I could use the excuse of work overload, lack of sleep etc, but when it came down to it I just wasn't a champ.
But let's start at the beginning. This was my map.
When I sit back and think about what went wrong I focus in on three problems on the day that made a big difference.
- I'm not fit
- I lacked accurate map reading
- I didn't stick to the basics when I needed to.
Let's pick them off one by one
1. I'm not fit
There was nothing I could do about this on the day. I could have done more earlier.
Part of my problem is that I really found my sport of choice too late in life. I had already hit my 40s and was leading a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Even at school I was not the most active. I've never enjoyed running until I took up orienteering.
So losing extra weight and gaining fitness was always going to be a long road.
When you are overweight and older it is hard on the body and my body hurts from exercise-more as I get older. It is a fine line of balance between pushing too much (leading to injury) and not pushing enough (laziness).
Having said all that, training had taken a backseat to other priorities recently and I can see it in my running rate.
So I was never going to be running as fast as some of the other runners in my group. I was going to be relying on my concentration, skills, and consistency.
2. Lack of accurate map reading
There were two spots where I fell down on my map reading. The first was between control 12 and 13.
In this case I just didn't interpret what I saw on the map correctly.
When planning my route coming out of 12 I thought that the solid black line extending around the eastern edge of the building between 6 and 13 actually extended all the way across to the dark green. What I didn't notice was the the pink line between 6 and 7 was actually masking the stairs on the map.
Because I didn't see those stairs, I was actually met with a tricky decision -and none of the choices were as quick as the obvious one (with the stairs).
I must admit that I thought the course setter had set a beauty of a leg here.
In the end I chose to wind my way through the buildings (as per the pink line) rather than taking what I thought might be another possible course (in bright yellow)
When I realised my mistake I was cross with myself for this stupid mistake. I had my magnifier on my compass, but didn't use it to check. At no point did it even occur to me to examine that spot more closely. I could have saved some valuable time here.
3.Not using my basic skills
As I emerged from 15 and headed into the less defined area of trees for my last small loop I neglected to use my map to ground, distance, and direction skills well.
I chose to go wide of the more complicated gardens, knowing that my brain was getting tired, but I didn't discipline myself to think about the map well, and went much wider than I needed to.
When I got to the gate I thought I was at the other gate. This was simply stupid. I watched someone go in the other gate, but still didn't make the connection. I was somewhat distracted by Al running away in front of me,too, instead of just thinking about what I was doing.
Having come in at a different point, I still ran in the wrong direction for a short time before realising that my direction was wrong, and then corrected-but the damage was done. I ran too far, then came to a tree with a control. At least I checked the number.. and realised it was not mine. So where had I gone wrong?
I had not taken note of distance or direction correctly. I had no idea where I was. Now it did something else I should not do... I meandered around trying to find the control by chance instead of doing something positive. Eventually I realised what I was doing, planned to return to the more open area, located my next control (by some good fortune), and worked my way back to the correct control, then went on. By now I had lost more than 9 minutes in this area, and had no hope of success left.
It is a classic setters trick to place a vague area near the end of a course. When your mind is already tired it is really hard to change your technique, concentrate and use all your skills. They got me well and truly this time.
After all that I finished about 10 minutes behind the next worst runner in my course (at the bottom) . This was all that I deserved for this poor display of orienteering.
And I finished thinking how much I had enjoyed it!!
That's the thing with orienteering. You are always just that small way away from being better.
Will I learn a lesson (or three) from today? Who knows. I hope it helps you to learn too, without the disadvantage of losing in the process.
I chose to go wide of the more complicated gardens, knowing that my brain was getting tired, but I didn't discipline myself to think about the map well, and went much wider than I needed to.
When I got to the gate I thought I was at the other gate. This was simply stupid. I watched someone go in the other gate, but still didn't make the connection. I was somewhat distracted by Al running away in front of me,too, instead of just thinking about what I was doing.
Having come in at a different point, I still ran in the wrong direction for a short time before realising that my direction was wrong, and then corrected-but the damage was done. I ran too far, then came to a tree with a control. At least I checked the number.. and realised it was not mine. So where had I gone wrong?
I had not taken note of distance or direction correctly. I had no idea where I was. Now it did something else I should not do... I meandered around trying to find the control by chance instead of doing something positive. Eventually I realised what I was doing, planned to return to the more open area, located my next control (by some good fortune), and worked my way back to the correct control, then went on. By now I had lost more than 9 minutes in this area, and had no hope of success left.
It is a classic setters trick to place a vague area near the end of a course. When your mind is already tired it is really hard to change your technique, concentrate and use all your skills. They got me well and truly this time.
After all that I finished about 10 minutes behind the next worst runner in my course (at the bottom) . This was all that I deserved for this poor display of orienteering.
And I finished thinking how much I had enjoyed it!!
That's the thing with orienteering. You are always just that small way away from being better.
Will I learn a lesson (or three) from today? Who knows. I hope it helps you to learn too, without the disadvantage of losing in the process.
Well if you had stuffed up 6 to 7 you would know those stairs where there!!
ReplyDeleteAnd distracted by Al??!! Might have to watch him