Training Log Archive: Sandy

Easy hike in the Wissahickon. Not coping well with the cold weather.

C • Cold weather 2

Hike in the Wissahickon. Followed by a couple of hours of trimming back all the dead plants in my yard.

C • Sounds like 2

Up and down the stairs.

Followed by part of the core dvd.

Ultra-long Champs.

Disappointed in my performance. Made a big error on the way to #2 and that was that. Did the rest of the course on my own only occasionally seeing someone near the controls. Reasonably happy with my navigation after #2. I took a wide left route to #6 because I couldn't read the details on the map well enough to feel confident I wouldn't make an error and that worked okay as I could keep moving at a reasonable rate. Wiggled a lot on the way to #8 - AP says I have an error there although I always was where I thought I was. Could tell I was tired at #11 since I could not figure out I needed to go up and over the spur until peggyd came by. Then took a nice tumble on the way to #12. Bit my lip hard and still have a bit of a puffy lip and nose today (Friday).

I enjoyed the course and the orienteering, but disappointed in the result.

I also think the map printing was inferior to the map printing for the night-o. The contours are a good bit thicker and darker and it makes it harder to see the trails. Probably should have at least taken my reading glasses.

UltraLong Championships - Brown - Splits

QOC middle

Not a very good race. I was sloppy on a few controls early and then about half way through totally lost all incentive to keep pushing. Not sure why, but just didn't care any more. Got even more sloppy toward the end getting part way up two wrong reentrants before realizing the errors. Time lost of course, but quickly figured it out both times.

Had trouble reading the map - the contour lines were no where near as crisp and thin as on the night-o map. They were definitely printed on different printers and it made a difference. Luckily there wasn't much going on detail wise on the map so it didn't really matter, but did have to stop and wipe my eyes and squint a few times to make sure I knew what was going on. Reading glasses probably would have helped.

Middle - Brown - Splits

Event: QOC Long Day's Night
 

QOC night-o

Way behind on my logging. Really loved this course and so glad Valerie pushed me to go out. I almost bagged the whole weekend but glad I didn't.

Had trouble out of the start with not quite believing it was as far to the trail junction as it seemed but then settled down and nailed the control and the next one, waving to #7 as I went by. A bit sloppy to 3 as I dropped a little lower than I intended after crossing the power line. But noticed I wasn't on my compass bearing and corrected although I did hesitate quite a bit until I crossed the streams and was confident again about where I was. Pretty much spiked 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Okay to 9 but must have the trail a little later than I intended since I was a bit left of the control but corrected quickly enough. Couldn't find a good line through the junk to 10 but no real problem. Tried to run the chute but am so out of shape that it was tough. Can't really use my knee as an excuse - I'm just not training enough.

Night Championships - Brown - Splits

Chase start for the Troll Cup.

Could not figure out anything out of the start - my eyes were tearing and I just could not get them to focus so I was totally at a loss as to what I was doing. Finally got going after Janet came flying by but still bounced around before finally understanding where I was and where I wanted to go. Next several controls were fine; kept seeing Janet leaving controls as I would get there but not really seeing her in between.

Went straight to #3 instead of out to the trail but was happy with that route. Had to stop just before #4 to wipe my eyes and use my magnifier since I wasn't really sure what I was looking for. I was doing mostly "go straight on a compass bearing and pace count" and hope to make sense of things along the way since my eyesight isn't really good enough for 1:10,000.

On the way to #8 I was doing fine but then lost confidence and went and checked a big huge boulder I saw to my right. Not what I wanted and was mad at myself for not being confident but then knew exactly where I was and had no problem getting to the control. Can't really say I spiked anything but I was succeeding using the go straight and know about when the control should be there and then use the clue description to try and find what I was looking for. Really need to do something about my eyesight issues.

Tried to run a bit but am really paying for it tonight. Knee not good but hopefully it will be okay tomorrow.

It was a long drive and I'm really tired but still glad I went. I love orienteering in those kinds of woods - low visibility but reasonably good footing with no loose rock. I thought both courses were good and used the woods well.

Brown - Splits

Event: NEOC: 2014 Troll Cup
 

Enjoyed the trail-o although I made two totally stupid errors. The first was not reorienting the control description properly for the second timed control - kept thinking NW instead of NE even though the first timed control had also been NE. Dumb. And then on the very first control I knew which flag was correct but I went right to left instead of left to right when I labeled them A, B and C. Duh. Oh well.

Brown - Splits

Hike in the Wissahickon. Knees hurt for about the first half but then I guess they warmed up or something since they didn't hurt after a while. That was a relief. Now to just keep up with the exercising...

Core DVD. I want to be able to walk normally tomorrow though so I just did about 2/3 of it, resting frequently. But at least I didn't wuss out totally.

C • nice job 3