Training Log Archive: cmorse

Event: North American Championships
 

running around the parking area before each of the sprints

Light rain so decided not to push too hard and instead focus on reading well and maintaining map contact throughout. A good run on those counts. First error was on #6, was looking for a distinct trail to turn down but looked like more of a mown strip on the edge of a field to me and I ran past it, then decided to run around on the trail and follow fence - but crappy veg that way cost me 20s probably. Left #7 cleanly with a preordained plan to head S on trial and cut into woods and look for boulder in the light green - came through darker green headed straight for a bag - but there was no boulder, it was in white woods and seemed too close to field right behind it, so I pulled up about 10 feet short and turned around and ventured up into the green on the slope and bashed around for probably 75-90 seconds before coming back down and finding that the flag I had been about to spike was indeed mine after all - and the 0.5m boulder was all of maybe 6" tall... damn... Rest of run just fine.... not fast, but I wasn't planning on being fast after the past couple months.

9th in M45 in preliminary heat. Winsplits

Same plan as before - run clean - because fast wasn't in the cards this weekend. A loop went just fine, maybe a 10s hesitation on 5 when I slowed to look for signs of a spur in the woods before hitting the parking area, then realizing the spur was actually part of the embankment 'in' the parking area. Took the trail to 6, rest just fine

B loop - had to walk the hill up to 12 slightly R of line, got about a line too high before turning into reentrant, hit 15 just fine, but got slowed in a train leaving the control in the thick vegetation - lost 25s trying to get around the traffic jam.

C loop - ok until 21, opted to cut in at the light green and turn W to control, once there it was obvious that there was a sizable gap in the dark green that faster runners went right through (gap probably should have been mapped as such), probably 10s lost on route choice there, then lost my hat coming into 22, maybe 5s to retrieve it. Up into the dark woods to 25 I hit the bag just fine, but it was too dark to see map, so I just beelined to the parking lot where it was light enough to read map, then cut through woods to hit field just E of flag - route choice probably cost 10s, but if you can't see the map to make the right choice.... Sweet, hard run from there to 27 and then in - 19s in the chute, fastest on M45 in the chute (where it counts for exactly nuthin...)

Moved up to 6th overall in M45 Winsplits

Actually studying the splits in Winsplits is pretty revealing - I was in 3rd place in the prelim through control #7 and subtracting my Winsplits calculated errors on #6 & #8 puts my time as good enough for 3rd place overall - so perhaps my 'speed' wasn't really so bad after all. And my overall place improved a couple spots in the last loop in the final. Not as fast as I usually am, but if I ran clean, I could have been in contention.