Training Log Archive: Parkino

Event: Midland Orienteering Championships 2013
 

slightly late leaving for the start so a brisk jog/warm up all the way there

Midland Champs, Sherwood Forest
expected to have a cleaner race, slowed up around the 45min mark, got a bit messy after that, my target was 8th and only made 11th, still way off the pace ...

3) over cautious - took a bearing! - then found a line of unmarked dead trees (20+secs)
5) possibly lost a bit cutting the corner through rough open/green
7) would paths have been better? I enjoyed going through the heather and Tim Tett went that way as well
13) Bingo control, couldn't see it when within 10m and it was in white/semi-open, ran close to the green right on line and couldn't believe it when I couldn't see either pit, very confuse, only found it because others came along (2mins, Martin Ward lost 3mins), very annoying
17) tired, decided to go straight because I wouldn't have gone much quicker on the track, but at the crossing point took the track anyway and I don't think that was the best idea, the control seemed pretty visible (1min, party due to pace)
20) within 10m, but turned downhill as I decided the next clearing was the one (40secs)
24) hmmm, tried to straighten the last part of the leg, but must've cut in too early (miscounting dead trees?), crossed small paths without noticing and had to bounce back, ignored my control and went to another (1min)
25) confused by circling around the last control, I ran off 90° in the wrong direction, didn't like the look of things, but only slowly adjusted the direction, so came around in a big banana loop, still missing the small paths (2mins)

The last one was the worst mistake. I had already started running when I glanced at my compass. Should've stopped and turned 90° instead of behaving like an oil tanker. This was the difference between making my target 8th and not making it.

24th on the combined M45/M50 course, 18mins behind Tim Tett! 15m behind JD

beautiful day, so off to Farley to visit the brambles, also paid a visit to the moor to catch the sunshine, no point features today, but I did manage to find the depression from last time

Farley Moor
up to Farley to tramp through the brambles, found a few more point features, but I'm scratching my head about how to represent the vegetation: undergrowth screen(s) with small holes where the bramble disappears? - but these won't show up very well, nor will the clearings filled with fine-branched young saplings ... not without veg boundaries ...

some massive boulders along the slope in Hurker, but too many of the darn things, on the upside, the area above the quarry turns out to be a nice bit of wood

Night-O Training, Hugset
decided to go offensive on this one, put myself to the test, expose some week points in my technique ... and I found them!

had a problem with waiting for my compass to settle: checked it when I came out on a path, seemed I'd come out further left than intended, ran down the path, over 150m, until I had to accept that a) the path I thought I was on didn't go downhill and b) compass was now saying something different

didn't do much forward planning or carefully map-reading: on 5) taking the path didn't really offer a good attack point, whereas going straight and picking up the ditch did

took a bearing to 8, but went right and came out on the path, relocated and still came back into the control before Martin Ward, also drifted right across the brambles to 10

lamp started to fade with two to go

down to Hall Leys for intervals

5 x 1km intervals, 90secs rest: 3.55 4.02 4.07 4.11 4.07

this was a steady session, need someone else around to really push me to the edge, but I got five done and I'm pleased with that

according to the Garmin, the loop has shrunk slightly to 10-20m less than a kilometre from 10m more

jog with one of the lads at O-club to hang controls, followed by a run round a 1km course, and later a steady run back home, by way of a warm down

walked up to 'Farley' to have another mooch around Hurker Wood, a lot of rocks in there, from stony ground to clusters of 1m+ boulders

That's 100 miles for the month. Never done that before and that only includes the course lengths for orienteering.

(Having said that, December was down on last year, so I need a good February for the volume to be up on last Winter)

Lea, Tansley, Riber, Holloway
another run out with the monday crew, not knowing the route or how long it would be was relaxing, at first, began to tire on an uphill stretch in Lea Woods and then we walked up some steep steps out of Holloway, could've done without that

still, kind of enjoyable, good beer at the Jug & Glass

route measures 7.5 miles on the map, more than the Garmin's estimate