Training Log Archive: Gswede

Just signed up for M-Elite at the Maximus Orienteering Meeting west of Madrid in mid-February. There's currently 78 foreign competitors in the M-E Class, and 1 Spanish competitor. Most Spanish orienteers don't sign up until a week before the event. So there should be about 40 to 50 more people signing up before the actual event.

That's going to be a long start window.

2xAdonis

Drove out to Crystal Lake Ski Center today, but the final hill was way too icy. My car started to slide back while I was accelerating. While I was stuck, a pickup came sliding down the hill and just missed me.

So I said screw this. Went back to the church further down the hill, parked the car, and ran the rest of the way in.

They had just enough snow to make skiing possible, but, in their words, the trails were rolled, not packed. I was digging in for a lot of this. There was also a lot of uphill, but I did say I wanted to practice. So I can't complain.

Really cool trails actually and it looks like it could be a fun place for orienteering in warmer weather.

Very glad I didn't try to drive up. I probably could have made it up the hill, but the downhill is what concerned me.

This concern was validated when I saw an SUV in a ditch just off the road while running down. And it wasn't there when I ran up.

Event: 2020 Anza-Borrego Desert Orienteering Festival
 

Much less snow than forecast, which seems to be a trend that I've read about in other places...

So no snowshoes, just slow, slippery running.

I strongly dislike the practice of exchanging US uniforms with the current design. It is okay when we have a new team uniform and you'd like to exchange the old one. But when many around the world have our shirt, it takes away most of the meaning from earning your spot on the US team, at least in my opinion.

Case in point:


That is a photo of a middle-aged Spanish orienteer wearing our uniform in a training session in Spain. I know this person and he is a good man, but that's not the point. The point is that the value of earning a US jersey is lost because there is such an obsession with exchanging jerseys. This is true when both orienteers in other countries wear our current uniform and Americans who have never been on a US team wear the jersey anyway.

There are times when I go to a national event in the US and it feels like half the participants are wearing the current US team jersey. I would personally like to see much more respect for our uniform and what it means. By all means, reach out to other countries' teams and try to make friends, but preserve the value of our team. Trade old jerseys or the affinity wear.

Checked out one of the Aston Mountain courses. Hiding the location until I've received all the submissions for the course contest.

As expected, it is rugged. Rocky ground, blueberry, steep slopes. Really tough terrain.

Short because yesterday went longer than planned. Slow because of all snow blowing in my face. Substantial storm blew in and I couldn't see una mierda.

1xCharon

I had planned on doing two sets, but the knee I hit on a rock in Nescopeck started to hurt. So I cut it. Ain't nobody got time for knee injuries.

So there's this one map of state forest 15 minutes from my house. I've mapped it with high-density data and put in as many features as I can reliably add. But I'm a bit stumped when it comes to designing courses there. So I figured why not have some fun with it?

Aston Mountain Course Setting Contest:
1. Download the image from this link by clicking on the three vertical dots in the upper right and then on download. It is at 1:10,000 and the resolution is 300 dpi. The area is bounded on the north, east, and west by the roads and on the south by the purple line.
2. Set a middle distance course that I could complete in 40 minutes. Start and finish are completely open.
3. Email me your course as a PDF or JPG by next Wednesday, January 22.
4. I will post the submitted courses on here and create some way to vote on them.
5. The winner will be decided by popular vote.

Terrain notes:
This terrain isn't what you might consider the ideal middle distance terrain, but I have see interesting courses made on similar maps. So I'd like to see everyone's creativity. The terrain is very runnable for the most part. Although the steep sections tend to be very rocky.

The green on the map is generally Hemlock, which is low visibility but still reasonably runnable.

Google Street View: about 30m northwest of the parking area.

2x20 minute tempo with a 5 minute jog in between. This is a good place for a tempo because of the rolling hills, but man my legs are still heavy from the weekend.