Training Log Archive: TheInvisibleLog

Knee too sore to run

Collecting controls. Hoped to also collect a couple of rogainers who believed they could navigate. No sign of them, but they ended up at the start of Magpie Track and rang a relative to come out and find them. We didn't get away from the assembly area till almost 5.00pm. That's Mosquito Creek for you.

C • rogainers 3

Mosquito Creek.. the middle. This really is special terrain. It has subtle contours, limited visibility in parts and no tracks. Jool's set the courses according to the well known adage for this terrain...
"Give 'em enough rope".
Its not often the course has more kilometres than controls, but the results show that in this case less is more. Quite a few experienced competitors, who should know better, seem to have taken the terrain at face value and paid with incomplete courses. To a certain extent I suffered the same fate, but as it turned out, with less impact on my time.
1 The first leg was 1.3k ending with a vague hillside with potential parallel errors in the parallel shallow gullies. In a fit of bravery I decided to red line it through the vague country rather than deviating to more secure terrain. Spiked it!
2 Even longer leg... 1.4k. Up a very broad gully aiming for the correct shallow saddle, then over this into some more defined gullies. A second spike!
3 Now the first of three short legs (800m, 600m, 750m). I made a minor meal of this one, approaching too low down a slop, thereby increasing my count of traversed gullies. The loss was minor as I kept going till I saw the control up the next gully. Lost maybe 30 seconds.
4. Took the wrong line too low around the next hill. For some reason I chose to drop down the spur immediately before the gully with the control. Too eager. of course, I went too low and had to backtrack. Maybe another 30 seconds.
5. Traverse over a number of spurs and saddles. I was very unsure what was happening and my estimate of my location was one spur too short. However as it made little sense I kept going until it did. And I ran right onto it. Probably a little lucky.
6. Now the long leg... 1.9k. I had judged this to be the easiest of the challenged other than the finish chute. Maybe I took it lightly as a consequence. And as a result I experience done of the sensations of being sure you know where you are and then quickly proving yourself wrong.. three times in quick succession. When it finally made sense I couldn't understand how I had ended up in that place. I'm looking forward to Route Gadget.
http://www.bendigo-orienteers.com.au/gadget/cgi-bi...
Yep... great course, great map.

C • Rope 1

A pleasant enogh jog around in the drizzle. It didn't feel cold enough to be unpleasant. The excitement was keeping on one's feet in the slippery areas, and getting to my planned running locale by car. Quite a few tracks I deemed too risky for a lunchtime trip. Water water everywhere.

Yet more trails in the Weslford

After two days of rest, I found myself unable to resist the lure of Mt Sturgeon on the drive home from Hamilton. Knee didn't cause much bother, which was a pleasant surprise. Rough track slowed the pace at times, but it isn't as rough as Mt Abrupt.

Ever wondered what it feels like to find a stretch of unmapped sluice mining terrain over 2 kilometres long and between 300 and 500 metres wide? The answer is "Pretty exciting!". Future orient show location, especially if we can get hold of lidar data for a basemap.

I suppose if you are going to come down with an injury, the Monday after the last Championship race is about the best timing. Not sure though that I can find much to smile about when its a knee sore spot that makes you linp and feels like the pre-cursor of the last cartiledge operation.