Training Log Archive: bl

Event: US Corn Maze Orienteering Champs (classic, relay, party, night)
 

PG's Sunderland Corn Maze, Classic

First time at this & was I ever out of my league for reasons not clear - even after initial adjusting. So many tight lefts &rights, straights, 45s, 135s etc, let nothing pass unnoted or pay a dear price. Very hard to relocate if map contact lost. Baffled how some got around the courses so quickly. Guess I should return & practice for next time! Was better at the night O but that must have just been further along the learning curve & fact that it was dark was not so significant. Covered more than 5 miles total. Fun time with a small O group. Went to Sugarloaf summit after dinner, before sprint. Sunderland area is lovely. Can see maze above river, right of center, UMass in background, Sunderland center at church. Not sure I've been there in the summer in a very long time.

Maze map

C • Nice photo. Must have been ... 2

Relay, second leg.

Night O, only one significant miss.

Classic - Splits

Relay leg 2 - Splits

Night - Splits

BHS track around 5p, mostly to get away fm house. Preoccupied with cutting acrylic & replacing skylights in a more or less inaccessible space and finishing study window so no focused energy elsewhere.

Ran 2 times one mile. Dry, breezy day. 4 prominent colors: black (ribbon of track), emerald green (infield), blue & yellow.

Now no night O at camping weekend...no off-trail night use of forest due to 'biologically sensitive' plants, I hear fm UNO grapevine. Plants which surely must be on their last legs of the year. So little info, so considerable an impact.

At SPS at noon, 90F type of day...enervating heat. Stayed in shade, made it to soccer field for 60 situps.

Napped today instead of a walk. Seems like better part of valor. Rest is good. Hot at noon today. Haven't sensed a zephyr in the last few days. Has been so very dry. Maybe a walk later.

QR from yesterday (6 to 9) for practice & fun & games with trying to get it right. Had a scratched eye but not so bad it lasted more than 12 hours.

Took a full moon walk with Beth & dogs, walked right up to its path by the slough. A beaver slapped its tail twice loudly not 30' away. As we were arriving some kids in a pickup drove by us, headlights "desecrating" the moonlit landscape. I think my loud whistle to corral the dogs sorted them out as they soon enough turned around. They did stop to say hello but my experience with after-dark visits there by "kids" is that they are generally up to no good...but am only aware of the "bad" visits.

SNOT (Southern NH off-road training) AR-type Score O at Pawtuckaway, start at 6p Maybe 10 AR runners, no one I knew. Ernst showed up later per Grant, the event director (same director from the Dover AR O race last Dec.). Wasn't sure of scale on first map (tho it was there!) but never had any trouble with distance. Basically a reprint of the standard UNO O map. 10 flags, # 10 on top of the fire tower on South Mountain, so that was out of my interest range. The others were fairly easy to find tho getting to 4,5,7,8,9 was enough of a challenge. Lost maybe 2' at #8 - don't think it was on southernmost part of pond as indicated on the map. The last flag was #2 on a peninsula, of yellow difficulty. Ran more than a mile to get there (also on way back to main parking lot/finish). Could not find the darn thing so was grumpy for awhile about that silliness. Don't think it was in the right place. Grant was concerned about that as well - no one at finish for comparing notes. Ah, but 305 tells the story...I was in the right place. No splits for 3-4, 4-5, 5-6... stop button evidently hit at 3, discovered at 6 - that part I recall.

Had my '05 vintage AZ rogaine pack - forgot how nice that is - shame for not using it in the Whites at last visit. Finished before dark so no need for the headlamp I had along.

Am always in awe of Pawtuckaway boulders. The forest is quintessential complex rock terrain with good footing most everywhere (as well as grabby, scratchy tree branches). Gorgeous near-full moon arising on the way home! Nice outing.

C • Tuesday night race? 2

- Splits

AM CE walk with Ken D to find some boundary stones & pins at Stone Sled. Walked right by one. Found the back corner boundary - just a small stone pile which is confusing as the boundaries were formally surveyed in 2004 & proper pins were found elsewhere. Did not find the one we failed to find last time using a different approach. Found a Meadowsend corner additionally, so well-marked & blazed.

PM DP - drove to Arena. Marveled again how much hardwood & softwood has grown in the open since '07. Time to go, car wouldn't start so walked home along the brook for the most part. Was actually enchanting initially...acres of green fern and trees well enough spaced so a very pleasant space. Crossed the brook twice, the second time, just made it. Awaiting was 6" soft mud. Uplifting to know no chain saw will ever be at work behind the house as it's much too wet.

Too much house work to go for additional "training".

Nottingcook wander around 6p with Z&M who were first class pests all day. Had a map, half of time off trail. Time passes better with such activity (vs running half awake on a road), particularly when admiring some attractive area or pondering where one is.

2 hr score O at Pawtuckaway Tuesday eve, 6-8p. Just occurred to me that it will likely end in dark. Doesn't seem like headlight time of day/year but NH pine woods are dark anyway.