Training Log Archive: OllieIn the 1 days ending Sep 12, 2009:
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Saturday Sep 12, 2009 #
Orienteering race (City of London) 1:06:21 [4] **** 8.4 km (7:54 / km)
ahr:182 max:193 spiked:22/30c slept:3.5 shoes: Gym Trainers
The second City of London race. An extended map from last year - I was the mapper, and also saw the courses as I sent them off to the printer - so I was a non-competitive run. Still got beaten by Paul N and Brooner - they caught up with me near the end so I stepped up the pace to stay ahead.
I was the first person off the start, and was going around mainly to check the controls were still intact - they were all present when I went around, but a couple were obstructed by crane operations - one we knew about and involved a slight diversion, but the other was a surprise and caused quite an obstruction. Apparently, people who were at the control earlier (on shorter courses) were completed blocked - oops.
Got back, having run 13.4km, making this an impressive 60% up on the straight line distance. Alan had planned some brilliant and devious legs, including a "how do I get out of the Barbican?!" leg that caught a lot of people out.
Lucky with the weather again - it was nice and sunny, and a lot of people stayed around for the prize-giving.
Mistake analysis (bearing in mind I had mapped the whole area, put out nearly half of the controls, and had seen the courses before they went to the printer)
To 1: Went left at the start kite - d'oh! (But I was first off.)
To 2: Wobbled on the exit from No. 1, not sure which way to cross over the ornamental gardens. However, I did know not to run down the hill.
To 7: For some reason, I went right around the church, not left. No idea why. It just seemed the best way around as I was running up the hill.
To 9: Deliberately took the northern route to see how big the (unmarked) diversion around the crane would be. Turns out, quite a big diversion.
To 11: Slightly non-optimal route through New Street Square, but I already knew about the trap so avoided taking the low route.
To 12: Thought I would be clever and take the steps, not sure if this actually saved any time or distance in the end.
To 13: Looking at this now, I think the northern route might be slightly slower - but I wanted to see how obvious the steps up at the end were - answer: not very obvious!
To 14: Stopped just after 13 for nearly a minute, as I was watching another orienteer get completely lost on the approach to No. 13 and run into the OOB car park.
To 16: My biggest accidental mistake. Distracted by a pair of runners on the highwalk, so forgot to turn left to cross bridge. Had to double back, wasting ~200m.
To 19: Missed left turn on the highwalk, but only wasted a few seconds.
To 24: Hesitant in turning off the main road here.
To 26: Took a low route, stopped to chat with the marshal that was stopping people killing themselves on the way to No. 2. Then up the hill and... oh, heck. Unplanned crane causing major problems here. Apparently, earlier, it was completely blocking access from the south to the control. When I got there, it was allowing access from the SE - but I tried to get around it to the SW and had to turn back. Not good. Crane operators a bit upset with the orienteers and vice versa.
To 27: Nearly got caught here by Brooner (2 minute man) and Paul N (3 minute man). So stepped up the pace.
To 29: My "lazy" route (I was tired) was, it turns out, slower than the more complex route.
To 30: So tired now that I made silly mistakes on this easy leg, like turning down the wrong alley.
I was the first person off the start, and was going around mainly to check the controls were still intact - they were all present when I went around, but a couple were obstructed by crane operations - one we knew about and involved a slight diversion, but the other was a surprise and caused quite an obstruction. Apparently, people who were at the control earlier (on shorter courses) were completed blocked - oops.
Got back, having run 13.4km, making this an impressive 60% up on the straight line distance. Alan had planned some brilliant and devious legs, including a "how do I get out of the Barbican?!" leg that caught a lot of people out.
Lucky with the weather again - it was nice and sunny, and a lot of people stayed around for the prize-giving.
Mistake analysis (bearing in mind I had mapped the whole area, put out nearly half of the controls, and had seen the courses before they went to the printer)
To 1: Went left at the start kite - d'oh! (But I was first off.)
To 2: Wobbled on the exit from No. 1, not sure which way to cross over the ornamental gardens. However, I did know not to run down the hill.
To 7: For some reason, I went right around the church, not left. No idea why. It just seemed the best way around as I was running up the hill.
To 9: Deliberately took the northern route to see how big the (unmarked) diversion around the crane would be. Turns out, quite a big diversion.
To 11: Slightly non-optimal route through New Street Square, but I already knew about the trap so avoided taking the low route.
To 12: Thought I would be clever and take the steps, not sure if this actually saved any time or distance in the end.
To 13: Looking at this now, I think the northern route might be slightly slower - but I wanted to see how obvious the steps up at the end were - answer: not very obvious!
To 14: Stopped just after 13 for nearly a minute, as I was watching another orienteer get completely lost on the approach to No. 13 and run into the OOB car park.
To 16: My biggest accidental mistake. Distracted by a pair of runners on the highwalk, so forgot to turn left to cross bridge. Had to double back, wasting ~200m.
To 19: Missed left turn on the highwalk, but only wasted a few seconds.
To 24: Hesitant in turning off the main road here.
To 26: Took a low route, stopped to chat with the marshal that was stopping people killing themselves on the way to No. 2. Then up the hill and... oh, heck. Unplanned crane causing major problems here. Apparently, earlier, it was completely blocking access from the south to the control. When I got there, it was allowing access from the SE - but I tried to get around it to the SW and had to turn back. Not good. Crane operators a bit upset with the orienteers and vice versa.
To 27: Nearly got caught here by Brooner (2 minute man) and Paul N (3 minute man). So stepped up the pace.
To 29: My "lazy" route (I was tired) was, it turns out, slower than the more complex route.
To 30: So tired now that I made silly mistakes on this easy leg, like turning down the wrong alley.