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Sunday Oct 3, 2010 #
Event: Paine to Pain Half-Marathon
Event: Hudson Highlander
9 AM
Orienteering race 4:09:00 [4] 26.2 km (9:30 / km)
shoes: Adidas Swoop
hudson highlander - 2010 Hudson Highlander #15 - Harriman State Park
So since my younger days as an orienteering nerd, I've always had an ambition to run in the forests used for WOC93 in upstate NY. So when I found out that my autumn trip to the states was going to coincide with the 15th edition of the Hudson Highlander, it was a relatively easy decision to enter - even though i've hardly done any orienteering in the past 3-4 years.
Training went pretty well the week prior to the race - I made sure I got out just about every day, and even did some orienteering on the saturday before the race - although this knocked my confidence slightly as i felt shitty in terrain and scarily rusty with my navigation.
The weekend as a whole got off to a bit of a downer - my host BorisGr (who had been instrumental in both convincing me to compete in the highlander, and helping with logistics) suffered a muscle spasm in his back on friday afternoon. He claims it was while doing cleaning, but we all know it was while secretly practising pole dancing. Nevertheless, having suffered a similar injury twice in the past 5 years, most recently in the spring of this year, I could empathise with (a) the pain and (b) the frustration. It was a real shame that Boris was unable to compete, but he took the sensible decision to not run on sunday morning. here's to a quick recovery.
So saturday night before the race I was hosted by Neil Dobbs, and we were joined by Ross, Samantha and Alex. Thanks to Ross for cooking a great lasagne, and to the whole crew for making me feel like an absolute dumbass by pounding me at 'boggle'. i need to extend my vocabulary!!
Morning of the race - we got up early doors and drove the 45 mins to the race, arriving about 50mins before the start. It was a cold morning, but bright and clear - perfect running weather although i kept my jumper on until right before the start.
My race plan was to trust my own pace - I knew that I was going to be running into unexplored territory - a mixture of illness, work commitments and my bike crash had disrupted my training plan, meaning that my pintention of running a 3hr training session in the weeks leading up to the highlander had been abandoned - my longest effort had been 2hrs 10 about 4 weeks previously. So I made a conscious decision to just not bother sticking wth any of the top guys at the start and just run my own race.
Right from the off, I could sense that my map reading technique and flow in the terrain was still a long way off - I was having to really concentrate to maintain map contact - but i stuck at a slow pace and navigated the long and fairly technical first leg, and was pleased to spike the control. leg 2 offered some respite, with easy navigation along a ridge, picking off features on the way. At this point I found myself running alongside Samantha and Hilary Saeger, who were cruising along at a really nice pace with 2-3 others. I felt pretty comfortable running in this group, so it was unfortunate that I made my one big error on the long leg from 3-4. I was still fairly unfamiliar with the terrain, and took what turned out to be a really dumb route choice - instead of sticking with the pack and running straight through a green/marshy area, i cut out to the right to run round some small trails, and got really stuck in some horrible green, rocky areas. although i didn't get lost, i dropped 5 minutes, and the momentum of being in a group was lost.
for the next couple of controls i was pretty much running through a stream of slower moving orienteers - however the navigation and the feel for orienteering was coming together a bit more. I saw Becks on the way to #7, we had a quick chat and then I found myself running alongside an italian dude called Giovanni - we were running at a really similar pace, so from #8 onwards I stuck with him.
took on food (banana and cookie) at the first changeover, and ran the whole trail run with Giovanni. we switched leads midway through, so i led over the big hill and into #12 for more food and drink.
After the trail run i was fairly conservative with my route choices - took plenty of paths, including a detour back along the trail route for the king of the mountains leg - a bit of extra climb, but with the advantage of revisiting the food/drink station at #12 before heading up to the top of the mountain for control #18. interestingly, Giovanni took a different route on this leg, but we met again at #18. I sensed Giovanni was flagging a bit on the way to #19 - the last time i saw him was just before we headed into the holiday camp above little long pond. I caught another runner going through here and passed him almost immediately - first person I had seen apart from Giovanni since the end of the trail run. I took my first energy gel on the road run to #21, then cruised through into the final changeover with 6km to go.
By this stage I was in a kind of autopilot - not going particularly fast, but definitely not completely flagging. I was walking up the steeper hills, but running on the flats and even some of the more gentle inclines. I passed a few more people on the final loop - maybe 3-5, not sure of numbers - what was strange (and different to any event i've done before) was that when I passed people there was just no 'fight' - i would just move straight on by. although i was shattered, each time i passed someone it gave me a welcome burst of adrenaline and energy. I took another energy gel out at control #25 (the far point of the final loop) and the return to the finish was fairly routine, with one tricky control thrown in at #29, which i contrived to make a meal of in spite of my slow pace. the finish was a relief, but i was too knackered to really feel any emotion; satisfaction crept in later that afternoon once i had time to relax and replenish.
mistakes:
start - 1: 30 secs lost through hesitation and rustiness.
3-4: poor rotue choice - approx 5 mins lost thrashing around in thick green bushes. so frustrating.
12-13: 30secs lost through control circle hesitation
15-16: lost 1min, parallel error on adjacent small hill.
21-22: 30sec mistake, hesitation coming into control
24-25: 30 sec mistake, went to wrong boulder
28-29: 90sec mistake, tricky control, over shot and got slightly confused in complex terrain. relocated well of boulder above big crag.
so, around 9-10 minutes of mistakes - there might have been more but my memory of some of the course is a little bit sketchy. I was around 10 mins down on the leading girls - it was about 5 mins after control 4, and i had pulled this back to just under 4 mins by the final changeover; however on the final loop a combination of fatigue and a number of small errors meant that i lost another 5-6 mins on them over the last 6km.
Overall: pleased with many aspects of this race - i had the willpower and desire to battle through the moments of pain; i generally held my orienteering and navigation together for the duration.
Also my pre race planning and preparation was good - lycra was the right choice for legwear; i made decisions independently instead of getting caught up in the crowds and burning out. Also my food and drink intake was well managed - I didn't feel like i was going to 'bonk' at any point in the race.
On the negative side, although i stuck by my decision to make my own independent decisions, taking a stupid route choice early in the race was extremely costly, and lost me chance of settling into a good pack, hence missing out on the chance to play off other peoples pace and navigation (the more pairs of eyes the better theory). I also made a number of small errors towards the end of the race, most likey due to general fatigue and a lack of endurance fitness.
Positives about the event:
- Good planning
- super nice people
- incredible terrain
- comprehensive and inclusive prize ceremony
- great post race food
- awesome volunteers
No negatives apart from the loss of Boris!
Many thanks to the team of organisers and helpers who hosted this event - i can see that it was a logistical challenge, but I'd just like to say the my experience as a competitor was highly positive, and I would recommend this event to any orienteer who likes a challenge.
After finishing a highander, i've honestly got no reason to fear any orienteering event in the future!
So since my younger days as an orienteering nerd, I've always had an ambition to run in the forests used for WOC93 in upstate NY. So when I found out that my autumn trip to the states was going to coincide with the 15th edition of the Hudson Highlander, it was a relatively easy decision to enter - even though i've hardly done any orienteering in the past 3-4 years.
Training went pretty well the week prior to the race - I made sure I got out just about every day, and even did some orienteering on the saturday before the race - although this knocked my confidence slightly as i felt shitty in terrain and scarily rusty with my navigation.
The weekend as a whole got off to a bit of a downer - my host BorisGr (who had been instrumental in both convincing me to compete in the highlander, and helping with logistics) suffered a muscle spasm in his back on friday afternoon. He claims it was while doing cleaning, but we all know it was while secretly practising pole dancing. Nevertheless, having suffered a similar injury twice in the past 5 years, most recently in the spring of this year, I could empathise with (a) the pain and (b) the frustration. It was a real shame that Boris was unable to compete, but he took the sensible decision to not run on sunday morning. here's to a quick recovery.
So saturday night before the race I was hosted by Neil Dobbs, and we were joined by Ross, Samantha and Alex. Thanks to Ross for cooking a great lasagne, and to the whole crew for making me feel like an absolute dumbass by pounding me at 'boggle'. i need to extend my vocabulary!!
Morning of the race - we got up early doors and drove the 45 mins to the race, arriving about 50mins before the start. It was a cold morning, but bright and clear - perfect running weather although i kept my jumper on until right before the start.
My race plan was to trust my own pace - I knew that I was going to be running into unexplored territory - a mixture of illness, work commitments and my bike crash had disrupted my training plan, meaning that my pintention of running a 3hr training session in the weeks leading up to the highlander had been abandoned - my longest effort had been 2hrs 10 about 4 weeks previously. So I made a conscious decision to just not bother sticking wth any of the top guys at the start and just run my own race.
Right from the off, I could sense that my map reading technique and flow in the terrain was still a long way off - I was having to really concentrate to maintain map contact - but i stuck at a slow pace and navigated the long and fairly technical first leg, and was pleased to spike the control. leg 2 offered some respite, with easy navigation along a ridge, picking off features on the way. At this point I found myself running alongside Samantha and Hilary Saeger, who were cruising along at a really nice pace with 2-3 others. I felt pretty comfortable running in this group, so it was unfortunate that I made my one big error on the long leg from 3-4. I was still fairly unfamiliar with the terrain, and took what turned out to be a really dumb route choice - instead of sticking with the pack and running straight through a green/marshy area, i cut out to the right to run round some small trails, and got really stuck in some horrible green, rocky areas. although i didn't get lost, i dropped 5 minutes, and the momentum of being in a group was lost.
for the next couple of controls i was pretty much running through a stream of slower moving orienteers - however the navigation and the feel for orienteering was coming together a bit more. I saw Becks on the way to #7, we had a quick chat and then I found myself running alongside an italian dude called Giovanni - we were running at a really similar pace, so from #8 onwards I stuck with him.
took on food (banana and cookie) at the first changeover, and ran the whole trail run with Giovanni. we switched leads midway through, so i led over the big hill and into #12 for more food and drink.
After the trail run i was fairly conservative with my route choices - took plenty of paths, including a detour back along the trail route for the king of the mountains leg - a bit of extra climb, but with the advantage of revisiting the food/drink station at #12 before heading up to the top of the mountain for control #18. interestingly, Giovanni took a different route on this leg, but we met again at #18. I sensed Giovanni was flagging a bit on the way to #19 - the last time i saw him was just before we headed into the holiday camp above little long pond. I caught another runner going through here and passed him almost immediately - first person I had seen apart from Giovanni since the end of the trail run. I took my first energy gel on the road run to #21, then cruised through into the final changeover with 6km to go.
By this stage I was in a kind of autopilot - not going particularly fast, but definitely not completely flagging. I was walking up the steeper hills, but running on the flats and even some of the more gentle inclines. I passed a few more people on the final loop - maybe 3-5, not sure of numbers - what was strange (and different to any event i've done before) was that when I passed people there was just no 'fight' - i would just move straight on by. although i was shattered, each time i passed someone it gave me a welcome burst of adrenaline and energy. I took another energy gel out at control #25 (the far point of the final loop) and the return to the finish was fairly routine, with one tricky control thrown in at #29, which i contrived to make a meal of in spite of my slow pace. the finish was a relief, but i was too knackered to really feel any emotion; satisfaction crept in later that afternoon once i had time to relax and replenish.
mistakes:
start - 1: 30 secs lost through hesitation and rustiness.
3-4: poor rotue choice - approx 5 mins lost thrashing around in thick green bushes. so frustrating.
12-13: 30secs lost through control circle hesitation
15-16: lost 1min, parallel error on adjacent small hill.
21-22: 30sec mistake, hesitation coming into control
24-25: 30 sec mistake, went to wrong boulder
28-29: 90sec mistake, tricky control, over shot and got slightly confused in complex terrain. relocated well of boulder above big crag.
so, around 9-10 minutes of mistakes - there might have been more but my memory of some of the course is a little bit sketchy. I was around 10 mins down on the leading girls - it was about 5 mins after control 4, and i had pulled this back to just under 4 mins by the final changeover; however on the final loop a combination of fatigue and a number of small errors meant that i lost another 5-6 mins on them over the last 6km.
Overall: pleased with many aspects of this race - i had the willpower and desire to battle through the moments of pain; i generally held my orienteering and navigation together for the duration.
Also my pre race planning and preparation was good - lycra was the right choice for legwear; i made decisions independently instead of getting caught up in the crowds and burning out. Also my food and drink intake was well managed - I didn't feel like i was going to 'bonk' at any point in the race.
On the negative side, although i stuck by my decision to make my own independent decisions, taking a stupid route choice early in the race was extremely costly, and lost me chance of settling into a good pack, hence missing out on the chance to play off other peoples pace and navigation (the more pairs of eyes the better theory). I also made a number of small errors towards the end of the race, most likey due to general fatigue and a lack of endurance fitness.
Positives about the event:
- Good planning
- super nice people
- incredible terrain
- comprehensive and inclusive prize ceremony
- great post race food
- awesome volunteers
No negatives apart from the loss of Boris!
Many thanks to the team of organisers and helpers who hosted this event - i can see that it was a logistical challenge, but I'd just like to say the my experience as a competitor was highly positive, and I would recommend this event to any orienteer who likes a challenge.
After finishing a highander, i've honestly got no reason to fear any orienteering event in the future!
C • Nice 9
Saturday Oct 2, 2010 #
Event: WCOC Brooksvale meet
11 AM
Orienteering 53:00 [3] 4.4 km (12:03 / km)
shoes: Adidas Swoop
orienteering, brookvale - New Haven CT.
pretty nice forest, poor map. low visibility. i was really rusty and made a heap of errors, including 9 minutes on the second last. could be a long day tomorrow! hopefully got the mistakes out of my system though.
right ankle is pretty weak. went over on it once, but its okay.
pretty nice forest, poor map. low visibility. i was really rusty and made a heap of errors, including 9 minutes on the second last. could be a long day tomorrow! hopefully got the mistakes out of my system though.
right ankle is pretty weak. went over on it once, but its okay.
Friday Oct 1, 2010 #
7 AM
trail running 30:00 [2]
shoes: Asics Gel Kayano 16
another pre breakfast run with dave, this time down one bank of the charles river towards downtown boston, and then back up the other side.
felt okay, a bit tired but no muscle soreness.
went for huge breakfast burrito afterwards. kerching.
felt okay, a bit tired but no muscle soreness.
went for huge breakfast burrito afterwards. kerching.
Thursday Sep 30, 2010 #
7 AM
trail running 35:00 [2]
shoes: Asics Gel Kayano 16
Cambridge, MA
Pre breakfast jog with Dave Donaldson. Yesterdays rest day has done me good.
Route was just a simple loop around a local reservoir. Super humid!
Pre breakfast jog with Dave Donaldson. Yesterdays rest day has done me good.
Route was just a simple loop around a local reservoir. Super humid!
Tuesday Sep 28, 2010 #
6 PM
trail running 42:00 [3]
shoes: Asics Gel Kayano 16
Cruise from spanish harlem out to central park, up and round the lake and back again.
stupidly humid, felt pretty shitty for the duration, but i guess that's what happens when your preparation for a run is two beers and some octopus salad.
pace was probably a '2' intensity, but humidity means i'm awarding myself a '3'.
spanish harlem natives reacted with various degrees of scorn to my exposed torso on the way back. it was too damn hot and sticky to even wear a running vest.
route:
http://www.mapmyfitness.com/run/united-states/ny/n...
stupidly humid, felt pretty shitty for the duration, but i guess that's what happens when your preparation for a run is two beers and some octopus salad.
pace was probably a '2' intensity, but humidity means i'm awarding myself a '3'.
spanish harlem natives reacted with various degrees of scorn to my exposed torso on the way back. it was too damn hot and sticky to even wear a running vest.
route:
http://www.mapmyfitness.com/run/united-states/ny/n...
Monday Sep 27, 2010 #
1 PM
trail running 52:40 [3]
shoes: Asics Gel Kayano 16
road running, NYC -
http://www.mapmyfitness.com/run/united-states/ny/n...
from thompson street out to hudson river park, and highline park as well.
pouring rain, kind of fun. to be honest though, this run made me realise that it would be pretty shit to live in downtown manhattan if you wanted to do any sort of serious training (and don't like running on roads). hudson river park has a good flat running path, but (a) it's concrete and (b) you're pretty much running right next to an 8 lane highway.
if i lived in NYC, it would have to be close to either Prospect Park in Brooklyn or Central Park.
weight - 83.9kg
http://www.mapmyfitness.com/run/united-states/ny/n...
from thompson street out to hudson river park, and highline park as well.
pouring rain, kind of fun. to be honest though, this run made me realise that it would be pretty shit to live in downtown manhattan if you wanted to do any sort of serious training (and don't like running on roads). hudson river park has a good flat running path, but (a) it's concrete and (b) you're pretty much running right next to an 8 lane highway.
if i lived in NYC, it would have to be close to either Prospect Park in Brooklyn or Central Park.
weight - 83.9kg
C • NYC 1