Training Log Archive: Kseniya

The plan was to not go all out on this one and that is what I did. Fun city sprint. I liked running in the middle of empty streets.

Ran first leg of our relay team of half-ass nerds, consisting of Ian, Wyatt, and Angelica. Very nice forest sprint. I tried to keep up with Cristina and Tori but took my own routes.

This NAOC sprint relay was such a great team bonding event. The atmosphere was so joyful and positive. For the first time it felt like I was part of a team, thankful to have had the opportunity to participate.

Sprint - Course 4 - Splits

Ahh! What difference from yesterday! Such a pleasant surprise this Long race turned out to be. I was worried all morning that this one will be a difficult one but Pia put me at ease by telling me she had a lot of fun out there. I decided to believe her and relaxed a bit. Prior to the start I was alert, calm and focused. Easy #1 but I was careful and read ahead as to how to do the long leg to #2. Decided on the trail route and executed it well, hard on trail, saw #5 from it, mental check, bashed to power line, slowed down after crossing it going in to the control, careful of my location. Caught up to Rachel and Angelica and ran together to #3. Running back to power line on the way to #4 I made a decision to take the trail and got it to it eventually, after fighting through the high grasses on the power line. Cut a bit of distance to the next trail and approached the control from behind. Trail to #5. On the way to #6 I tripped over a barb wire and fell straight into mud. Although it did not bother me mentally, on opposite, kind of felt refreshing in a way, my toes on left foot got really banged up. No mistakes in attacking next few controls. After the map exchange I felt I was getting tired keeping constant focus but kept telling myself to carry on strong. Again, I decided to take the trail to get to #10 (sort of proud of myself considering a few years back I would blatantly refuse to take trails just because I thought they were not a good route choice for my short legs, stupid me). Hit #10 Ok but exited it poorly and had to traverse a marshy stream and climb extra contours on the way to #11. Fine in the control circle. I could tell I'm losing mental strength but fighting it. I read way to much on the way to #12, should have just bashed to open hill with cliffs, and I was also confused getting close to the control circle. Some hesitation on #14 route as well, trail to #15. Strong finish. Happy with my performance. Lost ~ 8 min to Sam but second place at NAOC's is not too shabby.
So the first loop was definitely better, but overall, I felt like I had great contact with the map today. Now just need to learn to replicate this more often.

C • Nice! 6

Long - Course 9 - Splits

Felt rushed prior to the start, used a warm-up to get a sense of the terrain.

I really wanted to do well on this course but it turned out to be a huge fail. Quite disappointed afterwards. But, there are some things that I can improve on next time and they most involve my preparation for a race. First days of an Oing weekend have always been tough for me and I have not done much to address the problem prior. Going out the day before or in the morning to the model would certainly have helped, not necessarily in providing insight into the mapping or terrain styles, but more in terms of preparing my psyche for the races to come. Traveling the day of the race is not working for me, doesn't matter if I'm driving or not.
So in regards to the race itself, this was a very frustrating one because I could not snap out of whatever was preventing me from orienteering properly. It felt like there was some translucency overlaid on top of the map that I could not penetrate through. Of course, the haze was in my head and I could not get rid of it. I tried hard though. After each mistake, and there were many, I would try to concentrate better and really get into the map and terrain, sadly, without success.
There were some issues with the map itself that caused me confusion, such as near the control #4, where the pine forest boundaries were not properly mapped. I lost some time here and only thanks to a West Point girl (I believe her name is Rachel) I was able to find this control.
#7 was a bummer for a lot of people, including myself. I relocated off of the three open areas left of the control but am not actually sure how I got there. #8 I totally messed up because I was not paying attention to my compass. Saw #9 before I got to #8. The rest of the course was mostly Ok.

Middle - Course 9 - Splits

Event: NAOC2014 (North American Champs/Ottawa O-Fest)
 

Couldn't resist going out for a relaxed jog at eagle rock on this beautiful autumn day. About half-way through an old Japanese song from the movie, the Double (recommend for fans of dark humor, Dostoyevsky and Fight Club), lodged itself into my head, and I danced to it on the leaf-dusted trails like the weirdo that I am.

C • Sounds wonderful! 2

I set out to get lost in the darkness of the evening but the brightness of full moon found me. I got lost in it instead while chasing my own shadows.

Verona park