Long Run on the Permanent Course

I had a really nice long run on the permanent course that Lee Hawkings has set up on our Long Lake map. If you click the link you can see the map. I connected the 25 controls to make a kind of control picking exercise. Even so, it still took me 1:30 to visit all the sites.

I am a big fan of doing a long run like this. This is kind of run used to be a staple in my training. I really believe orienteers need to do lots of running in the terrain to get used to the soft footing and the obstacles. I could tell I was out of practice. Not only did the running feel tough (I’m obviously not in the shape I once was) but I wasn’t looking up enough to find “seams” so I could run in smooth lines.

Any kind of control picking is also good for being smooth in and out of the controls and getting good images of the features in the control circle. While I found almost all of the controls without difficulty, I wasn’t very smooth in and out.

Lastly, this kind of run trains focus and concentration. One of my few errors was right near the end on one of the easier controls which I clearly underestimated. Throw in some fatigue and voila.

It was a good workout with lots of positives and practice for some things I need to work on.