Orienteering race (Inshriach West) 1:43:44 [5] ***** 14.0 km (7:25 / km) +390m 6:30 / km
shoes: V-J Integrator Black/Red
1230 - Inshriach West. 1:15'000. M21E. Day 3 of Scottish 6-Days. Classic Distance. I've orienteered in Inshriach West once before, in training for WOC '99. I remember not enjoying the training then, and I rediscovered why today. the first half of the race was in a working forest... so lots of branches on the ground, deep ruts and morraine boulders hidden under the mossy surface. I managed it better this time round though, catching a few guys early on in light green forest with some good navigation (keep it simple tactics as well as heading out to paths whenever possible). The remainder of the course entered an open pine forest with much faster runnability and fairly easy (slightly boring - monotonous) technicality. I'd caught a Swiss runner earlier on who pulled me through a lot of this terrain. He was a fraction faster than me, so I pushed hard to keep him in sight, closing the gap occasionally when he made a mistake. I was ***gered over the last 3 controls. Thankfully it was close enough to the finish when I blew, with the tracking on the ground making nav and running easy. My best run so far (one of my best ever), with me finishing in 23rd position today. Left some decent names behind me. Am now 31st overall.
It's a 'rest' day tomorrow. i.e. all I'll be doing is a 20km mountain bike orienteering event in the am (13km cycle to, 13km cycle from the event) and a sprint race in my home town (Kingussie) in the pm.
