Training Log: GlenT

Parking to the start point for training.

Control pick training on Pond Mountain map, starting from the small pullout on Skiff Mountain Rd. using terrain to the east. Set by Greg A. 3.1k straightline distance with sites marked with ~6” long streamer tape. Focus was on leaving the control in the proper direction but I also used it for compass practice, control site visualization and quickly identifying key features along the leg. Started shortly after Mitch C and just ahead of Janet and later we were caught by Kristen, Bridget and Nathan C - good practice staying focused with other people around. Good running weather with temps in the low 50s.

Back to the car.

Event: 30 Years of Pond Mt
 

Run, walk and jog to the start and generally warming up. Not included is an additional trip from the assembly area to the car and back to get my control description holder.

Green course at WCOC one-day NRE at Pond Mountain. 5.3k, 180m. Nice course by Niels L-O, using some very nice woods. Mostly cloudy, low 60s and some breeze - good running weather.

Some days are good and some are not. Today was definitely in the “not” category. One really bad control, had a contact knocked out and re-tweaked my left ankle. The ankle tweak was only a minor distraction but happened early in the course. Between 7 and 8 a stick caught me in the eye and swept my contact out. I managed to find the contact on my cheek. I spent a few minutes trying to get it back in - it was folded but in the eye so I proceeded to 8 (it’s a distance vision correction and I can still see well enough to move through the woods). After I punched 8 I tried again and succeeded but added another couple of minutes.

The really bad control was the long leg to control 3. Lost map contact, too stubborn to turn around and figure things out, got on the wrong side of a mountain, climbed a lot to get back to where I could figure things out, finally got to a trail (the AT), ran up and down the trail including off the south end of the map (may have already been off the map when I hit the trail), started heading northwest on a compass bearing and ran into the walls about 400m south of the control which I successfully identified. Straightforward navigation from there but lost about 30 minutes exploring areas of the map which Niels hadn’t really intended for us to visit. Did fine on the rest of the course with small bobbles in the circle on 4,5, 6 and 9 but all on the order of 20-30 seconds.

Green - Splits

At Nockamixon SP starting in the Sterner Mill area at the southwest end of the park. Explored the Sterner Mill and High Bridge Trails along the Tohickon Creek then crossed the creek (using the “high bridge”) and ran some of the Quarry trail. Had the official park map and a printout of the OOM for the area. The OOM was significantly more accurate. Official trails were reasonably well marked but the trail names seem to refer to all the trails in the area rather than a linear trail (at one intersection the “Quarry Trail” headed off in four directions). Trails were quite muddy in places, but no falls today. Overcast and about 70F.

4 x ~600m @ 5:00/k pace with ~1 min recovery - on the road. Actual segment was about 580m according to the GPS watch and has an elevation change of about 7m (down for 1st and 3rd, up for 2nd and 4th). Stopped the watch instead of taking a split at the start of the 3rd one, so did some estimating. Splits: 250, 253, 257, 257.