Orienteering race 31:13 [4] ** 3.57 mi (8:45 / mi)
spiked:11/13c shoes: Merrell barefoot roads grey
Cobbs Hill - Green course. Before reading on, please note that I'm usually smack in the middle of the pack for green or red courses.
Well, Tyler designed a perfect course for my style of orienteering. Long stretches, yellow/orange-level control placement, some hills, lots of open spaces and 1:5000 scale. Admittedly, given the park itself, Tyler did all he could to get a decent distance in.
.... once again I forget to turn on the GPS at the start. Bummer.
Going in:
-Main concern was that I'd get bottled up in the woods with all those little criss-cross paths. It didn't really materialize that way, although my worst control (3, the shortest) was influenced a bit by that.
-I was going to run hard today, as last meet, I didn't, and everything control was in the middle of the pack. I wanted to see what the effect of fatigue and/or less caution would be. This concern, however, could not be tested much, as the controls were easy enough that they could not be missed, and they didn't call for precise navigation at the end.
-My O pants came this week (kind of see through - have to wear running shorts underneath), so I'm testing them out, although this park does not have nasty prickers.
Controls
1 a bit concerned with those trails, so I was cautious once I got up the big hill to pick the right turns. (map told us to stay on trails)
2 Left, right, left left. control at split. (-11sec win)
3 confused myself - took a couple seconds to turn around and just go straight a the crossing path. Worst one (6th - +8 off leader - dropped me to second overall).
4 Nice long one. Knew exactly where I had to get to. Went south to the main trail, then straight west. Took the opportunity to get up to the top path around the reservoir at a spot where it was not too hilly. .7 mi long, which gave me -18s on Rob, putting me in the lead by 17s. I wonder if anyone took the north side of the reservoir...
5 Took road. I had planned on going back up to the reservoir path, but the hill quickly got too steep. Anyway, it gave a good AP to the control. However, it was a steep slope to try to cut across, and I slipped to my knee once. -13s.
6 Went up to the top, and stayed on the east side of the reservoir - went down the very steep 'path' - safety dictated taking care down this slope. Even though this was beyond the control, it gave a very good AP at the end. -28s. Rob said he cut sideways along the woods here.
7 Knew where I was aiming, but given the blobs on the map, I thought they would be structures. If I had read the clue more carefully, I probably would have run this one 2s faster. -4s
8 Aim at the building, and the control should be obvious. It was. I think I was getting confident here, so I started pushing a bit harder (GPS says that I got below 6min/mi for a little stretch here, although I doubt it -15s.
9 Had to stop for a car at the road - he had no intention to stop at the crosswalk. ... Made sure to aim off just a little so as not to miss the control. Hit the path about 8s to the east. Speedwise, not as fast. -17s
10 Not much choice by to go straight up (and then down). Which I did - kept legs running throughout, although the pace got up above 20 min/mile. -41s on a 2 min control. Rob said he had to walk on this one. He looked to see if there was any other option, but said the woods were too thick to stay low and around.
11 Control 11 already, oh boy, no point reserving any energy on this long stretch. Went on the north side. Rob said he went around the south side - I spotted him for the first time as he was coming in from the right to find the path going back down the hill. That shocked me a bit, because I assumed that he had taken a wrong turn somewhere. I was pleased knowing that I could follow him to the end of this one, because there were going to be some dipsidoodle turns in here. - 72s on Chad, - 84s on Rob.
12 Ran along behind Rob, knowing this one would be easy - just to the left, but down sharply. Pace counted just in case. -6s
13 Rob went more straight down the hill, I angled. I stepped on one log and slipped a little from the wetness, but luckily, nothing happened. Didn't push it too hard at this point. -6s.
Very happy with this ('won' 10 controls). But like I said, it was designed for my style. But, I'll take it as a confidence booster going in to nationals, especially after the downer from my last results at Mendon.