Training Log Archive: Thraws

Hurt my back putting back very heavy double glazed sliding door that fell out on Monday so went for a walk to settle it, from Fontwell via Eartham, Waltham Down, Littleton Down, Bignor Hill, Great Down and Slindon. Bracken in Slindon Woods very high in places (I'm doing an evening event there next week).

Fun event but some of the control sites were dodgy. No. 2 was on the corner of a building in a load of fight and it was entirely fortuitous if you found the way to it through the trees, there was a completely unmapped and uncrossable fence on the best route between 9 and 10, 13 was buried in a bush, 16 was on the wrong tree, 20 was in a load of fight and the building near 21 had been obscured by the overprint. All the same, I was doing pretty well till 21 and 22, where my eagerness to get away from overtaken runners caused me to lose contact and waste a crucial minute and a half. At least I didnt mp, like a load of others.

After the first four legs through the cows this felt like a proper fell race, every step either up or down. I was in the second group of three, the leading group not quite out of sight but not going to be caught. I was breathing really hard on the first climb to 4, and was quite pleased with my downhill technique. Ran off the path and fell in the nettles near 5, and we all walked a bit to 6. Was 5th at the start of the big climb to 11 but couldn't hang on to Barry and the guy in red and they opened up a gap which they held for the last circuit of the hill. Walked a bit more near 10 and 13 but was still going pretty strong at the finish. Beautiful evening, beautiful place and a pretty good result, ie considerably closer to JC than would have been the case had there been any proper orienteering involved.

Decided to do the trickiest longest course first and to take it fairly easy. But in places I caught other people up and then felt obliged to outrun them so we wouldn't stay together. I deliberately walked up some hills to compensate. As I had no AP for 4 I needed a better bearing than the rough one I took. Was right of the control and didn't know which way to turn, minute lost. Overtook Lu thanks to better route to 8. Forest was very nice. Left 11 the wrong way because I was overtaking, and started looking for 13 in wrong block of forest, minute lost. No real plan for 14 and couldn't see stream junction AP, but luckily looked up hill and saw flag. It was the right one! Tricky navigation to finish but got the right paths.

As this looked the fastest and easiest course I did it next, and went out as fast as I could (knowing the last race would just be endurance). In my haste I fluffed 2, running past another control beside the stream before deciding it was mine when the one I wanted didn't come up. I went back, but it wasn't, of course, so I carried on, minute and a half lost. Went through the trees to 3 but was a bit far left, and took the path on the left of the stream to 4 but left it for the fence just before the control. Lu missed the flag by a few yards and I overtook her here. Forest was nice to 5 but used rides to 6, 7 and 8. This course had least climb, but seemed hilly to me, probs because I was pushing it. 10 was the only difficult leg and I went the long way round on paths, as planned, but Lu went straight and was only 6 secs slower, so I should have done that too.

Strange mix of very easy and quite tricky legs. There were most big mistakes on this course. Lost path route on way to easy 2 but relocated on stream. 3 was a potential disaster, but crossed stream on rough-ish bearing and headed uphill then turned right and found path. Could just see open on left above so headed into low vis and saw flag then hide with much relief. Other runners all over the place. Was hesitant to 4 as I kept imagining ditches and lost time near 5 when I ran into unmapped clearing south of the flag. Went along the wrong pylons, as usual, to 6 but quickly realised thanks to crossing paths and compass and slightly amended my route, ok. Map around 7 was good as useless but luckily saw flag in reentrant. Uphill track run to 8 was v.v. dull, then counted quarries to 9. Left control real well with good plan but the path up the slope felt wrong and there was tape and noisy kids everywhere. Ran past a flag then a bit further on decided it had been mine so ran back, but it wasn't. Pushed on a bit then saw a trod through the bracken which took me up to the better path, which I turned right on for control 10, three minutes lost. Grrr. Apart from that very last leg I was quite pleased with the way I ran, and I'd have been pleased with the overall result, too, if I had been a couple of minutes quicker as I'd have been two places higher. As it is, 7th feels a bit disappointing.

As there was a spare map I tagged along after the last junior had started. Apart from jogging round the 'controller's course' I hadn't done very much in the morning and needed a run after driving two hours to get here. I wasted over two minutes at 4 as the veg boundaries were all so vague, and a minute at 6 as I stopped after one path crossing instead of two. I then lost a half minute at 11 as the control had been removed and a half minute at 12 as I was put off by other people. 13 minutes would have been a more respectable time.

To Bognor and back for a haircut. Was windy.

Halnaker, Eartham, Slindon Woods, Walberton, Eastergate, Oving, Chichester. Needed a runout after a day on the web looking for jobs. Really felt the benefit, somewhere between a brisk long walk and a run. I should try and manage 10 to 15 miles every other day if I can.

I've never run a good sprint race because I usually abandon technique in favour of speed and end up by the wrong block of buildings, completely unaware of where I am, or off the map altogether. I was determined this wouldn't be the case today. The finishing times were close so it was clear that the course wasn't too tricky and I would need to be careful to avoid mistakes completely. Having seen the map beforehand helped as I knew there were unlikely to be any special traps. The first two were tricky but came up as expected so I relaxed and tried to plan ahead. I was doing 'map to ground' (unusual for me), but things looked right, and I was good to 5. I went the wrong way (I think) to 6 but lost just seconds. Planning ahead was key once inside the old fort as it was a bit of a maze, but everything worked. And having identified the necessary long ways round to 15 and 16 I put my head down and got on with it. Result was OK.

Was going to try and catch runners ahead, but not get caught by faster runners behind. Controls 2 to 6 were trickier than most of the heat so I think I may have slowed a bit. I also ran into the wrong yard at 2 ('because it was there') and lost about 15 seconds. Was pleased to cross bridge with no major misses, but reckon I went the wrong side of the hangar to 9. The best bit was inside the fort. The planning was ingenious and the magnificent old building was just a great place to orienteer. When I realised the first bridge didn't actually reach the island I just headed for the second one and tried to think about attacking the control. I could see people on top of the hill and figured the flag was there, found the steps, checked the code and retreated fast. At first I thought 12 was up the stairs as well, but map and descriptions said covered way so I found the gap and headed into the darkness. You had to waste time while your eyes adjusted so you could see the flag and check the code. There were more long detours near the end and I probably went the wrong way round to 16, but I was clean through 17 to 19. I was even more pleased with this run, but I was two places slower, on account I suppose of the small errors. Really loved the whole event: great area and map, great planning, perfect weather and lovely atmosphere. And Lucy ran well too!

West Stoke, Funtington, Westbourne, Emsworth, Fishbourne, with Lu.

Had the second biggest handicap (i.e. started second last), so hoped I'd be catching people up right to the end. Took the first leg to get into the scale, but the area is still pretty familiar and the big hill helped me work out where I was. Lost a few seconds at 6 but saw the guys just ahead of me at 7 where they had struggled. Unfortunately I couldn't find the right tree either and they got away again. There were quite a few dog legs so I kept seeing people leaving controls I was looking for. Was too far left at 11 and lost about a half minute but could see people ahead across the large open area on the way to 12 and caught some of them crossing the hill to 14. Went down the wrong path to 18 and missed 19 by about 30 metres, and the depression at 20 definitely wasn't as mapped, and I lost another minute with a 45 degree path error on the way to 22, but I caught AP here and then managed to open a gap just by keeping going in the leg-sapping heat. I went up a gully instead of the path on route to 24 but had the fastest split to 25. Just followed the pack to 26, 27 and 28 and just failed to catch Lucy on the run in. Really enjoyed the event, as I always do.