Training Log Archive: nmulder

Was entered to run the Moonlight Night Trail Race at Big Red Barn, but have come down with a flu type thing. Had to watch from the sidelines for the 2ND TIME IN A ROW. Spectating is getting expensive.

Ran for ROC as 2nd leg runner behind Michele and ahead of Eugene.

Michele had a decent run, handing over to me in +/- 6th, at the back of a loose bunch. Managed to pick these teams off within the first 3 controls, moving up to 3rd. No problems on any of the controls despite some being nicely technical. Passed WITSOC for 2nd at about #7 then focused on extending the gap for Eugene. Eugene also had a good run and mantained the place. Unfortunately RACO were way too far ahead.

Bit of trouble at the end as I was DSQ'ed for 'cheating' by not punching the finish emit block before tagging Eugene in the change over (instead of the other way round). Honestly, if I'd seen the punch unit or remembered in time that we needed to punch, I would have. We appealed to the Jury and were reinstated (no flags on the control, nothing in final Bulletin or in official rules, nor any precedence as this has happened before with no blame on the competitor).

Anyway, another nice run and a very pleasing result.

SA Long Distance Champs

A complete turnaround from yesterday. Still trying to find out where my run came from, maybe more motivation from running on a tough, challenging new map.

Had a moderate start. Slow to #1 as I didn't like the map. Still getting into it to #2 and 3. Michael started 3 mins ahead, but I saw him coming into the control behind me here. This was big motivation and I promptly got a best split to #4 before he ran away from me up the hill to 5,6,7. Another fair leg to 8 (but don't know why no-one is faster?), then a struggle up to #9.

I had a good long leg, probably one of the nicest ones I've ever seen in SA. Got the route choice mostly right, but maybe should have attacked the control from below. Got a nice surpise when I saw Michael and Cobus leaving the control, and then a huge surprise when I saw Eugene (3m behind) entering the control as I was leaving. Super-motivated at this stage as 'race-on' flashed through my brain.

Ran with Cobus and Michael through 11 & 12, but then something went wrong to #13. We made a perfect parallel error, crossing a road 100m out of place on a wrong bend. (I blame Michael who was leading ;-) however I also wasn't following on the map well enough). Took about 4 mins to recover by which time I'd seen Eugene leaving the area.

I took a different route choice from the other out of 13 (back onto the road and around the rocky terrain) which allowed me to drop the other 2. Good to 14 and 15, where I caught Eugene. Ran behind him to 16 and 17, where Michael crossed the gap, then all 3 together to 18 & 19.

Tried to push hard on this long leg, as I knew I could medal. Eugene started to suffer and Michael was also weak for most of the leg, only pulling away towards the end. Was a bit lucky to have someone to guide me into 20, as once again the map didn't compute. Then okay to 21, 22, 23, where Eugene's elastic band on us finally snapped. I in turn lost sight of Michael going to 24, but he popped out of the bushes at #25. I thus attacked the control too early, loosing a bit more time before the finish.

Came in in 2nd place, just 3 mins down on Tim. Eugene lost lots of time in the last 1.3km and only finished 3.5 min after I did, so he took 3rd.

Nice to finally have a good Champs result this year.

Course 1 - Splits

Event: South African Orienteering Championships
 

Western Cape Middle Champs

Had a poor start. Fluffed the 1st short control, by not reading the description and being on the wrong side of the feature, then bad route choice to #2 by going straight through the dense undergrowth.

Michael started 2 mins behind me and apparently saw me leaving, but it was only on way to #9 that he caught, so I must have had a few fair controls. I lost sight of him to #10 and then made a big mistake, dropping too low when I intended to contour around from the right.

Left the control and heard Tim (+4) coming in behind. We took different route choices, Tim contouring more (and better) to #11, but I went straight into it whilst he was still circling. Kept him in my sights until #16 but then he pulled away.

Decent from then on, but I must still have been loosing lots of time on Michael, as I finished 9.5 minutes down and 8th position. Very bad result. Running speed is non-existant and it's showing against Michael, Tim, Brad, Brian. Even then, it never felt smooth out there. Somethings missing.

Course 1 - Splits

The warm-up training was cancelled, so went touring around the Cape instead.