Training Log Archive: briangardner

University of Limpopo. Sprint. Not my favourite O discipline, but was quite looking forward to it. Haven't done a sprint in years... Felt like i was going really well until 10, but then ran into a uncrossable fence near 11. Route from 11 to 12 was shocking (way longer than it could have been). Big mistake at 18, where I also ran towards an uncrossable wall and had to backtrack. Looking at the map again, many of my route choices were nowhere near optimal, and that was were I lost all time. Running speed felt ok. Nice end to a great week of Orienteering.

Final result: 8th out of 32 in M21E, and 3rd South African. Pretty happy with that.

M21E - Splits

Woodbush. Cold, wet and rainy. Had a fairly good start and focus. Ran too far on the road towards 8, then had to backtrack a bit once I turned into the forest. Bit of time lost at 13, and then my biggest mistake of the week, complete brain freeze to 14 where I was way to far left, despite the clear cut-line and the control location close to the river. No idea what I was thinking! Also slightly hesitant and slow at the last few controls, trying not to make a big mistake. Not a great run overall though, and many small time losses here and there, but absolutely loved the map and terrain. Should have been closer to 54 or 55 at least. Watch recorded 325m of climb.

M21E - Splits

Back to Day 3 O area behind Iron Crown. Some swimming in the river and nice walk through the forests and grasslands.

Wolkberg Iron Crown. WRE. Bit rattled at the start. Got there at T-1, so very rushed (my fault!). Was too high on 1 and overshot 2 to the left (2 mins total loss for both) Probably due to the rushed start and not focusing well enough. Settled down after that and had a fairly good run. Was feeling the climb up from 6 to 10. Probably yesterdays effort still in the legs! Overshot 9 which cost about 1 min. Lost another 1.5 mins at 19 (was too low and got stuck in some green). Otherwise happy with my run and loved the mixed of forest and open grasslands. Awesome map and courses! Watch recorded 370m of climb.

M21E - Splits

Wolkberg Paardevlei. This is the day I was looking forward to. Long distance and lots of climb. Started really well and feeling good. Slightly left at 8 (1.5 min loss), then took the straight line between 8 and 9, which was a bad idea. Slow through the green and popped out too high at 9. Oscar Spets from Norway (started +3 mins) caught me here. I knew I had to push hard to stay with him. From then on we were neck-a-neck, traded positions numerous times, took different route choices, and each made small mistakes here and there, but we could not shake each other. We kept meeting up at controls and running the long legs almost side by side. This kept the motivation up and I was super happy to have kept up the running pace with him. We literally sprinted into the finish together. Super happy with my run and absolutely loved the course and terrain. Very happy with my result and time. Watch recorded 670m of climb.

M21E - Splits

Event: Big 5 Orienteering
 

Turfloop nature reserve. Very cool map and terrain. Had a solid run, apart from being too far right at number 3, and really messed up 19. About 2 minutes at each one. Apart from those, a lekker run. Speed a bit lacking and got caught in some thorns and green a few too many times...

M21E - Splits