Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Casual walk on Blind Beach. First time we ever went down there (after parking in the lot on the bluffs for running so many times). Not too bad getting up and down, and the beach itself was spectacular.

Boggs Mtn A-meet. Brown Middle. 3.0/150. Start at 9:20. With everything in the meet going smoothly, set aside my ED duties for an hour or so. Physical energy level was pretty low; the climb to #6 was a killer. From there to #9 felt like I was really on, but then left 9 without a good plan and had a huge error, 3.5 - 4.5 mins.

1. Surprisingly high split ranking (even among the Greens). Probably because I started running without looking at the map and did all my map reading without slowing down

2. Decided to take the trail, even though it was considerably longer, to avoid getting discouraged early by climb and slash. It was a good choice, but didn’t execute it that well. Left the trail just before the bend, and found myself in the little clearing on the spur. Quick bearing, saw rocks ahead and Linda Moore and Leslie heading for them, so there I went. But as I got close, saw that Linda & Leslie were not stopping there; checked the map and saw that I was heading for the E rocks whereas I should’ve been heading to the W ones. Looked right, and saw the bag. Lost :15.

3. Below the E rocks, beeline to the bag, passing Linda and catching Leslie at the control. Fastest split, but partly because I had people in front of me.

4. Angled up on a bearing to the clearing (not following someone who headed straight up the hill). Could see the clearing from a distance. Once there, veered a little left and went for the big rock.

5. Went a little left of my bearing to get around some fight (which Lou Pataki and Nancy Lindeman were trying to bash through to get to #4), then found some nice running, following a rough bearing to the trails. When I hit the first trail, there was a flag on a pile of rocks just to my left, not at all what I was expecting. Took several seconds to realize where I was: had drifted pretty far left. To be safe, went due S to hit the jeep trail junction, which I did. But there appeared to be an extra trail going due E, not on the map, so I stood there puzzled for a while. Decided to take the fire road NE for 50m and then cut into the woods, hoping to see the knoll - which I did. From there it was easy to spot the spur where the control should be (and was). Lost 1 - 1:15.

6. Started to go SSE to avoid the green and catch the trail. But there was a massive broad reentrant in front of me which I couldn’t identify on the map. This made me decide to just follow a bearing directly to the control instead. The hillside was steep and full of slash, and very slow going - too nasty for the older Brown people. Passed Jennifer K. Soon saw the boulder field with the big boulder at the downhill end ahead, and then saw the flag, but it took a long time to get there. Only :19 behind the 3rd best split, but 1:34 behind Brian.

7. Contoured out of the control, hoping to catch the clearing and little piece of trail. Instead, just kept bashing through fight, so veered right and dropped down to the fire road, which required more bashing. Up the road, past the two trail junctions, looking for decent woods to cut the corner, which I did just past the second junction. W on the next fire road until the boulder on the left in the (overgrown) clearing, then run on a bearing through nice open woods. Pace count was running out, looking from side to side as I ran, spotted the control 30m to my left. Probably should have stayed on the road until the boulder on the S edge of the circle, but hadn’t noticed that. Fastest split, despite the slow beginning and being a bit off at the end; ran pretty fast the entire second half of the leg. Would’ve been 11th of 37 on Green, about :30 behind where I should have been, which seems about right given the time lost at the very beginning and very end. Lost :20 - :30.

8. For some reason, felt very confident on this leg. Bearing towards SE corner of fight, then along S edge to the corner, up through the lighter green, left through more light green, then see the rocks in more open woods, look right and see the bag as expected. 2nd fastest, 1 sec behind Brian; would’ve been 4th on Green, :06 behind 2nd place Tapio.

9. Many people went for trails on this one, but I planned to contour until the nose of the spur and then go N to the trail. Dropped a little at first to avoid the darker green. Still a lot of bashing, so dropped a little more, trying to get out into the white, but it was still thick. Upon reaching the nose of the spur, knowing I’d dropped some made me worry that going due N might take me to the wrong side of the junction ahead, so, as I wove my way down trying to avoid the thicker vegetation, tried to stay a little E of N. Consequently, hit the road a bit E of where I intended. Turn left, after a short while could see the junction ahead, cut through the woods to the road, stayed on the road to the crest of the hill, then rough bearing towards the knoll, soon spotted it a bit left of where I was headed. Felt good about the leg, but splits suggest I should’ve been half a minute faster, probably due to getting stuck in too much fight early.

10. The instant I left #9, felt I was in trouble as I didn’t have a good plan. Thought for a moment about veering right and heading for the road, but that seemed like being a chicken. Better plan might have been to go straight down to the trails. But I did neither, and continued straight, unable to identify anything. Somehow crossed at least one ride without noticing it. Eventually saw a road to my right. Went there. It appeared to be the bend NE of the control, but went E around the bend to see the trail junction to make sure. Careful bearing towards the control, but don’t see it. See George and then Marg Ellis (who’d started two minutes behind me) heading from right to left, but unsure about whether they were going to 10 or 11. With my pace count too large, turned 180 and saw the bag 30m away, just a little S of the line I’d been traveling on. Disappointing and huge error, at least 3.5 - 4 mins. Later noticed that #9 had been a control on a course several years ago, and I made a huge error leaving it that day, too.

11. Quickly on a compass bearing, hoping maybe to catch sight of George or Marg (a risky gambit). Saw Tori Borish instead, who wasn’t on my course but who seemed to be headed in the right direction. Hit light green between two thicker patches (good) and then there was the control.

12. Rough compass, aiming for the trail corner SW of the control. Hit the trail a little sooner than intended, followed it to the corner, took quick bearing toward the boulder, saw George up higher heading to the same place I was. Got to the control a few secs after him. Brian beat me 1:38 to 1:55.

13. Running hard, saw Marg up ahead and the finish flagging beyond her, so I aimed to the right of her. She eventually adjusted; punched in two secs behind her. Tied Matej (fastest on Red) on this leg, though 5 Blue runners were faster as were Misha (:02) and Tapio (:01) on Green.

F. Had nothing left in the chute.


My route on QuickRoute and on RouteGadget. Note that (like me in real life) my GPS track on QuickRoute seems to miss #10 completely.

Brown Middle - Splits

Boggs Long. With everything seemingly under control, decided to get in a little time in the woods. Walked over to the start at the very end of the start window (11:30+), then walked E on the trail to a spot between Brown #6 and #7, and walked the rest of the course from there.

Intended to stay out of the way of anyone competing. Brian Ellis passed me as I approached 7, but he didn't see me. Marg Ellis came by soon after. Later, I saw Marg several times and also Katie Petersen, but if I was ahead of them I stopped and waited for them to go by (and stopped my watch while I waited).

It was amazing how easy it was to navigate at walking speed and under no pressure. Also amazing how I was getting to the controls at about the same speed as the others. There's a big lesson in there, I'm sure.

#8: 300 (7)
#9: 808 (6)
#10: 201 (4)
#11: 357 (15)

(Numbers in parenthesis are split rankings out of 34 runners.)

Walk from assembly area to start and then to where I started orienteering.

Event: Boggs '14
 

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching.

Boggs Mtn A-meet Sprint Brown. 1.6/75. Early runner (taking time out from being ED). Wore out at the end.

Warm up: .6 mi in 8 mins
Cool down: .3 mi in 6 mins

Quick lunch, then people start arriving to set up the assembly area, etc.

Brown/Orange Sprint - Splits

Drive to Boggs in the afternoon. Getting there seemed pretty easy and relatively quick. Out at the assembly area after dinner at the Boar's Breathe. Meet with Bill and Heidi. Use little flags to mark off the chute and the locations of the epunch and results tents.

Front of house. Just loosening up for Fri's Sprint at Boggs, after a long day of getting everything and everybody ready for the meet. Felt surprisingly good running.

604, 513

Cool down