Training Log Archive: bigE

A great race, 17 seconds off second and 1:39 behind Eddie. My biggest mistake was only one minute where I was off my bearing, reoriented and then missed the control. I was trying to find control# 12 and the feature was a shallow re-entrant in a particularly topographically complex area. I suspected I was in the right place but could not see the control until I noticed Francis taking the control behind me.

I have made similar mistakes before. I believe it is a combination of low contact level and not looking around carefully enough. When I am loosing contact, I start to read the map more and thus look around less. I look at my map first when reorienting but when inside the control circle, perhaps this is not the best method.

I made two mistakes on the course. The first at #3 where I must have run past the control, only to turn around in absolute certainty that I was at the right feature and spot it behind me. The second at #12. Does this happen as often to everyone else?

Sometimes I wonder if I look at my map too much in these instances. When the feature itself is harder to detect (#3 was between shallow hills, #12 was a shallow reentrant), it is possible to run by these features without being certain of what they actually are. In both cases I'm almost certain I ran within 5 meters of the control without seeing it. If I did not have my nose in the map as much, especially when approaching the center of the control circle in subtle terrain, I'd be more likely to spot the flag.

I am reminded of something Magnus once told us: Every time you look at your map, you should take away something new. This is perhaps something I could work on. Often I find myself looking at my map clarifying what I interpreted the last time but also taking in new details. Especially precision orienteering when intensive map reading is necessary.

C • nose in map 1