Training Log Archive: jcolleran

Warm up before middle race at NAOC. Required to be in quarantine at 9:50 so warmed up around the pond in quarantine. Did a nice warm up mile and then stretched out my sore muscles from the long.

I was feeling very nervous the day before and the start of this race which screwed up my whole race. I got 1st the day before and the expectations were very high and I had more competition. My first 3 controls actually flew by as well as getting to the general area of 4. Once in the area, I started to get confused on my exact location which screwed me up and when I saw one of my competitors that started way after me, I began to freak out. I eventually found 4 but it was a 18 min mistake and it was only 20 meters from where I originally was (but when I got into my head, I convinced myself I was wrong). I got 5 and to the area of 6 pretty easy as well. Finding 6 proved to be more of a challenge, costing me a couple of minutes. Then 7 was easy and on my way to 8, I had another mental breakdown where not fully understanding the hill I was on and why there were so many hills around me, I kept retracing my steps and trying again to no prevail. Eventually, I went out to a trail and came in from the north and my control was very close to where I was on my first try (again). Went until 11 and lost a few seconds finding 11, but I was in the right general area. 12 was so close but the negative topography threw me off and I went too far down instead of going up. So after spending 5 min on 12, I sprinted to 13 and then the finish. I was not happy and broke down into tears but when looking at the results, I was the first one to come in and later learned everyone had a bad race. It felt better knowing I had a better race than others, even if mine was crap. Moral of the race: don't get in your head if something bad happens and keep powering through because the results are never finalized.

NAOC Middle & WRE - C-9 - Splits