Training Log Archive: Jay-T

Bit tired - evidently not quite caught up sleep.

Few laps of the field etc. after only sleeping for a total of about 20mins.

The day (night) of the Harvester had finally arrived!

Tried to get some sleep at about 10.30pm; (was successful for all of 10mins or so), but was wide awake at 11.50pm so got up to watch the mass start. Bedded back down, catching another 10 winks, only for Ant to return after just over an hour, with reports of a 7min lead after first leg! There was no way that I was getting any more sleep after that; it was all far too exciting, so I went to watch the action develop until I was off (fourth leg) at just after 3.15am.

As the Harvester comes around but once a year (and is my favourite event), my run warrants a full analysis…

I was set off in second place overall, 13mins down on FVO, but 15min up on BOK in third place. I knew that realistically there was very little chance of making any significant inroads into Marcus’ lead, so the aim was to have a solid outing and maintain the advantage over Geoff Ellis of BOK.

#1 Straight route to begin the race; heading almost due south to pick up the indistinct path, keeping an eye on my compass when negotiating fallen trees to ensure that I didn’t stray too far offline. Just about managed to discern the (low) earth wall; keeping to the east of that I was able to pick out the thicket and spike the flag.
#2 East straight out to the path, then south to the road. Recognised that a depression on the edge of a patch of broken ground could be problematic (especially at night). As such, slowed down to make sure I hit the large thicket (with a flag – wish I had that gaffle…) and took a bearing from there. Still managed to miss the control (hung low) and hunted further east initially (finding a white tag in a hollow, might have been the small gully?) before returning further west and eventually stumbling across it. [120]
#3 Straight down the path – control served no purpose as any orienteer with even the lowest level of competency wouldn’t have crossed the road anywhere else.
#4 Stuck to the paths to be safe, but somehow managed to overshoot and spent a few moments rummaging in the adjacent ‘ampitheatre’ [30]
#5 Another road control… tried to go straight, but there was a lot of undergrowth and sticking to the path (or going straight out to the road…) would have been preferable [30]
#6 Strange leg with only really one route choice – followed the obvious paths, but again a control in a depression in the middle of nowhere meant it was difficult to attack. Plan was to follow the contour from the path junction, aiming off slightly south. This worked well and I hit the control pretty well, albeit possibly assisted by some other lights in the vicinity (but equally there were other lights in the wrong place…)
#7 Attackpoint for this control was obvious – it was just a case of how much terrain to negotiate when (or if) cutting the corner. I went for a happy medium.
#8 Fairly straight, using the indistinct western path and the edge of the open / green. Possibly slightly quicker to use the path for longer in hindsight.
#9 Took the lower path, not having recognised that this involved dropping more height than necessary. Slightly safer route so probably a good choice nonetheless.
#10 Exited the previous control to the NE to avoid the small hill and facilitate the option of going straight. Subsequently decided to stay safe by sticking to the paths, but this backfired as there were a number that were unmapped. As such took a couple of wrong turns and strayed offline, but fortunately I kept my eye on my compass so was able to realise what was happening. Slowed right down to follow the wiggles once back on one of the bigger paths and took a stab at my location; very relieved to then see the shape of the hollow hiding the flag emerge from the darkness just before I was considering having to bail out to the road to relocate [110]
#11 Another road crossing...
#12 Only one route choice again due to the inclusion of the previous control; went in early to avoid overshooting.
#13 Route choice! Took the lazy (road) option – it appears that this was secretly forbidden (running along the verge is difficult when the verge is only about 20cm wide) but there was a lot of flouting of this rule – which could easily have been avoided by printing crosses on the map... Not convinced that this was the best route in any case so no advantage gained. Messed around in the circle looking for (another) low hung flag in a depression – found only by using the corner of the indistinct green [40]
#14 Road crossing
#15 Followed the main track, then took a rough bearing to the gully, aiming off to the south slightly. Spot on.
#16 Bearing out to the main path, picked up the small path, ticked off the small gully crossing, then in.
#17 North to path, ticked off the thicket, distance judgement, then cut in slightly early to make sure.
#18 Retraced steps to the path, bit of hesitancy as some of the junctions weren’t as envisaged, but hollow appeared as anticipated.
#19 South to main path, then along to another road crossing. Realised somewhere here that I’m on for a similar time to Ant – aimed to dip under the hour.
#20 Along the road south for a short distance then rough bearing to the small gully which guided me in nicely.
#21 Again, opted for the northerly route incorporating more path (and distance). Partly swayed by memory of the woodland on the line not being that fast at the British. Possibly slightly slower my way, but less risk [20]
#22 Round or over choice – I choose over but was forced east by brash and ended up going almost all the way around anyway [40]
#23 Stuck to the path to avoid any unwanted surprises.
#24 Easy finish; tried to push on, but twinges of cramp prevented me doing so; enjoyed cruising in as the very first light of dusk / dawn was just becoming visible in the open field.

Time loss totalling 6m 30s was enough, on this occasion, to win my gaffle (all legs night / day and A / B), only lose us 30s to Marcus for FVO, and probably most importantly, stretch our lead over BOK by almost 8mins to 23 minutes. Job done.

BOK ended up heading out onto last leg with a 7m 30s lead, but a clean run from Sludo overturned the deficit and pulled out another 8mins on BOK to bring us home into an excellent 2nd place.

http://slow.org.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/ra...

http://www.slow.routegadget.co.uk/rg2/#127

Some very minimalist / lazy / poor planning there...

Short warm down, then watched the rest of the race unfold... who needs sleep!

Event: Harvester Trophy
 

4 hours walking around Nottingham Uni scoping for the upcoming sprint double event (21st June since you ask).

Marathon tennis session. Beat Luke 7-6, 7-6 at the end - backhand with some consistency.

Wombwell on my fairly ancient map.

Great evening. Less great play - lost 6-2, 6-4 to Coolhand at t'end.