Orienteering race (4.37km / 12.9 min/km) 56:16 [4] 3.4 km (16:33 / km) +202m 12:46 / km
ahr:138 max:158
US Nationals among the redwoods, in Big Basin. Quite a treat and experience. Words can barely describe how huge and majestic these enormous trees are. So glad I went all the way here.
Middle distance today. Over 200m climb on a 3.4km course...hills are really step, and the ground is often very soft with many layers of pines and leaves. So hills are both very steep and slippery going up and down. Sucked the life out of my legs pretty quickly.
Finished 4th in M45, just missing a medal.
Navigationally it paid to be careful as mistakes can be very costly given the steepness. So of course my only real mistake was on one of the easiest controls (#5) mostly flat and in a small clearing. I checked off two other clearings with controls before finding the right one. Sloppy compass work at fault.
#6 control seemed to me to be one or two contours too low.
Slight wobbles on #9 and #11 inside the circle.
Winsplits reports over 5 minutes lost, I don't think it was actually more than 3, mostly on #5. Others were just slow running...