Training Log Archive: nmulder

Anagach West and Heathfield. 1:15'000. M21E. Day 6 of Scottish 6-Days. A fair run, but definitely not the best of the week. The terrain was quite undulating (esker and kettlehole moraine landscape) with lots of ups and down across small ridges. I started poorly on the 1st leg (poor focus and didn't adjust to map scale) before settling down. It was a reverse order start, so I caught the guy 1 place (and 3 mins) behind / ahead of me at one of the early controls. This threw me and I made a few weird route choices. The rest of the day was similar.... poor concentration all the way though. I recaught and was caught by 2 others at various stages. Finished 41st for the day and 28th overall after 6 days. Am very happy at least with the overall result... much higher than I had originally set out for. Overall, some superb terrain and fun, enjoyable orienteering.

1320 - Camerory. 1:10'000. Short (Middle) Disntace event. Day 5 of the Scottish 6-days. I had another good day, similar in performance to Day 3. Quite a few of the better guys made a few major mistakes... I suspect the map might have had an influence... with small inconsistencies in some tricky places. Most of the course was on sloping hillside with debris strewn rocky slopes that slowed the fast guys down nicely. Some of the other courses made it out onto the moors (deep heather and quite marsh), but not us. I finished in 24th place, moving up to 29th overall. Only made less than a couple minutes of mistakes, mainly on 2 consecutive legs where I was distracted and strayed off the best route. Only 1 day to go. Moving up another position is going to be quite hard given that there is a 5 minute gap... Thankfully it is also fairly large behind me now as well.

1220 - Culbin (near Nairn). 1:10'000. Chasing start on elapsed time. Sand dune covered forest, quite runnable in most places, but occasssionally very low visibility light green with intricate contour detail. A butterfly loop was incorportated. I started about 30 secs behind a Fin (whom I never saw again) and about 4 minutes ahead of the next batch of runners. Hopefully this turns out to be the only bad run of the week. I was 50th (or so), a poor result place-wise, but not too much as a % of the winner. It was fast terrain which didn't suite me, neither did I seem to luck out with the bunches, running almost the whole course on my own. Got caught by the chasing bunch of 4 just 1 control before the finish. I made my biggest mistake of the week so far, loosing about 2 minutes on 1 control where I had stopped reading the map. A really stupid error on one of the easier controls. I've now got 3 people just seconds ahead of me that I need to retake in the overall rankings. Currently lying 33rd overall.

0900 - Cycle to the MTB - O. Lovely country roads.

1015 - Uath Lochan & Inshriach. 1:15'000. Short Course. Took part in a Mountain Bike Orienteering Event held in conjunction with the Scottish 6-Days. Hired a bike from nearby Laggan Wolftrax... not the best, but also not the worst. Good tyres and front shock, which definitely helped. Changed courses at the last minute to short (from Long). Good decision! It was fun and challenging... got to get used to reading maps at high speed on single track. Almost lost it a few times. Managed to take 1st by 3 minutes. No idea how the competition rates though.

1230 - The long slog back to Kingussie.

1700 - Kingussie. 1:5'000. Men Elite. A Sprint race around town. Nice and fun, but have had more technical sprints before. 1 route choice mistake and 1 instance where I took a few steps down the wrong road. Otherwise quite good. Finished about 22nd (I think), about 3 minutes behind the winner (GG). Good turnout with lots of spectators.

1230 - Inshriach West. 1:15'000. M21E. Day 3 of Scottish 6-Days. Classic Distance. I've orienteered in Inshriach West once before, in training for WOC '99. I remember not enjoying the training then, and I rediscovered why today. the first half of the race was in a working forest... so lots of branches on the ground, deep ruts and morraine boulders hidden under the mossy surface. I managed it better this time round though, catching a few guys early on in light green forest with some good navigation (keep it simple tactics as well as heading out to paths whenever possible). The remainder of the course entered an open pine forest with much faster runnability and fairly easy (slightly boring - monotonous) technicality. I'd caught a Swiss runner earlier on who pulled me through a lot of this terrain. He was a fraction faster than me, so I pushed hard to keep him in sight, closing the gap occasionally when he made a mistake. I was ***gered over the last 3 controls. Thankfully it was close enough to the finish when I blew, with the tracking on the ground making nav and running easy. My best run so far (one of my best ever), with me finishing in 23rd position today. Left some decent names behind me. Am now 31st overall.

It's a 'rest' day tomorrow. i.e. all I'll be doing is a 20km mountain bike orienteering event in the am (13km cycle to, 13km cycle from the event) and a sprint race in my home town (Kingussie) in the pm.

C • Super 2

Balavil. 1:10'000. M21E. Day 2 of the Scottish 6-Days. Short distance event. Had a fair start. Was quite a technical day, both physically and technically. First third was running through thick heather, then the remainder was pine forest with intricate rock crag detail. No major problems once again, although I could have chosen slightly different route choices on a few controls. The technicality helped me finish slightly higher up the field, 37th and now 40th overall after 2 days.

Event: Scottish 6-Days
 

Alvie. 1:15'000. M21E. Day 1 of Scottish 6-Days. Lovely orienteering! Nice map and lovely terrain with a bit of everything (including a short moorland / heath section). Started well (uphill), but the soft terrain took some getting used to. It had been raining most of the night and started again late in the race. I had a clean run for the most part (maybe 1 or 2 route choices could have been more direct), but am generally pleased. Position 45th out of about 68.

1730 - Beachen Wood & Heathfield West. 1:10'000. 2nd training area. Steeper than the 1st training area, and not so nice in places (old quarries). Some lovely Swedish-like blueberry forest out there. No major problems apart from 1 'crag' (1m boulder) in 'semi-open' (head-high bush).