Geoff's Orienteering Thought Number 3 for 2010

Route choice, route choice.  Should I run over the hill or round the path?  I think that we are all familiar with this little problem.  I would certainly encourage people to look at different routes for legs to ensure that the optimum route is chosen.

What is a contour?  It is a representation on the map of changing relief on the ground.  When they are tightly packed the slope is steep and when they are wide apart the slope is shallow, but you know all that already.  There is more, however.  The contours on OS maps are 10m interval whilst on O-Maps they are usually 5m intervals.  This means that for every contour line you gross you will gain or lose 5m in height, unless you are at Culbin which is mapped at 2.5m intervals.  There are several fantastic orienteering areas that are mapped like this due to the requirements of contour detail.  The long and the short of it is to understand what the contours mean on the map.  But this is not all.

Do not be afraid of taking the straight route and crossing a few contours, it might well be a lot quicker than the long way round on the path.  The only way to understand the correct route is to spend lots of time in terrain and learn to appreciate how fast you can run on a path the long way round, and how quickly you can cope with different types of slope in different terrain.  Typically you will find I go round for some legs and straight for others.  A lot of my routes go quite straight as I am not afraid of a few contours.  Perhaps the fitting note to end on is one tht encourages you to do the hard work to reach new heights on the ground and in performance.

Per Ardua ad Astra

Geoff's Orienteering Thought Number 4 for 2010

How come he always beats me?  If I go round, he goes straight and beats me, if I go straight, he goes round and beats me, if we go the same way he beats me, but I still beat him overall from time to time.  Once again we are back at route choice.  Let me let you all in on a little secret.  Shh, don't tell anyone.  There is NO correct route for everyone.  It is true.  The best route for any given leg is the one that allows you to complete it in the quickest possible time for you.

I am going to have to make some assumptions here.  You have executed your chosen route perfectly and without any mistakes as fast as your legs can carry you.  You have also chosen the best route for you, so you cannot do any better on that leg.  Do the same for all the legs on the course and that is your quickest time.  You cannot do any better.

What does that all mean?  It means that you have to understand your own strengths and weaknesses.  If you find it difficult to run uphill through babies heads with brashings, it might be a good idea to do the 100m to the path, run along that and then nip back into the terrain at the end.  If, on the other hand, you travel at constant speed regardless of the terrain, sticking close to the line might be best for you.  Take time to learn your strengths and weaknesses ( I am a sucker for a rare fillet steak!) and exploit this knowledge in your route choices.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
Geoff

Geoff's Orienteering Thought Number 2 for 2010

Howmany of you check your map repeatedly whilst travesing difficult and rough terrain with the only result being increased stumbling and forgetting what you have just read?

I am a keen advocate of looking at the map for about 10% of your time (which equates to 2-3 seconds every 30 seconds) rather than running looking at the map continually; it just slows you down.  When you are running through easy terrain or on a path this is relatively to do and you should therefore be using this time to plan ahead an memorize parts your your route.

Trying to read the map when you are on the really rough stuff, or crossing a marsh, or fighting through brashings is most likely to slow you down, cause you to stumble and maybe inadvertantly change direction.  Even if I do manage to look at the map whilst crossing tough terrain, I usually forget what I have looked at as I have been concentrating on the terrain and not on the map, so it has been wasted effort.

Try forgetting the map for the time it takes you to cross the rough stuff.  It is unlikely that you will be in really rough terrain for more than 5 minutes if you get on with it, and picking a feature in the distance that you need to head to will keep you on track, even if you do stumble.  Once you have got to the other side of the tough section you can get back to reading you map as usual.  Even if you look at the map for 15 seconds whilst standing still at the other side of the obstacle you are likely to have saved more time that tring to read the map whilst wrestling with the rough stuff.

May you forge ahead when others falter.

Geoff

Geoff's Orienteering Thought Number 1 for 2010 - Control Flow

How many of you think tht the control is the target for each leg of the course?  How many of you get there and let out a big (internal) cheer at having made it and then turn your attention to the next control?  How many of you then make a mistake leaving the control you have just found because you are so estatic (or didn't plan ahead)?

Let me give you another way to think about orienteering.  You, as the competitor, are trying to get from the start to the finish in the quickest possible time via a number of way points.  Some of these way points you choose yourself (as points on a leg) whilst others are picked for you and your fellow competitors by the planner.  These are the contols marked on your map.

What I am suggesting to you all is that you do not celebrate when you get to a path junction, or a re-entrant, or any other significant feature between controls that you are using to help you navigate.  I think you all flow past them, noting your progress, whilst continuing your journey to your next way point.  The control that you have to visit on your map is no different.  It is true you have to punch at it to prove you were there, but it is still only a way point to help you get from start to finish.

By planning ahead and flowing through controls you will find that your consistency improves and our speed increases without running any faster.  This is especially true for Sprint-O.

May you glide elegantly through delightful terrain.