Training Log Archive: GlenT

Event: Flying Pig XIX - U.S. Individual Champs - Sprint-Middle-Long
 

Wandering around on the model map at Carter Caves SP. Distance is an estimate (and half of it was walking along the road from and to the lodge). Lots of rock features, good visibility, steep. Cold (30s) but mostly sunny.

Warm up for sprint at Morehead State Univ using the model map.

US Champs Sprint at Morehead State University. Green M course. SL distance 2.9 km, climb 60 m. A fun and challenging course set by Mike Minium on a map which he made, although about 30-35% too long for a sprint. Fairly open college campus set on a slope with some complex buildings creating multi-level situations. Plenty of uncrossables to set up some very nice route choice problems.

Had a good run with only one significant mistake near the end. Always made sure I had a route which got me to the control, even if it meant walking or stopping to read the map. Missed on control 21 when I misinterpreted the "upper" control descriptor as "between" (making the control "between paved area, inside north corner" which made no sense). Lost about a minute when I saw the control on the next level above me and had to double back. A couple of other small hesitations. Ended up 1st (in a sprint!) in M60, mostly because others also made mistakes. 12th overall on Green M.

Cold (still!) with temps in the low 40s and overcast. Snow flurries as we left the event site.

Sprint - 8 Green M - Splits

Day 2 of Foxchaser II at Tyler Arboretum - Green X. Map is adjacent to Ridley Creek SP but has some significant areas of white woods, especially across the road. Still plenty of sharp stuff in the green areas, so some more blood letting today. Several unavoidable stream crossings ranging from ankle to calf deep. Crossing the stream from 6-7 I slipped so was totally soaked up to my waist (which was not a good thing since the air temperature was upper 30s - forced me to keep moving to stay warm). Still a couple of inches of crusty snow on the ground in most places.

Had a decent run. Some sloppiness leaving controls 3 and 4 but corrected quickly. Biggest error was about a minute on #12 when I made a 90 degree error after crossing the stream. Saw a house ahead of me and corrected. Also lost a little time locating #13. There were two road crossings which were "off the clock" so my actual race time is about 4 minutes faster than the time on my watch. 2nd in M60 for the day (5 sec ahead of Tony M), 5th on Green X. 3rd in M60 for two day combined time.

SL distance 5.8km, advertised climb 165.

Day 2 - Green X - Splits

Event: Fox Chaser II (U.S. 2015 IS / IC / Trail O Champs)
 

Green X course at DVOA Foxchaser II A-meet on Ridley Creek State Park map. 4 - 6" of new, wet snow to make things interesting. Lots of green on the map and most of it is prickly stuff. I had a fairly late start so there were herd paths, which was probably an advantage.

An OK run for the first of the season with no large errors. Small misses on 1,2,3, and 5 (a combination of being rusty and overtrusting the herd paths). Route choice errors on 7 and 9 where I cut through the woods (i.e. briars) rather than using trails (90 sec on 7, 30 sec on 9). Pretty clean the rest of the way in except on 18 where a mapped trail through white coming out of 17 didn't seem to be there, resulting in additional blood loss. Finished 3rd in M60, 7th overall on Green X.

Course was good but had maybe more controls than needed (trying to stay in the less green areas, which was appropriate). Two controls (8 and 13) were White level controls and didn't need to be. This area is pretty challenging to set advanced courses with the heavy trail network and all the green.

SL diatance 5.3km. Advertised climb 225m.

Day 1 - Green X - Splits