Training Log Archive: iansmith

Warmup jog to the start. I arrived at the start with about twelve minutes before my callup.

Jog around on the model map next to the start triangle. I took five controls to get my mind working and get a feel for the terrain. It was subtle.

NAOC Middle Distance race. My goals were straightforward: take the first control cleanly (unlike US Champs middle and long last week), get into a rhythm, and navigate precisely. I nailed the first two controls which felt excellent. The wheels slipped off a bit on controls 4 and 5, where I lost 20s and two minutes respectively, the latter by completely misinterpreting the vegetation on the map. I recovered for 6 and 7, but massively blew up on the hardest leg on the course, control 8, for a loss of about four minutes. I tried to mentally reset at 8, and I was clean but slow for the rest of the course.

On a very difficult day for everyone in tricky, vague terrain, clean navigation trumped speed. Brian May and Jeff Teutsch were not particularly fast, but they executed very well. I really need to work on my mindset for middle distances to be able to cope with legs like 8. I knew as I started that leg that it would be very difficult, but I still flailed and wandered. There were easily two dozen North Americans who had the capability to win that race, and technique dramatically trumped physicality on this particular course.

Middle - Course 10 - Splits