Orienteering race 1:05:00 [5] *** 13.25 km (4:54 / km)
spiked:11/14c
State Series at Lyell Creek
My first O race for about 7 weeks, so I was quite keen, despite it being a wet and cold day.
It was great to have pre-marked maps, especially with the rain. It certainly feels more like a serious competition when you don't get to see the map and course before the start. Thanks to the BG club for this.
I started well, and felt really good after an enforced child minding rest day yesterday. I spiked the first 4 controls and was running about 4m/km pace in the forest. It was not too steep or rocky, the forest was quite open, and the rain had made the ground relatively soft.
I think that my new VJ Sarva shoes also helped. They were fantastic compared to my old pair. I wished that I had got them months ago, but it had taken so long for Kevin to import my size :-(
I got a little too confident on controls 5, 9 and 13. With each of these my running pace was very high, but I didn't use the compass enough crossing gullies and up hillsides and sure enough I ended up away from my desired route.
I think that I may have been about the only runner on the day that did not get cold out in the forest. I did wear a short sleeved thermal top (and sometimes that makes me hot), but it was just perfect for the conditions. I was probably running faster than most other people with few stops, so that obviously helped me stay warm.
It was good fun to running at high speed, but this amplified any mistakes and showed that my compass technique is a bit rusty. I'll need to work on this before September, as I expect the QLD terrain to be very similar to today's race.
Over the next 3-4 months my aim is to push myself more physically in orienteering races. Sure I may make a few more mistakes, but it gives me a better chance of some top placings in the big races.
There seemed to be about 130 runners at the State Series today. I guess this is about par, given the 13 degree forecast and the fact that it was raining when I got up on Sunday morning. A few sportsfans may have decided to stay up and watch Cadel's time trial, and then sleep in.
Orienteering warm up/down 30:00 [1] 3.0 km (10:00 / km)
Warm up.
Then warm down - most of this was shadowing Mason around course 9 and picking up controls with Jimbo.
Mason enjoyed the course. He got a little tired on the cross country leg uphill following tapes near the end. He is starting to understand a fair bit of the map and knows what to do most of the time.
A good idea from the course setter was to write detailed instructions for the kids with the control descriptions to help them get around. It turned out though that for a 5 year old it was easier to read the map than the english descriptions.