Training Log Archive: tommig

Much happier today. 6.2km course around Pirttimäki, much more enjoyable terrain, runnable part of national forest, less brashings, cooler, nice rain, no insects.

Made some silly route choice errors but was 5/33 and could probably have been 10 or so minutes faster with a totally clean run. Usually made mistakes when there was someone else around and i was rushing.

C • route gadget? 2

Bloody awful. 13k course with 9 controls, ran over 19k. Amazing how orienteering always manages to wake you up from your daydream of "I am not bad at this!!"

Had a decent route to 1 (east round lake would have been better in hindsight) but executed it badly. Really badly. Wandered off bearing and ended up halfway along lake rather than at tip. Careless. Then took myself up onto bare rock hills too early, I think bothered by some insects... lost contact with map, nothing made sense, eventually just bailed out to nearest road and was surprised to find out where I was.... not good. Nav OK ish from there on, but lost confidence and had used so much energy. over 26 degrees and really humid, sweating like a pig, meant that everytime you stopped you were attacked by so many horsefly, mosquitoes, midges etc it felt like running in a bees nest. Went for a lot of path/track runs as was not confident through terrain anymore. Course designed quite well, 3 long legs to start, then group of three, then another long leg, group of 2, then finally a super long leg across the whole map to the final two controls. Stopped reading map approaching number 8 and just ended up wandering in the hope that a control might be in front of me at some point.

Lessons to take from this. It is easier orienteering when there are 1800 other folk looking for the same control. When there are 6 of you, it is more lonely. Stay on bearing more, check compass more, when losing contact stop before totally lost contact. Check the alternative routes properly. Be stronger. Drink more water. Check whether there are EOD informal courses offered before signing up for the Age Class competition with stupid long courses!

Positives to take from this. I didn't quit no matter how much I felt like it. And my close up nav was OK when I actually knew where I was starting from....

Back to the drawing board....

Made some really odd route choices, including going straight up and over a steep scramble of bare rock, and back down the otherside to hit a path as an attackpoint. Not noticing that the path started from where I started scrambling up, and would only have added about 100m at most.... pushed through some nasty green birch saplings in a bog, so thick that I couldnt see my feet or where the ground was wet.... but stayed perfectly on bearing and spiked the control on the otherside....

Thank god for the referendum tomorrow, means I don't have to go orienteering.....!

Not orienteering well, never really got into it until about control 7. Scrappy, not paying attention to map, surroundings, compass.... maybe time for a few days rest. After the RaVi wednesday night event tomorrow....

Big mistake on 6, just didn't get the map right in my mind, relocated off the OOB houses. Silly mistake on 13, interpreted as 90 degree turn, when really it was more like 120. Didn't check bearing and ran up to where control should be. Looked to right, saw a control on the rights sort of feature a hundred metres away and realised mistake. Took it slow and easy for rest....

15/54 16mins down on winner, 10 mins down on Zac.