Training Log Archive: SandyIn the 1 days ending May 11, 2013:
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Saturday May 11, 2013 #
orienteering race 1:00:23 [3] 2.6 km (23:13 / km) +120m 18:52 / km
Huge error but had so much fun on the course and love this terrain so much that it's hard to get too down about it.
Long walk up to the start, in the rain and fog. But it actually felt shorter and less steep than I was expecting after Friday morning's escapade. Guess the bus drop off took care of a lot of contours. Totally misremembered where the Billygoat control was along here.
The plan was to always have a pace count going and go straight as much as possible and pace, but keep map contact as best I could. On the way to #1 I hit my pace count but knew that I hadn't yet hit the swamp just past the control so just kept going. There is a form line hill inside the circle just before the control that I can see now with reading glasses on, but I definitely didn't see it during the race. So was surprised that I needed to go over another hill but then saw a flag in a depression and knew it was mine. But I was rattled that my pace was so far off. In thinking about it, I'm guessing it's because of all the up and down but at the time it really made me second guess myself.
Don't remember much about the route to #2 - I got to the swamp and said this is my swamp and there was a control to the left a little on a cliff. But again, it was further than my pace count.
To #3 I wove between marshes and climbed the hill knowing I was left of the control. I thought I went far enough right (north) that I should be seeing the control but I wasn't seeing anything. I knew I didn't want to climb any more though so decided to go further north and saw the control.
Counted hills and swamps to #4 and arrived what had to be my spur but couldn't read the detail in the circle to know where to go look for the control. Searched a few rocks and cliffs, double checked that everything was lining up correctly, knew that I had to be in the right place but wondered where the flag was and what had I done. Just as I figured out (with the aid of the magnifier) that there was one more feature in the circle than I was originally seeing and I needed to go down and check out the bottom of what seemed like a cliff (control description was knoll), someone else came through down below and looked like they were punching. Not a lot of time lost but some. But my confidence was now really low.
Tried to be careful going to #5 and I'm sure I was really close on the first attempt, but I either didn't see the flag or wasn't looking soon enough or maybe I didn't go far enough or something. Without a GPS track I can't be totally sure of what I did. I was in the general area for a long time trying to figure out where I was. I'm not sure what I saw that finally made me sure of where I was but eventually something clicked and I ran right to the control. But not until being stupid for 10 minutes.
#6 was straightforward. Took the trail towards 7, then hugged the edge of the swamp for a while, then paced and counted more swamps and knew where the control would be. Looking at the map now, this looks a lot harder than #5 but I nailed this one. Perhaps I was finally getting into the map.
AP shows time lost to #8. I was quite a bit south but that was just because I saw a good way down the hill so took it. Recognized some rock features and knew where to go to get 8. So probably lost time to people who went straighter and ran harder but don't really count it as an error.
9 felt easy, the big reentrant halfway to the control was obvious. The circle obscures a lot of the contour detail right around the control but there really wasn't a lot going on so not too bad. And then there were streamers for the white course all the way to 10 and the finish.
A GPS would be nice to see what I actually did around #5 but my Garmin is too big and clunky to wear orienteering. Or maybe I just need to get more used to wearing it. This is the first time I can't really reconstruct what I did. But part of that is the inability to remember as much.
Anyway, thought this was an absolutely fantastic Brown middle distance course. I think I could have done 45 minutes with a cleaner race but not Natalia's 37. She is impressive. Shocked that I was the second woman on the course and as high up in the placings as I was. I guess a lot of people had more trouble than I did.
Long walk up to the start, in the rain and fog. But it actually felt shorter and less steep than I was expecting after Friday morning's escapade. Guess the bus drop off took care of a lot of contours. Totally misremembered where the Billygoat control was along here.
The plan was to always have a pace count going and go straight as much as possible and pace, but keep map contact as best I could. On the way to #1 I hit my pace count but knew that I hadn't yet hit the swamp just past the control so just kept going. There is a form line hill inside the circle just before the control that I can see now with reading glasses on, but I definitely didn't see it during the race. So was surprised that I needed to go over another hill but then saw a flag in a depression and knew it was mine. But I was rattled that my pace was so far off. In thinking about it, I'm guessing it's because of all the up and down but at the time it really made me second guess myself.
Don't remember much about the route to #2 - I got to the swamp and said this is my swamp and there was a control to the left a little on a cliff. But again, it was further than my pace count.
To #3 I wove between marshes and climbed the hill knowing I was left of the control. I thought I went far enough right (north) that I should be seeing the control but I wasn't seeing anything. I knew I didn't want to climb any more though so decided to go further north and saw the control.
Counted hills and swamps to #4 and arrived what had to be my spur but couldn't read the detail in the circle to know where to go look for the control. Searched a few rocks and cliffs, double checked that everything was lining up correctly, knew that I had to be in the right place but wondered where the flag was and what had I done. Just as I figured out (with the aid of the magnifier) that there was one more feature in the circle than I was originally seeing and I needed to go down and check out the bottom of what seemed like a cliff (control description was knoll), someone else came through down below and looked like they were punching. Not a lot of time lost but some. But my confidence was now really low.
Tried to be careful going to #5 and I'm sure I was really close on the first attempt, but I either didn't see the flag or wasn't looking soon enough or maybe I didn't go far enough or something. Without a GPS track I can't be totally sure of what I did. I was in the general area for a long time trying to figure out where I was. I'm not sure what I saw that finally made me sure of where I was but eventually something clicked and I ran right to the control. But not until being stupid for 10 minutes.
#6 was straightforward. Took the trail towards 7, then hugged the edge of the swamp for a while, then paced and counted more swamps and knew where the control would be. Looking at the map now, this looks a lot harder than #5 but I nailed this one. Perhaps I was finally getting into the map.
AP shows time lost to #8. I was quite a bit south but that was just because I saw a good way down the hill so took it. Recognized some rock features and knew where to go to get 8. So probably lost time to people who went straighter and ran harder but don't really count it as an error.
9 felt easy, the big reentrant halfway to the control was obvious. The circle obscures a lot of the contour detail right around the control but there really wasn't a lot going on so not too bad. And then there were streamers for the white course all the way to 10 and the finish.
A GPS would be nice to see what I actually did around #5 but my Garmin is too big and clunky to wear orienteering. Or maybe I just need to get more used to wearing it. This is the first time I can't really reconstruct what I did. But part of that is the inability to remember as much.
Anyway, thought this was an absolutely fantastic Brown middle distance course. I think I could have done 45 minutes with a cleaner race but not Natalia's 37. She is impressive. Shocked that I was the second woman on the course and as high up in the placings as I was. I guess a lot of people had more trouble than I did.