Training Log Archive: Jay-T

LOC Long Graythwaite.
As always, some good some very bad. I suppose you can only get lucky some of the time, meaning if your technique isn't 100% secure, errors are inevitable...
The terrain arguably defeated me, but certainly defeated my kit; O-top has a large tear, trousers an even larger one and shoes are almost sole-less. Thought they felt loose towards the end...

The (lengthy) time loss list:
#1 Aimed for yellow passage but got stuck in loads of grot. 1m
#5 Initially looking too high. 45s
#7 Poor route through loads of slow rocky terrain. 30s
#10 Took a tour of the circle. 30s
#11 Indecisive over route choice, chose slower option then toured the crags in the circle. 2m 30s
#15 Ran straight past knoll but quick correction. 20s
#16 Tried to avoid climbing the hill and reading the map to run quicker. Succeeded on all three accounts, but then had to do both the former at a slower pace to actually go where I was supposed to be. 2m
#20 Flushed with my success on the previous couple of controls (5th on both splits here) I rushed off, taking a poor direction out of the control. When the flag didn't appear as expected (and the map didn't make sense) I simply ran from open patch to open patch until I got lucky... 5m 30s
#21 Unsure of route - very slow throughout. 1m
#28 Should have maintained height. 30s

14m 35s of errors... ouch. Obviously well off the pace, but navigational mistakes when the map is reliable are so frustrating. #16 and #20 were eminently avoidable = 7m 30s... I can handle being trounced on the physical side given the amount and relevance of training the majority of people undertake (and my injury status). However, major technical errors of over 1m are inexusable. Currently, eradicating mistakes will save more than running fractionally quicker... For all the orienteering I have done since the 1999 British Champs, have I improved technically? I'm not sure. I certainly seem to have gone backwards lately.

One positive was that I didn't collapse physically - in fact I gained 6 places from #20 to the end. I possibly paced myself better than of late, but it was also shorter and, following sage advice, I took some wine gums :)

12th of 23 (+4)

Event: LOC Double, Graithwaite
 

LOC Middle Esthwaite Intake.
Nice low visibility technical orienteering. Enjoyment 9/10. Performance 3/10.
I made several major mistakes and was a long way off the pace. In general I felt very sluggish; I was somewhat rejuvenated in the control pick from #10, through which I led Chris Owens, but out of #15 he motored past and absolutely flew off the hillside out of sight, whilst I picked my way down like an old man and reverted to a more sedate pace.

The bad news:
#5 Poor route choice initially (straying too far from the line), then poor execution ending up too far south. 1m 20s
#6 Rough navigation meant I was unsure of my exact location and I strayed into the brashings west of the correct hill. 45s
#8 Straighter would have been greater. 20s
#10 Major error. I passed through the open marsh after crossing the path, but mistook it for the open hill further to the west. Thus believing myself to be on line for the control I made a parallel error on the crags east of the control; when it made no sense whatsoever I belatedly bailed back out towards the path to relocate. 3m 30s
#17 Started tiring and stopped concentrating; went in from the marsh far too early, getting stuck in the brashings. 45s
#21 Overshot the white passage and spent unnecessary time fighting the green. 30s
#23 Banana. 20s
#25 Load of brash here that I picked my way through like a pansy. 20s

28th of 64 (+5), around 40 mins would have been respectable. 47 was nearing embarrassment.

Psyched for Graythwaite this weekend. First time I went there:

1999 British Championships M12A
1st Robert Farrington 34:34
2nd Joseph Taunton 34:38
3rd Duncan Coombs 35:25
http://www.maprunner.co.uk/index.php?option=com_lq...

What price that top 3 this Saturday?! Incidentally I recall that I could have been British Champion on that occasion – if I had cheated. For context, note that it was pin punching at the time.

I must have had a fairly decent run overall, but recall that I got completely lost on one leg; for sake of argument say that I was heading from #8 to #9. After doing an impression of a headless chicken I found a control and relocated - it was my #11! Had I punched #11 at this time before proceeding to #9 (thus meaning I could subsequently go straight from #10-#12) I would have certainly saved the 5 seconds necessary to beat Farrington. I did not, however, and as such my conscience is clear.

Played terribly. Knees and shins hurt. And it rained. :(

Knees not appreciating this.

...

In Scotland; had a massive meal and didn't do a lot...