Training Log Archive: hkleaf

High 30s, clear - Setting controls for the sprint, plus various other tasks setting up finish/start, etc. I overslept a bit and arrived ~20min late, which probably put Vlad in more of a pinch. Still, everything got set up and ready to go on schedule. But that's the 20min I could've used to wake up the SI units, if only I knew they needed to be awaken...

40s, sunny, clear - After patrolling at control (34) for ~40min, I found ebone to take my shift so that I can head over to McFarlan to collect some of the remaining controls from Friday. With 2ga. of leftover water from the (125), I was only able to grab 6 stands, including the 3 remaining SI units. This could probably count for a strength session, too! Only 6 stands left in the woods, which Stryder will get tomorrow.

60s, sunny, clear - warm up before my leg of the relay, truncated into various pieces while waiting for JonR to come back.

OCIN Flying Pig A-Meet, U.S. Relay Champs - Mt. Airy Forest, Cincinnati, Ohio.
8pt team, 4th leg, Red Course (Variation: 1-BA): 5.4km, 19c, 395m. (1:10 000, 5m)
Course Setter: Matthew Robbins
60s, clear, sunny

Ran the anchor leg for an 8-pt OCIN team (In CinTROL). Kacey and Katie both had solid runs putting us in 5th place amongst eligible teams. Jon R., who's a good navigator, ran the 3rd leg for us. We were ~5min down on the Vaughans who were 3rd, and I was hoping Jon and Petr would finish close enough that it'd be an exciting finish leg for Steve and I. Unfortunately, Jon tried to find #2 after punching #2, and ended up off the map! So I started with a group in the catch-up mass start. This turned out to be quite fun and exciting, as I got to run with a few folks on Red, trying to keep pace yet still having to navigate on my own the whole time due to forking.

I went out fast, and started running out of gas after #10. John Hensley Williams and I were mostly side by side, then the course forks and we'd split up for a couple controls before converging again. I didn't know it at the time, but Mikkel was on out tails as well. Because of my familiarity with the park/terrain, I ran with confidence the whole time. I was able to read ahead slightly, and use the proper handrails and attackpoints to guide me along the way. The pace was quite fast the whole time, and I'm satisfied that there weren't any big mistakes. A few sub-optimal route choices to 1, 8, and 10. The two obvious mistakes were going out of #9, my mind skipped ahead 150m, so I descended thru the green to find the trail, only I haven't crossed the road yet! I realized quickly what happened but probably lost ~40s unnecessarily going thru the green. Then at #18, fatigue set in and a momentary lapse in map reading got me drifting right toward (230) instead of my depression control. It looks like I lost 30s and the overall fastest time on Red 8pt here!!! Part of it was due to the mistake, the other part was due to my struggle (slow walk) up the hill after punching #17.

Overall, it was a very good day. The solid result was a bit of surprise, because physically the past 2 days haven't been all that restful. It appears my L-knee is holding up just fine with faster running, which is a real positive here. It also shows me what running with confidence and navigating cleanly can do. Hopefully, I can channel these things going forward in future races.

Collecting signs and relay controls. Pretty beat by the end.

Saturday Red_8pt - Splits