Training Log Archive: PG

So a look at my mistakes today, and why they happened --



To the 3rd control -- the plan was to cross the trail, go along the first line of marshes, angle down to the second line, go to the end of that, and the control would be looking right at you. What happened:

1. Mistake -- Thought I was turning down at the start of the third marsh, but it was actually only the second. So the cliffs I was expecting to see weren't there.
2. Recovery -- In the expectation of seeing cliffs to my right, and not seeing them, I almost kept descending down towards the big marsh. Realized that was wrong. Stopped long enough to figure out I was just left of the elongated knoll.
3. Mistake -- Should have gotten back to the second line of marshes because it was such an easy way to take the control. And easy usually also means fast. But the running looked nice straight ahead.
4. Recovery (sort of) -- Mostly in control, though having to pay attention to keep track of the little knolls.
5. Mistake -- I think I misidentified a pice of rock as the last cliff on the route, when the last cliff was still a little farther. So I went a little more and expected the reentrant and the control to appear, but no sign of them. Looked a little right and left.
6. Recovery -- Went far enough right to see the end of the marsh, and as expected, the control was simple from there.

Doesn't look like much, but I'd guess I blew off at least a minute -- stopping to make sure I didn't go down the bigger slope, then much more intensive map reading (so slower running), then searching early, then a detour to the marsh end. Maybe more than a minute? Things add up.

Morale -- when you have to plan to nicely simplify a control, stick to it.



To the 8th control, the plan was to climb past the green marsh, go east and drop into the reentrant, and follow it down to the first knoll and then the second knoll NE of it. What happened --

Good as far as getting into the correct reentrant and heading down it. But then:

1. Mistake -- My mental image was that I would drop down the reentrant about 100 meters or a little more and there would be a big cliff on my left and a single knoll ahead of me. Down I went. Saw the cliff, saw a knoll, went out on the knoll. And couldn't make sense of things.
2. No recovery.
3. Mistake -- Thinking I was on the first knoll, even though it didn't feel right, I dropped off the NE side to see if my second knoll was there, just not obvious from above.
4. Nope
5. Recovery (pure luck) -- Saw a control between two knolls, didn't think it was mine because....
6. Mistake -- I still hadn't looked at the clue, and I was assuming that the feature was the cliff on the right side of the NE cliff.
7. Recovery -- Went to check the one between the knolls. Hmm, it's mine. :-) And off to #9. Really quite sad.

And how did the problem get started? Simple -- not a discriminating enough mental image of how the terrain lay, meaning, not realizing that the first knoll I was looking for was on a line straight down the line of the reentrant. So when I saw a little bump or two on the right shoulder of the reentrant, I assumed that was the knoll I was looking for, even though they didn't look right at all.

Morale -- when things don't look right they probably aren't. Stop and figure it out. This one cost me a couple of minutes.

Day 2 at the US Champs. A little less skilled than yesterday, lost about a minute on #3 (couldn't get myself to go the last 40 meters) and a couple minutes on #8 (did see something on the map that would have helped, but mainly just didn't think clearly). Just squeaked in under an hour, 5th on the GreenX course, first again in M60.

A very pleasant surprise for the weekend. After getting totally dusted by all sorts of people at the Highlander, my expectations for this weekend were low. I figured making the top 3 in M60 would be possible, but I expected to get trounced by Bob and Jeff and who knows who else. But you never know how things will work out, you still have to find the controls, and I think I found the controls as well (or better) than anyone else on the course.

So that was a lot of fun and a big improvement from the Highlander. But I still have to do something to see if I can get a little running ability back, just on the odd chance that it hasn't permanently disappeared. Because it is so much fun to be finding the controls and also have a little bit of energy.

Way off in the future -- picked up a flier for the JK and the Irish Champs. last 10 days of April next spring. Very appealing, after tax season is over. Never been to either. So perhaps that is something to shoot for.

My course (GreenX, M60).

And my route.

Also scanned yesterday's map, so there's a much better image (see yesterday's entry).

C • JK 3

Day 2 Green X - Splits