Orienteering 1:30:00 [3] *** 10.87 km (8:17 / km) +368m 7:05 / km
spiked:16/18c
Today was a tough 'shut up legs' kinda race.
Terrain was rocky, thick in places and hilly. I couldn't get the legs to get going on long climb to #1. Felt slow but spiked the control. Next control was right back down the hill but through a recently logged area and lots of rock. Knees complained on that. Then a slow execution to #3. Looked at my watch and realized this was going to be a 10min/km kinda race because it was #rugged and the legs weren't firing on any cylinders (looking at splits I was already 2.5 min down only 16 minutes into the race). Decided to take a long trail running route to #4 to plan ahead and get the legs going. I think it worked as I started to get some flow (either that or it was because controls were closer together for a bit). Long leg to #9 I chose a great route again and flew down this hill in some very nice woods. BUT wIth the technical and hilly bit of the course over I let my guard down and missed #9. (looking at splits I was within 13 seconds of the lead there despite losing close to a minute on the control). Was pissed off and so I pushed hard to #10 then saw a porcupine and mind wandered to the 'Blaze incident' and chuckled a bit but lost concentration. Missed the control in a bland area and couldn't relocate. Panic set it in as I had to run back 300-400m to relocate and try again (ended up 30th of 32 on the leg and dropped 5.5 minutes to the winner on that leg and was just over 6 back at finish). That deflated me so I just went through the motions after that until 2 controls from the end and I saw Louise Oram (salal). We had started at the exact same time on the two different red courses (same length) and we had a bet who would finish first. So I picked up the pace and passed her with 5m before the last control. BUT I fumbled punching and she beat me in by about a second. :-)
Enjoyed the weekend a lot. Especially because I feel I can finally 'race hard' again. Need to work on my woods speed though. Thanks EMPO for a great weekend of O.