Training Log Archive: DarthBalter

nice sunny day, warming up quickly. Not so much can be said for my brain. I got disoriented in the start triangle, ran ~ 50 m in the wrong direction (90 degrees error), stopped, came back to the start, reoriented my map, nothing made sense, but I forced myself to run in the right direction and than understood that wooded cemetery was mapped as semi open (yellow), that was ~ 40-45 sec. Got a little hesitant on a way to 2, trying to understand how to get to #2 on a balcony corner. Brain is waking up and finally I am getting in to this race. But, I am in ~ 50 sec deficit, that my legs can not buy me. No big deal, moving well, breathing hard. #7 puzzled me, too many thick black lines close to control on best approach, but I took this risk, and there still something funky mapped there, since I saw nothing but stairs around there, hence that all shell be thin lines.
I figure that was ~ 10 sec slowdown. From there it was a sprint I like, no traps, quick decision on route, fast running and clean execution, may be a second here and there. Third at the finish line, 42 sec back to Niels and Oivind, who tied for the win.
Over all, happy with my racing over this weekend, minimum goal to get at least one medal, I settled for two second places behind Niels and a bronze finish today.

Sprint - Green X - Splits

The most technically difficult race of my life.
I think that several factors contributed to that:
1 - phenomenal terrain,
2 - very detailed map by Mark.
3 - tough course setting by Alar,
4 - my fading eyesight,not able to read this map on a run,
5 - very thick canopy, creating low light conditions, even on a sunny day, like today was.

So it was defensive orienteering tactics for most of the course, but last 2 controls, coming home.
I would not count every time I stopped to read the map with magnifier as a time loss, everyone was forced to do that to succeed today. Getting into a wrong place was very costly, relocation difficult. In the beginning the tactics was to take short running sections stop, read confirm, select next target, execute and so on. worked well, just on a last section before #2 I was pushed by the terrain to the left ~ 50-60 meters, realized it when I hit northern tip of the marsh past the control and corrected quickly - 30 40 sec at all.

C • Defensive orienteering tactics 1

Long - Green X - Splits

Event: North American Orienteering Championships 2016
 

Dark, low crowds and thick canopy, made map perception without the lens close to impossible. I used all defensive tactics I know for that situation - shorter legs meant good compass work, distance estimation, get into control circle, read control description, look around and spot a bag - worked well. Longer legs, get to ski trail, mostly open, use day light and magnifier to get full picture of the situation on approach to control, attack fairly aggressively on memory - worked well, too. Not much went wrong, today, on the way to 3 I dropped perpendicular to the slope lines, where I needed to traverse at the angle, as a result I was a bit off the line and had to figure that out and correct for that ~ 20 sec. missed 8 by reasonable amount on a short leg, had to stop and correct, another 20 sec. Misread forest trails a little bit on a longish leg to 11, realized it soon but, climbed extra and stopped in confusion for several seconds, so another 20 sec there. On a long leg did not see that same trail I was on goes all the way to my control, went straight. Stopped to check situation, when crossed same trail right before the control, ~ 10 sec on that. Clean and fast on downhill controls towards finish arena, just got confused by the last control which was mapped as a single tree but from my approach looked like forest cluster, may be 10-15 sec there. Niels had a great race beat my by almost 3 minutes. I do not think I posses that kind of speed at the moment (or ever).

Middle - Green X - Splits

slept from 7 PM till 4 AM, worked well - fully recovered. Sushi at 4 AM and Tea and a Bagel w Cream cheese at 7 AM.
Achilles is 95% recovered.

R. Achilles tendon is better in the morning, but still painful to touch during the day

limped very quickly to train station and to work. good progress after one night of salt therapy. taped now for day time.