Training Log Archive: expresso

Barry Buddon - Day 5 of Scottish 6 Days
Sand dunes right on the North Sea. Gorgeous day (bit hot, late start). Flat, open, fast with very technical areas. Tried to reign-in at the beginning but thickets, dunes and haste affected 3 of first 4 controls. Finally settled in with long and clean runs through 13. Foolish error to 14 pulled me to w2rong control, reasonable correction. Long hot run back north and good technical work through 21. 22 should have avoided stagnant river full of "goo," I think Charlie and I were only two going through there and wet at finish. Bobbled a bit on the final ridge but finish result best yet (but not great).
All around very good when brain engaged. Mistakes due to mental errors and distractions. Great, fun day !!!

Up about 7:20 with a slow start because we had late starts. Coffee, oatmeal & bananas for breakfast again. Visited MacDonalds for free internet and then off to meet which was close to Perth so easy drive. Weather was a bit warm for my tastes and I wished I had an earlier start.

Kinnoull Hill - Day 2 of Scottish 6 Day
Felt good at the start and knew the course would be faster than yesterday with more open woods and extensive trail network. With the decent race in the bag from day 1, I planned to push the pace a little and be more aggressive.
From the start, my navigation was a bit off because I could not get comfortable with the vegetation mapping. I muddled through 1 but the white woods seemed so thick. 2 was fine but 3 seemed a bingo location for a leg through that green and I tried my best to stay in the lighter stuff and on bearing but it was hell. Finally bailed to the road and back in. 4 was super easy but a huge section of mapped white woods on the way was actually an open field. After booming 3, I wanted to make sure I knew where I was so I was ultra-safe and slow. I maintain this was major map problem. 5 easy. Everything good to 6 but fumbled through thickets at the end. Not sure what happened at 7 as it's easy and I must have run right by it as I eventually wound up on the lower trail and worked my way back. Messed up trails and climbed too much to 8. 9 fine. 10 ok but vegetation still not matching. 11 was trying to follow veg but strayed right of line and found wrong control; had to go back to relocate. Focus began to go at this point and I was not thinking clearly for much of the rest. 13 ok. Overran 14 as I did not have AP. Stupid route to 15 and then got messed-up on trails near it (along with others). A couple more concentration breaks near the end and I walked a lot to focus on nav.
Not a good day. Generally hard to match mapped veg to reality. Need to deemphasize it and stick with contours when I encounter this (like Chicago).
Back to camp late; shower lines too long. Tired so I napped. Cooked pasta for dinner; pretty bland (got salt from neighbor Bob). Talked to Mark from New Zealand for a while. Great guy and orienteer. Got on a computer briefly to catch-up with everyone and then off to bed.

Event: Scottish Six Days Tay 2009
 

Up at 6:30 after sleeping well in our quiet corner of the campsite. It borders a horse pasture in back with widely scattered, huge trees in it. Was quiet early but slowly roused. Made coffee for jet-lagged Charlie as well as blueberry oatmeal with bananas. I am set for the day.
We both had 11:30ish starts so we got moving pretty early. Easy drive out same back roads as yesterday (past Charlie's hedge) and there were already tons of cars there. Also two o-vendors where I got a new compass and Charlie new shoes. Long walk to start through thick, muddy pine forest. Met Sergei (from HVO) on the way out and had a nice chat. Good to have a distraction from the nervousness of the first race.

Dalrulzion - Day 1 of Scottish 6 Day
Goal was clean race no matter the speed I needed to go. Started easy and felt good about my first few controls. Didn't start to make errors until the open area of heather. One nasty bingo control returning to the woods and then a series of complex controls in thick areas. Pine plantation with uneven/rocky ground often covered by moss, slow. Navigated reasonably well and was generally pleased. Of course, placing 47 of 80 is not so great but maybe everything will get better later in the week.
Later reflections:
- Route choices were good.
- Conservative run, but necessarily so. My ability to translate between map and terrain (both active & passive) takes a while and, since I was careful never to lose map contact, this took a lot of time.
- Need to do more simplification. I get mired in the detail to stay connected. I also think I enjoy the challenge of map-nav-running and reading everything. But the is a race and it's timed.
- Handrails & collecting features. Yadda, yadda, as always. Sometimes I do this well and sometimes not. Must find them before route choice is made. Must improve finding CFs. Decent about HRs but must remember that there are less obvious ones both along contours and within contour shapes.
- Mental image of leg (or sections) rather than constantly referring to map to remember.
Splits...

Back to camp for PBJs, showers and then I took a nap. We shopped for food at the British version of WaMart and then used MacDonalds WiFi to catch-up with email. Back to camp for dinner of flavored rice, soup & a baguette. Brief trip to go check on the event center band and then talked to Kiwi Mark for a while. He is such a wise orienteering sage and really fast too. I studied today's map for a bit and was asleep a bit after 11. The tent, sleeping bag and pad were so comfortable; I slept really well every night.

Large continental breakfast started us out early and we drove to camping store for stove gas and bought groceries next door. 90 minute drive to Perth and found horse park where the camping & event center is located. Few tents pitched yet so we found a great spot at the back of the quiet area abutting horse pasture. Perfect place to spend the week and also had some good neighbors: Mark from New Zealand, also Brits Noreen & husband who are regulars at Scottish 6s. Got our packets, had a late lunch of PBJ and then off to training map for...

Relaxed orienteering on a model course. Needed to get my head back into nav mode. Was a bit shaky even at a walking pace. Will have to start slowly tomorrow and run my system.
Back to camp for a feast of carrots, pasta & broccoli with coffee & biscuits for desert. Asleep by 11.