Training Log Archive: Niall

Event: Ottawa OC Rogaine 2012
 

Rogaine went a lot better than the championships a week before. Reasonable planning (could have been better but that comes from experience - only my third rogaine) for my skill level meant I finished in plenty of time to do an urban loop. Had I not lost my timekeeping odometer in the woods, I could have added more high-point wood controls, but coming in 3rd in category and overall for points means I did a very good compromise of getting back to finish for time checking and figuring what I could do in the remaining time. Also, in the woods, bearings were true and only one mistake, quickly corrected. Now why couldn't I have done that well the week before...

Nothing like getting lost on a map of a campground I had gone on all weekend. Right off the bat too. Either I need new eyes or a new brain. Borking control 1 undermined all my confidence, so that going to #2 behind my cabin felt like completely unknown terrain. WTF, brain. Once we got in the forest, I was unable to adjust to the map scale (which I knew well) and made mistake after mistake after mistake. The only controls I did well on were those I had seen as spectator earlier. Entirely unnecessary mistakes. Nerves? Frustration? Pressure? who knows. Thoroughly unimpressed with myself. (Punchy details in splits)

RedX - Sprint - Splits

Another missed first control until too late, even re-attacking did not work. Ten minutes lost. Minor mistake at 4 costing too much time, and giant mistake at 7. Unlike the Ontario champs, I did feel I had time left, so tried to do the rest and come back before maximum time - which was just barely. No real troubles after, though could have done better route choiuces - just slow slogging too many times. Felt good that I finished, but still disappointed in extremely preventable mistakes. (More details in the splits.)

RedX Long - Splits

NAOC Middle: Nothing like passing 30m off the first control to start off the championships on a note that would be sustained throughout. Major errors at controls 1, 3, 4, 7 and minor errors at 13, 14 and 16. Third from last, both in category and overall for the map. Horrible, horrible start, could have done so much better. (Specific details for each control mistake found in the splits.)

Middle - RedX - Splits

Event: 2012 North American Orienteering Championships
 

Cold, thick pea-soup foggy morning. Could not see past 50m ahead, in the forest or clearings. Standing at the fence surrounding the Camp Fortune antenna, and seeing the guy wires disappearing into the fog... not a trace of the antenna visible... wow. A slow start, getting a bit confused on the numerous trails, but recovered well - until contorl 5, which confused me for no good reason. Once again, took way too long to decide to re-attack from the path (over ten minutes). Took a reasonable trail detour on the long control to 7, and was not the only one; attacking from the ski path made it easy to find. Going from 8 to 9 was a long slog of carefully running down one alpine slope and painfully up another, but I knew I was getting tired and wanted a way to know at all times where I was. Pure luck got me to 10 (I was off my bearing to the attack point), poor choices on the trail network after that slowed me down.

Ontario Champs Long: great terrain, poor mind. Good approach to #1, but missed #2 by a bit, and then borked #3 completely, overshooting the terrain, getting on a different place on the trail, and not thinking that running straight north for five minutes does not correspond to a twisty trail soon to curve east. Nearly went off the map. Things did not improve, with my attack after control 7 landing me along the cliffs towards the falls for ten minutes before I realised where I must be. I felt far too long time had passed, so bailed, and still ended over 2 hours. Definitely a low point, have not had to abandon a race in 2 years (since COC 2010's The Barrens).

Event: 2012 Ontario Orienteering Championships
 

Ontario Champs Middle Distance: started well, but misread the map by control 3, resulting in major time loss. Other errors compounded, though I recovered somewhat. Not a great race, could definitely have done better.

Ontario Champs Sprint: started very well, was actually leading for 4 controls, then borked completely, costing me a medal - "straight away" is not a good indicator; "follow the street" is. Did not recover well at all, took too long to re-attack from the previous control. Did fairly well after, until the spectator control where hubris made me sprint, then had to walk, and brain did not recover well for control 14. Analysing time lost at those two controls, I could have been 3rd, even 2nd, had the rest been the same. Very much a personal disappointment.