Training Log Archive: StuartE

Oceania long distance at Kangaroo Crossing.

Started off the course alright although the lots of fallen branches made running slow. Going to 4 I took a wide route choice to avoid climb but had forgotten that I couldn't run fast for long due to being sick. Then within 50m of the control I got confused by the bare rock and wasted a bit of time. Went decently well for the rest of the first course up to the map change. At the map change I didn't realise there was water as the volunteers were standing in front of it and never offered it to me.

The first control after the map change was across the entire map so I took a wide route along the road covering 4 km on the one leg. Towards the end of the leg the road got quite steep and I was struggling with the heat. I decided to go via another control for the water stop but when I got there it was empty... On the way to 14 I ran along the river which was lots of fun jumping between the patches of bare rock, and just before the control there was an awesome ravine with a 30m waterfall I had to go around. Messed up 16 by wasting 5 minutes in almost the right place but just not seeing it. By this point I hadn't had a drink for a long time so decided to relocate at a drink stop nearby. Had a bit of water here but it was running low as well. Cleanish up until 24 but my running speed had dropped significantly. 25 was a very bad route choice as I dropped down through the rocks and green as my initial plan was to go around the hill again. On the way I was quite tired and kept clipping branches and rocks slightly, then for some reason having finally got out of the light green and rocks, I decided to go straight for the rest involving a bunch of climb. For the last 6 controls I had another 3 minor mistakes costing a few minutes but by this stage they didn't really matter.

This course felt like one of the toughest orienteering courses I've done but I really enjoyed it and considering I was sick and in foreign terrain I'm reasonably pleased with how it went.

1 - Splits

Riverina day 3. Another hot day with 32°C. Was taking it easy with the motto 'no speed no mistakes'. Unfortunately I still had a couple of small mistakes. The terrain was a bit different to the previous day's with no rocks and low earth walls instead.

Course 1 - Splits

Riverina day 2. Hot, dry and steep. Was tired and dehydrated before the start. Made a mess of 1 having been in almost the right place I chose to go right instead of left. On the long leg at 5 I wasn't feeling good at all and somehow got turned 180 degrees while thinking I was running in a straight line. Proceeded to walk/jog most of the rest of the course, with small patches of proper running. Hurt my foot towards the end and ripped my shoe when catching it on a rock.

Riverina Sprint at Kildare College. Had a very bad start overrunning everything as the map was 1:2000 instead of the 1:4000 I'm used to. Had a few other mistakes on the course but thought I did well reading the map quickly at speed, aside from the mistakes. Running wise I was a bit tired and I was starting to get sick which affected me.

Course A - Splits

Oceania relay. Same area as the long distance. Ran first leg in the mass start and went decently well. I was pretty much the first to the first control straight up the hill. I made a small mistake returning to the pivot for the first time and so lost the other two guys I had been with. At 20 I made another mistake getting confused by the control description and overrunning it. 22 was slow as it was a really steep downhill thorough cliffs and rocks which felt a bit dodgy. The last couple of controls were really fun though with wall running and fence vaulting. Physically my legs were pretty tired for this race and were the main reason for me falling behind.

Australian champs long. Decently happy with this run apart from a few disaster controls. Started off cautiously as it was my first proper time orienteering in Australia. Still made a mistake to 3 getting dragged to the right slightly and wasting 30s on a parallel line of rocks. On the long leg to 8 I was a bit wobbly across the open as I changed my intended route twice between going around or over the hill. Got quite lost looking for the control on a rock by a clearing along a steep hill with no obvious contour detail spending 25 minutes on the leg. I am having real trouble telling the difference between open, scattered trees, and white forest in places across all the events. 19 was another disaster as I did circles around a camera man not wanting to get close, before realising he was 2m from it as he was filming it. The control site was a little tricky as it was a tiny reentrant on the top of a spur with larger reentrants either side. The rocks made it hard to read clearly and I kept bouncing between the two larger reentrants. Had another mistake on 20 messing around on the wrong rock on the edge of the circle. Overall enjoyed the race, and my fitness held up better than expected. Before 19 I thought I might have been on track to finish under 2 hours. The navigation went well except for the parts when it didn't, and I got to see 4 wallabies/kangaroos in the forest.

Course 1 - Splits