Training Log Archive: BorisGr

This was the Extreme-O long course. I teamed up with Jan for this, which was a lot of fun. He carried the water balloon that we needed to return intact.

The course had several distinct segments, including a LIDAR map, an aerial photo, a no-trails map, a window-O, a 1:24,000 map where you had to plot control locations yourself based on coordinates, a couple of bearing legs with no map, and a couple of sections with tourist maps.

There were also a few fun gimmicks added on, such as controls in culverts, a 'fishing' game, and a dart throwing game at the end.

We did quite well for the most part, losing about 5 minutes in various mistakes over the whole course, mostly due to my failure to understand the tourist map scale.

It was lots of fun, and I think we made a pretty good team. No idea what the results ended up being, but it doesn't really matter. Fun way to finish off the weekend!

Warmup

Georgia Navigator Cup - Blue Classic 2

This day was the opposite of the previous two. Right from the start, I felt that I had nothing in my legs. I quickly decided that there was not much I could do about that, and that I just needed to focus on navigation and stay as clean as possible. I think I did this pretty well. I was even somehow in the lead through six controls, but by the time we got to the map flip at 8, I was spent.

The 'error' time that AP shows on my splits is just me plodding along slowly in the correct direction. The end result was about the same as the day before: about 3 minutes back of Mattias, and 6 back of Eric. Hats off to both of them for racing well all weekend!

RG: http://gaorienteering.org/Local_Events/gadget/rg2/...

I have done basically no running or orienteering since the Nationals in LA, so it was not surprising that I was rusty on both. But I was surprised and disconcerted by just how wasted I felt right from the start on Sunday. I would have expected that the ski training would have kicked in here and let me maintain some strength and energy through the whole weekend. Oh well.

Not sure when I am racing next and what the next targets should be - maybe North Americans?

BLUE - Splits

Event: Anza-Borrego Desert Orienteering Festival
 

Warmup

Georgia Navigator Cup - Blue Classic 1

This was a pretty disappointing performance. I again had good speed from the start, but did not adjust to the map (1:15,000) well, and lost map contact on 2,3, and 4, giving away about 4:30 altogether. After 4 controls, I was 4 minutes behind Eric. I would finish about 5 and a half minutes back.

After 4 I settled in and lowered the pace to 5, regained some confidence and ran well for the rest of the course, though both Eric and Mattias ran at least as well or better for the whole course. It looks like the road route choice on 9-10 cost me, as Eric crushed that leg. I'm also curious what Mattias did to 12, as he took a minute out of me there, and I don't remember losing much time there.

So again, decent speed and lost opportunities were the name of the game.

RG: http://gaorienteering.org/Local_Events/gadget/rg2/...

BLUE - Splits

Event: Georgia Navigator Cup & 2023 OUSA Junior Nationals
 

Warmup

Georgia Navigator Cup Middle Distance NRE - M21

I will write about the overall experience for this trip separately - this is just about my Friday race.

Positives: I felt really good physically and felt like I could really push the pace. I started the race well and my first six splits were 2-2-3-1-1-1. I was in the lead by almost a minute at 6.

I then drifted a bit on 7 and got distracted by a huge unmapped rootstock, which made me think I was higher than I actually was. I am guessing this rootstock was very fresh from the recent tornado, and so no one's fault that it wasn't on the map. After losing maybe 45 seconds at 7, I rushed to 8, overshot, and lost another minute. I refocused ok for 9 and 10, but then again got distracted by unmapped rootstocks right before 11, and gave away 30 more seconds, followed by another 30 on 14. So almost 3 minutes of time loss, which is too much for a middle distance in high visibility terrain.

Despite this, my time was quite competitive, and I ended up 3rd behind Mattias and Eric, who were just one second apart, and almost a minute ahead of Jan. So a lot of positives to take away from this race, though also some missed opportunities to rue. Unfortunately, this would end up my best race for the weekend...

Route Gadget: http://gaorienteering.org/Local_Events/gadget/rg2/...

C • All that training… 3

BLUE - Splits

Heading to Georgia for Junior Nationals! We are bringing a three-person University of Montana team, as well as one high school kid and two middle school kids. Really excited for the first "away" trip for GrizO juniors!

Looking at the competition in the Intercollegiate classes, I am a little disappointed not to see our top college kids there. I can imagine Stanford being able to field a killer team, and would have loved to see some more competitors from the 2022 World Students / JWOC Teams. It's obviously hard to prioritize a lot of races, but I would love to see our top youth make an effort to make it to Junior Nationals. (This is a somewhat selfish complaint. One of my hopes for this trip is for the GrizO kids to see what top-level orienteering can look like at their age, and it's hard to accomplish that without a strong field at the top.)

C • Field strength 1

Elliptical intervals before heading to Georgia tomorrow. 5'-4'-3'-2'-1'-30".