Note
slept:8.0
I'm good at:
- running direction (compas)
- fast in seeing different routes, compare them and decide
- seeing contours
I'm not good at:
- keeping hights
- controls in green areas
- the more difficult the terrain is, the more I have to reduce speed or even stop for reading the map
What would lead to an optimal race?
- always follow the concept (control, attackpoint)
- taking enough time to read the map and not loose map-contact
- concept, map-reading and running: as fast as possible, but slow enough to not do mistakes.
I think, that all mistakes are started by either not having planned the leg, or not reading the map/terrain carefully enough (or both).
An exception is route choosing, where one can invest a lot of time and still take the wrong one.
This optimal race is individual - others can run faster, or need less time to prepare legs or to read the map. It also changes for myself, depending on physical and technical fitness.
At a given time, one can only try to achieve a close to optimal race following the above points. Trying to be "faster than optimal" leads to mistakes and time-loss.
That's exactly what happened to me at Jukola:
- I have not thought about my concept in advance, but dreamed about being very very fast.
- There were so many people around, that I run after them instead of reading the map by myself
- After a big mistake, I reduced the map-reading-time in order to compensate (don't laugh, I know exactly that this does not lead to success, but I was not prepared to keep myself under control ;-)
Fazit: It sounds easy to succeed at a race:
- do what you know you should do
- don't do what you know you should not be doing ;-)
But with humans complex psychology, its nevertheless hard to achieve ...