Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 7 days ending Nov 7, 2015:
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Saturday Nov 7, 2015 #
Event: QOC Hemlock Overlook Night-o
Orienteering 1:00:00 [1]
shoes: VJ Supra 2014-1
Hanging flags at Hemlock Overlook in the pouring rain.
Orienteering race 1:11:43 [3] *** 7.6 km (9:26 / km) +260m 8:03 / km
13c shoes: VJ Supra 2014-1
I ran the advanced long course at the QOC Hemlock Overlook Night-O.
I was pretty tired from the start, and started feeling my back after a few controls. Add to that a sizable mistake on #2, and it wasn't an amazing race. I ended up 3rd (I think), nearly three minutes behind Kenny and over 6 behind Jon T, who had a very impressive performance.
I love night-O, and I was really enjoying myself out there until a weird incident/confrontation spoiled my mood.
I had just punched #10 on my course with Chris G a few steps behind me. Another runner punched the control maybe another 20 seconds behind. It was a steep climb out of 10, and I lost some time in mountain laurel while trying to break out to the trail that I planned to take for my route. Chris was with me, and the other runner took a better line (and was probably climbing faster) and got to the trail just ahead of me.
We all ran the trail together for about 250 meters - the other runner in front, then me, then Chris. The other runner was pretty quick, and I was too tired to pass him, but was certainly able to keep up while reading the map. At one point the trail drops down a slope and then hits a T-junction. My plan was to leave the trail there, cross the stream, and climb towards the next, parallel, trail.
At the T-junction the other runner pauses, and I get ahead of him and continue with my plan. As I pass him, he turns towards me and says, aggressively, "I don't like to be followed." I was taken completely and totally aback by this. I certainly wasn't following him, in fact I was currently passing him and going on with my route, and anyway, it seems to me very out of line to just confront someone like that in the middle of the woods after having been together for a maximum of 2 minutes.
I asked "Are you being serious?" in probably not the most conciliatory tone I could have chosen - and that's definitely my fault. He continued to accuse me of following and saying that I left the trail at the same spot as he did. This was true, of course, and completely consistent with the route I had already chosen as I was leaving #10. When the runner stopped, I kept going, which is not something a follower would do. He told me that I had been running too closely behind him and again accused me of following, presenting the evidence that I left the trail at the same time he did.
At this point i overreacted and started talking back. I regret doing this - I should not have escalated. I am sure I said something dumb, like "What the fuck are you talking about?" In the end, we exchanged names, and Chris nudged me along to keep going.
There were just a couple of controls left. I finished the course and wait for the other runner to finish. When he came in, I immediately came over to shake his hand and make peace - I had no interest of leaving this lingering bad taste in my mouth.
He shook my hand, and then again proceeded to tell me that I had been following him and that he was justified in confronting me in the woods. Again, I should have let it go, and again I didn't because I am stubborn and terrible at walking away when I feel I'd been wronged. He told me that my response was disproportionate, which I completely agree with. However, he refused to acknowledge that his accusation was totally baseless and unnecessarily aggressive. He told me that I should have just said "I am not following you" instead of "Are you kidding me?", but I am not convinced that would have made a difference, since he was clearly already angry when he started talking to me.
At the finish he accused me of screwing up his race because he was distracted by our encounter, and I am sorry for that, but I don't think I did anything to initiate the confrontation.
Anyway, he reported the incident to the meet officials at the finish, and so poor Kathleen had to give us each a talking-to.
I thought that this was over and done with, but it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I feel like writing about it. The bottom line is that both of us were wrong. He was absolutely wrong to confront me and accuse me of following. And I was wrong to engage and escalate, instead of either ignoring or de-escalating. I am 35 years old, and still I haven't learned that lesson.
I was pretty tired from the start, and started feeling my back after a few controls. Add to that a sizable mistake on #2, and it wasn't an amazing race. I ended up 3rd (I think), nearly three minutes behind Kenny and over 6 behind Jon T, who had a very impressive performance.
I love night-O, and I was really enjoying myself out there until a weird incident/confrontation spoiled my mood.
I had just punched #10 on my course with Chris G a few steps behind me. Another runner punched the control maybe another 20 seconds behind. It was a steep climb out of 10, and I lost some time in mountain laurel while trying to break out to the trail that I planned to take for my route. Chris was with me, and the other runner took a better line (and was probably climbing faster) and got to the trail just ahead of me.
We all ran the trail together for about 250 meters - the other runner in front, then me, then Chris. The other runner was pretty quick, and I was too tired to pass him, but was certainly able to keep up while reading the map. At one point the trail drops down a slope and then hits a T-junction. My plan was to leave the trail there, cross the stream, and climb towards the next, parallel, trail.
At the T-junction the other runner pauses, and I get ahead of him and continue with my plan. As I pass him, he turns towards me and says, aggressively, "I don't like to be followed." I was taken completely and totally aback by this. I certainly wasn't following him, in fact I was currently passing him and going on with my route, and anyway, it seems to me very out of line to just confront someone like that in the middle of the woods after having been together for a maximum of 2 minutes.
I asked "Are you being serious?" in probably not the most conciliatory tone I could have chosen - and that's definitely my fault. He continued to accuse me of following and saying that I left the trail at the same spot as he did. This was true, of course, and completely consistent with the route I had already chosen as I was leaving #10. When the runner stopped, I kept going, which is not something a follower would do. He told me that I had been running too closely behind him and again accused me of following, presenting the evidence that I left the trail at the same time he did.
At this point i overreacted and started talking back. I regret doing this - I should not have escalated. I am sure I said something dumb, like "What the fuck are you talking about?" In the end, we exchanged names, and Chris nudged me along to keep going.
There were just a couple of controls left. I finished the course and wait for the other runner to finish. When he came in, I immediately came over to shake his hand and make peace - I had no interest of leaving this lingering bad taste in my mouth.
He shook my hand, and then again proceeded to tell me that I had been following him and that he was justified in confronting me in the woods. Again, I should have let it go, and again I didn't because I am stubborn and terrible at walking away when I feel I'd been wronged. He told me that my response was disproportionate, which I completely agree with. However, he refused to acknowledge that his accusation was totally baseless and unnecessarily aggressive. He told me that I should have just said "I am not following you" instead of "Are you kidding me?", but I am not convinced that would have made a difference, since he was clearly already angry when he started talking to me.
At the finish he accused me of screwing up his race because he was distracted by our encounter, and I am sorry for that, but I don't think I did anything to initiate the confrontation.
Anyway, he reported the incident to the meet officials at the finish, and so poor Kathleen had to give us each a talking-to.
I thought that this was over and done with, but it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I feel like writing about it. The bottom line is that both of us were wrong. He was absolutely wrong to confront me and accuse me of following. And I was wrong to engage and escalate, instead of either ignoring or de-escalating. I am 35 years old, and still I haven't learned that lesson.
Wednesday Nov 4, 2015 #
Soccer 55:00 [1]
Lunchtime soccer. It was a gorgeous day today, just a pleasure to be outside. We were joined by Robbie Russell, who played in the Norwegian premier league for a few years, and then in the MLS, finishing his career with DC United two years ago. Now he lives around the corner from where we play. It was mesmerizing to watch him dribble past, create space, pass the ball - really fun!
Tuesday Nov 3, 2015 #
Cross-Training 1:10:00 [1]
Elliptical in the morning
Monday Nov 2, 2015 #
T.rex training 1:00:00 [3]
A strength/interval training video with Alli at home. Barney refused to participate.
Sunday Nov 1, 2015 #
Event: QOC Great Falls
Orienteering race 1:07:43 [4] *** 9.7 km (6:59 / km) +405m 5:47 / km
24c shoes: VJ Supra 2014-1
QOC Local Event at Great Falls.
I did the Long Advanced course, which is the equivalent of Blue at this event, where we only get to offer four courses due to weird constraints from the park. Peggy set a really nice course, with a good mix of shorter and longer legs, and making excellent use of the terrain despite the limitations. I felt surprisingly good despite coming off a cold and continuous, never-ending back issues, and had a pretty clean run to finish a minute behind Jon T and another minute and a half ahead of Kenny.
I feel like my results this fall are no worse than a year ago, even though this has been a really bad training year. I think I will attribute this to changing my approach to orienteering in QOC-land. When I first got here, I noticed that I was much more tentative in the woods than I needed to be, more used to the low-visibility, high-detail Scandinavian terrain. Here in the Mid-Atlantic, you have to be more aggressive and keep your head up, spotting features far away and pushing hard to get to them. I saw this in action several times when running with Kenny and Jon last year, and I think I have gotten better at it. But the trick is to be able to adjust to harder terrain when venturing out of the QOC terrain bubble.
My last few QOC races have also gone pretty well technically (<1 minute in mistakes according to AP for the three races combine). The hope now is to manage to stay healthy for a while and start building some speed and endurance for next year while maintaining the technique... That part has been difficult and frustrating this year.
I did the Long Advanced course, which is the equivalent of Blue at this event, where we only get to offer four courses due to weird constraints from the park. Peggy set a really nice course, with a good mix of shorter and longer legs, and making excellent use of the terrain despite the limitations. I felt surprisingly good despite coming off a cold and continuous, never-ending back issues, and had a pretty clean run to finish a minute behind Jon T and another minute and a half ahead of Kenny.
I feel like my results this fall are no worse than a year ago, even though this has been a really bad training year. I think I will attribute this to changing my approach to orienteering in QOC-land. When I first got here, I noticed that I was much more tentative in the woods than I needed to be, more used to the low-visibility, high-detail Scandinavian terrain. Here in the Mid-Atlantic, you have to be more aggressive and keep your head up, spotting features far away and pushing hard to get to them. I saw this in action several times when running with Kenny and Jon last year, and I think I have gotten better at it. But the trick is to be able to adjust to harder terrain when venturing out of the QOC terrain bubble.
My last few QOC races have also gone pretty well technically (<1 minute in mistakes according to AP for the three races combine). The hope now is to manage to stay healthy for a while and start building some speed and endurance for next year while maintaining the technique... That part has been difficult and frustrating this year.