Training Log Archive: Nadim

Warm-up for the O-In the Pines EMPO meet. I jogged from the parking lot to the start. Peggy had walked Max to his start earlier.

EMPO: O-In The Pines, on the new Pineridge map, near Greenbush, NY.

I started calmly, hesitating for a second while passing the first intersection. I was getting into reading the map. It was a pleasant start but didn't take much navigation. I went in from just past a trail bend and could have gone further. I just didn't want to risk missing the control.

I had been gaining ground on another runner who was ahead of me when leaving #1. I passed him just as he paused before entering the woods. I thought there'd be more of a reentrant going into the stream valley than there was. I had to keep forcing myself to run since I didn't see the control until the very end. This was another rather easy control. It setup the big contrast on the next leg.

I left #2 a bit in a hurry so that the guy behind me didn't pass me. I ran up the stream until it gave out, then went straight. I knew that I wanted to get to the trails on the right eventually. I should have forced myself to suck it up early because I could have run on the trails fast and for a longer time. As it was, I had drifted right or maybe aimed-off. I crossed a ridge where I should have turned left. Eventually I hit a marsh and went to a boulder with a control at the edge of it. I realized where this was but it still took me some time once I got to the correct ridge. When I didn't find it immediately on the ridge, I wondered how I'd relocate but other runners came by and I looked in the right direction to minimize the error.

For #4, I started cautiously going straight. Eventually I used an intermittent trail that took me just to the right of the control. I cut off that at an intermittent trail intersection which was a bit short of the control.

For #5, I went straight again but less cautiously. I started to loose count of the ridges that I'd crossed. However, as I dropped down to go around a boulder, it turned-out to be mine!

For #6, I went straight getting into the correct rocky reentrant. It seemed a long way to the control so I had to force myself to keep moving.

For #7, I should have looked more for the trail options. As it was, I went straight. I successfully read my way across all of the trail intersections and hit the reentrant before the control just where I'd wanted. After crossing the stream, I adjusted a bit to the right of where the control was but I still feel that I'd spiked the control. 2 other people were in the area and one had just punched before me. The route choice made such a difference that despite spiking the control, AttackPoint calculated 47 seconds of error.

For #8, I wizened-up ant took trails on the left side. This was quick. I saw Linda Cohen, Mr. Porter, and a few others leaving the control as I left the trail to attack.

When going to #9, I reversed my path leaving #8 and cut left at the 3 way trail intersection. I had a hard time reading the intermittent knoll that was to be along the trail. I cut it a bit early so as to not miss the control.

For #10, I thought about using the trail but it seemed too slow to have to climb up. I just ran straight.

For #11, I ran around the green to the left. Another couple of runners were converging.

For #12, I watched the other runners at #11 leave, then decided to take the road. I worried about things being out of bounds but they weren't marked on the map as such. I was going to minimize being close to the house but trying to cut in before the pond didn't look to be passable. I backed out and went past the house as another runner was doing the same.

The other runner at #12 was a cadet and was still just ahead of me. As we ran down the hill toward #13 on the ride, he pulled away but in doing so he passed the control. As he cut left it save me from having to do the same.

For #14, I ran around the green a bit on the right side.

For #15, I got to the road, getting there just behind the cadet who took a straighter but slower route.

For the road crossing to #16, I reasoned that I was warmed-up and reading the map fairly well. I jogged slowly across the road, knowing that the time would be subtracted. I didn't see any need to pause as that might just stiffen me up. I reminded the cadet to punch both controls

For #17, I was ahead of the cadet and closing in on a young woman. I passed her on the climb on roads. It was hard for me to read the trails but I recognized the boulders near the end, the saw the control too. It was lower than I had thought it be because I hadn't read the trails going as high as they did.

For #18, I contoured across, staying mostly below and on the edge of the rocky ground. I got on the trail at the end, crossing the strange u-shaped bend.

I was a bit overcautious leaving #19. I wanted to make sure not to have to pass and climb back to the control as much as I'd wanted to make sure I had the correct bearing. I realized part way down that the control was on the trail at the bottom of the reentrant.

For the finish, I had trouble reading the detail, I started off correctly but backed out to go around to the left. It didn't seem like I'd lost much time but I guess that was time trying to read the map.

I enjoyed the course and was happy about having few errors. As I saw other times come in I realized that I needed to focus more on the routes on this course.

Sunday - Long Green - Splits

Event: "O" in the Pines A meet
 

EMPO: O-In The Pines, on the new Pineridge map, near Greenbush, NY. This was some fairly tricky terrain. It was very rocky and hence hard to run through. The people who did best on this Middle Distance course figured out how to use the trails to their advantage. There were a lot of ski trails and some snowshoe trails that were only marked with blazes (nothing on the ground indicated there being a trail there. I started okay spiking #1.

Going to #2, when a trail I was following gave out unexpectedly, I missed and got too high. At least I corrected quickly.

Going to #3, I had drifted too low and ran into parallel features which didn't seem to be mapped. I wandered low, then got up to the right height, only I was just short of the control, again in somewhat parallel features. I saw Tim Parsons come through and hunt around before I went to relocate--I didn't want to follow him, and we were just a tiny distance away from seeing the control. I relocated on a snowshoe trail, and then went right to the control. It still didn't seem like the contours in the area matched-up. Neither Tim, nor I could see the saddle shape that the depression was supposed to be located in.

For #4, I went straight and spiked it.

For #5, I went a little bit off to the right, then curled around to the left after the little ridge. A few people were converging and I gained ground, passing some.

For #6, I went straight. Another guy was ahead of me initially but I passed him and turned left on the trail a little bit, to reset my bearing. I felt good about reading a boulder on my route just before starting to descend. I landed right into the reentrant that I was looking for.

For #7, I went straight across the marsh (nicest and softest moss to run across for the entire course), then straight over the hilltop. I walked my way up but ran the top and down. The attack from high up was easier. I had also reasoned that I'd just be moving too slow to go around, while increasing the risk factor of missing.

For #8, I ran straight and was doing good until I got distracted by the very large boulder off to the right, a little before the control. Several of those I'd talked with afterward thought that the boulder that had been a distraction was mapped incorrectly in that it should have been a much bigger symbol on the map.

For #9, I went straight and spiked it.

For #10, I again went straight. I used the reentrant in the green to attack from--I had come up along the edge of it. The control was visible a long way off.

For #11, I was fairly hesitant. It seemed that I was climbing too much (the map showed 2 contours). I had crested the hill and was right on target when I saw Jon Torrance descending on my left. He got to the control just before I did, and I was surprised that I was so right on target when I'd been so hesitant.

For #12, I went straight but perhaps got a little too far to the left. I cut left just before cresting a rise because I saw another control to my left, up the hill. That cost me time.

For #13, I descended but was a little to the left. At least I stopped at the right distance. As I cut right, someone descended and got there before I did.

I went straight toward #14, chasing the guy who'd passed me at #13.

For the Go control I went down the trail. I was a little unsure of things and while trying to chase the guy ahead of me, I was reluctant to pause to take a good look at the map. I took the right fork in the trail and it would have been quicker going straight (to the left over the small rise).

Saturday - Middle Green - Splits

I kind of had a week off. I'd been cycling and keeping-up my training pretty well since mid-August. I didn't plan to do anything on the Monday 28th, but after that, I was thwarted by rain (from early bands of hurricane Joaquin, several days in advance), or work or things at home. I suppose it's not a bad thing to do this once in a rare while. On Friday, when the rain and winds that'd been falling or threatening to fall all week had gotten worse, Peggy, the kids and I drove up to NY for the EMPO A-meet.