Training Log Archive: Sarah

SA Champs relay - Lydenburg.

Another fun day. Was running for Witsoc 1 with Dylan and Mike. Dylan got off to a decent start handing over in 4th. Raco and AR passed me up the first hill. Felt slow in the forest section with the other teams pulling away. I slowed things down in the rocky open area and hit everything well. Caught Paul and Greg but they pulled away up the hill. Took a swim in the river on the way to the second last control:-) Mike had a great run to bring us home in 3rd. Solid performance by the team.

SA Champs Long. Mokobulaan - Doornhoek, Lydenburg.

Turned over the map and smiled. WOW! Fantastic area and great map! Weather was also just how I like it for running :-)

Had a good run but still a few things to work on. Aced #1, ticking off features nicely. Messed up #2 - lost 2 mins. Rushed it a bit and lost map contact. Relocated off the road and hit it okay. Was happy with how I put the mistake behind me and I really enjoyed the next section. Lost 1:30 on #10. Rushed it, lost confidence and then struggled to relocate. Went smoothly for the rest of the southern section. Concentration wasn't as good after I crossed over into the northern bit. Distance judgment was out to #18 so a bit slow on that leg. Disaster at #20. Got pulled by a ride, then made a parallel error. Took a while to figure it out. Lost 4 mins. Thought I'd blown it again! Luckily not though. Won ahead of Michele who was 2min behind. Zig was 3rd and Tania 4th.

In terms of focus and intensity it was definitely one of my best races ever. Still lost focus in places but a definite improvement. Also was good not to feel like a snail. Legs were feeling surprisingly good considering yesterday's effort.

From Orienteering Maps

Collected a few controls and re-ran control #20 to figure out why I screwed it up. Still got pulled right. A ride to the right and some thicker veg to the left were causing the problem. The downhill also meant I picked up the pace so I rushed a bit.

Course 2 - Splits

Event: 2011 South African Orienteering Champs (WRE)
 

SA Champs Middle. Mokobulaan - Zomerplaats, Lydenburg.

Not very happy with my race. The terrain was fast and the course was quite long so I struggled. Lots of small misses at the beginning (in the circle mistakes) - lost 10sec on #2 and 30 sec on #3. Struggled up the hill to #5 but kept it moving and closed in on Zoe (8 min). Had a clean middle section spiking #8 to #16. Lost 30 sec on #17. Easy control but lost focus. Lost the race to #18. Had a 50 sec lead. Went straight which was probably the better option but wasn't moving well and wasn't confident about hitting the root stock. Lost about a minute and a half.

Ended up 3rd with Tania 16 sec ahead and Zig 2nd 9 sec ahead. Close race! Really blew it at the end so rather disappointing.

Good lesson learned though. Should have taken a better look at the course as a whole so I could pace myself better. I started too fast and took major strain towards the end. Of course being fitter would solve that problem too.

Good warm up to the start.
Forgot to go for a warm down jog straight after the event but had promised myself I'd do thing properly this weekend so went for a short jog later on at the school so I was warm for a good stretch.

Course 2 - Splits

Short leg loosener. Did some strides at the end and had a good stretch. Really looking forward to 3 days of O'

Usual route backwards with 5 sets of 30 sec hard, 30 easy and 3* 50 sec hill sprints.