Training Log Archive: JanetT

Mal Harding Extreme O, an annual tradition of GAOC after their Navigator Cup, organized by Joey Ciza, Linda and Chuck Ferguson, Shelley Pennington, and others. It took place in the same park as the two Classic days of races. This was the third one we've competed in. Temp about 26 to start, getting up to upper 30s, maybe.

We did Short Course 1 (I suspect the only difference with Short 2 were different first few controls, to spread teams out a bit). There were three different Mal Hardings* on the course, which needed to be moved from one control to the next (if you found him at one control you carried him to the next). We saw all three at one point or another (and had to take the green one twice).
*stuffed animal with a photo of Mal on it, in a slippery zipper bag

Challenges included:
--Following bearings for a defined distance to a control or clue
--Finding the properly numbered control on an island or small defined area with a number of flags in close proximity
--Using a map with sections missing except for around the point (island O?)
--Using an aerial map to find several points
--Corridor-O
--Plotting a point using grid coordinates to find a control location
--Traversing through a very deep gully with muddy puddles, some of which apparently were waist deep(!), and steep sides
--Photo O to identify sequence of clues to next point

and the final indignity

--following a rope *under* a tarp through an icy muddy section and then across a thigh-deep section of stream

Fortunately that was very near the end (<400m).

No culvert crawls this year or maze Os as we've done in years past.

It's always fun. Could be more fun if it wasn't so darned cold.

Placing on the Brown course:

Friday--6th of 25
Sat.--14th of 44
Sun.-- (to be added when results are posted)

Results links for now:
http://www.gaorienteering.org/Special_Events/GNC/G...

To start @ Mistletoe State Park. Colder this morning, 29F when we arrived, and probably for much of the morning.

Brown classic day 2 at Mistletoe
3.8 km, 100 m climb (counted on the beelines??)

Simpler navigation than yesterday with several trail running options. I had others around (passing me) heading to the potential-bingo control, the short ditch at #6, but I think I would have been okay on my own. I heard a few others saying they had trouble there.

I never really saw the trail south of the road crossing after #7, and passed by a control at the trail junction 100+ m west of my control before correcting to the small depression; my only error.

1st each day in F65 (6th on Brown on Friday!) so I ended up first for the weekend. Same prizes for 1st-3rd anyway (absorbent coaster with O flag design...nice, and continues the drink theme from last year's bottle opener prizes). Pleased with my placings among the women in Brown, too (1st Friday; 3rd the other two days behind some F-18s who didn't run on Friday). Happy to have 3 fairly consistent runs keeping the errors small when I did mess up.

Brown Sunday - Splits

Event: EMPO Partridge Run ski-o
 

To start of GNC classic day 1 at Mistletoe State Park. About 36F when we arrived. It got up to about 48 but there was a breeze which made it feel colder. Sunny and blue skies raised the spirits, though. :-)

Brown classic day 1 @ Mistletoe State Park near Appling, GA.
Nominal: 4.3 km, 110m climb

Could have taken a better route with better attackpoint for 3; and was tired and off to the left on my compass to 10 so attacked from a different spot than originally planned.

Good brown course again, I thought, with proper challenge navigationally but not physically, where the designer managed to include easy-crossing options close to points; notably the cliff near stream at 12--there was a very nice stream crossing point right there.

I had checked out the Go control and run-in before heading to start so knew what it would be like. When I got there near the end, there was a JROTC kid who had stopped before punching to check his code and I urged him to just punch and go!

To 3 I crossed the stream to the right of the line and to the right/west of the green Xs (downed trees) but as I passed by the top of the form-line reentrant didn't have a good sense for the ditches (perhaps more in the terrain than on the map?). Circled around a bit before heading to where I saw others, on the other side of some thicker vegetation. Finally saw just the top 1" of the control flag sticking out of the pit. Talking to Tom N afterwards saw that a better approach would have been to stay on spur and cross stream later where there was a better attack.

To 10 I headed off the intermittent trail where it got vague, planning to head NNE-ish to hit the trail and use a rootstock to attack. Woods were thicker than mapped here and I went more north than I intended and hit the trail farther along than planned bit near a dot knoll with flag about 100m west of the depression I was looking for. I went too far up the hill in green woods but control was in white so I made my way there to correct. Sloppy.

Brown Saturday - Splits

Event: Georgia O-Fest 2018
 

Middle distance at Hard Labor Cr SP. 1:10000, 3m contour interval
3.2 km / 75m climb nominal Brown course

While we had had a reprieve from the rain when we arrived at the park, light rain picked up again by the time I went out. Temps were in the upper 50s all day and I was originally planning to run in just a short sleeved o21e shirt but decided at the last minute to add a lightweight long sleeve tech layer underneath and was glad I did.

Good use of the terrain for the brown course, avoiding steepest climbs and using advanced features/approaches.

1 - I skirted the top of the gully (near S edge of circle) before heading to the very large rootstock on the other side.
2 - mostly straight; I saw folks punching at the west end of the gully with rocky sides (red #1); caught up to Nancy Neuburger at 2
3 - could have gone more straight, but swung a bit south before correcting at the hillside; saw the other rock face (SE) so knew about what I was looking for
4 - was thinking to go NE and cross where gully wasn't so deep but saw a crossing point that looked reasonable north of what I think is mapped as a cliff/waterfall-ledge in the stream. Saw an unmapped (I'm almost sure) manmade feature along a ditch. Got a bit too high to avoid going up and down in ditches and gullies and overshot it by a little bit but the closeness of the rough open made me stop to look around and I fish hooked into it.
5 - went by an oddly mapped ruin (taped off stone walls) at the top of the hill and headed just a bit too far NW but corrected at the cliff north of my control (another red course control)
6 - short leg, with company
7 - went down hill close by #4 then climbed next hill, hoping to hit trail near the bend which I did, then in. Dick N was coming opposite direction on the trail when he saw me and said I'll follow you. Turns out he'd spent about 8 extra minutes checking out the next gully to the SE.
8 - mostly on bearing, crossing the shoulder of the hill west of my #2 (never seeing the longer gully) and turning slightly right at just the right time. The mapped "light green" here seemed a bit thicker than the light green elsewhere but it was passable
9 - headed down the spur and hit the trail in time to cross the bridge with just a little correction
10 - when I got close I saw the start tents and used them to adjust my direction to the penultimate control
11 - I had checked out the go control and finish ahead of time so knew I just had to hustle as much as I could (which isn't much). Greg A went flying by as I crossed the road
F - Uphill run in ... ugh

The light rain didn't bother me much at all; had to wipe it off the magnifier a few times. Extra shirt made it more comfortable to hang at the download/results a bit longer than I might have otherwise. No competition in age group for the day; I think a few more are registered for the weekend/classic. Within 2-3 minutes of Bob Bullions (HVO) and Paul Clatterbuck (PTOC).

Tom N had an excellent run! (~37 minutes)

Brown Middle distance - Splits

Included an extra hill (hill repeat?) between points 1 and 2 (2-1 is uphill, but I didn't punch the splits at the right times).


Temp close to 40, so I had to go out.