Training Log Archive: expresso

Wine-O. M35 - 44 finished 5 of 18. Very fun "farsta" race and IMO the best terrain of the weekend in a condensed little area where we did the first two loops. Not really knowing what to expect from this mass start race with forked controls I just trotted slowly at the start reading my map and ignoring everyone else. At the point where everyone dove into the woods, it seemed like they all scatteded away in front of me and that I was nearly alone in last place. With the open woods I was able to easily read the contours and made my way slowly to the first control and this pattern continued throughout the first two maps. I haven't analyzed all of my routes yet but I kept good contact and was solid through these first two maps. However, because the woods seemed so empty, I was still sure the the "pack" was way out ahead of me as I received my third map. On the long trail run to 2 one the Smith brothers flew past me in the other direction less than 1 K ahead of me. I was a bit baffled until another elite runner did the the same and I realized that I was having a great run. I boomed 5 in a big way and was caught by 20+ competitors including four in my class dropping me from first to fifth in the final standings. My error was a classic one for me; I was distracted by the presence of more experienced orienteers looking for the control in a location elsewhere than I believed it to be. This failure dovetailed perfectly with the success that I had on the first two maps when I insulated my concentration from what the other competitors were doing. Knowing when to ignore others is near the top of my list of things to improve.
The race was good for be to reaffirm the type of navigation that I am good at after two days of struggling with my weak points.

Not really motivated to warmup.

NAOC Long. M35-44 finished 14 of 27. A better race than yesterday's middle but not good. I was pleased with my planning and route choices. I continue to struggle with the mental translation between the map and the ground. For instance, where I see a pile of the rocks the map shows a knoll. Although I knew this would be the mapping style and I practiced on the model map and in the middle race yesterday, I had still had great difficulty with the translation no matter how slowly I navigated. I am sure this will improve with time and practice.

C • Good job! 2

Just enough to get my legs warm.

NAOC Middle. M35 - 44 finished 22 of 27. I implemented the fundamental race strategy that I planned. I identified my routes in advance, forced myself to maintain map contact by picking-up the large features along my route. However, these features didn't look like how I pictured them because the preponderance of rocks (i.e. limestone pavement) had the map showing them as contours rather than what I was used to (boulders, cliffs, etc.). I was well alerted to this mapping style and practiced on the model map but I had a lot of difficulty making this mental translation.
My lost time was not due to stupid errors but rather spent on the map vs. ground visualization and a lot of relocating back to known positions when the map started to deviate too much from what I was seeing. Multiple times I relocated and took the same route past my previous "fuzzy" position and continued on to find the control as I had originally planned. Basically I was "second guessing" my navigation skills way too much because of my small comfort level with the mapping style. I just need a lot more more practice in rocky terrain.

Model event plus jog out, back, and out again to start area because of equipment issues.

Event: 2006 North American Championships (Golden Leaf Orienteering Fest)
 

NAOC Sprint. M35-44 finished 16 of 27. On the McMaster University Campus. A lot of fun but certainly my worst race of the weekend. This assessment is not because of the results but rather because I did not run the race that I planned. I was too tentative and looked at the map too much for such and easy course. Even after all this map study I missed a key stairway between large buildings and thus made a suboptimal route choice. Another poor route choice resulted in a few minutes of confusion in finding an easy control. I'll chalk this one up as a learning experience, albeit a fun one.

Jogging the model course on campus as well as miscellaneous other warmup running. Also jogged parts of the race course after the event as a warmdown and to see about the other route choices.

Carmel Lap; modified so I didn't run on any pavement. Changed tempo a lot and even did a few strides to loosen-up but not get fatigued.