Training Log Archive: Bruce

Sprint The Bay Stage 4
Sacred Girls - Napier

M40 1st place


From the description, I was expecting something like the Wellington World Cup Sprint Final terrain. It certainly didn't disappoint. This may be one of the most technical sprint orienteering maps that I have experienced.
The map and the course was brilliant. The only downside was the pouring rain! Still, this just added to the challenge with slippery corners and raindrops on the map making everything more difficult.

I found on this map in these conditions that it was well worth stopping for 2 to 3 seconds to read the map. This certainly saved me from any errors or bad route choices.

On #1, I thought that the right hand route was blocked by a wall. I think the raindrops made this hard for me to see that there was a very small staircase. This route would have saved me 10 seconds. Instead I went for a safe way down the ramp leading to the control.

At #5, I identified the 2 route choices, but given that I had to exit #5 east, I kept going east via #3 and down the lane. This may have cost me 5 seconds. As it was wet, I wasn't running at full speed down the hill. I used this leg to plan the next 2 legs in the school which looked very tricky.

I didn't really understand the map going to 11. Again I thought that some of the tiny stairs were walls. I did figure it out just in time when I realised what was going on and maybe only lost 2 or 3 seconds standing still to read the map.

I thought that the right hand route to #13 was simple and obvious. The middle left route with stairs may have been shorter but was going to be very slow in the rain. I didn't see the far left route, but I still think that right was better.

I went left to #15 and this worked well.
For #17, left looked more direct, and the climb appeared to be small, but in reality it was a steep, narrow muddy trail. If I raced this again, I would certainly have gone right.

#18 was tricky. It was tucked in behind a tiny garden and may have been tempting for some to cut through the dark green.

I really enjoyed this course and I was pleased to be able to complete it without any errors. Perhaps I just could have saved a total of 20 seconds if I had taken all of the optimal route choices.

One of the best sprint orienteering areas!

Sprint The Bay Stage 4
Hereworth

M40 1st


Another wet race. I was concerned about slipping on the wet concrete paths, so I wore my Inov-8s again.
I was fairly satisfied with my race again. It was not perfect, but good enough for the fastest time on my course.
I may have saved 2 or 3 seconds at #3 if I had gone right. Also I made the wrong decision to #5 and may have lost 5 seconds.
I took the right route to #7 but ran around the garden bed at the end. It was still probably longer going left, but the smoother entry to the control may have made it faster.
My biggest time loss was 10 seconds at #19. I misread the centre of the circle and my description as being placed in the clearing to the SE. Just as I started to climb the stairs I double checked and corrected myself to minimise my time loss.
I pushed hard to finish and felt like I still had plenty left at the end. I think this was due to the wet surfaces and the need to slow down on many of the corners to avoid injury. I suspect that I won't feel so fresh tomorrow morning after the mountain stage.

Event: Sprint the Bay
 

Sprint The Bay Stage 1
EIT, Napier

1st M40


A much cooler day than we have been having in Melbourne recently. It was also wet and slippery.
I had a very clean and fast race. My only issue was slipping on a corner of paving and grazing my right knee leaving 15. I hobbled for the next couple of controls (as can be seen in the splits), but then found some pace at the end again.

My knee was quite sore during the afternoon, and the swelling also affected my calf.

Sprint The Bay Stage 2
Tamatea

M40 1st place


I started my warm up struggling to walk. I gritted my teeth and hobbled around for 5 minutes until my knee warmed up. The faster I ran, the better it felt. I tried to do some quick run throughs and keep active right up until I was due to step into the start box.

Once the race got going I almost forgot about my knee. It did slow me down a bit, but I was still able to run cleanly and select most of the correct route choices with no time loss.

Hawkes Bay Summer Series, NZ
The West Side

Warm up for Sprint The Bay. This was actually a sprint map that was used in the 2012 Sprint The Bay competition.
It was a long day of travel. After waking at 4am Melbourne time, we made it to Havelock North by about 5pm NZ time.
After a quick shop for food, I found out that there was an orienteering event 10 minutes away in Hastings. I put on some short and was pleasantly surprised to see a full colour sprint map with loops and complex urban terrain. This was a perfect warm up for Friday.



The course was great, but there were some minor issues. This was mostly because an old version of the map was used, rather than the one updated by Duncan for STB 2012.
The most notable was no feasible way to get from 6-7. By the time I got there the control had been relocated to the uncrossable gate on the most logical route to get there. This was difficult to read on the map. The only other way would have involved a significant detour.

I have always been intrigued by NZ's approach to risk management. My latest observation to add to this list is that there are no security checks when boarding domestic flights!
This was quite contrasting to leaving Melbourne where I had to have a body scan as I had fallen behind the rest of my family and was singled out at an apparent "single male".

Melbourne Midday Milers
Mile Handicap
@ ex Olympic Park track

YouTube link

The pre-event discussion on the forum was that I had been given a soft mark. My handicap was probably based on my mile performances in 2012 and 2013 and my lack of track experience. My handicap predicted that I would run 5:21.
My recent form and focus on shorter sprint orienteering gave club members a feeling that I was in better form than this, but luckily the handicapper didn't think so.

As the banter became louder, the handicapper had to act, and I was pushed back 5 seconds in the minutes before the race start to 5:16.
I still thought that I could beat this, but probably not by enough to win a handicap race with around 30 starters.

The course was 3 and a bit laps of the Collingwood Football Club athletics track at the Westpac Centre where Olympic Park once stood. The track is 507m long around the outside of a replica MCG oval.

I took off quickly on my first lap and passed 4 or 5 runners. I then settled into a swift but managable pace. I kept making up places and felt good.
With one lap to go it was starting to get hard. Smoothly was jogging a lap in the other direction and mentioned that I was looking good for the win. I suspect that this meant that there was a gap behind me, and it gave me a boost.
I then focussed on catching the 2 front markers. They were about 20m in front with 250m to go, but they appeared to be speeding up. I put in a big effort to catch and pass them with 75m to go. I didn't want to have to sprint the last 20m, as they would have had me covered. I took the lead and was able to enjoy the last 50m and take the victory.

The good news is I won the Perpetual "Roger" Award for the MMM mile handicap, and a Rebel Sport voucher.
The bad news is that I will probably never get a soft handicap ever again.

An easy day. A ride to South Melbourne for a dip in the bay.
It was over 30 when I left, but the cool change arrived by the time I got to swim. It was windy and there was quite a big surf for Melbourne.
The water was quite warm today.

Very easy run around Yarra Bend Golf Course.