Training Log Archive: Nikolay

Event: Ultimate Orienteer #8 (Ultralong) - Salmon La Sac
 

Warm up

Ultimate Orienteer #8 - Ultra Long - Salmon La Sac

Not a clean race but most issues were from not taking precise bearings around the checkpoints.

Shuttle drop - start: Jogged the first 400m walked the rest. Remember several years ago I jogged easy-ish the same trail going for the middle distance start. This just strengthen my idea to start conservatively :)
#1 - Stayed high and "dialed in" my conservative pace
#2 - 1:00 Followed the contours saw the rock outcrops just to the right before the checkpoint but did not see the flag and 'my' cliff which was apparently a bit lower than I was. Ran up to another cliff turned around and saw the flag from all the way up there :(
#3 - Direction and over the hill with the cliffs facing me.
#4 - Direction and contouring. Made sure I stay high. Used the steep slope before the cp as a catching feature.
#5 - Stayed high following the ridge then after the marsh checking off each hill.
#6 - Noticed this on the way to 5 - downhill and rocky ground - and said to myself "I'll have the fastest split here" Yep I did.
#7 - Down the trail, around the hill top and down to the gravel road. Felt very slow end up being the fastest split. Go figure.
#8 - 1:00 - Took a bearing, followed it precisely, distance ended, no checkpoint, thick forest around me. Shit. Time to deploy the expanding spiral navigation technique along with the terrain scanning algorithm set to red filter.
#9 - 1:10 - I knew from previous years that the white overgrown forest just to the left of the line was crappy to run through, So chose to run right. Did not consider going over the hills through the white at all. Too much climb makes me blind to route choices like that. The right route ended up good but I botched the CP approach ending up one ridge to the south.
#10 - 2:30 - Direction, but did not make sense of the terrain and map and have passed just to the left of the knol not seing the flag. Ended up way high up.
#11 - 2:00 - Noticed that I am too wide to the left at the beginning, corrected well. Close to the checkpoint felt really slow and I though I am at the CP slope, but I had to run further 100 - 150 meters
#12 - Direciton
#13 - Contouring then making sense of what hill's what in the flat area.
#14 - Down to the road. In retrospect wrong routechoice as I remember from years past the area of the straight route has mostly clean forest and is mostly flat and downhill. But I kind'a looked forward running some on roads so that's that
#15 - Down the ridge.
#16 - Contoured and made sure I stay high, slow climbing and barely running the climb through the open.
#17 - Down and up the ridge.
#18 - Compass and being carefull where I pop out form the creek.
#19 - Direction and up the hill after the road. Here I felt tired and was slower from that point on
#20 - Compass
#21 - 1:40 - Compass. Stopped where CP should be, don't see it, circle around a bit, rock in bushes literally 5 meters from my original stop :(
#22 - Compass
#23 - Blah running on the road
#24 - Stayed high checking off the knols to the left.
#25 - To the left of the hill staying in the clean forest.
#26 - Out on the trail and compass to the CP
#27 - Out on the trail, look for the light green to enter the forest, then circle around the hill.
#28 - 3:20 - Out to the fence, bearing, distance done, no flag, no ditch. Definitely not white forest. Came out and took another bearing from the other fence corner.
#29 - 0:20 Running towards dogs and campers and propane tanks and people setting barbecues, what's happening !!! I am so done with this. I want to go home !!! Confused running arond all this.
Total lost: 13 mins.

Controls pickup

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