Orienteering race 1:02:00 [4] *** 7.4 km (8:23 / km)
shoes: VJ Falcons
Fumbled #1, 3, 4, 10.
Sunday Analysis:
Got the map and was ready to rock to point 1. I looked at the control, saw linear catching features, and ran to the corner of the trail till I took a bearing, contouring around the depression. Contoured it too far, didnt know it yet, pulled out of contouring mode to go over the hill, and then met up with plenty of sapplings. I figured this was the "dark" green on my map and went downhill. Becuase I had countoured too far, I ended up escaping the vortex to the north, instead of northwest, and hit the brakes when I saw a feild but no trail. I then decided not to kill the course right then and sprint off like I sometimes do when I get flustered, and instead started walking where I thought was the right direction while I gave my mind to catch up. Finally made sense of it that the trails mapped werent prominent because they were seasonal, and then cut west and found it until I saw my re-entrant and ran to the depression for point 1. time lost: about 1 minute.
Leg 2: I decided that I was going to try something new, inspired by Mr. Klaben (Gary, not John). Take an asmuth, find your pacecount, and run. I figured this would be a great method since there was a half way point to check my progress and then I'd end up stopping where I needed to. I did just that, took a bearing, ran with pace, saw the control, sprinted it in. No error on this leg. If I got beat, its because I am not a fast runner.
Leg 3: I debated the trail for a second, but by the time I decided against it, I was already committed to going straight for it since I took another bearing and was hiking up the depression. Figured I could ridgeline this one, and was wrong. I saw my waypoint 1 and then was forced from my precious ridge by the trees. Contoured a bit low of the ridge and then pulled out and was west of my waypoint 2, but had finally gotten back to my ridge. I didnt want to hike any more hills so I contoured the hill between my waypoint and the control, and ended up getting pushed west/downhill again. I didnt realize how serious this was and took another south bearing and saw a hill that looked perfect for a control. Ran up it, whoops, there went my one hunch and then bounced right to the correct hill. Time lost about two minutes up and down the hill, otherwise the rest was acceptable.
Leg 4: No sweat, just contour the big hill, take a bearing, and run for it. Wrong. I took my bearing, went on it even up near the top of the hill, got caught up in the vegetation and tried to contour, and ended up drifting and countoured half the hill instead of just the side I intended. Broke out from the woods and started running hard while reading. Thinking I was south in the light green (I thought it was strangely mapped...!!) I looked for the re-entrant and then realized, whoops, I'm in the feild and had to cut back. Time wasted on that leg was about 3 minutes, but I lost more than 3 minutes of energy so really it cost me the rest of the course. My heart rate was way up and I blame it for the moment of delusion.
Leg 5: Compass and Pace. drifted a tad north but my eagle eyes saved me. could have been 5 seconds faster if I had followed a perfect bearing, and 20 seconds faster if I wasnt tired.
Leg 6: Run the ridge, run the feild (I had practice by this point), run the ridge. time lost about 45 seconds due to walking after the feild run.
Leg 7: stay high, hit waypoint 1, found waypoint 2, compass and pace, couldnt see the control on approach, slowwed up, looked in the depressions and saw it north of me. Time lost: 15 seconds
Leg 8: Really tired by this point, so trail run was slow, but I did get to read , think, and recover. Shot off the trail at the bend, paced and hit the next trail, didnt want to gain and lose elevation so i jogged aroudn the knolls that were laughing at me, hit my next trail on pace but slowed up a bit since the bends made me want to say on the trail, but I took another compass bearing and walked off. Hit the next trail a bit off pace but I figured out where I was and made a concious effort to see 12 while running by it. hit the final trail and saw the point. time lost: 15 seconds of map stops.
Leg 9: lost time to tie my shoes and bathroom break, but it was an easy leg, got to the trail and could see it.
Leg 10: Didnt want to surrender ground so i went high and was reading ahead. When I hit my first trail I was right on, shot to my second trail and somehow my mind was stuck on the idea that I had reached my third, so I took my attackpoint bearing and got confused when I didnt see it and hit another trail. did the same process again off this new trail, except I wasnt at my attackpoint and ended up south of the point, but saw it below me and fixed my error. the confusion made me hesitate. Lost about a minute and a half.
Leg 11: was ready to contour the entire way but realized that was silly when I could use the trail as an attackpoint, rather than just compassing and pacing. I did straightline my route and hit the trail where I needed to and saw the point from the trail.
Leg 12: bearing straight at the point took me to the trail, which I used but realized I drifted south. Went up and over the hill, then saw the control. 10 seconds lost to map checks.
Leg 13: walked to the top of the depression, took an asmuth and paced. Got to my trail intersection and ran the trail untill I saw the point
Leg 14: contoured the depression to the trail, then compass and paced, but bailed on the straight line route when i reached the cairen (sp?) and got glued to the trail until the intersection. Took a bearing, hit the trail again and then ran the mini ridge north to the next trail, followed it to a decent cut in spot and took a bearing to the intersection. Found it and ran the north trail to the top of the ridge, bearing and pace until I saw the control. Route choice could have been faster, I spent a bit walking to figure it out and still didnt pick the best route. Would like to check route gadget for the fast ones.
Leg 15: rough bearing was crap; I met an orienteer at 14 and raced him to the point, then had to flee since he was on my course, and as I ran away I was not being precise. Hit the trail and followed the reentrant down. He went straight but I was more motivated than he.
Leg 16: Bearing and countoured the depressions. Got tired from the mini sprint leg I had just done and walked out. Hit the trail and ran again to the go Control.
Go Control: I pushed myself despite being exhausted. Time lost: 1 second due to tiredness. Didnt win the leg. No excuses.