Training Log Archive: Craney

Grace and Florence were on an earlier flight home than me, so spent some of the morning catching up with an old school mate in Onehunga. Had a bit of time before heading to the airport myself, so did a gentle run around Cornwall Park. Lots of cows and sheep and a bit of a climb to a nice lookout. Reminded me of Ashton Court. Still in a bit of a boo.

At Woodhill, came 5th, +9:15mins to Samuli Salmenoja. Stupid orienteering. Hit a black hole at #4 and no idea what happened next...

Routegadget has helped me work it out...
http://rg.orienteering.org.nz/gadget/cgi-bin/reitt...
I was within metres but didn't see it, then knew I was in the right area but kept hunting up and down the (extremely vague) ridgeline on the wrong axis. Lost 7 minutes. Not going to put this down to nerves or rushing or anything, even though there does appear to be some correlation between target races and mucking up early on.

I'd thought of a few downside scenarios before the race, including making mistakes early on and/or being caught. But hadn't considered a mistake as large as that. So it felt like a real punch in the guts and I felt physically sick for the next few controls and made more big mistakes. Amusingly bumped into Rune at #12 who was having a similarly bad day. That spurred me on to race a bit and when I saw the Austrian who started 3rd last later on I started to think I might even have a chance of getting a reasonable result, which spurred me on further. So picked up a few decent splits here and there interspersed with some very very bad ones.

A great course but fairly gutted with the outcome. Still, not a bad return from the week and potentially bigger fish to fry coming up.

Long - Final - Men 35 Final A - Splits

Gentle late arvo leg stretch from our holiday house. All seemed to be in order.

At Woodhill again, 1st this time with a much better run. Legs felt good and, but for a shaky section mid course, was clean. Cool terrain with sand dunes on a steep hillside for most of it. Pulled back all but 1sec of the margin to Rune so he will start last in the final.

http://rg.orienteering.org.nz/gadget/cgi-bin/reitt...

Long - Qualification 2 - Men 35 Heat 1 - Splits

At Woodhill, came 4th, +4:11 to Rune. Not a great run - tried to just enjoy it at a comfortable pace but didn't feel comfortable at all. Plus made a few errors. Still, I did enjoy it, which was the main thing. Some cracking fast pine dunes with some tricky (slow and tough) open areas to mix things up.

http://rg.orienteering.org.nz/gadget/cgi-bin/reitt...

Long - Qualification 1 - Men 35 Heat 1 - Splits

Late arvo run exploring the Shakespear Regional Park. Quite nice in a rolling fields with lots of cows kind of way. Legs felt pretty rubbish though.

Stoked to get the win! A great day out that will stick in the memory. Very tight race with Rune that just turned out in my favour.

Felt proper nervous before the start, which I tried to enjoy for the novelty. The first three controls were flat out through the park, which gave me a chance to calm my nerves with some fast easy running. Although I managed to clunk my head on a low hanging branch, which hurt a bit.

Fairly straightforward campus orienteering through to #12, where I felt fairly smooth through the controls. Lost a few secs hesitating here and there (e.g. not identifying I had to go through a building on the way to #4).

The underpass caught a lot of people out because of the iffy overprint (I think the map itself was fine). I was one of those people losing a crucial 11secs to Rune. Could've been worse I guess. Good after that though through quite a windy bit, finally getting onto the back of the Austrian at the second last control.

Some buzz from the crowd and commentary as I punched the last, so sprinted quite hard to the finish and was delighted to hear that I had just done enough.

http://rg.orienteering.org.nz/gadget/cgi-bin/reitt...

C • Woo hoo 8

Sprint Final - Men 35 Final A - Splits

Cracker sprint race. Creaky legs but kept it clean and managed to win the heat.

Sprint Qualification - Men 35 Heat 1 - Splits

Event: World Masters Orienteering Championships 2017
 

Now I've got that persistent cough back. Well at least it's forced me to do a 100% taper for WMOC, and hopefully tomorrow's sprint qual will act as a reasonable warm-up without setting me back too much.

Cold dragging on. Frustrating. Nice relaxing day out though exploring the Tawharanui Regional Park.