orienteering race (ACT long champs) 1:20:19 [4] 11.0 km (7:18 / km) +290m 6:27 / km
shoes: new Olways
Glenbrook, near Cooma. Semi-open granite where the trees have suffered severe dieback and the gaps between them are more open than originally mapped. Big bald hilltops with subtle gullies and lots of rocks on the sides. Not that different in parts from a certain prospective Aust long champs map, now I come to think of it...
Susanne started 10 min after me and I was kind of hoping I wouldn't see her before I finished (and I didn't). So I was going to push myself but run sensibly, which I did mostly, except that going across the saddle between 1 and 2, I wasn't 100% certain where I was even though I suspected I was right of the line, and when I crossed the creek on the way up to 2 the erosion seemed a bit deep but I still didn't catch on just how far right I was until I reached the boulder which a) didn't have a twin and b) didn't have a control on it. Quickly realised where I was and bolted across the hillside without wasting time swearing at myself, guess I lost 90 sec on that one.
Jasmine started 2 min after me and overtook me going up and over the hill to 3 and then Aislinn, who started 2 min in front of me, was also at 3, so they were both ahead of me across the hillside to 4, since identified as the most dangerous leg in the course. When I hit the clearing which I'd identified as my attackpoint I peered through the bushes down the hill till I could be certain that the gully with the control opened out below, then dropped into it while Jas/Aislinn kept going further west. They caught back up to me as I went into 6 (Jas said afterwards that she had been so sure I was behind them, and she was confused to see me at 6 before them) and we ran that short loop together but they pulled away up the long hill to 9, where Kathryn also powered past me. I wombled slightly over the saddle and slowed right down going into 9, likewise I was very cautious on the longer vague leg into 11. Would like to be able to read this stuff a bit better when running at speed.
After the spectator control the neuroma in my foot really started playing up, as it does at about the hour mark in O shoes where I can't wear my orthotics. So the climb up and over the rocky windswept hill was agonising, but thankfully the pain settled down again by the time I had done the long descent to 14 with the wind in my eyes. The rest of the course was fine and I picked up the pace when I realised I had only a couple of km to go.
11th, less than 14 min behind Kathryn, so I'm not complaining, but it's becoming increasingly clear to me that even on my best day there's a minimum of a dozen girls whose running is faster than mine, and so my position is just a matter of other people's time losses. Wow, this is what happens when no one drops out of the elite women for a few years! Everyone just gets faster and faster. On the drive back to Canberra Susanne & Lauren & Lachlan all gave me advice on how to become faster. It was a bit of information overload but the word "intervals" seemed to feature heavily, to my dismay. Hmm...now to integrate this with my (ultra)marathon goals!