Training Log Archive: Bruce

2016 Easter Day 3
Foxlow Flats
1st M40A



The run to the start triangle was annoying, as I wanted to use the track. It was up hill, but it made #1 very safe and I could look at the route choice to 2.
In fact there was little choice on this long leg. Unfortunately I didn't execute it very well. I was running on shapes instead of compass, and the rounded hills pushed me off course to the left.
I lost a little time on 4 and 5 - both just getting stuck in light green.
I found the circle quickly at 6, but again lost time in the green inside the circle.
8 was fine for me, but I can't understand why the extensive areas of blackberries were not mapped. It seemed as if the map was not updated here at all, and we were running on the 30 year old version.
More time lost at 9 in the green.
From 10 we had about 3km of running with only 2 controls. This suited me well and I was able to make up some good time on the rest of the field over this part of the course.

Overall I had 3 solid runs without any major problems over 3 days. Day 1 was quite enjoyable, but I wouldn't be making any special effort to come back to the Day 2 and 3 areas.

2016 Easter Day 2
The Murdering Shed
1st M40A



When I collected my control descriptions, I noticed that I had the same first 3 controls as W21E, so I had a mini race with Jo Allison. I started fine but I soon found out that the green patches were sometimes impenetrable. I had to come back out the way I came, and Jo was already 100m in front of me.

For the next 2 days I found that the green mapping was very random, and many times only luck determined if you could pass through easily or even be fighting in blackberries.

I found a faster way to 2 avoiding most of the green and had made up the time to Jo. She was still on my tail climbing to 3, but she must have decided that her control was somewhere else and was nowhere to be seen when I punched 3 just after Tash (starting 2 mins ahead of Jo).

I was too cautious at 6 aiming off too far and lost a little time.
I lost time at 10. I had to move my GPS track a lot to fit the map there. The green also didn't seem to match the map.

I stopped too early at 14. I knew I had to go further, but the shape of the green looked like the one in the circle and I didn't want to have to come back.
Again the green was confusing on the way to 17. The map suggests that you just run up to the track, but there was a giant wall of green in the way!

2016 Easter Day 1
Isaac's Ridge
1st M40A


The steep terrain near a city was unusual for a major event, but I thought that the mapping was very good, and the courses made great use of the area. Vegetation mapping was excellent, and I could make sense of every small patch of green or yellow.

After walking to the top of the mountain to start, I was happy to be able to stretch out on a nice gentle downhill first leg in open terrain. I stopped on a the second last set of rocks but recovered very quickly.
#2 was a dangerous control, but I was careful to keep my height and all of the details on the map were accurate, even in the low visibility forest.
I fumbled around a little at 8, losing a few seconds, but mostly just in trying to find a way to run through the steep forest and rocks. At 7 and 13 I was much faster by staying out of the rocks as long as possible.
I was happy with my route choice to 15 and I had Jock (4 mins) in sight at the control. I passed him by 17 and then Jason at 18.
I stepped up a couple of gears after 18 and really pushed hard over the easy finish to the course.

The shorter courses had an alternative finish north along the track from 20. Unfortunately there were tapes leading west from 20 for the longer courses, and a couple of the W10s followed those tapes incorrectly to the wrong finish.

Event: #NIN3DAYS
 

2016 Easter Prologue
University of Canberra
14th M21E



I started reasonably well. I was able to pick most of the best route choices. There were many straight forward sections where fast running was required, interspersed with a couple of small complex sections. However, perhaps I should have been pushing a bit harder on the easy legs as Matt Doyle had caught me 1 minute by #15.
I was able to keep up with him, but by doing this I failed to read my map properly coming out of 19. I did not see the gate on my map and I ran straight passed it. After another look at my map it showed that there was a path up the stairs to the control site. However this was an illusion and it only led me to a dead end up the stairs. I was pretty annoyed with myself. I should have just followed Matt and I could have finished with a solid top 10 result.