Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

I really love 2.5 k jogs to the start because they get my legs feeling zippy and happy. I ran with Boris to the start and really felt great going into it.

I started clean along the line, but got a little hesitant when I got into the circle, but I was in the right spot and the flag appeared just in front of me. I was a little rushed leaving the control and headed out towards #2 at the wrong angle, skirted the wrong pond, but then sort of figured it out and sort of just knew that my cliff was farther south, so I ran sort of recklessly down checking cliffs along the way. Very sloppy, and I lost about a minute on this leg and was shaken, but tried to be smooth to the next one. Looked down and noticed that I no longer had a compass. I went back up to the last place that I had fallen down and glanced around to see if it was lying amongst the leaves, but no luck. Realized that I didn't want to waste any more time looking and ran on towards 3. I got to the saddle and thought that my cliff was off to my left, when really it was to my right, I had just visualized it wrong. I then over corrected and dropped too low, and had to work my way back and up again. Another 2:30 lost and still frazzled. Pushed hard to 4, got too far right, but I was reading the cliffs and vegetation so I knew where I was. Attacking the boulder through the light green vegetation was a poor choice, because I missed it and dropped too low and had to climb back up 2 contours. I avoided the swamp on the way to 5, and used the trail run to compose myself. Hesitated just below the control trying to decide where the low hilltop was. A steep climb on the way to 6, but along a nicely defined slot, which lead me right into the control. It was a crazy cliff jumping down to the 7th, and I was focused and reading well so I spiked it (when I came back during control pickup, I had trouble on this one). 8 was a trail leg, and then 9 was easy apart from my initial attempt to leave the control at the wrong angle ( I had my eyes up and saw that the pond was off to my left). 10 was a tricky one, and where I might have tried to go straighter I didn't trust myself without a compass and so I wanted to attack from the trail to the left, past the ponds, so I wended my way past the swamps and around the hills pretty well. To 11 I stayed right and spiked it no problem, contoured as much as I could on 12 to minimize extra climb. To 13 I cut out to the trail and then side-hilled around the whole hill to the reentrant. An easy finish control and plenty left for a finish sprint.

A really rocky start, and a very methodical, routine, smooth end of the course. Even with a super clean course, Anders was well out of my league today. Some of it may be running speed, but I suspect it's more an effect of awesome flow.



After awards I snuck back out to retrieve 4 of the controls near the top of the hill. The woods are even more beautiful when you can relax and jog through them instead of having an intense battle.

Blue - Splits

A cool course, confident going in, and things were clicking along nicely at the beginning, cut through the marsh along the stone wall and looped the cliff to get to first one, then just sorta headed out towards 2, crossed the powerline cut and crossed the stone wall, but then didn't recognize the terrain in front of me... slowed down and then figured it out and turned left to collect #2, kept to the right of the line on the way to 3, below the massive cliffs and then cut into the marshy area. Nothing looked like I expected and I slowed way down to try to sort it out. Glad that Speedy was moving confidently towards the control, as that helped snap things into place. Ran hard out, staying down by the marshes along the line to 4, hit the stone wall and followed that to the top of the cliff and attacked from the top so that I didn't have the scale the cliff. Contoured along the ridge, then down and up out of the swamp, contoured the little hill before 5 too, and came right into the flag. 6 didn't seem to be such a tricky control, it was just a little lower on the hillside and there was a huge reentrant behind it, so I was perhaps too loose heading out on the hillside, I went below the first cliff because I had to drop that contour at somepoint, but the hillside was too rocky and I climbed right back up to get better running. When I made it to the catching reentrant, I couldn't get things to match up, but suspected that I was too high, so I dropped down and checked the cliffs below me, but didn't see the control and then I was too low. I climbed back up, and relocated off a saddle near the top, and came back to my original vantage point. Saw Eddie disappearing but still didn't understand where the control should be. Channeled Balter from a training camp many years ago when he explained that standing around doesn't get you more information, and that even running in the wrong direction can help because you'll see something you can use. I did this, running to the next ridge. When I turned and looked back I saw the flag nestled between two cliffs that I hadn't checked thoroughly enough I guess. 3:30 lost.

The woods were amazing on the way to 7, and I caught back up to Vadim here, and also saw Ian leaving the control. I decided that an easier route might be better for me, and took the powerline all the way around the mountain, coming right past #10, and the past the long pond. Caught Eddie again here and then the next two controls were smooth and quick. I had decided that I wanted to go right around the first hill. I executed that part of the leg nicely, coming through the stone wall junction, but then I continued to drop and instead of going just south of 15 and 16, I was forced to come along just north of them. I should have just gone a little farther and turned it into a great trail leg, but instead I slowly climbed back up those extra contours and came in along the little trail. Stopped to check a rock feature about 50 meters too early because it looked like a boulder to me and I had stopped orienteering once I got into the reentrant. On the way to 12, I dropped straight down to the stream and then ran up along the other side and curled around into the control. Stayed on the road for a long time into 13, and then gleefully headed to the drinks table at the finish area for some water and most of my Gu. I didn't like the idea of cutting up and over the ridges on the line, so I ran the trail on the left route to 14, coming right past 21. Climbed out of 14, and wanted to stay right on this leg, but managed to drift all the way down to the bottom of the hill on an extra mountain bike trail and now I had to run the trail back all the way again. Sigh, everytime I try to open up and just run... I hit the control perfectly from below, and then was very pleased to see Jordan when I popped up out of the cliffs to head towards 16. I read this one wrong, and dropped two contours on purpose even though I needed to climb instead. Lost a minute trying to make sense of my new surroundings and then regaining all that climb. A drop down the hill to the next, crossed the stream and contoured around to the left through the white woods to 17. Took a big fall, breaking Ken's FR305 in the process and then found the control. A bit wobbly to 18, as I was trying to dump the spring from the watch band into my pocket while holding the rest of the watch in my right hand. Saw that 18 to 19 was a trail leg if you just went basically straight. The climb out of 18 was feeling pretty brutal though and if I wasn't trying to impress Nikolay when I passed by I might have slowed down even more. Caught up to Ken as I neared the end and then I got that horse returning to the barn feeling, as I noticed the rest was downhill to the finish. I followed the stone wall in to 20, and then because I had already been past 21, I got overly confident on 21 and got pushed too far left and into the wrong reentrant. Figured it out quickly, but had to climb back up and over into the correct one. Then it was just a matter of running as hard as I could into the last control and the finish.

I lost a lot of time on the course, but my running speed was able to compensate for my various mistakes. Happy with my fitness.

Blue - Splits

Event: US Team Trials for WOC '11
 

Blue - Splits

Running to and from work. What a fantastic day :) weather is cooperating nicely and running felt okay, still a little thirsty after yesterday's exertions. Stopped at the store on the way home to pick up some groceries, but forgot the necessary ingredients for the thing I wanted to make. I really like this barley salad thing, but I neglected to pick up kalamata olives. So I played "clean out the fridge" which started nicely with chocolate that my sister sent me for my birthday and then progressed on to apple sauce, kale, and then pasta and sauce where I used up the rest of the cheeses, tomato paste, onions, pesto, and some stale-ish bread. I also cleverly added a tonne of crushed red pepper to the pasta, so I'll have lunch for Friday as Sam will be unable to withstand the heat.

Running to work, and then from work to the MIT track and then from the track home.

A fun workout. With SGB, Terry, and Clem. The plan was 2x (600-1200-600-400) with 200 rest between each.

1:52
3:47
1:53
1:10

1:51
3:54
1:54
1:10

Felt like hard work, but times were good considering the humidity and heat. The humidity was a real killer, on the way home I stopped to buy chocolate soy milk because I was so incredibly thirsty. I still didn't drink enough and managed to point my toes last night and was rewarded with an incredible cramp in my left calf. Boo for sweating too much :)

C • pointed toes 3