Orienteering race 1:29:37 [2] 12.65 km (7:05 / km) +120m 6:46 / km
Day 1 of the Scottish 6 Days. After feeling pushed around by various volunteers who didn't know what to do with me as a potential WOC athlete that didn't sign up for the 6 Days in the hopes of racing WOC I eventually got a start time (after standing in line for an hour and missing the first start time I was assigned but didn't know).
Parts of the race went really well but I made a bunch of quite stupid mistakes. Big mistake to 2 (ended up at 3) because I didn't visualise the terrain from the trail to the control (basically just thought, 'oh yeah, over the ridge and down by the lake'). Totally missed a dead obvious route down the road on the transport leg 14-15 and hopped the fence and whacked my way through the veg instead of going right out to and along the road. so lost 1:45 ish there. Then screwed up the end of the 1st long leg because the little ponds I was looking for to my left weren't visible and I didn't have any other reference features. Took a poor route on the second long leg because I was tired and afraid of the heather and marshes even though straight really had no less of it than going around.
Where I was going well I was planning legs, reading ahead, and visualising well. Need to work on doing that more consistently. Far more armchair orienteering and visualisation practice should go a long way for that. Can also always use more fitness. Tired out there today and faded at the end. 10.6 km without water on a warm day is rough!