Training Log Archive: Bruce

Event: BendiGo ToDay Sprint
 

Bendigo ToDay Sprint
La Trobe Uni Bendigo Campus
A course - 4th


I ran a good technical race, losing only 5 seconds at 10 when I missed the small entrance to a courtyard.
On the way to 15 I got hit by a torrential downpour. I had to slow down a little to read my soggy map an avoid any injury on the slippery stairs and corners.

This was quite a long sprint and I found it difficult to maintain 100% speed over the entire 22 minutes.

Park & Street orienteering at Doncaster.
My Garmin battery went flat on this run.


The course was tricky and I wasn't sure if my route was optimal.
Andrew Rowan was ahead of me on the ground in the middle of the course, but I figured that I may have had an extra control up my sleeve. This turned out to be correct, and I was able to finish 9-13 while Andrew had to finish 9-3-12.
This was the Northern Series qualification race. My win earnt me a place in the Park & Street Championship.

A full travel day from Napier to Melbourne.
Anne and I then headed in separate directions with Anne driving Mason to camp near Beaufort, while I had Torren's cricket game to coach in Northcote. It was an unofficial U11 grand final, with the 2 undefeated teams playing each other. Torren's team got over the line making 103 from our 20 overs, chasing their 101.

I did think of an early training run on yesterday's map. However more rain cancelled this plan. It was still very dark at sunrise due to the overcast conditions, and I didn't have enough time to train, clean my shoes and get the family ready to leave for the airport.

C • Headlamp 4

Sprint The Bay 2014 Stage 5
Hikanui
Reverse Order Start

M40 1st


As the M40 leader, I had the first start for this stage. This enabled me to get a break on the field and not drag any of the others along.

I enjoyed this map. It was great fun with route choice and fast running for most of the course. The trick was to avoid large extents of steep forest.

I lost 10 seconds on #3, as it was hidden inside a large tree. The canopy covered ground level and I expected to see a little opening.
I was happy with my route choice to #6. This was the same as the elite grade. Some said that far left may have been better, but my route down and left felt quite fast.

I pushed hard up the hill to #8 to take out the category 3 hill climb (10 points) by 12 seconds. To #11 I couldn't get good traction up the hill and then climbed one contour too high, so I was only second on this hill climb.

To #14 I went left down the track as I didn't want to run through green stripe. It turned out that the green stripe was quite runnable and the right route was marginally faster.

I went down and left to #15 which was significantly faster.

Sprint The Bay Stage 6
Kaponga Ride
M40 1st


6 wins from 6 stages, including Yellow, Polka Dot and Green jerseys.

I was pleasantly surprised that we got to use Woodford School again. This was the WRE from 2013.
I was careful in the first section as I was planning ahead for the long leg back to the model railway.
I went around the swimming pool and then through the start. This was not a popular route, but I ran the same split time as Matt Ogden in elite, so it must have been ok. I am not sure what route Matt took, but he would have been running faster than me. This route would have placed me 4th in M21E.

I may have lost 5 seconds by going left to #6. My other mistake was losing 15-20 seconds from 9-10 where I exited the control on the wrong angle and had to run around some garden beds.