Training Log Archive: skdewitt

Day 6, Loch Ordie map, W40L

Decent day in terms of orienteering but walked almost the entire course because of the thick heather and some ferns. I was expecting open, runnable hills so was pretty disappointed. But the weather was once again nice and the views from the start were wonderful.

Lost a minute or 2 going to 1--couldn't see the small hill the control was on due to all the heather and ferns growing on it. Couldn't break through to the top 50% but wasn't too far below--I guess plenty of people can run in that stuff.

Scotland, Day 5, Barry Boudon Map, W40L

Decent day, beautiful, sunny weather. Really interesting terrain--mostly open fields with areas of complicated sand dunes (from small dumplings to 20 meters high). A few bobbles and slow because of being extra careful but pretty good overall.

Scotland, Day 4, Tentsemuir map, W40L

Finally a decent day. I loved the map--pretty flat with lots of trails interspersed with some technical areas. Lost a minute or two on several controls but mostly right on. Flat, easy trails allowed me to keep jogging most of the time.

Rest day

Hike up Ben Lawers (10th highest munro in Scotland and within an hour of where we're staying; on the north side of Loch Tay) with Rick and Barb. Really windy once we got to about half way up, crossing a smaller munro along the way. Took an alternate trail down that by-passed the smaller munro and went down a re-entrant. Nice gentle downhill with fast trail.

Scotland day 3, Tullochroisk map, W40L

Rainy day but at least fairly warm. Very slow but careful with attackpoints for first 5 controls through fairly technical terrain. Then lost time on 6 as I passed a ride that I didn't see on the map. Went back to relocate on a nearby stream, things checked out, and then realized the ride was mapped with a straight black line (as opposed to the others that were mapped with yellow). Very frustrating to lose several minutes this way. I've overlooked this symbol before I think because it looks so much like the north/south lines. From 7 to end we were mostly in the open hills. I was disappointed here because I usually love orienteering in open terrain like this but the wind was howling, I was tired and getting sloppy. Very slow and hesitating to all and lost time on 10 and 13. Disappointing day.

Scotland day 2, W40L, Kinnoull Hill

Much better today but certainly not without errors. Friendly terrain with more runnable woods and lots of trails. Lost a few minutes on 1 and 7 and then a few more on 15. Fun course with lots of route choices. Perfect weather--partly cloudy, 60s.

Event: Scottish Six Days Tay 2009
 

Scottish 6-day, Day 1 W40L Dalruzion map

Bad start to the week. Woods were very trashy and unrunnable, no trails. But the real problem was just not Oing well, not choosing safe (or any) attackpoints. The map was somewhat technical with subtle features so you had to be careful but it shouldn't have been that much of a problem. Fairly okay to 5 and then major problems on 6, 7, 9, 12. Good weather.