Training Log Archive: AliC

Ontario Champs Long @ Carp Ridge Ecowellness & The Barrens

This terrain is really just fantastic. It's hard, detailed, and you can't just go straight because there are ponds and marshes in your way. So route choice also necessary. Fun stuff!

2nd to Katarina, ~1.45 back, and then just 40 sec in front of Becks, relatively tight for such a technical course. I'm pretty happy with it, much better than I ran here last year, could just go faster and keep up with the map.

Just looked at splits, and I didn't win any, tied 2, yikes! Kata won lots at the beginning, then mostly split between her and Becks and Pippa, even one of my two was just the finish split, gosh! So I guess I was more consistent than others, but maybe I can find some time lost too, here's trying:

1 - 33s off - wow, really didn't think that was so bad. Maybe detoured a bit too far right of line to find the hill with the trail through the green.
2 - tied Kata - one of the two...
3 - 48s - also a lot more back than I would have expected, was being careful, but kinda feel like I needed to be
4 - 1:09 - think Becky took a different route, at least partially that, also was hesitant picking my way around some black-lined little ponds, didn't want to DQ
5 - 23s - not so far off for a 10 min leg
6 - 57s - maybe the out to the road route was better...
7 - 34s - part of this at least was almost missing control a bit to the north, maybe more careful on bearing from pond edge woulda worked
8 - 6s - an easy leg, still tried to be careful skirting marsh and black lines
9 - 18s - very direct, hesitant right nearby why there was an early low linear area that I didn't expect
10 - 13s - ok, not so bad
11 - 18s - also not so bad, was a bit unsure at beginning, didn't leave 10 awesomely
12 - 1s - oooh, speedy Alex! here we left the Barrens
13 - 14s - leg through green kept it going, but Kata still faster...
14 - 6s - bit down on Becky, but was mostly good
15 - 16s - hesitant on approach, but not the full 16s, maybe a bit of slow finding crossing too
16 - 8s - slightly wobbly off line, but not bad
17 - 25s - mmm, not that awesome, should have just gone direct down to lower trail
Finish - tie Molly K

So looks like much more time lost at the beginning, maybe I was more scared than the other gals because I'd been on the terrain before... but then picked up through the middle of the stuff on the Barrens and ok through the end, much smaller time losses. 3->4 and 5->6 might have both been route choice errors, know Becks when left on 4 and maybe Kata went out to road to 6?

332/2000

Course 7 Long - Splits

Event: Ontario Orienteering Championships
 

Ontario Orienteering Champs, Middle @ Hidden Meadow & Spreckley's Trails

Fun terrain, detailed, medium visibility, needed non-stop focus! Little trails are dangerous, quite indistinct, but helpful if you get them. Better are contours, but they're only 2.5m, so not so distinct themselves...

Had a good race, flub-up on 5, which was silly, but good otherwise, oh, actually bad route choice to 1, should have opted for straighter trails, lost a fair bit to hammer there. And actually, maybe a few times I could have done more-around-on bigger trail routes, had perhaps to much of a go-straight mentality.

Up on Pippa by about 45 seconds, Katarina S another minute back I think?

295/2000

Ontario Champs Sprint

Well, not such a super race, but somehow just snuck in front of Pippa, by 1 second, she also had a few off ones here and there. It was pretty tricky in the woods bits, indistinct trails and not too much more... hard!

6: almost caught by going past trail, but ok
7: oooh, tricky tucked right behind boulder
8: bah, hill too far east I think (15s)
13: straight, through green... maybe not best?
14: bah, issues in from the open on top of the hill, picked wrong indistinct trail (i.e. a not mapped one) sent me down the wrong reentrant, relocated via building, (25s?)
15: uh, lost trail on my way, wasn't even an indistinct one! jeez (15s)
16: fine, caught Alex who started 2 min up
17: terrible!! wanted to go to nearby indistinct trail and run along then pop down, not entirely sure what happened, but ended up in big open after little trails didn't make sense had been trying to go on conotours (2min)
18-19-20: fast as possible trying to get a bit of time back after disaster

And overnight score has me at 200 and Pippa at 200, Alex at 228. Scoring based on 100 for the winer and then 1 extra point for every percent back you are. Men's elite is pretty tight at 200-207-210-210 for Will Critchley, Eric Kemp, Serghei Logvin, and Jeff Teutsch.

315/2000

Course 7 Middle - Splits

Course 4B Sprint - Splits

Pre-Canada ski with Alex. Specific strength on River Rd., another perfect temp day! Body felt good, attempted to not go too hard because lots of fun racing to do over the weekend!!

And back in Amherst, after a leisurely 2.5 day trip from Cerro Tololo.

1) Cerro Tololo -> La Serena, eve spent finding hostel, making friends, eating fast food and going to a hard rock beer garden, drinking $2.5 per L beer surrounded by Iron Maiden posters with 2 French, 1 Australian, 1 Canadian
2) La Serena -> Santiago, 7hr bus trip, some sleep, some amazing views out the window, ocean and cliffs and desert and then orchards and gradually, gradually city...
3) Santiago: a few hours to grab last Chilean meal, visit Cultural Centre museum (exhibts: kids games!, Violet Parra - loved her tapestries, less so paintings)
4) Santaigo -> JFK: chatted with Argentinian (but lives in Garrison, NY) seatmate who first asked if I had kids, then a husband, then a boyfriend, right... we watched the Motorcycle Diaries together, in Spanish, English subtitles, required syncing our displays at beginning- tricky! Good film.
5) JFK -> Peekskill: air train, subway, train, reading Vargas Llosa's The Way to Paradise. Was walking up to Neil's when he pulled up to give me a ride, nice!
6) Peekskill: played O at BM, long lunch on porch, perfect perfect weather!
7) Peekskill -> Poughkeepsie: picked up by dad, catching up on Wall Street protests, discussing the world
8) Poughkeepsie: Dinner, good to see both Mom and Dad!
9) Poughkeepsie -> Amherst: Tea, podcasts and driving...

C • Home! 5

C • passport reminder 2

Back to work, in charge of dept. colloquium, two interesting visitors, similar stuff to what I do but higher redshift, molecular gas in big galaxies.

Whew, and orienteering back into the life! Stopped by the new Neil home, he planned us both courses (thanks!), his was beginning and end of mine. BM really is *right* outside his door, see how short warm-up was.

Without compass, and with Neil around distracting me was a goof to 1 and 2... hm, cannot talk and orienteer-how do Sam and Hilly do it? Rest went well although not fast, part due to lacking compass, part due to it just being technical BM, part trying to keep ankle happy. At least one not-great route choice. Kept pretty on track even without compass, is def good to think this way sometimes. Amused much by guitar at number something-or-other...

Is amazingly delightful woods out there, so much fun to play in!

278/2000

C • I think Sam & Hilly have be... 10

Push ups/hammies. Could even do all hammie exercises, because Neil has a exercise ball.

To bed after a good night (telescope was behaving better!) at 7.30, up at noon to squish in a quick final last altitude training!

Jumpity jump, knee fine

Finally trust the ankle to do a bit more on trail, uphill intervals from dormitorio to telescope road x 6, pretty good, get steepest at end and with stairs, lactic much!

2.22
2.29 (space out?)
2.21
2.20
2.18
2.20

A good observing run, all but one of our target galaxies with sufficient data now! We'll just have to leave that one be, they're taking the instrument we're using off this telescope in 2 weeks and moving it to Arizona. So Southern galaxies will not be observable in Brackett gamma, at least for the next 2 years...

C • No near-IR at Tololo? 6