Training Log Archive: Nadim

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Round Mountain map. I jogged to the start. I felt physically better than the day before though I noticed a touch of sciatica and tightness in my right hamstring after the race yesterday. This went away with the warm-up. The assembly area at the M Lazy C Ranch was about 8,400 ft. In elevation and the start was closer to or above 8,500 ft.

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Round Mountain map. I tried to make some adjustments today-some of this worked but not always. One thing I tried to do was to adjust to the right of what my compass was telling me to do. This worked on the first control and a couple of others. However, on the second control I ended up way to the right of where I was supposed to be. I fumbled around searching more to the right and beyond where I should have been, finding several trail-o controls before correcting. This was a +4 minute error.

On the third control, I was right of where I should have been when crossing the road figured this out and was able to reinforce it at the fence crossing. My route took me near a campground which I went around, but a small dog chased me. Fortunately, I spiked the control.

On the fourth control, I aimed to the right again and thought I knew my position at an aspen/reentrant crossing. On the approach, I found a reentrant just before the one with the control, and I went down it nearly to the fence. It hen had to run back up the correct reentrant. This was a +2 minute error. I must have missed it by only a little bit on my initial pass.

I went around to the right for the 5th control, a little hesitantly but I did ultimately spike it. The sixth control was similar though I went more directly toward it, reading features along the way.

For #7 I went directly toward it, read the two boulders about 100m before the the control, then missed to the right, getting drawn off by the much bigger boulders. I lost close to a minute on this.

For #8, I ran across the field, spiking the control. For #9, I found myself off to the right when crossing the road in the field. I remember the intermittent trail coming up early but thinking my bearing was good, I followed a line of rocks to the wrong control. I wandered back and forth, then went higher. I saw a 2m rocky knoll but wasn't sure it was mine since it was so much to the left of my earlier attack. I saw others hesitantly approaching, including Steve Gregg, and I turned to it, getting there just before Steve. This was about a 4.75 minute error.

Going to #10, I wanted to put ground between Steve and myself since Steve started after me. Having rested in my wanderings, I was able to pull ahead, but more importantly, I was able to spike the control. Still concerned about Steve being nearby, I pushed toward #11 swiftly at first. When climbing the blandly mapped hillside with some rock on it, I slowed, but kept going on to spike the control.

I ran quickly out of #11 hoping that I wouldn't give away the control position to Steve. I found myself on the knoll farther from the fence than I had wanted to be so I corrected. As I passed the long straight fence, it did seem clear to me that there was a problem with the magnetic north/south lines on the map. I pushed on and spiked #12. Going almost straight toward #13, I saw Peggy ahead, coming from my right to my left, before the reentrant so I crossed behind her and got around the aspens. I passed her when she popped out of the aspens, and ran to my control. It was easy to find and see from far off. I hit #13 fairly quickly, passing an older runner in the possess. I ran somewhat hard after the Go control but the bumps were awkward for me, and I didn't want to injure myself.--I didn't go all-out.

Overall, I think I had about 12 minutes of error, and ran 5.4 miles. It was a disappointing end of the weekend orienteering for me.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO. A storm was threatening as we took off for the nearest dune. We saw some lightning but the storm appeared to be heading away from us so we went on. We got over the creek and partway up before the rain fell. The wet sand made it easier to climb. Unlike last time when Peggy and I took one step forward and one sliding back, we just moved upward stepping in the footprints of those who'd gone before us. The rain stopped but the wind was still brisk. We took a fairly direct route; more so than last time. Peggy thought we ought to turn back with about 200 vertical feet to go because our time was limited. We made it to the top but it was like being sand blasted up there. +30mph sustained winds were whipping sand that was stinging our legs. Peggy and Max got sand in their eyes. For a while, they didn't want to move or stay there. We moved down but the wind kept up force, blowing into our faces. Eventually the lower we got, the wind was less fierce but it was still troublesome all the way to the creek. The conditions took a lot of the fun out of galumphing down the soft sand. It took effort to get back too. We got sand everywhere and it locked-up both of our cameras for a while. Peggy's remained locked-up and worse, she was hurting for the next hour in the car.

C • wind 2

Green Y - Splits

Event: 2014 US Classic Championships
 

Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club (RMOC) 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Badger Gultch map. Walk to the start with Peggy and Bill Langton. The assembly area at the M Lazy C Ranch was about 8,400 ft. In elevation and the start was closer to or above 8,500 ft.

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Badger Gultch map. I jogged some circles in the terrain near the start.

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Badger Gultch map. I had a tough day. My start was fine but on long legs across relatively featureless terrain I didn't do well. A suspected problem with the north-south lines may have contributed to my misses but I use all the information available to set things right either. My misses amounted to 10.5 to 11.5 minutes of error. My GPS track was 6.0 miles, or just short of 10k for a 7.5k course. I spiked the first 2 controls but went to the left of #3 and past it by 250m. In the better contoured and detailed areas of #4-7 I spiked the controls. Hugging the hillside and not using the field led to a 5 minute error on #8. I was off to the left on #9 and #10. Going to #11, I was off to the left again, but I corrected at the ditch, and knoll. With short attacks, I hit #12 & #13 pretty well. I was a little to the left again on #13 and went over the knoll--then didn't correct for it. The last controls to the finish were okay. Altogether, I'm surprised that I placed as high as I did.

Green Y - Splits

Colorado Springs, CO. Max and I went to Trampoline World Gymnastics for open gym time. There were a variety of things from trampolines with harnesses, trampolines with different nearby sized pads, to even ones with nearby foam pits to jump into or swing into from a trapeze line. I got to do a few tricks but didn't push it much. I was content bouncing 4-5 ft. Into the air, and glad that it didn't nauseate me too much. I did jump into the foam pit, bounce up from my butt and back, spin, and eventually do flips onto 3 ft. mats. Max was more flexible doing flips on the trampoline, the mats, and the pit. He also started learning a trick to bounce off of his back repeatedly and walk vertically upward on a tall nearby mat while horizontal. The jumping often seemed like a low effort workout but I would find myself breathing hard when I got off the trampolines, and I felt weak/rubbery legged.

Later in the day we went to the Olympic Training Center for lunch, then to Cripple Creek to tour the Mollie Kathleen Mine, a gold ore mine. Both were interesting. The miners had a very hard life, and the athletes living in the training center seemed to have a fairly nice one.

Colorado Springs, CO. Peggy, Max, and I hiked the trails around Garden of the Gods. We started from the North and Main parking lot. Nearby storm. Clouds kept the air cool and the light changing. The sky made for a lot of great contrasts with red rocks.

Earlier in the day we waited out a storm in Jason's Deli (recommended) in downtown Denver on the 16th Street Mall. It was a nice way to see some of the city.

East of Laramie, WY on the Diamond Bay map. Warmup jog to the start.

LROC Laramie Daze, Daze 6, One Cowboy Relay, east of Laramie, WY on the Diamond Bay map. This motala was a fun end to what could be the last of the summer week adventures put on by Mikell Platt in the Medicine Bow Wilderness east of Laramie, WY. There were 4 initial loops run in different orders by competitors, and a 5th common finish loop for all. I ran my loops as follows:

Loop D 1.2k
Loop B 0.8k
Loop A 1.1k
Loop C 0.8k
Finish Loop 2.4k

I ran okay starting Loop D with Ted Good and Troy Bozarth, coming in 2nd for the trio. After that, I had no idea of what place I was in until I saw others on the last loop. I ran okay with slight bobbles on 2 controls in the first 4 loops: I stopped early at the wrong boulder going to the second control on Loop B, got partly drawn to the wrong control going to the second control on Loop A. On the last loop, I got passed making another bobble, leaving #2 like I was leaving #3. I started catching up to Clint Morse and Troy but at each of the controls afterward, my transition after punching was awkwardly slow and in the later controls, I'd lose ground. For the route choice on leg 4 of the Final loop, I went over the top through the saddle. In the end, I just was too tired, perhaps from the day before, or not sleeping well, or the 8,100 ft. altitude. It was a lovely setting with picturesque fields, scattered boulders and knolls in patchy forest. I finished the course in 10th behind Ted, Troy, Clint and others.

East of Laramie, WY on the Diamond Bay map. Warm down back to the start to pickup maps, then back to the finish.

From Fiddler's Green in Englewood, CO, to Clinton St. Peggy and I went to see the Doobie Brothers and Boston together in concert. It was a lot of fun. I'd never seen either group live before. In some ways it was campy 1970s stuff; the crowd was generally older than the usual current concert goers are. We walked back to our hotel afterward.

Daze 6, One Cowboy Relay - Splits

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Pelican Bay East map. Warm-up on the road and to the start. I felt better than I had earlier this week, perhaps getting more used to the altitude.

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Pelican Bay East map. This was a rather nice area. On the initial long leg, I slowly moved up until I felt I was going too fast. I found myself near Ted Good and Troy Bozarth again. Going to #3, Ted went off to the right across the sage. I climbed high to the left near Troy until I lost sight of him. Using the open area, I got close and cut right with a different Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club (RMOC) member who'd caught and passed me, to spike the control. I learned later that those going to the right to #2 generally missed. I was pretty good navigating and chasing the RMOC guy to #4 and spiking that. Going to #5, the RMOC guy I was with dropped left early. I ran the hillside and saw Troy running the ridge to my right. I got there just before Troy and never saw the other RMOC guy until the race was over. Troy passed me on the climb to #5. We closed in on Tom Svbodney. Reaching the ridge, I was a little to the left, Troy in the middle, and Tom to the right as we converged to the control. We went past Pelican Bay, full with water toward #6 with Troy mostly leading Tom close by, and me falling back a little. We saw few others for the next several controls but did see Wyatt around control #12. I fumbled my bearing leaving #12 with #15 in sight and lost more ground. Troy started pulling away from Tom and I sometimes gained back ground but by then we were each just working to finish in our places. It was fun to race across such nice terrain. The mass start certainly helped the overall pace since there was a trail of people just about the whole way.

Vedauwoo Rocks, WY. We started out with the Riley's hiking the box canyon. Peggy, Max, and I climbed to the right and up to a different saddle. From there, Max and I climbed further back to the left for some great overlooks. There were a lot of cool boulders and cave-like overhangs. Rain was threatening so we hurried down. We still got a great view and great experience.

Daze 5, Long - Splits

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Brown's Landing map. I mostly walked to the start with few jogs when it wasn't too steep. I was with the Riley's. Wyatt took a shortcut straight up to cut off a switchback and I followed him up. The woods were scraggly and I was worried that we'd be racing over it. We did not.

LROC Laramie Daze, east of Laramie, WY on the Brown's Landing map. This was a physical and technical course. We started at about 8,700 ft. I did okay but fell apart at the end. I hit controls 1-7 pretty well. On number 8. I missed and when I wandered up to the trail I relocated and went right to it. A crowd had caught me at 8 so it was mob orienteering. After that. I made up time at #9, pulled up short going to 10, and wandered about with others at 11. Fortunately, I found #11 first. Unfortunately, I came out of it in a funny way taking me up a hill in not so nice woods going to #11. I was behind Ted Good again, Clint Morse, and Svbodney. I passed Clint on the downhill to 14, then messed up at 16. Steve Greg got ahead an I chased to 17. I lost confidence in which knoll we were at so I turned with him away from the control. 4 others passed me.

Daze 4, Long - Splits