Training Log Archive: Linear Ice

I woke up almost singing with happiness at the thought of another day out in the woods. Not nervous as I sometimes am, just looking forward to a good technical course to see how it would go.
Determined to be very careful, to PACE COUNT, to use my eyes, to plan routes carefully by bouncing off of features and to keep moving but only when I knew where I was.
I had another late start, saw peggy who had finished and who informed me she left a huge window through a big error, which was good to know but when I checked her finish time, it wasn't a big window (imo). Anyway, it reaffirmed that I shouldn't do anything stupid and maybe I'd have a shot at a US Champs title which has been a goal. Then again, it also meant it would be easy to mess up so I'd better be careful (i.e., original plan). I saw a lot of other people too, didn't get race details but got the feeling it might be a challenging course in spots.
At a more detailed level, I knew I was in a rock face area, which meant there were probably some rock APs, or rock catching features, or handrails so I figured I'd try to look for them (not much rock experience, so this was a fun new twist).
Checked out the go control, the spectator control, and then headed over to the Start area. I was in last 10 minutes, maybe last Green Y, and so I knew I'd be relying only on myself. Kathleen started four minutes ahead of me. I didn't think of her again until the end... guess I never figured I could make up that much time and I was right.
Bottom line... I stuck to my plan pretty well on every leg. I wasn't super fast, but I kept moving. I made bobble errors on 1, 4, 6, 7, 9 (more of a bob then bobble), 15, and ran well on all the rest. I came in a minute ahead of Kathleen (yippee!) and also, first time, ahead of Peggy (yippee yayay- although the window turned out to be a very small one it was just enough) and then, just when I thought I was US Champ..... I saw the monitor and Natalia had beat me by four minutes. I FORGOT she was running down with the F50s! haha... jokes on me, I felt like I had three fairy wishes, and didn't phrase it correctly. And yet it was a very good race for me, for once I stuck to my plan and I don't think I could have done better that day. So second place in F50+. Kind of cool that Kathleen, Peggy and I all finished within 90 seconds of each other. And a good 10 minutes ahead of maprunner, which was no surprise really. (OK, NOW the trash talking is officially over)

Middle - Green Y - Splits

Long champs at Chattahoochee....river bottom area. The woods were great. Many sections were highly visible, some sections were a bit greener and had to push away brush/vines but not annoyingly so. Some trail running too, but on nice new dirt trails that had erosion gullies so were kind of fun to run on. Good mix of route choices, compass running, technical orienteering, and fun distance. I saw few other people out there, maybe no other Green Ys.

first leg was a very long leg with a few route choices. I contemplated North and South Trail and through the woods. I am still herky jerky through long sections of terrain, double-guessing myself and stopping to look at my map, lack of confidence. So I figured the safe trail route would be faster even though much longer. Then to be ultra-safe, I took the path all the way to my attack point (Spur/bend in trail). Still it took me a bit of searching and slow walking to find 1, but no big disasters on 1. Whew. (And, looking at splits, it was probably a fine choice for me).

2 Ended up at my catching feature. Found my way back.
3. Easy
on to 4. Hard to see swamp, so i pace counted and kept my eyes wide open and saw it quite a bit further up than I was expecting.
5. ANother long leg, bumped down to the trail nd then over saddle, went a bit far up the spur on five and easily found control once i realized it.
6. Ate my Gu cause I knew there would be water. Lots of climb, kind of slow. Ran up to campground for reassurance rather than contouring. I hate to be searching around for spectator control although that shouldn't influence me, right?
7. Peeled off the open are too late, had to run back to 7. Seems like I had a lot of "50 feet too far" moves this race, but I feel good that I KNEW I was about in the right spot so stuck around area and used my eyes and brain rather than my legs.
8. Headed to 11, then near 11 realized my mistake (Whew... same mistake as in the Sprint, and same mistake Peggy ended up making in this event). So I missed 8 due to bad plan, ended up navigating to 11 and then back to 8,. Safety move.
9. Easy control, nice handrails but I forgot my pace counting and slowed down WAY to soon. Kept hearing Jim Gordon's voice from Rogaine.... keep going, keep going, you're on the right track just keep it up.
In fact, I hear lots of people's voices when I run, giving me advice. I am definitely not alone out there.
10. I was a bit far West-- maybe 100 feet but enough that I couldn't find control for a bit, then decided it must be on the spur (where it was mapped), saw a couple people up there to confirm and ran up.
11. Should have been quick, but herky jerky set in.
12 Don't mess up, you're almost done. Don't worry about blisters, or achilles, you're being a baby. Why are you walking? Get running! Be careful.... not THAT careful! Speed up, what are you doing?
13. Easy. Just take trail and don't mess up like you did at the Pig on the last control.
YAY 2nd place. In front of some pretty good people. And room for improvement. F50 group is an absolute blast.

Late start and I got there early, not much to do other than run back and forth between start, rest rooms, car, up road, back down, etc. etc. etc.

Long - Green Y - Splits

Event: US Individual Championships (Sprint/Middle/Long/Trail)
 

MP, but some good legs. Here's the not so good ones, because they're generally more interesting.
Going to 4, saw peggyd and thought "wow, I don't think I could have made up 4 minutes... she must be in the wrong spot".... then it occurred to me that perhaps it was more likely that I was in the wrong spot... checked my map, 90 degree error.
From 5 to 6, I headed off to 9. Several people made this mistake; the 9 has a line almost directly through the 5, and with map sideways it seemed like the 6. Oddly, I noticed it was a "9" and thought that maybe the mapmaker was confused and put it on upsidedown.. so went to it and also saw control ID was wrong. Hmmm... maybe me again.
Then, MP on 12 when I decided to run towards 13, peel off for 12.
Strangely, still had a blast.

at Battle Creek again, with Dana and Chris. Started at 4:30 again.... suits everyone just fine. The uphills felt good today, downhills exhilarating and weather perfect. Good chats; I think Dana is a "convert" for orienteering- she really liked the meet last week, thought everyone was super friendly ... and even has an AP log already!

Joined Chris on his hill workout.
No idea on distance really, ran 15 minutes (warmup) then 5 of the large long hills, decent pace and walked down.
I don't mind these workouts if I'm running with someone; makes it fun to have someone to talk to (not on the way up so much!)
But five hills was quite enough. And... had conference call to get to.