okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Tuesday, December 03, 2002
Read the map, don't boom
A short translation from Staff-Vlastad.com:
Those who read the map the most, boom the least
An unofficial study at a national team camp in 1999 showed that those who felt they boomed the least were also those who have the highest map reading frequency. This is logical. Orienteers who read the map frequently have a better chance of making corrections before they lose time.
Staff-Valstad doesn't explain what this study was. It sounds like it might involve comparing how often orienteers say they look at their map and how much time they think they lose. It'd be more interesting (and a lot more work) to see how often different orienteers actually look at their maps and compare those measures to split times (to identify booms).
I'm not sure how often I look at my map. Thinking back to my training at Wyandotte last Saturday, I'd guess I was looking at the map at least once very 100 meters (probably more than once). Those looks were usually very short -- just a quick glance.
But, I'm not really sure how often I look at my map.
Maybe I could do an experiment -- set my watch to beep every 30 seconds, then see if I usually look at my map once every 30 seconds, more frequently, or less frequently.
posted by Michael |
6:44 PM
