Training Log Archive: j-man

Event: O Marathon II - Fair Hill NRMA, MD
 

Fair Hill Orienteering Marathon.

Full Marathon - Splits

More taper.

Taper row.

TNT. Ran with Tom, but we didn't quite go to the bridge. Which was fine with both of us.

Joy, Misery, Fatlands, to Joy. The Misery section was just beautiful--winter wonderland-like. I felt like crap, especially for the first 30 minutes. A little better then...

I really have not felt good running in the hips and butt since the SS Finals. Not happy with that.

Also, the time seems slower than when I did this route last time, although today I had a real watch, vs. an approximation last time. I doubt I was much slower. I did feel worse.

It was cold, and I didn't do as much warm-up as I should have.

DVOA Camp Horseshoe red. The last club event of the year, and I planned to have a good one.

It wasn't a great effort, but it had its moments. I hosed the first control, and it didn't help that the control, stand, and everything were tossed by some miscreants--who must have been the two twerps I saw just after leaving the control. Wow, they are lucky that it took me a little while to put 2 and 2 together, because I was pissed.

Anyway, focused pretty well, and towards the middle of the course, I really got the flow going. Some bobbles, but they were mostly accommodative in nature--i.e., I was erring on the safe side of some route choices.

Anyway, I kept trying to calculate the score impact from the first bobble, conditional on my current speed/efficiency on the rest of the course, as I was going. I decided that I had ceded at most 5% due to the mistake. Fine.

Well, I managed to hose the finish, too. No idea how--well, it was a tough climb with orienteering required. Lost probably another minute there. Oh well, the 49 minutes that I thought I could do were there for the taking.

Picked up 4 controls. Almost all walking.

And with this effort, I locked up the DVOA men's championship. Wyatt's "goading" itself didn't entice me to show up, although it helped (I was planning to do anyway, but especially if Wyatt had planned to come.) Like Wyatt, I calculated (to a first approximation) the scoring matrix that would allow him to overtake me. I didn't calculate numeric probabilities (because the interaction effect is hard to model) but I eyeballed the probabilities, and they were small. Still, I give big props to him for fighting until the end, and putting up a very nice performance.

The DVOA Championship is my most important orienteering goal, and I am very happy to have achieved it. Not to be pompous, but given the training I did this year, I would have been surprised had I not won it. But, nothing is a given. Still, if you train, you can expect certain things.

But, whether or not you train, you get old. I am most happy that this year, with my 9th club championship, I moved ahead of Eric for first on the all time list. Now, obviously I have not and will not approach his level of excellence. On the other hand, I am not quite done; whereas, at this point in his career, he was just about done.

So, we'll see what else I can do. I am glad Wyatt is such a consistent opponent. I am glad Zhyk (who really didn't contest this year, with only a handful of races) has so much talent. I am glad GregA has so much enthusiasm. I am glad that others are about to make winning this harder. And that is why I am really glad I got #9 before I am to decrepit to compete. You never know when your best just isn't good enough any more...

Red - Splits