What is the strangest way to train for orienteering?

I can think of some strange ways to prepare. Klas Karlsson has run races with ear plugs. Orienteers have reportedly kept maps in the shower for map study. Margo Thornton (one of the best F21s in the US in the 1980s) had an O'map place mat (she claimed she used cheerios to mark controls locations). What other strange ways are there to prepare? Have you actually tried them?

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), July 26, 2000

Answers

The intimidation factor of seeing a fellow competitor starting a race wearing earplugs should not be underestimated.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 26, 2000.

There is one thing that I have heard of orienteers doing. I won't try to kid anyone into thinking that I believe it is a good way to train for orienteering, or even a way of any kind to train for orienteering. However, there are those out there who propose that yoga of all things can be an appropriate way to train for orienteering.

In my mind it takes someone a lot stranger than Fritz to come up with yoga as a serious training technique. Perhaps it is considered a way to train for concentration? I suppose that if you can tolerate yoga for a long time then you are not prone to be distracted by things happening around you? However, a case might be made that working on a hard problem or task requiring your brain to be busy doing something repetitive for a long period is a better way to get used to holding your concentration. I presume that one trys to keep a blank mind rather than thinking things when one attempts yoga.

I have done things like taking reading materials to run with. Its a way to kill 2 things with one stone, sort of. Maybe it helps map-reading as well, but I don't know why it would be better than simply reading a map.

I've used dogs for training on occasion. If I know where there's an aggressive dog, I can run by there inciting the dog to chase me. It can be a bit fun when its on your own terms but most of the time chasing dogs annoy me.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 26, 2000.

I tried running with ear plugs once. It was strangen -- it gave you a feeling of being detached from the world. I don't think I would use them during a race. But, I take ear plugs on all of my travels. It is often handy to be able to put them in and get some sleep.

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), July 26, 2000.

John Rogers has been known to go out for a run with a comic book. The theory is that if you have a map on a road run, although you might do some sort of exercises like planning how you'd do some fictional leg, that takes some discipline that you might not have. But with a comic book, you have a real objective, to read the story. And you're therefore practicing running without looking at where you're putting your feet, and practicing holding your hand steady.

I think I tried it once, and it didn't do much for me. I haven't tried running with earplugs, but I did try it with headphones recently, and that was also kind of disconcerting. I suppose it takes some getting used to. And I don't know that earplugs would be a good idea for me in a race, as I suspect that the useful audio information I get is at least as significant as the distractions.

-- J-J (jjcote@juno.com), July 27, 2000.

I know of one guy, I think he was from NEOC or something. Anyway this guy would get a couple of those tubes that come in the middle of rolls of toilet paper and glue them to his eye sockets. That way he effectively had blinders on, resulting in a sort of forced tunnel vision. You may have seen horses wearing similar things. I guess some horse owners figure this way the horse won't see things off to the side and get distracted (e.g., some guy standing by the side of the road holding out a sugarcube).

Anyway, this guy used the toilet paper tubes to do something quite the opposite. With the tubes in place he was forcing himself to move his head side-to-side, scanning things all over his field-of-view. Then when he would pry the tubes off he would retain those good habits, but have an even wider field-of-view. I don't know if it really worked well or not, but it does seem like a peculiar way to train.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), July 28, 2000.