Training Log Archive: bcsocal

This, as it turned out, was my *best* race of the trip. I guess I'm more suited for urban and open-terrain sprints than long technical courses.

The urban part of the course was easier than I thought, with no tricky blind alleys. I made one questionable route choice on 5->6; perhaps could have saved a few seconds. AP thinks I made another poor choice on 3->4.

Then the course went into the woods; the beautiful open runnable woods I had been seeking ever since coming east. And wouldn't you know it, these are the legs I blew. 6->7, ran past the trail without recognizing it and overran the flag by ~50 meters, backtracked and had to search a bit. 7->8, missed the turnoff from the loop around the school and took the long trail route, ~200 meters longer. 8->9, missed the first trail junction (shorter clearer route) and took the more easterly route, and had to fight through some thicket to reach the flag. 9->10, generally right on, but hesitant. 10->11, took the trail route out of the woods but went through the slow forest instead of the open forest to reach the flag.

By now the course was in more open parkland heading toward the arena, and I actually made up time and about 8 places from then on. These final 7 controls were my best running of the entire two-week trip.

Sprint - Course 3 - Splits

*This* was the worst race of the weekend, and of the trip. I lost contact with the map twice, both times in the trail network in the SE portion. So much for that being the easiest part of the map...

I have no idea how I got to #5. Some guardian angel must have lifted me up and plunked me down on the trail right next to the knoll with the flag. I missed a turn someplace in the trail network, and soon could not recognize any of the trails. Even after realizing that I was alongside the knoll, I turned the wrong direction on it and lost a couple more minutes.

6->7 is another one for the hall of shame. I first went NW thinking that I could find the small trail and the narrow part of the marsh. Mistake, I was soon stuck in the thicket. I backed out, turned generally to the SW, and fought through more thicket to the large trail. More than 5 minutes so far. I ran along the main trail looking for the "Y" junction before the flag, and never found it. The main trail seemed to turn east right into a marsh; something I could not see on the map. I proceeded NW, never again recognizing either of the trails, and somehow again ended up on the knoll. After another wrong turn I followed someone else into the flag.

Then there was 7->8. How do you lose contact with the map 10 meters after leaving the flag? That trail network got me again. I followed what I thought was the proper eastbound trail, only to find myself at the 4-way junction about 200 meters N of the flag. Fortunately I turned around and went south, and recognized where the trail turned past the spur containing the flag. How I got to that junction I'll never know - another guardian angel.

At least I didn't travel all that distance to Arnprior only to DNF.

I drowned my sorrows with a couple of beers and some good conversation at the banquet, which was generally excellent. I stayed for the award ceremony, but didn't stay to listen to the jazz quartet.

Long - Course 7B - Splits

Not my worst race, but far from my best. The result was worse than last week's middle, in more technical terrain. My fears turned out to be largely unfounded; I was able to recognize features (with hesitation).

In a reversal from last weekend, the last 6 controls (all very short legs) were the worst. I coughed up 8 places in the standings. I was leaving trails early, getting stuck in the undergrowth (encountering one raspberry vine which drew blood), missing knolls, etc. I missed the trail option on 14->15, and again on 15->16.

The powerline corridor, mapped mostly as open yellow, proved to be anything but open. It cost me significant time both times I had to cross it.

Middle - Course 7b - Splits

Event: NAOC2014 (North American Champs/Ottawa O-Fest)
 

I went back out to the EcoCenter model area, this time much earlier in the day. I tried to follow the model course (21 controls) and had better success. This time I made it to #10 before running into trouble. I was able to determine that some of the markers were missing and at least one was misplaced. Eventually I reached 17 of the 21 controls.

So I'm reading the map better but not moving fast through the terrain. The latter is a part of my orienteering that I still need to develop. The older more experienced guys can move faster through the terrain even though I have faster raw running speed.

I then spent an hour on the Barrens map just to see why it's mapped the way it is. There is much more exposed rock (thus the "barren" terrain). I'm glad I did that; this type of terrain appeared on the competition maps.

Overall a more encouraging day.

The NAOC opening ceremony was held on Arnprior's hockey rink. They made it a bit like the Olympic opening ceremony - many of the athletes marched in wearing their club uniforms and carrying signs indicating their club; there was a "cultural" display with local youth hockey players stick-handling around obstacles to visit "controls" on the ice, speeches by the mayor and other dignitaries, even the lighting of a torch just like the Olympics.

After dinner the local band "The Orienteers" played a set, including the NAOC theme song "Take Control" that they composed.

Finally the Arnprior junior hockey team played a game (and lost, 4-1).

Well, that was discouraging.

I had to wait until noon when the information desk for NAOC opened, and I could swap one of my sprint model maps for the EcoCenter model map. After setting up at the curling center, I then drove out to the area, made a wrong turn, and went about 30 extra miles before finally finding the entrance to the parking lot.

The model course controls were marked with surveyor's tape. Out of 21 controls, I think I reached 7 of them in 3 hours. The most distant ones were about a mile away. The terrain is far more intricate than I expected - so much for the wide open runnable woods I was expecting. Rock features, lots of little knolls indistinguishable from each other, areas of thick undergrowth, marshes, deadfall, lots of stuff you don't see in the West. Even the mapped trails are covered in maple leaves and were easy to miss if you were crossing them. I'll have to pay closer attention to the map than I'm used to.

Drove to Arnprior today. After relatively good weather in Cooperstown (certainly nicer than Rochester!), I got dumped on while passing through Watertown, NY. What a Godforsaken town that is!

After crossing the border, I stuck to the main highways and went straight to the Quality Inn. It was still drizzling in the late afternoon when I pulled in.

The Quality Inn is a dump compared to the Holiday Inn Express in Cooperstown, which was quite nice. Even the Wi-Fi was poor - I wanted to upload the Cooperstown pictures but it took over 5 minutes to upload one picture, and I had 56. Oh, well...

Tomorrow's objective is to visit the Carp Ridge model areas.

Visited the baseball Hall of Fame. I spent 6 hours there and didn't see everything.

Interestingly, I don't recall seeing the words "steroid" or "PED" at all. OTOH, there was a major exhibit for Henry Aaron yet not a thing for Barry Bonds (except his name on the all-time home run list). The feats of other "tainted" performers were similarly noted with simple stats.

Most of my pictures (not posted yet) were of the plaques and artifacts of Dodgers and Angels, plus this year's inductees (Torre, Cox, LaRussa, Thomas, Glavine, Maddux).

I had purchased a combo ticket (HOF and Fenimore Art Museum), so I went over to the Fenimore so as not to waste it. I got only an hour there. I had to skip the native American, Dorothea Lange, and Madame Butterfly exhibits. My main interest was in depictions of life in Cooperstown and of the Leatherstocking Tales, and I was disappointed that there wasn't more.

As my mother would put it, Cooperstown "rolls up the sidewalks" quite early. Nothing is open after 5:00PM except a couple of restaurants. They tell me that it's more lively during the summer. I had a turkey and mashed potatoes dinner at the Cooperstown Diner, which looked like it would fit on a railroad car (long and skinny).