Training Log Archive: rcro

Back to hot and sunny so a very easy jog from home once I did decide to get out. Wore yesterday's still damp kit so smelt a bit like Will - in the washing machine now.

Need to find something to do for the weekend as nothing on and weather looks good.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1610444163

Event: Summer Street Challenge
 

Seems Newent was unlucky enough to get two direct hits this afternoon. Meant there was lots of standing water (up to shorts deep in a few places) and very few people came out to run. A shame as the courses were good, and the weather improved to be pleasant rain/drizzle when I was out.

What wasn't so good was the watch. I am losing patience now as the first part of the run was complete bollocks - well offset by more than 50m, and my heart stopped quite a lot of times. I think I was mis-sold by all the positive reviews of Suunto GPS accuracy as over the last year it's been no better than my old Garmin 110 (less than 1/3 price, and I may still have it somewhere...). Counting down until the new Garmin I like comes down in price or work throws gift vouchers at me...

https://www.strava.com/activities/1608619174

Woken by rain so not slept well then a long day at work left me tired. Agreed to defer another 3 days holiday to July so means I'm now in the office right up to when the trains stop. Will be glad of a break as it's been a hard month.

MDC run around the top of Ogmore Vale.

Battled pretty awful traffic both in Newport and right along the motorway. It's half term right? Weather forecast was grim - so these combined meant very few turned up.

Quite a nice run, weather held out but pretty sweaty again. Not going great on the hills but seemed to be moving when I tried. Ground was pretty dry tonight which made it a lot easier.

Ran to the end of the road to finish to get the time to read 12345.

Both chip shop and pub very cheap so one to come back to.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1604423605

Jog to start. Pretty hot so didn't do much more.

5.2km middle race at Braunton.

Early starter so meant was able to complete my run *before* the temperature rose/sun came up... Pretty sweaty again.

Either this was much easier, the map was much better, or I just know what to expect now as all the controls were where I expected them to be. Not necessarily taking the best route of hitting them straight on, but was able to work out where I was and where I needed to be.

Only "issues" of note - went high on 9 and it was a very big drop down (>10m) - would have been far quicker to stay on the path and come in from "below"; and undergrowth around 10/11/12/13/14 much much more extensive than mapped, which scuppered some of my undergrowth avoiding routes.

Given amount of orienteering I'm doing at the moment, not going to complain at only 2 mins of losses (excluding undergrowth diversions) on sand dunes.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1601238618

Event: Tamar Triple Long and Middle
 

Jog to start with Will. Not feeling great.

10km Black at Braunton Burrows.

To echo yesterday's comment, another great course, and another great venue - but again a very difficult map with obvious features missing (including big paths), vegetation that could significantly affect running speed, and contours that, for me at least, didn't help me get a feel for the correct shapes of the dunes.

1 - seemed to be running to 1:5000 or 1:7,500 scale. 1 min
2 - thrown by the vegetation being a million times worse than mapped and then being unable to match ground from the re-entrant on S edge of control circle. Then went around and found an actual marsh with no control. All set to give up here as by now lost 7 mins in 200m. Turns out I'd made parallel error and was looking at what I believed to be a hill from the map (very small tick mark hidden under a thicket). The mapped marsh was bone dry.
3 - long leg. OK until in the circle, attacking from path to S. Map implied no change in height between path and control so I didn't change height - it was at least 10m higher, but, I guess, in correct place relative to paths. 1-2 mins
4 - ok until inside the circle then stopped as I hit a massive long depression that I assumed to be the massive long depression on the map (it wasn't, I was looking at a small depression with an indistinct path running through it). Then spent a long time pretty much standing still looking at the huge sand dune in front of me and wondering why I couldn't see it on the map. Turns out this huge dune was the form line contour with the control behind it. 3 mins. Totally frustrated by now so stopped using the map to navigate and, it seems, stopped losing time on every control.
5 - followed Joe Taunton through undergrowth. No navigation.
6 - would have followed, went on instinct.
7 - instinct let me down a bit and was too far south -30s.
8 - looked at map at contours didn't look "natural" so assumed the ground would look very different. I was correct. After fighting through unmapped thickets between 7 and path, stuck to a bearing and hit cleanly. Seemed to be quite a lot going on thee.
9 - instinct got me in to circle and then map was good enough to locate control :-)
10/11 - easy with strong attack points and little scope for going wrong.
12 - straight line. Not enough good features on map to check off but I did find the dried up lakes, and then saw the dry marsh before control to correct before too late. Vicious control site which was very steep drop through tall undergrowth to get into.
13 - map suggested NW was best route out and then straight line. Ground told me NE had a lovely path and took that with sharp detour at end through middle of "light green" to hit control. Instinct again.
14 - not confident in circle.
17 - undergrowth worse than mapped and again few good things to tick off or confirm location. After a while just started checking behind every lump and found control behind the second.
18 - compass + linking together bits of paths, with dark green as handrail. Would have been harder using the map.
19 - pulled to south route as north looked spiky. Should have gone north.
21 - quite a few unmapped paths here, some quite useful. Based on map control was at the top so went to top and found lots of old people looking confused. Control was in the one actual hole so in and out quite quickly.
22 - pretty easy but had to stop to see where the control was supposed to be before ascending hill - which was good as I had to contour not ascend.
25 - west route than approached from SE, should have just stayed on path. Wasn't expected TD2. 45s
26 - compass bearing + unmapped paths took me almost straight to control but needed a little bit of wandering to get happy I was where I wanted to be. Again quite a few looking lost.
27 - lovely little re-entrant. I overshot
28 - stayed on the dune longer than ran to the big obvious thicket. As I got close worked out it wasn't the mapped big obvious thicket, and as so many people running along the flat went past was easily pulled to correct site.
29 - pretty lucky as not even trying to navigate by now.

Hugely frustrating, and this could have been a hell of a lot better, but did enjoy it. Very hot and sweaty so glad of drink and ice cream after. Back by the hostel did manage to find ginger ice-cream on sale (very nice :-) ) and had a scoop of toffee & butterscotch and rum & raisin. Am sure Mark Two will approve.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1599927335

Event: Tamar Triple Urban Event
 

Urban race around Exeter University. Last time I ran here (in 2010), we had a very clear map that showed the variations in runnability of the terrain, and had exaggerated widths of paths so they could be seen. For some reason, since then they've remapped it and made it a hell of a lot worse...

5.1km sprurban course (29 controls) that made the best use of the area.

1 - took a fairly long route that appeared to avoid most steps. It didn't as there were two or 3 more unmapped flights. Should have gone via 23 instead.
2 - path around edge of building in ended up in a fenced off dead end (not possible to show clearly on map) - should have stayed on the grass.
12 - north route. Wanted to avoid the steps at the end, and could have done by following path around edge of building, but did not see path on map until after I had run past (and noted) said path on the ground.
15 - went through the canopy and had hoped to get there straight line, but the "rough open" there was actually rough and not mowed grass so had to go around it.
16 - north route. Hadn't appreciated the steps (but path mapped at correct thickness here), nor the very easy step free alternative right next to it (definitely not at correct thickness!)
22 - think I had the best route here but spent a very long time looking for it. Knew there were ways through as ran this before but very unclear on map.
25 - all set to go around road into this when spotted a miniscule path. It was later pointed out to me there was another one that would have been slightly shorter.
26 - description to me read as "Southern path, bend" but to planner and controller "Path, southern bend". With two path like features in the circle separated by impassable feature.

Overall a slow pace as struggling with heat and tired legs from a busy week. Some rain around 19 but unfortunately didn't last.

In summary, great course and venue let down by a difficult map.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1597629158