Training Log Archive: lackoflukeIn the 7 days ending Apr 29, 2006:
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Saturday Apr 29, 2006 #
Event: British Middle Champs
Orienteering race 1:01:56 [3] ** 5.9 km (10:30 / km) +190m 9:02 / km
spiked:12/20c shoes: New Balance RX Terrain
The last orienteering events I've done have been in forests mostly runnable all over. It was something of a change to run in the brashing-infested Fonthill. I really did not enjoy this forest, since there was a lot more crap on the forest floor, plenty of brashings and even some nettles. Worse, I couldn't really concentrate on reading the map unless I was on a path as I had to watch out for crap on the forest floor. I still felt out of power and felt unwilling to concentrate. All in all it didn't add up to a particularly rewarding experience, and I unsurprisingly didn't do very well.
As soon as I'd got a few controls in I realised this wasn't going to be a pleasant forest and just seemed to lose the will to try. Hence, on the splits analysis, I've marked pretty much every leg down for 'hesitation' and 'lacked confidence'.
Number 11 was the worst mistake I made. I aimed to follow the compass and run past a large area of green, but I seemed unable to follow the compass and had to relocate twice. The first time was on on a path junction. I then took a path and after 150m or so lost it. I then had very little to go on, being aware that I had been heading way off earlier, so I just ran southeastwards since the control was roughly in that direction. I eventually came across what I initially assumed to be a large gully but in fact was a path backed by an steep bank. I couldn't see a gully nor a suitable steep bank marked on the map, so I ran along it to a path junction. At this junction, the angle of the paths and a nearby hide helped me relocate. It was then I noticed that the steep bank wasn't marked on the map.
I was in a bit of a negative mood last night, having not really got anywhere workwise. I'll take another more careful look at what I was doing and see if I can get somewhere tonight and leave myself in a bit more of a positive mood. The forest tomorrow is not adjacent to this one, hopefully it'll be less heavily brashed than this one.
As soon as I'd got a few controls in I realised this wasn't going to be a pleasant forest and just seemed to lose the will to try. Hence, on the splits analysis, I've marked pretty much every leg down for 'hesitation' and 'lacked confidence'.
Number 11 was the worst mistake I made. I aimed to follow the compass and run past a large area of green, but I seemed unable to follow the compass and had to relocate twice. The first time was on on a path junction. I then took a path and after 150m or so lost it. I then had very little to go on, being aware that I had been heading way off earlier, so I just ran southeastwards since the control was roughly in that direction. I eventually came across what I initially assumed to be a large gully but in fact was a path backed by an steep bank. I couldn't see a gully nor a suitable steep bank marked on the map, so I ran along it to a path junction. At this junction, the angle of the paths and a nearby hide helped me relocate. It was then I noticed that the steep bank wasn't marked on the map.
I was in a bit of a negative mood last night, having not really got anywhere workwise. I'll take another more careful look at what I was doing and see if I can get somewhere tonight and leave myself in a bit more of a positive mood. The forest tomorrow is not adjacent to this one, hopefully it'll be less heavily brashed than this one.
Thursday Apr 27, 2006 #
Running 36:35 [2] 7.5 km (4:53 / km) +110m 4:33 / km
Really felt out of power today, hence the slow time. Like last week, I had to concentrate on it being a stamina rather than speed run.
Wednesday Apr 26, 2006 #
Note
Lakes weekend review.
Originally, the JOK Chasing Sprint was going to take place the day after the National Event on Whitbarrow Scar. However, both these events were cancelled due to snow. Anyway, the Chasing Sprint was later rescheduled to take place on the day before the Graythwaite Regional event. It had been quite a while since I'd last been up to the Lake District, so I thought I would go this time now that entries for the Chasing Sprint had reopened.
I coped a lot better than I thought I would, especially since I don't often go orienteering in technical areas. In fact, I'm beginning to quite like areas with contour detail, like those of this last weekend, since there are always plenty of features. It's so much easier to veer off course when you're running through featureless forest, especially if there's a liberal smattering of brashings and thorny crap on the forest floor. Also, the forest floors in the Lakes were almost completely clear, which meant you really could run anywhere you wanted.
It's quite a drive to the Lakes - it took me about 5 and a half hours each way, stopping once on the way up and twice on the way down. But for two days of quality orienteering, it was well worth it. For added value, and since I drove myself there, and the weather was beautifully sunny, I decided to walk up Gummer's How on Sunday, after the Graythwaite event. The views from there were spectacular, in particular, in this photo I could look down over the forests I had run in earlier that weekend. Windermere is the wide lake in the foreground and Esthwaite Water is the smaller lake in the background. The forests were behind Windermere and to the left of Esthwaite.
Since the views were so nice, I really didn't want to leave Gummers How, but I knew I had to. A 5-and-a-half hour drive back to Oxford awaited....
Now that I've written up the weekend's orienteering, I've deleted the previous note I left. It was intended to only be there temporarily.
Originally, the JOK Chasing Sprint was going to take place the day after the National Event on Whitbarrow Scar. However, both these events were cancelled due to snow. Anyway, the Chasing Sprint was later rescheduled to take place on the day before the Graythwaite Regional event. It had been quite a while since I'd last been up to the Lake District, so I thought I would go this time now that entries for the Chasing Sprint had reopened.
I coped a lot better than I thought I would, especially since I don't often go orienteering in technical areas. In fact, I'm beginning to quite like areas with contour detail, like those of this last weekend, since there are always plenty of features. It's so much easier to veer off course when you're running through featureless forest, especially if there's a liberal smattering of brashings and thorny crap on the forest floor. Also, the forest floors in the Lakes were almost completely clear, which meant you really could run anywhere you wanted.
It's quite a drive to the Lakes - it took me about 5 and a half hours each way, stopping once on the way up and twice on the way down. But for two days of quality orienteering, it was well worth it. For added value, and since I drove myself there, and the weather was beautifully sunny, I decided to walk up Gummer's How on Sunday, after the Graythwaite event. The views from there were spectacular, in particular, in this photo I could look down over the forests I had run in earlier that weekend. Windermere is the wide lake in the foreground and Esthwaite Water is the smaller lake in the background. The forests were behind Windermere and to the left of Esthwaite.
Since the views were so nice, I really didn't want to leave Gummers How, but I knew I had to. A 5-and-a-half hour drive back to Oxford awaited....
Now that I've written up the weekend's orienteering, I've deleted the previous note I left. It was intended to only be there temporarily.
Tuesday Apr 25, 2006 #
Circuits intervals 1:00:00 [4]
60s on 10s off for one complete circuit going the correct way around. Started at #21 (the weightliftingish one whose title escapes me) and went round with a Kat and couple of others. Felt a lot better this time since I had actually done some exercise in the week prior!
Sunday Apr 23, 2006 #
Event: Graythwaite Regional Event
Orienteering race 1:19:30 [3] *** 6.92 km (11:29 / km) +410m 8:52 / km
spiked:16/21c shoes: New Balance RX Terrain
I'd run at Graythwaite in JK 2004 and was looking forward to returning. I'd quite enjoyed it and the forest was runnable pretty much all over. It was pretty much the same today. As an additional bonus, the weather was gloriously sunny. I didn't really have that much in the way of sunblock, fortunately I didn't seem to get sunburnt!
The course started to the east of the road running through the area, which was the nicest. There was a reasonable amount of contour detail, and the forest was fantastically runnable, uniformly white and with very little if anything on the forest floor. If there's anything negative I can say about this part of the course, it's that the controls were perhaps a little on the easy side. Control 1 was a TD3 control - I should know, I had a control here on an Orange course (JK 2004 Relays) - and there were plenty of uncrossable fences and one unmistakable mast to use as navigation features.
It wasn't quite as nice over the road. There is the famous 'Graythwaite green', a large splodge of impenetrable green forest, but that was only on the edge of the map and there were no legs through it. Due to forestry work (I assume), there are now areas of brashings where trees have been felled. Although control #11 was not in the brashings, I ended up foolishly picking my way through them. From 13 to 14 I could probably have avoided going through the green. It would have been worth trying to find the corridors of white that were mapped. I also had to cut across some brashings on the way to number 19, but they didn't seem too bad.
Overall, I was pleased with how I got on. I wasn't feeling my best physically, that may have had something to do with having run the previous day and not having trained too much the preceding weeks, but I never really lost contact with the map, except perhaps on the way to number 10. I was coping reasonably well with the contour detail, and in the end I finished 4th out of 15 with 3 mispunchers.
The course started to the east of the road running through the area, which was the nicest. There was a reasonable amount of contour detail, and the forest was fantastically runnable, uniformly white and with very little if anything on the forest floor. If there's anything negative I can say about this part of the course, it's that the controls were perhaps a little on the easy side. Control 1 was a TD3 control - I should know, I had a control here on an Orange course (JK 2004 Relays) - and there were plenty of uncrossable fences and one unmistakable mast to use as navigation features.
It wasn't quite as nice over the road. There is the famous 'Graythwaite green', a large splodge of impenetrable green forest, but that was only on the edge of the map and there were no legs through it. Due to forestry work (I assume), there are now areas of brashings where trees have been felled. Although control #11 was not in the brashings, I ended up foolishly picking my way through them. From 13 to 14 I could probably have avoided going through the green. It would have been worth trying to find the corridors of white that were mapped. I also had to cut across some brashings on the way to number 19, but they didn't seem too bad.
Overall, I was pleased with how I got on. I wasn't feeling my best physically, that may have had something to do with having run the previous day and not having trained too much the preceding weeks, but I never really lost contact with the map, except perhaps on the way to number 10. I was coping reasonably well with the contour detail, and in the end I finished 4th out of 15 with 3 mispunchers.