Training Log Archive: TimM

Event: World Masters Games
 

Day 3 - Culbin.

Quickroute direction: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020119748...

Quickroute pace: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020119748...

Took a different approach before this race: more relaxed and less pressure. Big warm up.

1 - started off very fast and saw that it was an easy control. could see where i wanted to enter the green from a mile off so it was a case of planning ahead for a while. Had third fastest split to the control.

2 - stayed in the green for much longer than i would have liked so my direction in here was poor. also when i got to the path the open was much rougher than i was expected so i went along the path to the little island of white and cut over to the next path there. trying to keep the pace up but already finding terrain hard work. i was quite unsure when heading into the control but carried on and hit it fine. split was about half a minute down on Sasha's and I think some of that will be the direction out of two where (judging by routegadget) he clearly never intended to stay straighter and cross the open.

3 - good plan, poor direction, good picture. very poor direction in fact but only lost about ten seconds because of it.

4 - my plan wasn't very good and i never identified an attack point and this lead to me being very hesitant on this leg. luckily my direction was good so i hit it fine. poor picture though, understood the circle but not much around it. About 15 seconds down on the split here and i think most of that will be the hesitancy. 6th overall at his point so ok so far.

5 - i think part of my mistake here was down to the control before. because i wasn't confident on that leg, i spent next to no time planning and getting ready for this one. i also didn't stop at four to do it then, i just saw two knolls and thought, 'great i'll just pop between those and see it' but i didn't see it. i carried on for a while but nothing seemed to fit so i went back to those knolls and realised what i'd done. was pretty sure any chance of eyoc selection was over now. lost just under two minutes here. so lesson here is to always make sure you are ready before leaving the control.

6 - plan was to skirt around the contours which would give me a good way into the control. also had a good picture of this. executed well enough although again i was quite hesitant, and now demoralised. not sure this is the best route though as it covers a lot of extra distance. about half a minute down on this leg.

7- plan:straight. direction was pretty good, particularly to begin with but then went a bit left then a bit right. not a lot though and only ran eight metres further than red line. good picture too. running wise, i think i was starting to suffer having gone off too fast i think.

8 - didn't have a good enough plan for this one and so when i wasn't exactly sure where i had gone in i messed around for ages. a further minute lost here.

9 - another rubbish control here. very lazy and didn't take in enough detail so i was never going to hit it right. direction was runbbish and to the right,overshot it and didn't really have a clue what i was doing. a further two minutes lost here.

10 - awful direction, really starting to tire here as well so i think that probably influenced my mistake and again just being lazy. another half minute gone.

11 - not sure my plan was the best here, probably shouldn't have stayed on the path for as long as i did, but i chose to stay on because i was finding running in the terrain extremely tough now. direction pretty good coming off the path. picture also good of the control site, maybe not good enough before it though where if i had a better idea of what was coming i would have been able to be more aggresive. about 45 seconds down on this one, doubt that was all because of root.

12 - fine until i actually got to the control site and couldnt see it so spent a while trying to figure my mistake only to turn around to see it.

13 - plan was to go straight and drop down into it. direction was very poor for such a short leg and came too far to the right. this meant my picture didn't really fit and spent a while to realise i was too far right. i think i need to expand the area that i form a picture of so that if i do wander off a little i'm more prepared for this. half a minute down again.

14 - easy leg, knackered.

15 - longer route but easier way into the control so fine.

the rest fine.

i think the main things from this race are that i need to keep the discipline of good technique throughout the race and not slacken off if i've started well. also i need to take in more detail than i do so i understand more of the terrain and less is unexpected and i know what is coming. that way i can spend more time looking ahead or checking direction rather than looking from ground to map and trying to understand what's going on. also, i started too fast.

definately need to know what's coming so that i can see it from a long way off, know thats where i need to run and use that distance to get ready for the next bit.

Event: Scottish 6 Days
 

Moray 2013 - Lossie.
Quickroutes:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020119747... (part 1 Direction)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020119747... (part 1 Pace)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020119747... (part 2 Direction)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1020119748... (part 2 Pace)

Before the race I was quite nervous but did a decent warm up and thought I was ready to go. I wanted to focus on plan, direction, picture, and make sure i get number one right.

1 - Picked up my map and my instant reaction was that there was a lot of detail and i didn't really understand it. I didn't think about pdp, instead rushing and not investing in time. Just ran to the bend in the trees and hoped to see it. Didn't see it so stopped and looked at my map more, couldn't match anything from map to ground or vice versa so panicked and ran around a lot, eventually found it.
Lost nearly a minute and a half here. So I think here I need to learn to take it steady at the start and make sure I get number one right. Particularly on technical terrain I need to have a good plan and picture of the first control and realise that spending maybe 10secs extra to do this properly could save me from losing a minute or more.

2 - I already felt as though the race was over, which it wasn't, but i took time in the circle of one to just get two right. Upped the pace on this leg, and direction was good because it was easy to just follow the white and then look up to where i want to enter the forest. Hugged the red line quite nicely although perhaps a little curvey. Slowed down as getting closer to the control to make sure i hit it well and had a plan for three lined up.
Split is about 20secs down though which is quite a lot seeing as i hit it pretty well.

3 - again i took time at 2 to make sure i was sorted for 3. good plan, good, direction, good picture and hit the control well, although i think i was trying to push the running too much here as i was still trying to catch up a lot of time and had't just accepted my mistake at one. Curvey again though but at the moment i'd rather be doing a slight s shape than going dead straight but miles out. I also think i should have tried to avoid some of the up and downs as it felt like a lot.
15 seconds down on this split so improving.

4 - easy control and kept a good pace on this one, probably should have maybe ran slightly slower and concentrate on planning ahead more. Also could have gone closer to the red line.
Good split, just two seconds down. At control four i was two minutes down in total and that wouldn't have been a bad result if i had kept that margin.

5 - another easy control and hit it well enough. however my direction from the path junction wasn't great. good picture though. didn't spend enough time looking ahead and i think that's because i was still concentrating on trying to make up time and pushing the running.

6 - big big mistake here. no plan, didn't bother with direction, no picture. I think that's because it looked like such an easy control, and it is if you orienteer properly. direction is the worst thing here its just all over the place. when i realised i didn't really know where i was i just ran to all the buildings and hoped (i still don't know what the feature actually is, when i found it i'm pretty sure there was no feature).
so i think the key thing here is to always have pdp sorted before leaving the previous control.
Lost another minute and a half here.

7 - just rushed off from 6 without a plan. my direction starts off badly but then stabalises and is quite good until halfway. at this point i still had no attackpoint into the control, and i didn't feel confident at all. I should have taken the time to sort it out but instead i panicked and headed to the beach. Lost almost a minute here.

8 - easy control, could see it from seven. however, instead of charging off i took it slowly and planned ahead.

9 - another easy control. nice and straight after coming off the path, but found the open quite tough going. maybe would have been quicker to have gone straight out of eight instead of going to the path. Lost 45 seconds here but don't know how.

10 - good plan and direction and picture. wandered off direction wise just outside the circle and started going too far left. otherwise ok.

11 - plan was to go straight - didn't consider anything else, as i never thought the open wouldn't be nice to run across. poor direction coming out of 10, too zig zaggy, however i straightened up nicely and hugged the line. when i got to the open it looked pretty rough so i decided to aim off, and it was slow to run across. don't know why i veered to the left before the circle though. i was starting to tire now as well. over a minute down on this leg and i think part of that is by not using a path, which the others did.

12 - never really felt i was on top of this leg. plan wasn't very good because i didn't have an ap and i thought i'd just go straight. also didn't have a very good picture of both the control or the features i'd be passing along the way. all this made me very hesitant throughout the leg and i never trusted myself. also got dragged to the right by a foreigner that i saw and becuase i wasn't confident myself i thought i was maybe too far left (he was to my right) . for a leg of that length it would be hard to hit perfectly on just compass but my direction deteriorated massively when i hit the path. Lost over a minute again.

13 - easy: "follow the contour like a motorway" as Thierry says. a lot of time to plan and try to run. i think i maybe should have gone straighter though because it was quite a bad banana.

14 - good direction to begin with but then i was beginning to doubt myself again as nothing was matching my picture which meant my direction started to wobble. i think when i start to doubt myself i just run rather than continuing to check my compass so that needs to change.

15 - good initial direction but then i was never sure if i had crossed the ride so i went left to try to cross it never found it so went in. i had read the contours wrong so i was the wrong side and too far left. seemed to be more open in there and was lucky to just see it.


So I think the main thing to learn is to get number one right. Also, i need to actually forget about mistakes because quite often they aren't the end of the world. Technique wise, i always need to have pdp ready before leaving the control.