Training Log Archive: Thompass

COC Middle

389 controls

Just very strong navigation, I'm pretty delighted with this race. Next step is increasing speed while maintaining level of map contact.

COC Middle - C-11 - Splits

COC Long

368 controls

1: Slow. Detail was hard to read so I wanted to take this one with care. I didn't every find that indistinct trail. I also didn't see just how easy the control is. Just run downhill, it's quite difficult to miss. To be fair, contour directions are hard to read.
2: Again, focus on nailing the navigation. Hit the open area then in.
3: Compass.
4: Hit the reentrant then compass. Compass was off and I struggled to move quickly in the green, but went alright.
6: Along the spur to the trail. Was going to drop to the open area I hit on the way to 2 then run across, but it looked hella nope so I switched plan and ran some ridges. End of the route was the same.
7: Hard part was attacking the control without clear ideas but it worked.
10: Leif went right as I was entering 9. Took 10 seconds to decide, and the hill on the left route halfway through looked more difficult than the pretty flat running on the right, and I couldn't tell which one was longer anyway. Plus, if I went right, I could guarantee that I stayed close to Leif while reading the rest of the course.
11: Turns out I didn't climb the yellow hill where I expected because I was tired. When I hit the trail closer to 11, glanced at my compass to make sure I was going northeast before turning in.
12: Leif left me when I stopped to tie my shoe, then some pretty sketchy navigation on my part into the depression.
13: Long spur with the lake to my left then trail. Didn't really read the map at all.
15: Around looked more appealing to me, but according to my split comparison with Leif, going up and over versus down and around are pretty damn similar.
16: Wow that was awful. Read the map like I didn't know what a map is. When you don't cross a trail then you don't cross a trail, you don't just forget the trail exists.

COC Long - C-10 - Splits

NAOC Sprint

331 controls

1, 2, 3, 4: Focused on reading properly and figuring out which control was which. Weird mapping. Ignored where the train track crossings were, I figured it would be quicker to just run at it and find the nearest crossing. I was right.
5: The angle of the line leaving four is misleading and convinced me to choose right. I still think it's a good route, hard to compare though.
6: Reading crossable fences is hard.
8: Oh boy. Didn't have my control description, so I was map flipping to check them. 7 was close enough to 6 that I felt comfortable not checking the number. Exiting 7, my route was right, but I immediately forgot that I had hit 7. Cue me thinking I'm going to seven and convincing myself I made a 90 degree error out of six. Fun times. Bringing my control description along next time.
10: Right is faster.
12: Whoops dragged right by avoiding private property but I chose a route that was difficult to mess up so I lost minimal, if any, time.
14: Ugh. Compass.

HPP Fundraiser

348 controls

Chose to skip 7 and 8 because they seemed like outliers to me. Weak points are 16 and 11. 16 is just awkwardly positioned but taking it early minimized climb and navigation, while taking it after 3 looks more difficult, and I would rather head to 4 after 3, making that my exit point for the course. 11 was another possible skip control but seemed like the lesser of evils. Messed up 12 by a bit.

NAOC Relay

316 controls

1: Looked for a clean start and got it.
3: Decided that running through the forest wasn't worth it, think it was the right choice.
4: Aimed for the left reentrant because I was more likely to hit it accurately, then crossed over to the control. Again, good execution.
6: Compass leg, very runnable, well done.
7: The low point of my race. I exited 6 extremely well and made it to the trail network alright. I veered off in literally the last meters because of either compass error or errant map reading. Either way, I talked to Greg Balter and concluded that running around on the trail was by far the better option. Yes, going straight can save me four seconds, but taking the trail guarantees that I make it there without issues. Especially in the relay, taking reliable routes is crucial.
11: Very good compass work where I ignore the trails.
12: Off compass but realized quickly.
15: Should have run down the reentrant but it looked clogged so I ran down the spur instead.

Relay - Junior Men Leg 3 - Splits

NAOC Middle

301 controls

2: Identified ridges as the easiest route with the least physical work.
3: Not steady on my direction but I hit the open by the road and things got easy. Entered too early.
6: I was actually going to take a more direct route but went too far left and hit the road. Realized that was a good thing.
8: Bad compass but realized immediately and decided to continue and hit the two hilltops.
10: Didn't make a good plan and ran too quickly at the beginning on a bad compass, should have put more effort towards a good compass. When you see my route go red, I'm not actually that far off but I thought I was, so I aim to hit 13 and try from there. Stop short, although I should have realized that I should keep running until I'm going uphill again. Lost a bit of time there, poor.
11: Went down the wrong spur, couldn't figure it out at the time so went back and tried again down the green spur.
12: Hesitation off of two awful controls.
13: Again, hesitation, but I think this time it was warranted. It helped me fix my direction.
14: Parallel error with the clearings.
15: Good grief does it ever end, just run to the ridge. Even better, run straight, drop down the reentrant, and run along the side of the hill.
16: Ran up the hill only to learn it was at the bottom of it.

Overall a pretty poor race in the second half that reminded me to reduce speed to allow for clean running, like I did in the beginning.

NAOC Middle & WRE - C-11 - Splits

NAOC Long

283 controls

3DRerun

1: Wasn't mentally in it yet. I went between two depressions and the one on my left looked pretty deep so I thought I was by the lake. Turns out I've just been running on 2.5 meter contours in Hungary and Finland and suddenly everything is massive. Oh well, lesson learned.
3: A very clean leg. I could have stayed further to the left of the line but the second of the leg and the approach is well executed.
6: I missed the control by a few meters but turned around. Still good orienteering for an open spur by using the vegetation boundary and staying aware of where the downhill is.
13: Not good enough, wasn't keeping close contact and was extensively using Leif and Michael. Was punished when I didn't know where I was attacking from.
14: Immediately changed my strategy and split off from Leif and Michael to use a different route. Significant improvement in my navigation and arrived at the control at about the same time. Used obvious features (open hills).
17: Didn't make a good enough plan. The cup depressions in the "flat" area by 17 were massive and hindered good navigation because I kept looking for big depressions on the map. If I did it again, I would go left because there's less detail.
18: Hesitated because I thought I recognized the area.
19: Compass

NAOC Long & WRE - C-10 - Splits