Training Log Archive: shanel

Event: WARA 12hr Autumn Rogaine
 

I am recovered, honest. So I'll do this instead of starting work ...

After a quick run round with the string we decided the lot was achievable. Our final plan was about 72km by tRicky's string, 73.5km when he roughly added the distances measured between each control. 78km by my string when I measured it back at home.

So to keep the maths simple 6.5kph first 3 hrs, 6kph the rest.

Got through the main bush area early and on schedule. Crossing paths a lot with the KO brigade (Braids and Matt & Alice) and Juffy.

We stayed 15-20 mins ahead of plan most of the time. But I was suffering a bit halfway through with it being quite warm and my stomach was feeling like it was close to being unhappy so we didn't gain anymore time.

Amusing times through the fields of fire.

My ability to follow a bearing started going a little pear shaped heading for 86, with my aiming off taking me a lot further off than ideal. Then it got worse into 15, luckily in open farmland abilty to diverge from teammate is quite high and tRicky was much more accurate. I blame my compass bubble which appears whenever it starts to cool off. Time for cash splurge on a super compass.

We were pretty good from there till 93. Big stuff up, staying high instead of straight lining it was always going to be risky. And as we passed 'the' gully I asked tRicky if it was the second little one, he agreed, so we continued. Then had to work out where we were, my feeling was we'd veered too far north, tRicky led us the the other way and with me staying parellel but further south I had to run hard for the control when tRicky found it.

46 and 106 were fine but way off line again to 35 with the water course not looking right, but the map looking like it could be very vague, so we ended up going the wrong way around the knoll.

We'd well and truely blown our extra time by now and again heading to 94 our bearings diverged, I headed closer to tRicky but this time it was he's direction which was off and since the gully looked like it would be pretty vague it wasn't good. I managed to drag tRicky down to were I felt like it might be and was very happy to find it.

We really had to run it out now, but the ground wasn't so good for running now and with the steep climb out of 65 the plan was pretty much gone. Could we have smashed it out to 65 and still got back in time? I don't know, probably not if we had to climb anymore hills, it would have been even more tragic if we'd cleared the course and been beaten by a minute.

Pretty gutted that Mark and Wil cleared the course after not even planning the lot, but we got very close to beating them. I think it was a good hit out before the Aus champs. I still haven't won a 24hr and I still haven't won without Mark and/or Wil. We'll see if we can change that.

Note: still haven't cropped start and finish off my GPS trace.

Took it easy and made crappy route choices.

Short easy recovery.