Training Log Archive: dlevine

Mendon Ponds Sprint (ROC Club Sprint #4, but my first)

Start->1: Across the parking lot and through the green; tougher going than I imagined as the slowness was downfall which I hadn't seen at a distance. 1:30

1->2: NE to SW end of swamp/NE end of green; cut through there and could see Anne Schwartz punching. 1:24

2->3: Chasing Anne along vegetation edge. 0:53

3->4: Visible the whole way. 0:40

4->5: Around swamp on road side. 1:00

5->6: Ann veered off right and I caught her at the flag. Mike Lyons caught me here, too. 1:20

6->7: Chasing Mike through the swamp trying to find that "trail". 3:32

7->8: Could somewhat see Mike ahead of me. 1:24

8->9: Up hill in white woods rather than the clearing (that I later learned had a trail). Lost a little time due to deadfall. 1:19

9->10: Could see Tyler coming in towards 9 as I left, but I beat him here. 0:39

10->11: Decided to cut through green rather than going around as it looked open. Tyler did the same and we both discovered that the exit was a bit trickier than the entrance. He found the "good spot" first and beat me to the flag. 1:48

11->Finish: Chasing Tyler. 0:59

7th out of 15. First in M-45 but that's only because Mike Lyons "runs with the big boys". Still, 8:15/km in that heat is pretty good for me.

Mendon Ponds Score-O (75-minute limit)

Start->185: Saw the 50-pointer on the hill near the start with not much around it; figured I should get it early as I headed south - otherwise I would probably miss it. Across parking lot to road junction just N of control and bushwhacked the hill. 3:56

185->192: S on trail and down reentrant to road, across field to game and in from E. 3:41

192->163: S to buildings, poorly through the pine plantation to the road just past the trail in. Didn't realize it and had to attack from the NE. 4:03

163->175: Trail to field to trail to attack from the east; missed left by about ten meters, but saw the control. 3:12

175->186: N to trail and then all the way in. 5:46

186->174: Down trail and up the hill as soon as I crossed the culvert. Saw Dick Detweiler at the bottom of the hill and Anne Schwartz near the control. 5:29

174->194: The plan had been 164 and then 176, but I realized that that would leave me poorly place vis-a-vis remaining flags; thus as I took the trail out to the south, I changed the strategy to grab 194 and then head north. The result was a somewhat circuitous route to 194, but in view of the good strategic decision, this might have been my best leg of the day. 8:27

194->184: N to road to park office complex, across parking lot to trail and in. Long, but easy. 7:09

184->183: Plan was 183 and then 161, 155, etc. and in, but the watch said I had time for more so I reconfigured again. This was a total trail leg except that I cut the corner. Lots of folks near 183. 3:21.

183->165: Down trail as all but two folks went the other way. Up to saddle from trail junction where I found two guys who were confused; I couldn't tell if they were looking for 165 or coming from it. Down the embankment and I couldn't find it at all. Checked field, checked green, was sure I was right and then I saw it about five meters away; it had been screened. 3:46

165->191: Straight to it, but the going was tougher than I expected. Saw someone trying to sneak away as I went in. 2:22

191->193: W to trail, to left fork to yellow ride. "Green" dot on map had me looking for a copse when I burst out and saw nothing but a fire hyrdant with a flag. Looked at map to relocate and checked clue. It says "Well", not "Copse". Blue dot in yellow clearing looked green! 3:27 (Later edit: upon closer examination of the map, it IS green - blue ink on top of yellow?)

193->173: NNW through green slash to trail, aiming off to the right. Down trail to flag. 3:27

173->155: Timing looking good to get both 155 and 156, so I headed S to road, through clearing up trail to bend and then in. 3:17

155->156: Found better route out to trail to road to control. Watch says timing is working. Have over eight minutes to make it back. 5:06

156->162: Heading to finish, go SW hoping to find the "real beginning" to the trail. Not sure it exists, but I made it through the swamp and could see the finish with just over four minutes to go. I knew that I was 1:30 to #162 earlier in the day; if I could do 2 minutes each way, I'd make it. With visions of how badly this kind of logic worked out at Hunters Creek, I repeated my earlier route to the flag. As I punched, I saw one other fellow looking up the hill as he headed to the finish. I hope he already had this one because he walked within five meters of it. 6:38

162->Finish. I had just under two minutes to spare. I cut north to the yellow and took the "low road" back, hoping that I didn't twist an ankle and lose 30 seconds of something. No such problems though as I ran without incident. 1:17

5th out of 28. 610 points. First in M45. Going for the last 20 pointer was key as 6th and 7th place had 600 points. Navigation was generally very good, but the key for the day was strategy. I probably should have skipped 185 on the way out and then I might have been able to pick up another 10-pointer, but in the end it wouldn't have mattered.

Control pickup - Done at a very leisurely pace with Keith Ash.

I dropped Sergei off near his run and then grabbed 193 as I drove by. Keith updated me about his and Tom Wagar's adventures at Untamed New England as we bagged 173, 155, 161, 188, 170, 156, and 187. Then we couldn't seem to find 169 which was odd since a) I'd been there earlier in the day, b) it was 15 meters from a road junction where our cars were parked, and c) I'd seen it as we left. Obvious conclusion was that whoever picked up parking signs had grabbed it so we wasted no time. (Upon return, obvious conclusion was correct.)

Sprint - Splits

Cutthroat with Lucas and Steve K. I was totally out of it; I wasn't seeing the ball well, my brain was foggy and my shoulder hurt. I played only just well enough to not bias the game between the other two. After the match, Lucas asked me what I had done to my shoulder; given that I hadn't said anything, it must have really been showing.

Game 1: We all started slowly and it was 5-6-7 before Lucas just went on a tear and won 9-21-18

Game 2: Was tied at 4, but Steve really pulled away before fading. Lucas and I came back a bit, but Steve "woke up" and won 12-14-21.

Given how crappy I felt, I can't even be upset about the performance.