Training Log Archive: Sandy

Woke up pretty early and decided to go down to the trails. Hike down to the drive, jogged a 5:11 half mile and then hiked back up.

Yoga class - large class with some beginners so not too challenging. Probably a good thing since I haven't been in a few weeks.

A long travel day. No real problems though until trying to get through Passport control in Philadelphia - took an hour! The only good thing is that there was then no wait for the luggage.

7th place in the W55 B final. Made a 1 minute error right out of the start, then settled down and didn't make any more after that. There were some tough downhills and one killer uphill - I'll be curious to see splits.

Wonderful woods today and a very fun short middle-distance-like course (except for the killer uphill). Went pretty much straight on every leg.

Worked really, really hard to run as much as I could; took a loooong time to recover after I finished so I know I pushed.

So very glad I came!

C • Wooooohooooo!! 8

Marvelous last night in Germany; dinner with Gail, Peter, Rhonda, Charlie, Dennis and Louise in the old part of Goslar where the sprint final was. We ate at a restaurant on a square that I ran through on the way to a control.

Great company and great location.

Sorry to see the trip end.

Rest day today; very sore from yesterday so did some yoga.

Think I ended up 21st in my heat but only 20 make the A final.

:(

Time to rock that B final!

C • So close! 8

Long Qual 2. I had a pretty early start and there were not many tracks yet when I was out. Long run down a power line ride then in off a corner to my control #1, out to the power ride and another run to another ride then into the woods where things quickly got very thick and trashy. High weeds up to my chin and no tracks to follow but enough contour difference to go in and spike the control. Then took a very stupid route to #3. Never saw the mapped ride and just bashed my way through thick vegetation. In hindsight, a way around route would have been faster. #4 was just a control to make sure you went around an uncrossable stream so just at a trail junction. I then tried to go straight through more thick vegetation but eventually bailed to a trail and ran along with everyone else. The next few controls were straightforward - woods were very open and good compass bearings and checking off point features got you where you wanted to go. #9 was a route choice - right or left around the lake. I went right, don't think it made much difference. Almost went on the wrong trail - not sure what I was thinking. Was getting really tired by this time though since there had been so much running already. Got a little sloppy on compass bearings so a little off to #10 but corrected quickly. Then did a stupid around route to #11 instead of going straight - the woods were wide open and in fact the rides were pretty crappy and so I ran in the woods along the edge anyway. #12 was a quick compass leg and then the map was too busy at #13 and I didn't read it carefully and went in too early and lost a little time climbing up and down a couple ditches before getting to the one with the control in it. Then a 300 meter marked route to the go control along a dam and another 230 meter run in to the finish.

So no real mistakes, but some not so good route choices and some sloppiness led to a not so great time. I was 26th on the day and as I said earlier, 21st in the heat for the 2-day combined time with 20 going to the A final.

The A final was within reach - avoiding the big mistake yesterday or just some smarter running today would have moved me up enough to qualify. But it's been great to run on really good maps and do some challenging and interesting orienteering. I have been getting sloppy lately in my orienteering and have not trained particularly well this year. Not sure of the next international event I'll get to but I need to work on both of those things if I want to do better.

Long qualifier 1: I really had a fun time on this course - it was challenging and had all sorts of different legs. S-1-2 was all about following linear features that went right to the control; 2-3 had no obvious close attackpoint so I made sure I knew where I was leaving a road (actually, I was pretty sure but not positive) and did a pace and compass routine and luckily nailed it - it was a small clearing by some big boulders in some medium green completely covered with scattered boulders which was tough going; 3-4-5 were short legs but I took safe routes again; 5-6 I chose to stay on a road to a corner and even though there was nothing to follow through the medium green other than my compass, there were enough features on the way that I hit it pretty well. For 6-7 I chose a good route and was executing perfectly and then got careless in the last 150 meters. Things looked wide open when in fact my control was down in a ditch behind a downed tree and I went right by it crossing the ditch without realizing it. I was expecting to cross a trail before my ditch and I must have crossed the trail without ever seeing it since when I crossed the ditch I wondered if it was the trail but incorrectly decided that no I just hadn't gotten to the trail yet. Went a little further before realizing I had definitely overshot and spent a little time figuring out where I was before finding my control. Not sure how much time I lost - at least 3 minutes but possibly a lot more. I'll be curious to see the splits. The course got easier after that with lots of rides and trails and roads and other things leading close enough to controls to make it straightforward as long as you got on the ride or trail or road you wanted which I did. I tried to push hard and ran a good bit of this end part of the course. So a bunch of different kinds of orienteering. There were enough technical sections that I didn't feel discouraged and I was able to run a least some of the faster stuff.

Ended up in 19th for the day. The times for today and tomorrow are just added though and then the top 20 in the heat (we have four heats of 60 or so people) make it to the A final. There was a big group bunched together time wise from maybe 15th to 25th so seconds will matter in who makes it to the A final. Making the A final was my dream goal and with a good race tomorrow it might just be possible.

Pretty beat now though.

C • Great job . . . 4

Model Event for the Long. Interesting terrain - very different from anything in DVOA land. Good to have gone out as I learned several things - white woods were wide open but sometimes had a lot of stuff on the ground, light green was a little more dense but generally less stuff on the ground. Charcoal terraces are a bit smaller than those at French Creek but otherwise look the same. Distinct trees tend to be deciduous in the middle of evergreens and can be spotted by looking at the ground - not so many pine needles at the base of the tree.

I made an error trying to cut across rides - I must have missed one or didn't follow my compass or something and ended up somewhere other than where I expected. Took a minute or so to sort out. So need to be really careful or just take the sure routes. I was testing out following obvious features vs. cutting across; unless I'm going to save a lot of time by cutting across, the take away is that I should stick to the rides, trails, gullies, veg. boundaries, etc.

Checked out the castle at Weinergerode afterwards.

Tried to check out Brocken but you can't drive all the way.

Check it out!

http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.a...

I have a fastest split. :)
And a second fastest split. :)

And as always was a snail in the finish chute.

C • Awesome! 2

17th in the B final. Another fun time running through the cobblestoned roads and passageways of Goslar. I don't think I made any errors today - just a bunch of hesitations to make sure I was taking the best route. Certainly could have run faster but I just have not cultivated a sprint mindset. So would have moved up many places with some more effort but I just wasn't thinking in terms of trying to run right on the edge of not too fast. But again, finished with a big smile on my face and thrilled to have had fun.

Almost got run over out of my 1st control - had to sort of deflect someone about to crash into me whose head was in his map. Then on the way to the third control things weren't really lining up with the compass, but other things were - like buildings and alleys - so I kept going. Stopped at one point to see if I could possibly have taken a wrong turn, but decided no, I was where I thought I was. Was very glad to see a control where I expected one and very, very glad when it was my control number. After that I ran with more confidence, and never had any more doubts about where I was. At one control at the entrance to a large courtyard, I wondered if there was a shortcut through the courtyard to the next control. Did not want to miss an obvious route like yesterday so took the time to check carefully, but no - there was no way out of the courtyard in the direction of my next control, I really did need to backtrack out the way I had come as I had originally thought. Towards the end I took a quick glance at the end of my course (read ahead? who does that?) and thought I still had a good bit to go when in fact I was just about done. Not sure why I saw things incorrectly. So I took a bit of a breather when I really should have just been pushing hard to the end.

Sprinting is a whole 'nother sport in some respects and if I plan to do more of them, will need to learn how to do them properly.

C • Wow! 5

On closer inspection, I think I missed one optimal route - the left route looks to be a bit shorter, maybe 10-15 seconds.

Event: WMOC 2012
 

Woohoo! I did a sprint and had fun!! I was really surprised at how much fun I had. A lot of it was just hoofing it to the next control, but there was a neat park section with only a few ins and outs that made things interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't see one of the gates - my red line to the next control went through it and despite looking several times, I didn't see that there was a gap - so I went the long way around. Other than that, I was pretty good - a few hesitations but mostly moving and in the right direction. I ran (jogged) more than half of the course which is more than I expected.

Pretty sure I made the B final (top 27 in each heat made the A final and I think I was somewhere in the 30's out of 75 or so). If I had seen the gap I might have made the A final! In a sprint! Who knew.

C • Wahoo! 9