Training Log Archive: pwentz3lIn the 7 days ending Mar 7, 2010:
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Sunday Mar 7, 2010 #
10 AM
Orienteering race (Gateway Grunt) 2:24:41 **** 11.35 mi (12:45 / mi) +2020ft 10:55 / mi
ahr:151 max:174 spiked:20/24c shoes: VJ Falcons
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UcCw4iHbaipsb...
The Grunt. My second foray in to the GOAT style event. I have to say that after two of these events, the first five controls are like trying to hold a cat by the tail and pet it at the same time. There will be screaming, hissing, blood, a period of calm, and relief when it is over.
My game plan.... hold on to interkosmos as long as possible. All started well, and then they said "Go". IK started off like a banshee, the same way he did at the Possum Trot. Straight up a hill. We were #1 and #2. Turn and bolt for #2, still in the first 5. Then route choice came in to play. We terrained to the road, discussing whether to skip CP 3. We ran into Andy Dale and Justin B. as soon as we hit the road and started to follow on their tails. Right.... We watched their easy running styles glide ahead as they approached the control, but they were a little low, bobbled slightly and we started to gain on them. Of course we then turned toward #4 and they were gone again. I was sticking with IK fairly close. We had a group of blue shirts running together including Tom and Ian. Molly was with us for a brief period. All were discussing potential skips.
After 5, I tried to convince IK to take the trail to 6, but he shot off cross country and I fell in behind Tom and in front of Ian. I lost the map going to this control. Luckily I could follow as runners were everywhere. We made some passes and were still doing well. We caught glimpses of IK at 6 and 7, but didn't see him again until the finish. Somewhere in here we lost sight of Tom, but picked up Charlie from CAOC. It was now Ian, Charlie and I in a loose pack, still running our own course, wondering how things would shake out. I regained the map going on the way to 7, then used the ridge to get to the trail on 8. It wasn't necessary as the reentrant wasn't that large, but I figured I better start navigating or I would find myself in no man's land. 8 was a fairly easy find, but my route put me slightly behind Ian and Charlie. Coming to the hilltop towards 9, Ian and I went right, Charlie went left, and I don't remember seeing him again. I followed Ian for a bit and lost the map again. I remember yelling to Ian, "have you punched 9?" just as he reached down for the control....
Ian and I were now together. We drifted a little south towards 10 and found ourselves in some thick stuff. A hop to the south side of the stream and we were moving again. What followed was a spike fest. The next 13 controls came easy. A little discussion, a little slower, but good solid shared navigation. I questioned Ian a little and he questioned me a little, but good partnering throughout.
Then came the sprint to the finish.... We agreed on the way in to 26, that neither one of us would try to burn the other one off. I took a bit to come to that end, as neither of us had much energy to speak. We punched 26, no problem, then set off at 90 degrees east of where we should have gone. We had a nice catch, but didn't realize our error until we had an "O-sh**" moment when we found ourselves almost back at the start. We stumbled and mumbled our way back to the finish where Ian sniped me for a win by a fraction of a second.... :-)
Good for a top 33% finish. Lots of good runners. Great performance by the MNOC crew. 6 out of the top 12. First place in Mens and Womens Open category.
** I was talking with Andy Dale post race. He wanted to know if the MN crew always started races in that manner? He pictured a moderate jog to #1 as people reviewed maps and skips, not the all out sprint, inflicted upon us by IK. I told him it was my experience that this was common. I didn't tell him it was only my second GOAT"
The Grunt. My second foray in to the GOAT style event. I have to say that after two of these events, the first five controls are like trying to hold a cat by the tail and pet it at the same time. There will be screaming, hissing, blood, a period of calm, and relief when it is over.
My game plan.... hold on to interkosmos as long as possible. All started well, and then they said "Go". IK started off like a banshee, the same way he did at the Possum Trot. Straight up a hill. We were #1 and #2. Turn and bolt for #2, still in the first 5. Then route choice came in to play. We terrained to the road, discussing whether to skip CP 3. We ran into Andy Dale and Justin B. as soon as we hit the road and started to follow on their tails. Right.... We watched their easy running styles glide ahead as they approached the control, but they were a little low, bobbled slightly and we started to gain on them. Of course we then turned toward #4 and they were gone again. I was sticking with IK fairly close. We had a group of blue shirts running together including Tom and Ian. Molly was with us for a brief period. All were discussing potential skips.
After 5, I tried to convince IK to take the trail to 6, but he shot off cross country and I fell in behind Tom and in front of Ian. I lost the map going to this control. Luckily I could follow as runners were everywhere. We made some passes and were still doing well. We caught glimpses of IK at 6 and 7, but didn't see him again until the finish. Somewhere in here we lost sight of Tom, but picked up Charlie from CAOC. It was now Ian, Charlie and I in a loose pack, still running our own course, wondering how things would shake out. I regained the map going on the way to 7, then used the ridge to get to the trail on 8. It wasn't necessary as the reentrant wasn't that large, but I figured I better start navigating or I would find myself in no man's land. 8 was a fairly easy find, but my route put me slightly behind Ian and Charlie. Coming to the hilltop towards 9, Ian and I went right, Charlie went left, and I don't remember seeing him again. I followed Ian for a bit and lost the map again. I remember yelling to Ian, "have you punched 9?" just as he reached down for the control....
Ian and I were now together. We drifted a little south towards 10 and found ourselves in some thick stuff. A hop to the south side of the stream and we were moving again. What followed was a spike fest. The next 13 controls came easy. A little discussion, a little slower, but good solid shared navigation. I questioned Ian a little and he questioned me a little, but good partnering throughout.
Then came the sprint to the finish.... We agreed on the way in to 26, that neither one of us would try to burn the other one off. I took a bit to come to that end, as neither of us had much energy to speak. We punched 26, no problem, then set off at 90 degrees east of where we should have gone. We had a nice catch, but didn't realize our error until we had an "O-sh**" moment when we found ourselves almost back at the start. We stumbled and mumbled our way back to the finish where Ian sniped me for a win by a fraction of a second.... :-)
Good for a top 33% finish. Lots of good runners. Great performance by the MNOC crew. 6 out of the top 12. First place in Mens and Womens Open category.
** I was talking with Andy Dale post race. He wanted to know if the MN crew always started races in that manner? He pictured a moderate jog to #1 as people reviewed maps and skips, not the all out sprint, inflicted upon us by IK. I told him it was my experience that this was common. I didn't tell him it was only my second GOAT"
Saturday Mar 6, 2010 #
10 AM
Orienteering race (Hawn Red Course) 32:57 **** 2.94 mi (11:13 / mi) +345ft 10:05 / mi
ahr:153 max:170 spiked:8/13c shoes: VJ Falcons
http://picasaweb.google.com/pwentz3l/STLAMeet#5447...
Great course on a great day. After looking at my GPS track, I see I have a few things to work on. #1, set the GPS to not auto pause when doing an O meet. Every time I paused to look at the map, it stopped tracking. 3.5 minutes of time missing from the track.
Started on the path to one, which seemed to take a long time when running down the trail. They had it hidden past a small rise. I punched and headed to #2, and felt like I was on the map. I ran in to Foxshadow about 75 meters from the control, he had an unfortunate start. I felt in touch with the map, made a minor adjustment to the control and we headed to three together. We countoured, but got a little low. Another adjustment, this one more major, but not horrible. 4 was an easy find, and I felt confident going in to 5. Navigating off of the shallow spur. 6 was another easy one, but not on the blue course, so FS and I parted ways. I tried a mix of countouring while attempting to find the path towards 7, didn't do either very well. I ended up bobbling this control, not horribly, but enough to shake the confidence. I managed 8 well, but chose a horrible route to 9. Why head in to the undergrowth, when you had a nice clean spur to follow? 10, simple, and then the slog to 11. Fairly large hill to cross. Another bobble. I was cresting the hill, saw FS sprint right to left in front of me and went to investigate where he came from. I had a straight path to the control, but was drawn away. My bad. I had a good plan for 12, but the plan included a poor route choice. A path run to the 90 degree NW turn, then run the south reentrant until I was comfortable contouring around the spur. I think all of the cliffs scared me off. The better choice was to take the reentrant north of the hilltop near 12.
All in all, this wasn't a horrible run on my part, definitely not clean, but no major gaffs. I took first in 40+. I was also last in 40+...... The only other persons in the age group both ran 21+. One winning, and the other having fun. This would have probably been good for 2nd.
Great course on a great day. After looking at my GPS track, I see I have a few things to work on. #1, set the GPS to not auto pause when doing an O meet. Every time I paused to look at the map, it stopped tracking. 3.5 minutes of time missing from the track.
Started on the path to one, which seemed to take a long time when running down the trail. They had it hidden past a small rise. I punched and headed to #2, and felt like I was on the map. I ran in to Foxshadow about 75 meters from the control, he had an unfortunate start. I felt in touch with the map, made a minor adjustment to the control and we headed to three together. We countoured, but got a little low. Another adjustment, this one more major, but not horrible. 4 was an easy find, and I felt confident going in to 5. Navigating off of the shallow spur. 6 was another easy one, but not on the blue course, so FS and I parted ways. I tried a mix of countouring while attempting to find the path towards 7, didn't do either very well. I ended up bobbling this control, not horribly, but enough to shake the confidence. I managed 8 well, but chose a horrible route to 9. Why head in to the undergrowth, when you had a nice clean spur to follow? 10, simple, and then the slog to 11. Fairly large hill to cross. Another bobble. I was cresting the hill, saw FS sprint right to left in front of me and went to investigate where he came from. I had a straight path to the control, but was drawn away. My bad. I had a good plan for 12, but the plan included a poor route choice. A path run to the 90 degree NW turn, then run the south reentrant until I was comfortable contouring around the spur. I think all of the cliffs scared me off. The better choice was to take the reentrant north of the hilltop near 12.
All in all, this wasn't a horrible run on my part, definitely not clean, but no major gaffs. I took first in 40+. I was also last in 40+...... The only other persons in the age group both ran 21+. One winning, and the other having fun. This would have probably been good for 2nd.
2 PM
Orienteering race (Hawn Sprint) 23:04 **** 1.81 mi (12:45 / mi)
ahr:144 max:179 shoes: VJ Falcons
I forgot to turn off the GPS for several minutes. Actual time is reflected in the splits.
Friday Mar 5, 2010 #
Orienteering race (Forest Park Sprint) 18:17 [4] ***
spiked:14/16c shoes: VJ Falcons
Fun sprint in Forest Park. I anticipated an open run on rolling terrain, but got a heavily wooded tromp with a few good challenges.
3 PM
Running (warm up) 10:00 [2] 0.75 mi (13:20 / mi)
shoes: VJ Falcons
Run around with Tom, Darryn and Andrei.
Tuesday Mar 2, 2010 #
Running (Intervals) 53:00 [3] 6.33 mi (8:22 / mi)
shoes: Newtons
Interval run. 10 minute warm up and cool down at 9 min/mile.
5 1k intervals at 6:15/mile
4 .25 mile rests at 10/mile
5 1k intervals at 6:15/mile
4 .25 mile rests at 10/mile
Monday Mar 1, 2010 #
Note
The last local "beginner" biathlon session is this Sunday in Elk River. Looks like the MNOC folks going to STL will miss it. There is an event at Mt. Itaska the following weekend. I think I will wait until next year.
Soccer 25:00 [3]
Full compliment of subs, so we didn't get as much training time. Sloppy 3-1 win. Got the first goal. Embarrassing toe kick.