass.
I believe we are doing another training here before JWOC actually starts on September 5th, and I am going to focus on taking some really good compasses through the rocky areas.
Anyways, I think that’s all I have to say about training here. The races are coming up soon and I’m very excited! Now trying to be as physically prepared as possible by letting my legs recover, eating and sleeping well!
That’s all.
Anthony Riley 