Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: Quidditch-Orienteering
 

I ran two 45 minute Quidditch-O games as part of the inaugural Quidditch-O competition. In the first game, I was a beater, and in the second, I was a snitch. Both positions were of trivial significance to the score (in the first, I collected four streamers of about 55 for our team of five people, and in the second, I collected five streamers), but I got good exercise. It turned out that the chaser position was by far the most potent; snitches and beaters were largely irrelevant. The scores were in general very close. In attendance were Lori, Ross, Jeff Schapiro, Vadim/Nick, Les, Dean, Vanessa/Keith, Vanessa's friend John, and the unsinkable Jenny Rood.

Retrieving controls. This was mostly trail running, really.

Setting controls with Lori and Ross for the Quidditch-O event on 9 August at Prospect Hill park in Waltham. I was actually out for almost 2.5 hours, but I spent much of the time writing numbers on streamers (I set 78 streamers) and tying knots. To my displeasure, I was repeatedly bitten by insects. The Mudclaws are excellent.

I'm reluctant to count this as orienteering training because while I was using a map, the activity scarcely counts as preparation for anything in orienteering races.

Contour-O - Splits

Pia set a training course at the Blue Hills as part of the CSU summer training series. The objective of this course was to focus on reading contours and paying attention to features around you; on much of the map, all the features except the contours were removed.

The exercise was very difficult; the map reading and the terrain were difficult to negotiate. I gave blood earlier in the day, though it's unclear how it affected my performance. I ran into Ross a few times because the complexity of the map exercise negated his speed.

I think my recent Catching Features activity lately has been helpful, as Mark Webb posited, because the maps that I've run in Catching Features require attention to contours in particular. Anyway, Pia likes these sorts of training exercises (and they have merit), so hopefully I will get more chances to orienteer on contour only maps.

A late night run. I ran shirtless, which while vaguely discomforting gave very pleasant ventilation. I contemplated Slutsky's equation and various partial derivatives of utility, expenditures, and demand functions. Breathing was 3/3 for most of the run, but I started singing the 4/4 intro credits song from Casino Royal and switched to the obvious simple meter - 2/2.

C • Why did you do this inexpli... 15

Catching Features. After running three single player courses, I stumbled upon the online competitions and quickly discovered how difficult Catching Features can be. I ran two courses on extremely confusing and detailed European terrain, and finished in the last few places. I was checking my map every few seconds; I recognized Robbie Anderson of Canada. I was improving; I finish 67/88 on the first course and 41/63 on the second, though most of the people I beat were DNF'ers.

Greg Walker is the man.

C • For sure he is! 2