Training Log Archive: MJChilds

Time was 55 something. Did not run as well today, got derailed going to #2 by heading to #7 instead. Actually, it would have helped me to have gotten all the way to #7 since I screwed up #7 later. . .at least I'd have been familiar with it. :{

Had a bobble on #4. Decided tonight that I should wear higher magnification reading glasses next time since I could not read the detail I found myself in on the way to #4. Later, going from 6-7, I saw that there was a trail option, but it was hard to see whether there was any climb or not, so I just went straight--I can see the bold red line! I could also stand still for a few moments and strain to see the map better, but I think I'd do best with better glasses. On #7, I headed SSW until I got to the stream near the control, found my reentrant to locate myself, then headed up over the spur, contouring to save a little climb. Mistake. Got into the bland terrain east of the feature and couldn't find the dry ditch. Had to bail out to the stream again and then head back. Had been about 50 m from control but couldn't see it. Maybe it was behind a tree. The other lesson is to try to hit a short linear feature from the side, not the tip. You'd think I'd know that by now. Not a bad day, but not as good as it could have been.

Brown course did not get into the awesome terrain that everyone is raving about. Will have to go there some other time to experience it. Seemed like a good idea at the time to sign up for Brown.

Beautiful weather, gorgeous fall colors, lots of O friends to visit with. Had fun in Saratoga Springs Sat evening, too.

Great Event. Well-organized. Thanks a bunch to EMPO and especially, the Trysons, Hawkes-Teeters, and the Dominies.

Day 2 Brown - Splits

Event: US Two-day Classic O Championships
 

Approx. time again. Had a pretty good race except for #1. Great course design--only good way to get to #1 was off-trail right from the start. I was a little rough on my compass and wasn't sure where on the stream I was when I hit it. I saw what I thought was a stream junction dead ahead which made me too high, so I crossed it, found the trail, and turned right. When I saw the trail junction ahead, I realized that I needed to backtrack. The "stream junction" was actually the reentrant junction with the stream that I was looking for! A few seconds looking at the map here would have saved me 2 minutes. Drat. It was a gift to end up right where I needed to be and I blew it. Still am not using my compass well. Used baseplate today--not confident with thumb compass still.

Rest of course was pretty clean, but not perfect. No real mistakes, just some hesitations and a wee bit of searching within the circle on a couple.

Great terrain. Fun course.

Day 1 Brown - Splits

Not sure on time, splits are in the car and I'm up here in the hotel room enjoying the warm, dry air and soft bed. :) Finally stopped raining and wasn't an issue during the race, except that the hillsides were very muddy and my glasses got wet. With a 1:5000 map though it wasn't too bad.

Control #1 sucked. Flag was not hung in center of circle, so my route choice which approached from the north into the green marsh turned out to be near impossible, which I learned after two attempts and decided to go around the green. Had I chosen to approach from the south, I'd have come upon the marker which was not in the green at all and which anyone who went that way could see as they approached the point of attack into the green. This got me pretty upset since I lost about a minute--and on a sprint!!! And on the FIRST control!!! The map showed that the map was about 5-10 meters into the green. . .I was pretty upset when I finished, but was able to let it go after cooling down, getting dry clothes on and getting generally more comfortable.

C • Was this the Sprint finals?... 3

C • congratulations! 2

Ran Gov. Chitt w/o Lucy. :(

Was slow, but had to do it since I've not gotten in a real run for a while, plus, it's my birthday so I had to do my annual ritual run.

Beautiful day!!! Temps in 50s, brilliant sunshine.

C • Belated happy day! 1