Training Log Archive: Nadim

US Orienteering Master's Championship, Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. This was Day 2 of the 2-day race. I'd done poorly the first day and was in eighth place in my age group (M60+). I was to start early, 2 minutes or so ahead of my son Max, and another 2 minutes ahead of Michael Eglinski. I knew that both were running faster than I have been lately. My training has been about nil for months due to back and knee issues.

S-1 I ran down the ridge, saw green ahead on the shortest route getting around the marsh, so I dropped down a little further and to the left. When I came upon a gully, I followed it up and crossed the minor stream where the gully ended. I read my way across the next ridge well, crossing the ride where it was green. I spike this.

1-2 - I planned a route between 2 marshes, then around the right side of the last before dropping down to the the control. I had to do a double-take to make sure I didn't miss getting between the first marshes. At the corner of the last, I couldn't see the control. I hung close to the marsh and only when getting away from the marsh did I see it. I didn't really lose much--10 seconds or so.

2-3 - I ran/walked over the ridge and didn't see the route around it like my son Max told me about afterwards. Descending the ridge, I rounded the marsh and got to the control with no trouble.

3-4 - I ran straight at it and hit it well.

4-5 - I tried going straight but got confused with the trails. This might have been due to the leaves. I paused and did a skip to make sure I was on the right one. After the first 2 trails, I ran under knoll to the next trail. Eventually I went across the light green and drifted a little high. I was seeing an unexpected reentrant and at a ridge I cut left to get to the control. I probably lost 45 seconds.

5-6 - I stayed lower and closer to the marsh initially, then I used higher ground to spike the control.

6-7 - I thought I was running straight but on a knoll I drifted left and had to correct when I thought I'd gone far enough.

7-8 - I decided to use the left side of the marsh. I got close to the big boulder and kept going to hit it pretty well.

8-9 - I kept sight of the marshes on the left to keep on track, but went fairly straight.

9-10 - I went on the left side of the marshes. After crossing the trail, I could hear footsteps coming from behind. My son Max caught me soon after and I chased him at the end as we turned northward into the control.

10-11 - Max took off fast but was headed north. I gave a shout but he didn't hear me. Michael Eglinski came up from behind and passed me on the right. He was more on track than I so when I didn't see the control were I expected I ran north too. Max was nowhere to be seen.

11-12 - I went straight. Mike went more to the east (right) towards the marsh. At the end, I pulled up short and paused. I figured I needed to get to higher ground and also saw Mike coming back up, this time on my left. I got to the control ahead of him.

12-13 - I ran out pretty quickly to stay ahead of Mike. Usually this kind of rushing leads to an error. With the trail ahead I didn't worry about it but I did make a slight error in staying on the ride and not getting to the actual trail. Because it paralleled tightly it didn't cause a loss of time.

13 - 14 - I went quickly along the trail and wasn't even seeing the ride while bouncing along. I was feeling the lack of training. Enough of this was downhill so the lack of training was not to matter much. What it did do was keep me from looking at the map at the intersection when I consciously knew I should have. I kept on the trail, passed the finish into the waiting area, then went over to the finish. I'd even seen the finish before starting, so I should have known about the 2 trails. I lost 15-25 seconds.

Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, MN. Peggy, Max and I walked back from the Day 2 finish of the 2021 US Masters Champoinship. We went to the park office to pickup Samantha, then walked to our rental car on Shakopee Lake Rd.

Green X - Splits

Event: QOC Quantico LZ Canary
 

Event: MNOC Masters Nationals
 

US Orienteering Masters Championship; Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, MN. I ran the Green X course. The woods were more open than the model and that was good.

S-1 - I paused on the trail a little, unsure if I'd gotten on the right one. I was having a hard time aligning the trail with what my compass was showing me. At the T-intersection, I went straight and noted my progress as I passed the marsh on the left. I only saw 1 trail crossing so I may have been north of where I expected I was. However, I saw the ridge, crossed the saddle, and descended to the control with no problem.

1-2 - I went a bit left of straight to avoid dropping down to the marshes.

2-3 - I ran on the left side of the marsh that was on the line. Sergei Velichco passed me. I crossed through the light green then went a little further to the control.

3-4 - I went fairly straight on this to the trail, then I used the white forest to the left to get to the control.

4-5 - I used the trail and left it at a slight bend.

5-6 - I got to the first trail, went left on it, and right at the next. This was probably longer in both time and distance, but I reasoned it'd save me energy for later on. I left the trail in the right place to get in-between the marshes. Deadfall pushed me more over the top of the knoll than I'd wanted.

6-7 - I suppose that I had the map flipped and read control #9 as control #6. That got me heading SE when I shoulld have been going NW. The leg from #9 to #10 looked green as many others had talked about afterward. Going SE from #6, I found green forest and just reasoned that I needed to push through it as fast as I could, and that it'd be better on the other side. What I was doing was crossing the marsh in what was mapped as scattered rough-open. It was really very green compared to other green on the map. When I finally did get to the other side, it took me a while to figure out what had happened, and I couldn't relocate. Eventually I surmised the old 9/6 problem and wasn't feeling happy about the 2 controls being somewhat close together. It's not supposed to happen. I crossed the marsh and green forest again, but this time in a different place. It was more open with a lot of fallen logs that I walked on. I didn't know where I was still when I got across. I kept moving and got to the ridge south of #7, which was easily recognizable. From there I went straight to the the control. I lost lots of time on this leg. AP only shows me losing 19 minutes but it was more.

7-8 - I went fairly straight and had a good sense of how high I was but I did climb a little higher than necessary.

8-9 - I was feeling tired and when I left #8, I wasn't very careful with my bearing. I knew I was off to the right so I corrected left as I climbed the first hill. I wasn't seeing the mapped knoll as I'd expected to. I started feeling that I hadn't corrected to the left enough, as I descended, and that I'd gone around the second marsh, not between the two. I actually had passed between both marshes as on the straightest route. I cut left more, following the edge of the marsh from a distance. A lot of my errors in other places have been from not going far enough, and I'd had trouble sensing distance on this terrain. I pushed myself further than I thought I should, again second guessing myself. Eventually I realized that I was back near #7 and had made almost a big circle. I cut back and went straight to the control after this. I probably lost over 6 minutes on this leg :(.

9-10 - I went through the green and had found the elephant trails that let me run/jog most of the way. I wasn't feeling in contact at the end but didn't lose much.

10-11 - I got to the trail, then left it at the bend. Following the edge of the big marsh to the left, I kept moving and spiked the control.

11-12 - I followed the edge of the first marsh to the right, then crossed the ridge going up the small reentrant that was under the leg line. I spiked it.

12-13 - I started to go straight, then thought better of it. I cut back and went NW of #12 until I hit the trail. I wasn't feeling very confident, I was tired, and by this point, my right knee was hurting. I hadn't been running this long for a long time. I decided to use the trail. It was much longer. In retrospect, I should have crossed the firs trail that I hit, and gotte to the field area. I really was dragging coming in but several people, including Peggy could be heard cheering me in.

Overall I enjoyed the terrain and course. I was both dissapointed about the course and what I'd done leaving #6. It would have been a much different story had I been more careful. I finished 8th in my age group with little chance to medal.

Green X - Splits

Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, MN. Starting from the Trail Center in the park, Peggy, Max, and I did the Model. Peggy started just ahead of Max and I. We caught her at our first control. We took the model event as a score-o. We ran several controls together. Later, I took a trail route on a longer leg and got ahead. I navigated okay. There were times that I lost contact or drifted unexpectedly while trying to follow a bearing--I'm usually pretty good following a bearing. There was more junk on the ground than I expected. Running was also hard because I hadn't been running for weeks, mostly due to my back. I saw a lot of orienteers whom we hadn't seen in a long while and that was fun. I didn't get near the tower. Max thought about climbing it and didn't know it was open to the public. Later, locals all talked about needing to go to the tower when in this park.

Mound, MN - Peggy's sister and brother-in-law took us on a walk across their farm. They'd renovated the house on the property so now they have a nice getaway place. It's where Graydon grew-up. They'd mowed trails through the fields and small forested areas. We walked most of them and I tracked them.