Training Log Archive: Tobby

My most disappointing run. The flagship mistake was the useless ~14 minutes spent on #10 repeating yesterdays headless chicken (#3) act on a much larger scale, and ending up relocating off the fence, after which I nailed the control (maybe that's the silver lining). #3 I lost a little time on confusion in the gullies. A few reasonable controls, until #8, where I started off on a good route, pushing just a little harder than I would usually due to the presence of Matt Doyle who had caught me at #7, lost concentration and ended up on the wrong side of a vague saddle, followed a path back on track and then crossed across the hill off the track closer to the control, but ended up on the wrong sup and lost at least a minute getting back on track again, again. Took a bit of a risk that didn't rally pay off by attempting to go straight, in the end just lost track of where I was and was lucky to find I was pretty close to the right spot.#10 was of course the worst leg of the carnival, spending almost 5 times what I should/could have. Looking back at the maps it is quite obvious what I did, and why nothing made sense. In fact I am lucky that my relocation technique worked, as I may well have headed off in completely the wrong direction and hit the wrong fence. My main error was not having a concrete plan and again attempting to run straight which failed dismally. This was compounded by the catching feature that I thought would be completely safe an reliable being far smaller and less reliable than I had originally thought (something I should have learnt from the previous 2 days in the bush in the area), being stubborn and not willing to relocate of the nearest unchanging, definite feature (i.e. the fence) earlier, and completely disorienting myself by not stopping and instead continuing to run in search of something distinguishing. After this massive blunder I was intent on running as hard as I could manage, with no mistakes and try and make up as much time as possible. In the end I almost managed it, with only a few close to control muck ups on #13 and #16. In the end it was a very disappointing result overall, but with a few highlights.

Positives from the carnival:
- physically I felt ok to good
- there were times when I could get it right and be competitive with the top runners

Things to improve:
- Compass work, specifically at the start and when orienting the map on the run
- planning a route for a leg and following the plan
- relocating earlier
- identifying areas around the control and on the route that could be confusing, especially similar features to the control/attackpoints

Miscellaneous things to check out:
- ways to minimise chance of blisters (especially at start of bush season), possibilities: use long socks, run in o-shoes in lead up to first events.
- fitting in more technical training, possibly not possible until after HSC final exams, definitely possible after.

Day 3 Course 3 - Splits