Training Log Archive: ColmM

Event: Irish Orienteering Relay Championships
 

Disappointing IOC overall.

4 sub-par performances. 1 surprising result (temporarily).
Good to see where I'm at.

IOC Relay - DSQ

Jaysus, nearly DSQ in 3 of the 4 races.
Doesn't bother me too much here, 2nd, 3rd, DSQ it's all the same result - you lose.

Absolutely farcical relay, but don't think it necessarily affected the result hugely. Impossible to know what would happen on a normal map, but usually I find the best still come out on top when the area is dodgy, and that wasn't UCDO, by a long shot.

Multiple controls in the wrong place, inconsistent mapping in many places, but mostly the map was actually alright. Gaffles this year, but not sure if it was worth it, because the unequal lengths were unfair and could have jeopardised it if the relay had been tight on last leg.

Great shame because the middle & long were great events on great maps, and well organised. That won't be forgotten about the previous two days though at least.

Personally, had a bad start to the run with a 15sec miss too high on 2. Down to the track to 3, cut up at the right time, and searched the forest but pretty clearly no control in or around here. Back down to the track and into the forest further along - there is a control on a different feature.
Hard to imagine how people will have nailed this because you needed to overshoot by quite a bit (on the track it's not much further, but if there had been 2 controls and someone had gone to the far one, it would be a bad mistake surely). Lost 1min - 90sec there, not sure.

I was still a bit poor though and was uncertain on 4, and on when to cut in on 5. Another 30sec.

Fine from 6 through 10 but just a little de-motivated and not moving well enough. Fine for 11 because I had heard people chat about this, but very badly in the wrong place again.

Fine fir 12 & 13, but took an earlier ride than I should have to 14, and was hesitant, cost 15-20sec I would estimate.

To be honest, fine from here home, but just not putting as much in as I should have been.

Disappointing end to the weekend & the UCDO career.

C • Spikes 2

IOC Long - 3rd

Hadn't read the final details, crossed a wall on the way to 29 not at the crossing point, so maybe I should have been DSQ again. Yeah, I guess probably I should have been.
I said it to Andrew, and he played it down, but I think partly he just didn't want to have to deal with a repeat of Friday.

Ideally it would be marked with a purple line on the wall, it's hard to break the line for the crossing point in this case as there were 2 options. Or ideally too it would be mentioned at the start in a note.
But there's no doubt about it, I should have read the final details.

I often don't read details or look at old maps etc because I like the "challenge on the day" type thing - but it's just careless when you consider situations like this.

Anyway, started quickly to get into it, and was fluid through the first three. Holy shit Conor crushed these legs and I can't get my head around those times. I was good there, and quick.
Miss on 4 as it was very hard to read, but when I stopped I made sense of it and corrected for a 15s loss.
Good line to 5 and hit it bang on, but to 6 lost a bit of concentration trying to keep the pace high and was down near the river when I got close - 20s.

Up to 8 I struggled to figure it all out and lost 20-30s. Struggled a small bit on the hill to 9, but not too bad (eeek good bit behind on it).
Alright to 10, and went for a low route to 11 to keep speed, which seems to have paid off.

For 12, I decided to basically climb a bit early, straight line it, and come over the ridge around the pillars. I read the far side of the ridge as all being rocky, but in reality some was very rocky and some was stony ground. Coming through the rocky part was very slow, and gave my first major time loss of about 2mins, including some hesitance coming down into it. Which was a shame because I had gone very fast along the first 3/4 of the leg.

Kept a little high to 13 and no problems, dropped down to 14 fine, the marshy walled area was obvious from above, but lost a little confidence when it went out of sight.
Went high above the green to 15 and seems everyone else went straighter, was alright on the climb, but straighter may have been better.

Felt I was moving well to 16, but lost time to others, maybe was in the circle a little.
Moved alright up to 18, but had to walk bits. Nailed 19, but not flying.

After the river crossing I was starting to struggle physically, was too alpha-male for a gel and started paying the price here. clean through 23-25, but hit the nearby control on 26, lost 30s, and was generally slow climbing.

Slow climbing & hesitant again on 27, lost confidence half way to 28 and turned back (15s).
Went around to 29, aiming for the crossing point, was on target for it, but when I saw it, I decided a slightly higher line might be nice. this was quite nice for the control, but also lead me onto the path of others and stopped briefly to help someone.

Easy controls remaining, tried to move strongly enough but clearly losing time to Marcus and Eoin.

Disappointing to struggle so much at the end. Was supposed to be strong enough. Technically, much better today, and mostly alright, but a lot of work to do to be as fluid as Conor was early on, and disappointed to lose so much on 12 - that suffocated my race a little.
Still, know now that a lot of the good stuff is still there for long distance.

mostly disappointed to have died at the end though.

C • Hills 4

C • Final details 10

Long Course1 - Splits

up with Kev

IOC Middle - 8th

Maybe I can say the quality of my bad races is improving, but this was bad.
Started alright through to 5, but I think I was maybe letting myself get away with the 5sec losses, and struggling a bit with the slightly rocky ground & lack of confidence in terrain.

Turned up to 6 and was feeling alright. Got pulled left by the other depression even though I knew it was funny, back in and correct - 20s.
Struggling a lot up to 7, and misread the rocks (there were a good few more than on the map - but I completely ignored the fact that I knew the green seemed funny relative to where I was going), and ended up way above the control. 1min lost.

After that I started battling a bit mentally, and was struggling some more with the climb. Lost time to 8.

Slightly scrappy on 10, but just struggling uphill, not losing time until the top.

Turned back down and got moving a bit better, but still not fluid navigation, and uncomfortable in the rocky ground.

Kept going down the hill alright - 5s on 13, 10s on 14, 10s on 15 (+ poor descent), 10s on 16, clean from here home (aside from 10s on 22), but just a bit ew, and not really moving well. Not enough heart.

Worst ever IOC result, far from worst performance, but sure howiye.
Really strong runs from most of the field - that is good, very good.

Need more middle work to catch up, but there is a lot of work to do. Not fluid at all, no nice plans, maybe a little cf would help too.
Mostly I need to get back into terrain.

Conor smashed it despite having mistakes. Respect.

warm down with Kev

2nd (almost identical) warm down with Laurence, Cillín and Jonny.
Some brief admiring of Conor's flow.

short jog around tramore to try and find my legs again. helpful.

Course 1 - Splits

Event: Irish Orienteering Championships
 

IOC Sprint - DSQ

Better course and area than I anticipated - very good actually, but it was offset by poor mapping, which maybe should have been anticipated more having seen the sample map.

Started alright, not the most fluid through the first section, but largely error-free. Made a questionable decision on 7 (see below).

Caught the fence control at 8 early, read the description and got it fine. Very unsure about my route to 9 resulted in some hesitancy, but ended up going back the way I had come to 8 (North). 9 was my second questionable decision (see below).

Missed the gap in the hedge to 10, so went down the steps.
Fine through the next section, but struggling to get up gears at all so far.
Coming into the spectator control, flipped the map, and felt like I figured out 17 quickly enough, but not the most fluid again, just hesitant.
18 was fine, wasn't expecting it above me, but saw it up there.

19 I spotted the hedge gap I'd missed to 10, so went for it and straight down the earth-bank into 19 (through the olive green). Starting to move a little better here.
Flew back up the earth-bank to 20, and read the crossable fence on 20 fine, so made the most of hopping it.
Just tried to keep working for the remainder of the course, it wasn't very hard. Took the right-hand route to the last control.

A race filled with a good bit of hesitance, and held-back a bit, certainly lacked flow, but generally error-free which is a positive but should be a given in this sort of sprint.

Mostly surprised my time was the quickest, lacked a bit of speed today I felt, and it wasn't the most clean.
I can't figure out whether to put that down to an improvement in my speed or a decline in the form of our sprint orienteers this year, most of whom have been injury-stricken.

Told Andrew that I had crossed the olive green when I realised after talking to Shea, should be DSQ. Didn't mind at the time, I was never very focused on sprint, but was initially told the olive green was dodgy so it wouldn't be DSQ. The whole process was made a bit of a mess of, when a protest went in I was always going to be disqualified which was fair because I had crossed the olive green, but naturally it was still a little disappointing.

Of course there may have been some grounds for some appeal against the decision as the olive green area was vague, I suppose proven by the sheer number that crossed it, and since they had said they would tape questionable uncrossables - but I do believe if you cross forbidden area you deserve to be DSQ, and if you can see it while stopped you should be able to see it while running.

The final results are the fair result, although probably a little annoying that not everybody who crossed the olive was DSQ, even if they were only for minor positions.



Questionable decisions

Made a number of questionable decisions during the race, not including the olive green. Going to note these as maybe I should think more about this in future.

Coming to 7 I made my first questionable decision. The control was on a path, in between two flower beds which wasn't marked on the map. On the map the two flowerbeds connected. I punched it coming in from one side, and went out the otherside. This was a risky decision, but it was (and is) hard to imagine anyone doing otherwise.

Second questionable decision: Into 9, didn't see any gap in the hedge on the map but didn't check properly enough. There was a gap coming from the north, so I took it without properly checking the map. On the way out of the control I checked properly and saw there was a very small gap on the map, so went back out that way.

12: reached in and punched it form the outside because the other side was taped, and they had said they'd tape dodgy uncrossable. Maybe a questionable decision, because (just on memory) I think this may have had uncrossable green too.

C • 12 5

Sprint Course 1 - Splits

on the pitches with Róisín. Pleasant.
Thesis done.

pre-UCDO Agm with Laurence.

A very capable team taking over next year.

8 * 200m, with 1min jog, on the pitches with lorrieq.
Good to get done, legs need some faster stuff.
Classic pre-race session.

33s-35s, with 32 to finish.