Training Log Archive: Jay-T

Decent few sets of doubles. Cold hands stopped play.

Event: NOC Regional Event (EM League & Yvette Baker Trophy Heat)
 

NOC Thieves Wood

Didn’t really fancy a long drive – despite some tempting alternatives in WCH / CLOK land – so settled for Thieves. I didn’t expect much, but much of the course was particularly uninspiring. Despite the low technicality I managed to screw up several controls – the mapping wasn’t perfect but is it in fact likelier attributable to mild tedium?

#3 Went to the ‘fake veg boundary’, then the direction of run took me further off line. 20s
#8 Couldn’t fit the mapped paths to those on the ground. Meandered around for a while en-route. 20s
#9 Ditto, but this time just headed for the top of the hill. 10s
#10 Ditto, also fallen tree to negotiate. 20s
#11 Ditto, vegetation unclear. 20s
#12 Can’t have let my compass settle as I went out to the wrong path. ‘Saved’ by cutting through the fight. 1m 30s
#15 Headed for a prominent tagged location. No control. Dithered, but then spotted it further south. No other features for the alternative tags to mark... 25s
#19 Big path was actually small path. 10s
#20 Missed to the left. 10s
#21 Poor route out along bike path. Then took a while to work out which block I should be heading into at the junction... 40s

2nd, over 5min behind Andy Preston. The splits show that he was consistently faster – unsurprising given the track running – but I would have hoped to be a bit closer. Just sneaked ahead of the DVO elite.

C • "DVO Elite" 4

Event: YHOA Night League / Northern Night Championships
 

AIRE Northern Night Championships Middleton Woods

Long leg to #1; did 95% of the leg ok, but inexplicably turned down the hill upon reaching the linear marsh just before the control. I had recognised that according to the map the feature would be on my right, but logic said that water flows down into a marsh, so that’s where I went! 1m
#2 Didn’t spot the lower crossing point initially, so set off towards the northern one. Once I did spot the southern one I diverted towards it. I don’t think that there was much in the two options, but doing an amalgamation of the two was definitely a bad idea. 30s
#3 Got into a bit of a boo as this extension area wasn’t particularly pleasant. Not really looking at the map meant I took a poor route up the stream and also overshot. 1m 20s
#4 Very slow initially getting out of the steep and slippery valley, not particularly enthused after such a poor start. Crossing point didn’t appear to be where shown. Risky route into the control but just as I was admitting defeat I turned around and there it was. 1m
#10 Took a slightly circuitous route around the hill, but ended up crossing the stream and was too far to the right. 20s
#15 Did the previous leg well, but this one was so short that by the time I had worked out what was going on I had passed it. 50s
#22 Confused by map changeover – nearly missed out this control! 10s
#24 Wrong tree... 10s

Just over 5 mins of errors. Finished 2nd, 2m 30s behind Joe Woodley. Just ahead of Quentin Harding and Fellbaum. Bit of an ambivalent result to be honest. Without the extension would have been preferable – I was quickest from #4 to the end.

Duos, Trios, Quartets and (Clarinet) Quintets...
Perfect preparation for a weekend of racing!

Maddeningly inconsistent. Practising a new reverse slice shot which is quite cool.

Early finish, late flight...

Up in Inverness again. Flew up there, which limited opportunities for getting out into the forests (i.e. no kit and no transport!) Still, after a very early start having a late afternoon snooze was probably more beneficial (though less interesting). Quads aching a little from Sunday; presumably the 'fast paced' downhill finish on hard surfaces.