Training Log Archive: PG

Control count now -- 744/1000. It's going to be close. Actually, it's only going to be close if I do some extra training sessions in the next two months.

Managed to get plane tickets, car, accommodation, and entries all set for France in August. Looking forward to it. Of course that will just count for the next 1000 (or 2000 for Ali) control challenge as this one ends August 9 (I think).

C • France 4

A few photos from the weekend --

Charlie's son Zach at graduation:



Saturday afternoon we stopped at the Pepsico sculpture gardens, beautiful place.

A large Calder in the distance....



And a much smaller frog, can't remember by whom....



And a delightful Oldenburg....

Middle course at Blue Mountain (red, M-45, same as women's team trials).

Not so bad. Slower than ever as far as just moving through the terrain (and also stopping to read the map), but no mistakes of more than 10 seconds. And that is worth something. So a few scalps taken. :-)

My route. Can't see much that I would have done differently except maybe take the trail around the marsh on the way to 3. And also maybe not fall about 10 yards after the start triangle, a bit of rocky ground, something happened and the next thing I knew I was crashing rather painfully. Fortunately nothing serious.

Another really nice course. Blue Mountain is a great place. I first ran there in 1980. Over the years since then I've actually been there not very often, the most recent being a Billygoat (2002?) and an A meet in 1998. Would be nice to go back more often.

Actually my first time at Blue Mountain was probably in 1979. Ed Hicks had gotten the base map and signed me up to map it. I went down there to start work, spent a few hours, and decided it was more than I wanted to handle, and backed out of the job.

Here's the map from one of the days of the first A meet there in 1980. No OCAD, no GPS, no control printing software, no watches that took splits. Still had the same controls to look for. The map was done by Eric Weyman and Pat Dunlavey, I think it was their first joint project, first of many fine maps.

My one recollection of this weekend was that, having run a 50-miler the weekend before, on pavement (first and only time for that, the pavement part), my knees were quite sore. :-)

C • And.. 4

C • Thanks again PG! 1

Red - Splits

Yesterday's sprint course (red, also course for women's team trials).

Today's long course (red, also course for women's team trials).

And my routes on the sprint and the long.

A little warm-up. Already clear it was going to be a long day.

"Long" course at Blue Mt (red, m45, same course F21 ran). Generally good orienteering mostly offset a pretty feeble physical performance.

Only error of substance was from 9 to 10, too far right, one of the easiest legs on the course. But because of that damage was limited. Plus I think my route from 11 to 12 was not the best. I think higher/straighter was better? Hard to know, I was doing a lot of walking by then.

Best legs were the downhill ones, 8, 9, 16, 17. Also for sure the most fun. Even had the best split on 8, though I know others had mistakes (but then that's the only way I'm going to get a best split).

Pretty warm. I think a lot of folks croaked. I know I was totally dripping when I finished, looked like I'd just been in the lake.

Nice course by Neil, also a real nice forest. Blue Mountain really is a gem.

C • 9 to 10? 2

Walking around picking up a few controls. Botched the last one! Would have helped if I'd looked at my compass, but with a few controls under my arm it just didn't happen. A good lesson.

Red - Splits

Event: US Team Trials for WOC '11
 

Spent the morning at the graduation of Charlie and Rhonda's son Zach from high school (Forman School in Litchfield, where I grew up and where my mom still lives).

Such a pleasure. Zach was never much for schooling of any sort. A lot of kids are like that. Various things were tried, including a couple of other schools which specialized in learning issues. A little progress was made, but not that much. And then these two years at Forman something clicked. And he has blossomed into just a fine young man, including, unbelievable, graduating with high honors and a member of the National Honor Society.

As I said, such a pleasure to see. And how much greater the pleasure for Charlie and Rhonda after all these years.

And it was a nice program at the school. The main speaker, Peter Post, spoke of the value of relationships as you go through life. Two points -- first, that what often matters is not just what you do, but how you do it. Because how you deal with other people, how you treat them, can make all the difference. And second, that perception is important -- i.e. how you view yourself and how others view your can be quite different, so it pays to be aware of the fact that such a disparity is possible, and even likely. And that may change your behavior in positive ways.

But mainly he was talking about relationships, and the value of good relationships (family, friends, a spouse/partner, professional) throughout life. And in that regard he was right on.

And then we were off, but not without stopping for a short visit at one of the dorms at Forman, called Lewis, to have a look around, because that is the house I grew up in, lived there from age 2 to 12. At some point thereafter it was bought by the school. There were various kids in the process of loading stuff into cars and heading home, so no one paid us any attention as we wandered around. Brought back some old memories.

A little before and a little after.

Sprint at SUNY Purchase. Ran the red course, same as F21 (for whom it was Team Trials). Not a bad run, did a few things right, but also a few things wrong.

I think I got the best route to 2, and to 6, and to 10, and 11. Not sure about 9. And definitely not to 8, pretty sure I got the worst route -- never saw the tunnel/strairs option.

On the other hand, I didn't go out of bounds on the way to 8, though I just about did. Swung back around by 6, just the way I came, headed for 8, saw a bit of lawn I could cut across to shorten things, but right at the end was a single line of bushes. Option 1 was to go through the nice gap between the last bush and the wall, wouldn't have touched a thing. Option 2 was to hop on the wall -- it was a thick black line, which means you can't cross it, but can you go on top and then get off on the same side? But I stopped, took a careful look at the map, it seemed like the olive green went right up to the wall, so I turned around and looped around the area. And even did that the wrong way, to the north instead of south. Yikes.

Other bad stuff was not planning routes to 6 and 9 enough in advance. To 6 I got the best anyway, to 9 I never saw the route to the right through the tunnel. Looks like it was better.

And then on the way to 10 through the tunnel, I checked out the stairs on the east side to get up to 11, but having tunnel vision, didn't check out the stairs on the west side. Saw them on the way back after 10, they were clearly faster as long as there was no trap at the top, so had to slow down to check that.

When you are really on, you don't do such stuff.

On the other hand, I did read all the necessary clues to know which side of a wall a control was on, so that's something.

Time was 15:36. 15 flat would have been fine. Not too far off.

Real nice course and map.

Red - Splits