Training Log Archive: Garry

H2015 D6 Affric North M45L 93/137. Final day in the WOC Long area. Got off to a bad start drifting too low to 1 then having to climb up the steep hill to find it. Pretty happy with legs 2-5. Somehow lost the plot to 6, drifted off to the NE before relocating. Decent run into 7 through 12. Screwed up my plan to 13 getting on to a parallel ridge and not figuring out what had happened. Realised there was a problem when I didn't hit a major stream I was to cross. Difficult to spot where the river was. Finally relocated. Slow and hesitant to 14 also. Picked up again through to the finish.
Struggled with my eyes today focusing in the terrain. Need to work harder to maintain focus in the terrain, especially making good plans and executing.
A great week!

People had been warning me about how rough Glen Affric is and they were right. It is a serious physical challenge. However, I really enjoyed it apart from the usual few major stuff-ups. I don't often complain about maps, but I will in this case. I didn't think too much of the vegetation mapping in the early part of the course.
Took way to long to 1, stupidly starting my search too low. Then had a nightmare to 2. The veg here is awful. Must have been way further in than 10m from forest boundary. Lost 10mins here for a control I must have been inches away from first time round (we won't go into my poor relocation technique!). 3 was fairly simple. 4 was another challenge. I hit the fence / wall catching feature very high - I still can't believe how high I must have been. In retrospect the contours make sense now, indicating I lost map contact. But again the vegetation in this area was pretty confusing. So almost 40mins for 4 controls - if things didn't improve I was going to have a long day out! Slow going to 5 & 6 but I took them well. 7 was a long leg. Went pretty well getting to the general area, but made a poor plan to locate the control. I had a Mars bar on my way to 7 and managed to pick up the pace after that. Tough running to 8, but took it well. Pretty good straight run to 9, which appeared as I was feeling like I was going to need to relocate (confidence!) 10 went well and 11 was a long down hill run. I relocated well off the road we crossed and took it well. I stopped early for 12 before realising what I'd done. There were quite a few quicks around now and it was a good motivator. Definitely helped with both the nav and the pace, so a good finish. (provisionally sitting at 75/132)

Finally a good run. I didn't enter the 6 Day today (IOF meetings) so managed to get a late entry on the Green course (also the IOF VIP course).
After yesterday's 2nd loop in the terrain I figured out a better pace and managed to use that today. So really decent controlled orienteering all the way round my course. Took it gently to 1 to make sure I got into the map properly. A bit vague about 2, but was please with reading the negative contours and form lines to push into the lower depression. Felt more confident in reading the terrain/map. Did well to 3, adjusting my angle off as I crossed the road. Over-ran 4, but was chuffed that I recognised that and know exactly where the control would be. Read contours well to 5. Was slow-going to 6 - tried to stay on the boundary between the open heather area and the forest. Slight uncertainty to 7 until I realised the re-entrant would be up the next level (form line). Was doing a great job on macro nav to 8, but waited too long for fine nav & so didn't take optimum route in. Good run in to 9. Up over the ridge and read the landform well to angle straight into the control. Similar story to 10-13. Then a hard run to 14 and home.
Good pace, good map contact, good exit angles and minimal use of compass. Link to winsplits

Who would have thought that day 1 would be my best result! So today I tried taking this like series of training legs. I tried to make sure that I had a plan with attackpoints etc. for each leg before I set off. After the race I went back into the terrain and had a second go at the controls where I had problems. Took a nice straight route to 1. W.asn't too happy with vegetation mapping to 2 (confirmed on revisit). First major problem was to 3. Issue with my micro nav. Also struggled with the contours here even on my return visit. Bad interpretation of contours to 4. Also true on my revisit, but managed to get it right 3rd time round (forest shown as white was definitely light green around the control. Came out at an unexpected place on the way to 5 and then didn't adjust my plan into the control. Tried going straighter 2nd time around, but need to make sure I don't over-interpret the contours. Followed the vegetation boundary round to 6. Simple run down the trough to 7 (went from 5 to 7 on second attempt. This was trickier & went well). Went round on the path to 8 and didn't have a good attackpoint, so stuggled especially with poor visibility. Went straight the 2nd time round, following the contours, with far better results. What a disaster to 9. Must have been within 15m but didn't do micro nav properly and then couldn't decide where I was (poor plan), so I went back to the road and tried again with success. 2nd time around with a clear plan and the right pace it was easy. Used paths to 10 and did reasonable job. Poor attention to detail to 11. 12 was straight forward. Visibility was better from there on so read the contours well to 13. Lots of hesitation near 14. Suddenly felt more comfortable and was smooth from 15-17. 18 was a straight run and then home.
The second time I went out I focused on interpreting the land forms more and not relying on my compass. It was pleasing that whenever I check the compass for confirmation, the map was well-oriented.

Run around the terrain again revisiting most controls and trying different approaches.

H2015, D2, Strathfarrar, M45L. So bombed terribly on my aim of getting into top 40! This was way more technical than yesterday. Started off steady to 1 & 2. Then overshot 3 and finally used a distinct hill across the river to relocate. The long leg to 4 was tricky. One of the main challenges in this terrain was getting your height right so you could attack the control confidently. In general I alternated decently taken controls with horrendous efforts. In summary: 5-good, 6-terrible, 7-very good, 8-poor, 9 good, 10-easy, 11-stupid choice, 12 -awful. 13 - best of the day, 14 - needed to be more confident and push on, 15 -good, 16 - tricky and slipped passed it. Got it second time round. 17 - good, 18 - could have been better then an easy one home.
I'm still struggling to make good plans for the terrain. Afterwards I can see better options, but at the time I guess I'm not thinking & planning clearly enough.
So to improve I need to go back to basics and plan each leg properly. The only way to get the confidence up.
Rest day tomorrow and then to Darnaway.

H2015 D1 Achagour M45L pos 64/160.
Took a while to get into the map. Contours, vegetation and marshes. Lots of compass work. Great fun and a good technical challenge. Lots to improve on. For tomorrow I'm aiming to reduce stupid mistakes and break into top 40. After a shaky first 2 controls, did well on 3 & 4, then struggled again with 5 before settling a bit and having a good patch from 6-11, getting up into 42nd. Stupid route to 12 meant I confused myself and did a bad job of relocating. Was careful in the tricky area of 13 & 14 and steady to 15. Another really stupid route to 16 undid all the good work. Headless chicken approach continued to 17. Improved for 18 & 19, & got overconfident to 20, resulting in another stuff up. Decent run to 21, but then made a bad route to 22 and chose the difficult route to 23. 23 and 24 were in tough undulating forest. Happy to go straight on the compass to 24, but would have been quicker to get out and come back on the forest. Fairly clearn through to the finish & took the finish sprint :-)

C • Nice! 3

3rd leg of the sprint relay. Got out in the mix with USA & Romania. Slightly overshot 1 and got 2 fine. Settled down on the way to 3. Was quite happy with the next beach control #7, which was easy to overshoot. Missed the right option to 11 and then took the long way to 12. Negotiated the arena passage well. Couldn't see the way through the straight route to 13 (eyes are struggling). Then my big mistake to 14, where I confused myself ultimately letting the Hong Kong guy catch me in the final loop. Tried to keep pushing the final loop, which went reasonably well. Then a nasty uphill to 25 and through the crowds to the finish. That was a cool experience. Handed over to a lonely Jess, who hauled in the HK lady for 29th spot.
Link to gps tracking

Event: WOC 2015 & Scottish 6 days
 

Walking and jogging round the model sprint areas in Nairn. Nothing too serious, although it was really important to see the dune area for the sprint relay.
Right hamstring is still tight, but eased off after decent warm up.

WOC sprint quali at Forres. First time I've had a gas tracker so that was quite daunting /fun. No hiding in the post-race analysis. Went Ok to 1, but should have gone straighter to 2. This would have made it easier to take the southern route to 3, rather than my northern route. Had a decent run in to 4-6. Thought I'd stuffed up 7, but in retrospect what I did wasn't bad. Hadn't planned ahead to 8 do changed my mind after leaving 7 (cardinal mistake). Then missed the right route into 8 so didn't get flow out of 8. Not the best to 10 & 11, my decisions coming too late. More of the same to the finish, punching 16 before 15 (only realised at 15) then punch another control at the corner and almost missed my last control. Easily lost 25 s in hesitations.
Biggest problem was reading too much detail & not trusting myself enough to break routes down into simplified decision points.
Link to gps tracking

Easy jog around the back of Windygates towards Leven &back. My right hip & hamstring had taken a lot of strain on the flight over. So it was good to loosen everything up.