Training Log Archive: HGaston

Awesome weekend, though a pretty frustrating Saturday run. Today was clean, Friday's unofficial run was pretty good except for one control. Great to see everyone. I'll write more later because right now I'm severely behind in O-Chem...and there is an exam in two days, which makes me somewhat sad.

Day 2 in Wisconsin. Much cleaner run, although the course was less technical.

I didn't really make any mistakes. I hesitated on some legs and so lost small spaces of time on a handful of controls, but nothing in particular. I think this hesitation is something I need to do for now, though, because otherwise I will overrun things like yesterday.

This was a pretty good time for the course, but it is several minutes behind the winning time. It is interesting to see that hesitation can add up to a significant amount of time, but I am much happier with this than with the ups and downs of Saturday's run.

Everything was much more deliberate than yesterday, less flustered, more logical, I started early, didn't know anyone else's start time, hardly saw anyone, really just focused on the course, didn't check how many controls there were, just took them as they came and kept going. I think it helps me to tune out as many distractions as possible.

...and it wasn't as cold out as on Saturday! :)

Really great weekend, even with the messy run on Saturday. I like the way Ross put it; it was something like, "I made a mistake, but I know a lot of people who have, and the damage doesn't seem to be permanent!"

C • Great recovery! 2

Green Day 2 - Splits

US Champs green course; not one of my finer navigational moments, but a really interesting course.

The trend of the day: slow/accurate control --> faster accurate control --> too fast (lost). And repeat.

evidence:

Controls 1 & 2 were solid; control 3 was terrible (10 min time loss)
Controls 4 & 5 were solid; control 6 was terrible (14 min time loss)
Controls 7,8,9 were solid; control 10 was not as terrible as above but a near miss (4 minute time loss)
Controls 11 & 12 were solid, then I missed the trail to the finish control (13) and had to go through the parking lot...(seemed ridiculous, but looks like just a 15-30 second time loss)

These errrors are way too big, and I'm a bit frustrated since I seem to be inconsistent again this fall after finally having a pretty consistent summer.

I need to be more in control, especially of speed/navigation balance. As soon as I start to do well, it looks like I shift toward speed and lose map contact.

It took me awhile to relocate out there, although I'm happy with the catch on control 10. I was heading toward another ridiculous error but recognized it faster and returned to a known point before I'd completely lost the map-terrain-memory connection.

The trick: hit the optimal compromise between speed and navigation; learn where it is for you. Seems like I haven't found it yet. I'm too often unwilling to slow down for accuracy, and it can cause these sort of rollercoaster runs. Same problem in Rochester.

C • Trail to Finish 6

Green Y Day 1 US Champs - Splits

Event: US Individual Champs 2009
 

Model event. Pretty good, though I made a mistake on control 10. I wore my garmin on this run, so will post Quickroute soon.

A good day. End of classes, packing a little, attempting to catch up in chemistry (yikes! It's a process), & Butternut Squash with Amelia and Mallory. I tried sweet potato fries for the first time, and they're delicious.

C • sweet potato fries 5

Battle Park and part of Bolin Creek. Really nice day :).

Map work: routes on a Wisconsin map that turned up on one of the USOF email lists awhile ago. Fun negative terrain :).