Training Log Archive: PG

First bike ride in a while. River Road - Old Deerfield loop. NW breeze. Didn't feel too zippy but time wasn't awful.

Heading home (now in the Frankfurt airport). Excellent trip. Let's count the ways --

1. Probably the main reason we actually went was an e-mail from Sandy in January asking if we wanted to share a house she had rented for the 9 nights. Sounded good, the price was excellent (about $75 a night for the three of us), and she had done all the arrangements, so we said yes.

And it was great in all respects.

2. The company. Decided we could share a car with Sandy too, so coordinated our arrivals in Frankfurt. So we basically were a family of three, and it was excellent. Couldn't have had a better traveling companion.

3. The company, bigger picture. A fine group from the USA in town, which we'd see every day at the event sites. Plus we had two parties in the evening, where the vibes were very good. Plus dinner the last night with Charlie/Rhonda and Dennis/Louise.

4. The orienteering -- terrain and courses. I really enjoyed both sprints, even though I wouldn't have minded if they had been trickier, but sometimes the terrain doesn't allow that. I didn't care much for LQ1. LQ2 was OK, except for high vegetation in a few places. And the LF, the one that counts, was really good.

5. My own orienteering. Hard to complain. Pretty much met my expectations/hopes. Could have done a little bit better, but also a lot worse. And made it through without any injuries, which these days is not a trivial matter.

Hope to go to one if these again, and if it was just like this one, that would be just fine.

---------------

Next O' event of significance on the schedule is the NAOC in October. Need to come up with some activities to keep me busy in the meantime. I'd like to get back into doing some lounger outings in the hills, both running and biking. But first I most likely have a hernia issue that needs attention, so I'm not making plans just yet. Right now just glad that issue survived this trip without getting worse.

--------------

I spent a bit of time during the trip trying to report on what the gang was doing, just because I thought it should be done. It's nice to get feedback from ones at home when you over here; conversely, it's nice when you're home to hear how folks are doing over here, more than just seeing the results.

Always enjoy the feedback, mostly from the regulars on AP. And always amazed -- I guess the better word is "appalled" -- by the lack of involvement, which I presume means lack of interest, by our ED. He seems to be in another universe.

C • Thanks for the write up 27

Almost home (at mom's for the night), pretty uneventful getting back, which is always nice. Good rogaine training I suppose, because in a couple of hours I will have been up for 24.

On the same plane with Greg, Vadim, and Angelica. Nice to catch up a bit with them. And I was reminded that there is one other world championships coming up, WRC (rogaine), end of August in Czech Republic, to which Greg and Vadim are going, plus I'd guess some other USA teams. Good for them.

C • Greg and Vadim are the powers that DVOA deploys to subdue the world 1

My route from the final.

C • #1 8

WMOC Long final. 14th.

Not sure how to rate this one. It was a good bit from perfect, two bad controls including being an idiot on the first control, and I'm not sure about a couple of routes. But I pushed harder than I've been pushing in recent times, especially the last 10 minutes uphill, picking up a couple of places in the process, and somehow that is very satisfying. And I did some really good orienteering in a lot of places.

Could have been top-ten. Could also very easily have been 10 or 20 places worse.

So I'll rate it a success.

My course from today. Only real problem was 8, everything in the area was thick, bounced off the road (I was too far left), found it with the help of the tower.

At many of the controls, especially in the last half of the course, there were lots of people around. Certainly helped find some of the depressions (where the controls were always down in them).

The strangest place was #4. Very crappy getting to the clearing. It was long grass. waist to chest-high, with ditches every 10 or 15 meters. My control was in a ditch out in the middle, and I looked out, and there was not a soul in sight. Very weird feeling. Spiked it anyway, judged my position based on the woods to the south. But also walked most of it, not for safe navigation but because the tall grass and rough ground was hard going, and then every little bit dropping down to cross a wet ditch. Very glad when I got back in the woods.

C • depressions 11

WMOC Long qualifying, day 2.

Much better in all regards. Orienteered well, put out a good effort, didn't miss anything of much significance, just one shaky leg/control, but salvaged it.

4th on the day, moved me up to 7th for the two days, so I will start in the middle of the A final. Would have preferred a little later, but after yesterday this was about the best I could have hoped for.

Strange that, in retrospect, I wasn't the least bit nervous. Well, maybe a little before the start, but that's normal. What I'm thinking about is during the run, the nervousness that can get you doing bad things, making bad decisions, worrying endlessly instead of just doing what you are supposed to. Today it seemed like I was always in control.

And also it was hard work. Lots of summer vegetation is a few parts of the map, certainly a day when a late start would have been better, but I was on the early side. Not a hot day, 70F at most, but humid, dew point in the mid-60s. Sweating a lot, dripping wet when I finished. The fact that I ran hard the last few controls may also have had something to do with it.

So mission accomplished.

Though for Saturday and the final I am less optimistic, just feeling I am not running fast enough. Feels like a top-10 would be a real stretch, even top-20 would take some doing. I guess the proper response is just to orienteer well and see what happens. Nothing more I can do.

And at least I'm in the A final. Have never missed one, and really wasn't looking forward to starting now.

Today's map (with M65-5 course), also a larger version.

C • Rock pinnacles 2

WMOC Long qualifying day 1.

Fortunately this is a two-day operation, so I still have possibilities to make the A final, but I'll have to do a lot better than today -- no final results yet, but I expect to be someplace in the high teens. And only 14 make the A final.

Not a good run at all. Very shaky from the start, then lost what I'm guessing is 5 minutes on the 3rd. Then a few OK, a small miss on 8, but at most 30 seconds. Then bad route execution to 9, another minute or two The rest OK. Left me 7 or 8 minutes off the best. And not particularly pleased. But not totally bummed because a good run tomorrow can salvage things to some extent.

But I had best do a lot better tomorrow.

Here's the model map from today.

My Sprint Final route is on Route Gadget

Splits are on WinSplits -- Sprint qual, Sprint final.

Out on the model map for the Long. Mostly walking, some running towards the end, but only when it was downhill. Feeling very lethargic, and glad I wasn't racing today.

Model map would be ranked about 0.5 on a scale of 1 to 10 as far as interesting terrain. But when it's all you have, it's all you have. I'm assuming it will follow the general law of model maps -- that they always suck, because (1) the organizers use the best areas for the competition, the worst areas for the models, (2) you're in no hurry, so you spend your time trashing the map, and (3) you're not in a competitive frame of mind, so crappy terrain just looks crappy.

I expect the next days to be better. And hope I have at least reasonable legs.

C • Model 6

My course from today's sprint final. #7 is mostly lost in the glare, but it's there.

And my route from the sprint qualifying is on RouteGadget.

WMOC sprint final, M65A.

Ended up 9th. And pretty happy with that, given that --

-- I've not had the best year running, a couple of accidents set me back quite a bit compared to mid-winter.
-- I'm getting to be an old man in my age group (68), and at this point in life, each year makes more and more difference.
-- I had a good run. I don't know if it was my best possible, but I'm not sitting around afterwards playing the "would've, should've, could've" game. I'm sure I could have done a little better, you almost always can, but I really ran just as I hoped. Basically, at this point in this competition, I'm just too slow. So be it. In so many things in life all you really hope for is to do the best you can, and from that point of view, today was certainly a success.

And actually, when I finished and heard the best time was 90 seconds faster, I figured I might end up 15th or 20th. So 9th was a very nice surprise. And right where I had set my expectations/hopes.

Unlike other WMOC's I've been to, and there haven't been that many, maybe 6 or 7 over 30 years including when it was the WVC, this one gives you a second chance, since there are now two races, a sprint and a "long." So I have the same process ahead of me, except this time two qualifying races. Need to get through those decently -- "decently" means in the A final (top 14 in my heat), ideally in the top 8 or so to get a start in the latter part of the field. And then try again in the final. Sitting here right now, another 9th place would be just fine.

But before all that, tomorrow is a visit to a model area for the long. And maybe a bit of sightseeing.

C • Sightseeing 5

C • 9th 2

Event: WMOC 2012
 

Today's course (M65, heat 1). Not the best photo, maybe better later.

C • sprint symbols? 4

Sprint qualifying at WMOC. Very nervous, felt like I was orienteering a bit like a chicken with its head cut off, but accomplished the goal of making the A final. Needed to be in the top 14 out of about 70, think I was third. Felt like I left some time out there (30-60 seconds?), but part of that was just being extra careful to not get trapped, nor skip any controls, nor go out of bounds, nor mispunch. Successful on all counts.

Tomorrow will have to be a little quicker, but I think the focus still should be on being clean and letting the running take care of itself. At least that's been the plan for several months now, and no reason to change.

Not sure who else made A finals -- almost certainly Sergey V, Pavlina, Sharon. Quite possibly Jeff, Dennis. Not sure about others. Joe mispunched, totally bummed.

Not sure if I've even done a model course for a sprint before. In this case, it seem the best way to do it was half walking and half driving.

And then a nice party late afternoon with much of the USA gang here. Here's the official list --