Although Miskolc is a pretty sizeable town with plenty of shopping malls, traffic lights and apartment blocks, you don't have to go far to find rural gridlock...
Anyway, back to the forests. They are mixed broad leaf, mainly beech with some pine. The photo is typical of the light green, but it doesn't slow you down much.
The geology is karst, so lots of limestone rocks, negative depressions, etc. Big boulders like this aren't too common though.
One of the better training runs I did was interval training, with SI timing provided. The intervals were unusually long, but then the terrain was also very fast and relatively flat. I was a bit scrappy towards the end of the training.
However, the most enjoyable session was actually a race, the Hungarian Night Champs. This was the first 'proper' night event that I've ever done, as I've only orienteered in park-type terrain at night before (and 1 rogaine). The thought of navigating in the dark through proper European forest was a bit intimidating before the start.
I managed to ace the first control, which gave me some great confidence. The 2nd control was hidden in a vegetated pit, which didn't help and then I messed up the first long leg. However, I settled down nicely after this and started picking up competitors who had started ahead of me. My big mistake was not realising where the water point was (#10) and running straight past it. I bonked big time and ended up walking large sections from #13 onwards. Nevertheless, I still thought it a great experience. Can't wait for another one!
Following the end of the training camp, I'm off to Finland to compete in the Nordic Champs / World Cup near the town of Salo. The first race, the long distance, is this Saturday.
http://www.noc2009.fi/
Nicholas Mulder
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