Training Log Archive: Matej

Sprint the Golden Gate Stage 5: San Francisco State University.

A technically challenging urban sprint through a maze of complex-geometry buildings at SF State. Felt refreshing after yesterday's Sheep-O. I was doing a lot of pre-reading throughout the race, determining my route-choices to the next one or two controls well in advance. It worked really well until I missed a passageway on the way to #15 and ended up taking a long, roundabout route. Still shell-shocked, I ran into a dead end on the way to #16 and had to double back. Those two errors combined cost me about a minute, and in a rapid-fire sprint like this one, seconds are precious indeed. I need to work on staying focused at all times, even when pre-reading the next leg...

Stage Five: Men - Splits

(Note: I'm not sure of my exact time as I never got a split sheet and forgot to stop my watch. I'll update this post with my time as soon as it's available...)

Sprint the Golden Gate Stage 2: Golden Gate Park.
Thickets, thickets, thickets, and more thickets. Light green, medium green, dark green, and more dark green. The vegetation actually made the navigation and route choices very interesting, and there was more than one legitimate route to just about every single control.
Started out at the same time as Isabel and Michael, without looking much at the map. Michael and I missed the best route choice to #1 (north, along the fly-fishing ponds) and tried to attack the control from the south. However, the control was hung about twenty meters too low, the bag had fallen to the ground, and the map didn't show all of the trails through the dark green (excuses, excuses...), so we all thrashed around for some time before finding #1.
From then on, I was alone and had a decent, if unspectacular race. I misread the green several times and had some issues with another flag (#12) that had fallen down. After finishing, I went to guard a control (#11) that had been previously trashed by a homeless guy. Fun event...

(Again, the time is an estimate. Will update soon...)

Sprint the Golden Gate Stage 3: Golden Gate Park.
Traditional Sheep-O, follow-Eric style. The terrain was mostly open forest and would have been really technically challenging if the course hadn't been a five-man footrace. From the start, it was all about speed; I barely looked at the map for the first six controls. On a few technical controls (#7, #9), I was able to make up some lost time, but I got ruthlessly chased down. The lead pack never really broke up, and the finish sprint was a free-for-all. Exciting race; not quite typical orienteering, but fun nonetheless...

(Again, estimated time...)

Sprint the Golden Gate Stage 4 (Final): McLaren Park.

More thickets, more route choice, and more sheep... Right at control #2, I made a major mistake, and all five runners passed me. It took me until control #11 to chase the lead pack down. I briefly took the lead, but Donatas then pulled away up the steep hill to #17 to win the heat.
I made a couple of silly micro-route-choices but chose pretty well on the major ones, taking the southern road option to #6 and then back to #8. Going south around the pond for #11 ended up helping me catch the leaders, who went north.
Takeaways: don't get cocky, focus on good route choice, do more hill sprints!

Stage Two - Splits

Stage Three - Splits

Stage Four - Splits

Event: Sprint the Golden Gate
 

Sprint the Golden Gate Stage 1: Land's End.

A route-choice heavy, highly technical Sprint in near freezing temperatures with intermittent drizzles. Made one pretty serious route choice mistake and one technical navigation flub (having to do with the many impassable walls and intricate staircases in one of the abandoned military installations). It was a fun race, but one where I didn't pay as much attention to the map as I should have...

Stage One: Men - Splits

Tomorrow, the fun begins...