Training Log Archive: tdgood

North American Champs: Tahoe California, Sagehen

ran 4.3 miles

S-1: I got messed up right out of the start because the start triangle and course line hid the ride. I thought I was on the lower ride so when I contoured around and got to the area for 1 I was way high. I lost at least a minute if not more trying to figure things out.

1-2: Uphill. I couldn't breath going up the hill but tried to keep moving. I thought I was looking for a ditch so was very surprised when I came to my control with no ditch.

2-3: I saw the trail run option but decided to take more direct approach. Unfortunately I go stupid part way through and started looking for the control way too early. Once I realized what I had done, I continued on and went right to the control. Lost another 2 minutes.

3-4: Opted again not to take the trail route but in hind sight I think it would have been faster. Contoured around, crossed dry stream bed and climbed. I though I went through the green patch but apparently it wasn't on the map. So I cut up to the wrong rocks. Since the control could have been hidden in the rocks I went all the way up to the wrong cliff. No control, then cut over to the correct cliff. Lost another 3 minutes. I am just bleeding time. Passed Paul Hession at control.

4-5: No problems. Down the hill to top of spur then cut into the control.

5-6: Straight. Just run to the stream areas. Passed Nadim Ahmed at Control. He stopped for water, I didn't.

6-7: Straight. I was little low but not time lost.

7-8: This was my bonehead control. I should have been a gimme but I went brain dead. I dropped down instead of contouring to the control. So I was lower on the trail then expected. I ran to where I though I could see the bend in the trail but was no where near it. I cut into the woods and ra right to a boulder with a control that wasn't mine. Said High to Max Ahmed who was at the control also. I then wandered a bit trying to make sense of things. After wandering for too long I ran back to the trail, realized I was way off, corrected to ran to the control. Time lost: 5 minutes.

8-9: Straight. I was to far north so lost a little bit of time and was very hesitant.

9-10: Straight over hill right to the control.

10-11. Barrel down the hill to the control. I see Nadim ahead of me again.

11-12 Up the road and passed Nadim as we left the road. Very tired and trouble breathing going up the road. Dumb control. Would have been better to have the advanced courses go directly to the finish.


So overall, way to many mistakes. Attackpoint is right that I lost about 12 mintutes. Getting rid of any of the larger ones would have moved me up a lot in the standings. Still managed to be 2nd North American.

C6 - Splits

C10 - Splits

Event: 2023 North American Orienteering Championships
 

C6 - Splits

Morgan Territory, Livermore California.
I don't have my map on me so can't fully digest things.
I ended up going 5.28 miles and 500m of climb. Quite a bit more than the listed length and climb.

I have run here before and done well so I was looking forward to this run. Weather wise, it was very different from the recent events. Recent events were in the 50-60's and largely overcast/foggy. Todays event was in upper 70s (80's by the end) and very dry and very sunny. It was comfortable standing in the shade but hot as soon as you get in the sun. I put water on the head to stay cool but it was dry by the time I started. Saw a coyote while waiting at the start.

S-1: Up the start control, and ran hard down the road, cutting corner. Cut over to control but was too low. I was at the lower rocks by the road so lost time having to cut back up the hill. Some time lost but I still felt good about the first leg.
1-2: Ran hard. Not sure my compass was point north. I started across the clearings in the wrong direction then my compass corrected so I had to cut back. Fine to control. Did hesitate a little before it.
2-3: Picked the left route. Along the clearings, around the stream down the spur. I figured I would run to the green forest which didn't exist. I ran the distance to a set of boulders and there was no control. There was someone else also wandering around there. I then started the long process of trying to determine where I was. First I went down further. I could see the fence so I too low so I cut back up. I couldn't read the vegetation (there wasn't a forest area. it was open with scattered trees and some fallen debris so not mapped correctly) and there were a lot unmapped rock so I couldn't tell what was what. I finally said, I in not the right area so cut over to another spur. I think there was another unmapped reentrant which kept throwing me off. I went east and eventually hit the trail where it bent by the fence crossing. So I knew exactly where I was. Went in again and still didn't see the control. Instead of wandering I decided to head to 4 then come back from there. On the way I saw a control on a cliff so relocated on that. Still couldn't find the control. Went east again, hit the trail and went back to the bend I had already been at. Attacked again and this time there was control in plain view. It was so obvious that I wonder if it had previously fallen down and someone had rehung it. The race, and the western champs were over so at this point I didn't push the pace. Plus, I had expended a lot of extra energy doing extra climb and distance and getting more dehydrated.
3-4: At this point the race was over so I was no longer pushing it. Cut up and over. Got to far north and had to cut back to the reentrant. I was standing in the reentrant but couldn't see the control. It was hidden in a little gully and behind a tree from where I was standing.
4-5: Took the left route. No problems. Did
5-6: No problem on this control. From my direction I could see it from a long way off, but not when I got close to it.
6-7: Cut up to the trail. Along the trail a little bit to get around the stream/gullies. Cut through the woods. I drifted more right than I meant to. I hit the fence. I rolled under the fence and while trying to get back up got a hamstring leg cramp. That was true indication that I was dehydrated and tired. I stretched it out a bit then tried to start going down the steep hill but with my leg threatening to cramp again was very slow. About 100 metes past the fence I twisted my bad ankle again. DOOOH! not a good day. Finally got down the hill. Control was easy but when I got to the tree trunk the control was hidden between the trunk and the fallen tree.
7-8: So glad there was water. I was beat and dehydrated. I had to open a new jug and then there was no hold/grips on the jog to pour it into a cup. I finally just leaned it over and because it was full was able to get a cup full. That one cut was great. I probably should have taken more but I was worried there may not be enough for other competitors later. Had I felt better I would have taken the upper trail route. Because I was beat I opted for the lower and more important, shady route, along the stream. I could jog the flat areas but when the trail started climbing I couldn't run. I walked and tried to just keep walking. There were two people in front of me who didn't look in better condition than I was. Once turned out to be Dasha which gave me a mental boost when she said "WHOOOSH" as I walked by (it is an inside joke). Passed the other guy who was having to take breaks along the trail. Instead of taking the trail all the way to the stream and cutting up, I cut the angle up the slope. The hill was very steep, and was so tired and in danger of cramping that I couldn't get up the hill. I would crawl a few steps up and often slide back down. I had to stopped repeatedly to rest. At one point I took my heart rate, since I wasn't doing anything else standing there and it was over 160. I finally made it up the hill and contoured over to the reentrant. I had to go into the reentrant in order to get past the fence. There was a large gap in the fence in the reentrant and I wasn't about to climb under after last time. Went right to the control. The buy I had passed earlier was right behind me.
8-9: angled up towards the trail. Others were following an unmapped animal track and following the contour. It was tough for me to get to the trail being more uphill. Once I got on the trail I was able to do very cautious jog part of the time
9-Fin: hobbled/walked down the trail

C8 - Splits

The only control I screwed up was #24. I started off correctly but then screwed up. I ended up hitting the road west of the pond then had to run around the pond. Peter Goodwin beat me on that leg.

Issues:
*circles and lines not cut. Several of which cover or partially cover trails needed to navigate by. This made it harder to interpret things at speed.
*There wasn't a middle course. It was just a double length sprint. Actually a better sprint than yesterday.
* I had good starting instructions on what to follow to the start triangle but I heard at least one later person didn't get any.

* Course C7 (M55): Road crossings were a little awkward but maybe not avoidable. First one came so fast that it wasn't evident it was crossing that you could rest on. Second one the crossing guard wasn't paying a attention.
** Control 4 was useless. Course should have removed this control.
** course line between 11-12 went right through 8 so when I got to 8 I started heading to 11 which was more natural.
** One the way to #18 I ran the field and the sprinklers were on. I had to run through the sprinklers.
** #20 dogleg.
** #25 re-entrant was in forest but when approaching from the top it was covered in flowers so you can't see the grounds so should have been some sort of vegetation on the map. I had to circle the re-entrant to get around to the bottom and then run up to the control from the bottom.

Map issues:
* go control is listed as forest corner but there is no forest. Just open scattered trees.
* Other nearby control on Red/Blue course was lone tree in a forest in a field. The problem is there was not forest, just a very large tree in the field so it should have just been on lone tree in a field.
* One of the other trees in the area was cut down but still on the map.
* Vegetation crosses the trails which isn't corrrect. At one point there was indistinct trail that was very small segement through fight. It wasn't clear if the trails ended in the green or went all the way through it. If they have small sliver of white it would have been clear. This was by control #18 on C7 course.

C • "I had to run through the sprinklers" 1

C7 - Splits

Event: CalOFest 2023
 

can't do full writeup yet as results not posted:
Green Course: Sprint Western Champs, Presidio, San Franciso California.

issues: meet info came out late, like the night before the event which doesn't help those travelling to the control.
* Some Chaos at the start. My start group didn't start in our assigned window because the group in front of us was still being processed.
* at least one person started with the another on the same course.
* I started with someone who I think had the same first 4 controls.
* Some controls legs were not appropriate. We two control circles overlapping each other.
* At the finish, they were out of paper for slits down load.
* Printed splits didn't match watch time. Not confired but I heard the finish punches were not in sync and the ones most peope used was off.
* No way to access splits at the event. Now 10:30 pm and splits/results still not posted anywhere.

Good news:
* I had no problems with the conttrol circles/lines not being cut properly.

C • map had alot of out-of-bounds area 1

C6 - Splits