okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Thursday, June 12, 2003
More on routes
Two more thoughts about trail routes and Bjornar's strange route in the Norwegian long champs:
Bjornar lost three minutes on his route. But, his route was consistent with his strategy for the race. If he'd gone straight, but boomed the control by three minutes, would it have had a different effect on his race? Losing three minutes on a route choice costs time, but shouldn't break your concentration and might not weaken your confidence. Booms might break your concentration and stress you. Following the strategy you decided on before the race should, or at least could, have the opposite effect -- increasing your concentration and confidence.
At some point in my development as an orienteer I stopped thinking of a race as controls and legs and started thinking of it as a course. When I began to think of an orienteering race as an entire course, I began to see the value of giving up some time on a leg in order to have a better time for the entire course. At some point I realized that keeping my legs fresh in the early part of the course (e.g. by running trails) helped keep be better prepared for the last third of the course when booms are more likely and more damaging. I started taking more trails routes.
