Training Log Archive: Psuba

Hungarian Relay Championships, M145 leg 3.

Fairly decent run, finally got more or less the hang on how to orienteer in this terrain after the horrendous run yesterday. I was taken off of team 1 after my run yesterday and put into team 2... a bit surprised but to be fair I may have made a similar decision were I team captain, even if it was a single bad run that caused the bad result (i.e. overall form was still good and the B final run wasn't that bad after all).

Still made a few errors and not as confidently attacking as I could with more practice in this terrain. Lost about 3:30-4:30 mins on mistakes, but much less than a lot of others, managed to keep it controlled and hit most controls confidently, even though as a leg 3 runner with the 1st/2nd runners not keeping up with the front, I was basically alone all the way through.
Caught quite a few teams but it didn't make any difference in the end as the leg 2 runner picked up the wrong map so we were DSQd.

Still a bit of consolation that I ran comfortably better than 2 of the 3 runners from team 1!

Hungarian Middle Distance Orienteering Championships, M40 Qualifier 2

Probably the worst technical performance of the year :(

The tactic was (supposedly) to run fairly easy but be precise. Well, I have managed the first part, but not the second, end result is a 13th place in the quali with the top 12 going through to the A finals, missing out 12th place by 1 minute. Lost that much at any of a select 7-8 controls... I just didn't "feel" the map at all. I think everything was OK on the map but the style was unusual, and I was trying to orienteer with the wrong technique most of the time. Very complex vegetation, with subtle and diffuse changes, which I could not pick up from the map correctly most of the time. What was also against me is that I was the 2nd starter, so no elephant tracks neither any runners to pick up entering/leaving control sites, all the mistakes were completely mine to make.

1 - misread the clearings so followed the wrong one and had to correct based on the contours - lost about 1:20 easily
5 - misread the vegetation patches and followed the wrong one into what I thought was the control site, needed to loop all the way around, 1 min
6 - Attached by following the hilltop and the following veg boundary into the reentrant, except the hilltop wasn't the one I needed, but I was so convinced I was in the right place that I wasted 2 mins before correcting. Frustration setting in at this point
8 - I didn't fully trust the veg boundaries at this point, and it wasn't clear to me whether the re-entrant was going to be IN the green or just outside. So I dove into the green, but too early, searched in the wrong direction, by the time I completed this loop I lost another 1:20
9 - No mistakes but on this long leg I should have started to push more, given all the mistakes so far - still was only giving 80%...
10 - small hesitation 10s, but at least I was using the correct technique by this point
11 - bad luck I think - difficult control to attack from below without a very distinct attack point, and the aim was to find a cliff amongst many cliffs. I was almost on track but started searching to the wrong side, lost about 1min. Could have more consciously aimed off and search would have been much shorter.
12 - Again, after a fairly long complicated compass bearing through some dark green patches and 2 hilltops, arrived just off the control (by about 20m only) and started searching in the wrong direction. Not sure what would have given it away - again not sure if the control was "in" or "out" of the vegetation. Looked too far for it though before turning back to find it in the other direction. Lost about 2:40
13 - went around the green instead of control bearing, lost about 20s

So altogether about 9:50 lost to mistakes + wasn't running 100%. Clearly, this is just never going to be good enough.

Middle Distance Hungarian CHampionships M40A - B final

Disappointed in the quali so wanted to make it right and attacked this right from the off. Probably shouldn't have - still didn't have a clear idea of how to run, so messed up quite badly in the beginning. Then at some point the map started to click and was quite OK towards the end. 1nd place in this B final (should've won really...)

1 - ran by the control by about 30m, but this was a very tricky control with lots of people making bigger mistakes. I was using the wrong technique still and the control was at the bottom of a green pit which wasn't even visible as a pit, rather looked like a bunch of trees unless you stood right next to it and looked. So I ran past first, then had to relocate in diffuse vegetation. A couple of people were asking each other about where the other controls were on the map as runners picked theirs (quite a few controls in this area), I deliberately didn't look as I wanted to focus and find my way. Took me about 2:20
3 - misread the clearing again so navigated to the wrong re-entrant (1 over), had to search and correct, lost about 1:30
4 - went to the wrong side of the copse, at least I knew I was in the circle, I was lucky to see someone leave the control though - 30 sec
6 - direction error into the control from the attack point, didn't see it in the green, had to circle back - 1:10
8 - saw a control that looked like it was mine, was drawn off course to see it wasn't - 50s
9 - I was cutting across between openings slightly late, lucky to spot the control and turn around - 20s

So still about 6:20 left in the course, which is far from perfect, but better than in the morning, and I was running more agressive too.

Easy flat to Margaret Island, 2 loops and back

Z1 jog Bournemouth and back