Training Log Archive: PG

Event: RHINO night-O
 

A little warm-up, getting cold out.

RHINO at Ratlum Mountain. One of my better night-O's, just a couple little bobbles at 1 and 3, and put out a decent effort. Beautiful night, no snowstorm, no ice storm.

C • Ideal conditions 1

RHINO-long - Splits

My route from last Sunday at Sessions, and my route from today added on (today's is the wider line).

Time to update the control count....

As of November 12: 533

Long sprint at CH: 18
Short: 13
Final: 17
Sessions: 14

Total: 595

Now, if i add in the widely accepted formula for acknowledging the equivalence of time spent mapping (i.e. an hour mapping is worth 10 controls), then I can add another 625 controls, giving a total so far of 1,220. Not bad for an OF. :-)

Stopped on the way home from Litchfield to rerun the course from last Sunday at Sessions Woods, with the plan being that this was running training, not orienteering training, and the goal was to see if I could run the entire way.

Didn't quite make it, had 3 moments of weakness and fairly short ones at that (20-30 seconds each, on 5-6, 7-8, and 11-12), but that was a lot better than last Sunday. So I'll count it as a success, both as a good workout and also as a measure of how much more work needs to be done. It's actually a really nice test loop during the leaves-down half of the year, not that the leaves make much difference but the ferns are also down too, and that makes a good bit of difference. It's a lot less pleasant when you're fighting them, and also can't see what logs and rocks they are hiding. And all the points are at very distinct features, so it's easy to tell that you are at the right place.

Should have been faster than Sunday -- I knew where I was going, plus I could see. Time ended up about 3 minutes faster. Should have been 5 minutes faster, but I really botched the long leg from 11-12. All the others I went about the same route, with the exception of 5-6 where I went straight this time (as opposed to around to the right on the trail last time), and straight was definitely faster.

Feeling quite tired when I was done, also quite pleased with myself with having done it.

Red - Splits

Trails starting from the Mill River recreation area in Amherst, including a couple I hadn't been on for decades. River was over its banks after the heavy rain last night, but trails were in good shape. The same could not be said for my legs, felt slow. But another day done. My recollection is that it takes about 3 weeks of feeling like crap before there start being runs that feel OK. And I'm not quite a week in....

This was also where I made my first two O' maps, little black and white things. Have to see if I still have any copies.

Didn't make it out before it started raining reasonably hard, so opted for the treadmill. 1%, miles in 9:44, 8:44, 8:27, 8:27, 8:27. Seemed like a struggle, maybe it was a little warm in the room? Sweating profusely. On the other hand, did what counts as a long run these days.

And as such, needed some entertainment, so I brought the Ipod back from its extended vacation. Fresh Air interview with John Feinstein, a sports writer I've admired, very interesting. The tidbit that sticks in my mind was about Bobby Knight, legendary fiery basketball coach, who was getting on his team for being selfish, that they'd never be any good because of it.

The team, stuck on campus for the holiday, was invited to Thanksgiving dinner by some school official. At practice the next day Knight, after saying how the guy's wife had cooked the whole dinner, and probably cleaned the house both before and after, asked who on the team had called to thank her, or sent her a note, or flowers. Not a hand went up.

Not only point made (as Knight stormed out of the practice), but a moment that Knight considered one of his best in coaching, getting players to think about someone other than themselves, something not easy most of the time. And something that has a lot to do with what sort of team you have.

C • Bobby Knight 1

Same area as yesterday, still a struggle, one day at a time. But better to have it done in the morning than wait until the last bit of daylight. It's still hunting season, but the woods there are very open and there are lots of walkers and so it seems reasonable to run there.

On the west side of South Sugarloaf, mostly trails, a little bit in the woods, a little bit on some very soft fields. Need to do a lot more of this, but this was enough for today.

A very nice weekend -- excellent O events both days, and lots of good social vibes. Enjoyed having a gang of younger folks here for Saturday evening (and a bunch staying the night). We'll have to do it again.

Some photos are here.

Sessions Woods, 6.1 km Red course. About as good as I can do right now. The only time AP shows me losing time is to #8, because I walked a good bit going up the very slight incline. But put out a good effort at the end, though not quite good enough to beat Ian again.

Lost my distance vision contact just after #1, so was like night-O the rest of the way, everything very blurry. But the only one I really had trouble seeing was #9, tucked behind part of an old car, and I could hardly see the bit of car even from quite close. But only made a difference of 10 seconds or so. And I suppose it's good practice. It's certainly happened before and will probably happen again and at least this time I wasn't freaked out, just carried on with orienteering as usual.

Only real problem was getting a stick in the other eye at some point, so it is complaining quite a lot.

The course.

C • you too? 2

Red - Splits