Training Log Archive: elavallee

Event: WCOC - MTBO Huntington State Park
 

Much easier knowing where all the controls are.

C • thanks 2

Over 3 hours for 5.9 k straight line. Yikes! And I won't be that surprised if Joe needs to move some controls a bit. PG is right that it is more difficult to set a control that has not already been set as opposed to stumbling onto one that someone else already figured out where it needed to be. It is interesting to try and interpret the map, but I wonder how much it might improve my skills. Of course, I probably need to do a lot more of it before I could make that determination.

I felt better today, knowing I had the freedom to take the time I needed on the course. I did reasonably well getting to controls 1-4. I followed the logging cuts to 2 and at one point I realized I was on one I did not intend because I crossed a stream. So I cut through the woods over to another one and followed it into the control. The leg from 4 to 5 did not go well. Looking at my route, I see that I did a good job of pace counting, but not so good on my bearing. My other mistake was after I knew I had gone far enough I tried reading the features of the map to see where I had gone wrong. I think looking at it now, I should have just taken bearings perpendicular to my original route and resolved to search maybe 50 meters each direction. Instead, I got away from the control trying to make sense of the terrain and after too long decided to go to the trail to relocate. 5 to 6 went well as I followed the stream into the re-entrant. The route from 6 to 7 looked too long for me to reliably use only pace counting and bearing to hit it, especially after what happened on the way to 5. So I went south to a stream and used it as a hand rail until I found a good spot to attack the control. Again from 8 to 9, I took the safe route along the trail going extra distance, but moving faster than if I tried to go through the woods. I am pleased with how the leg from 9 to 10 went. When I looked at it, I was concerned, but it turned out was able to keep good contact to it. A bit more of a mistake trying to find 11 as I had trouble finding the logging cut I wanted at a junction just less than 75 meters from the control. The rest of the course went alright.

Thank you again bl and jj for vetting. And thanks to whoever put Merick to work on Sunday. He really enjoyed taking the bike down the hill from the start. I am grateful to the orienteering community for being supportive. It was great to be able to have the confidence from Deb the registrar that Merick would not be a burden while I was out bumbling around on the course. Valerie made last minute changes for us. I even got an offer from Charlie to shadow Merick at a future event if need be. It made for a really good experience and Merick and I both want to do more.

Day 2 - Red - Splits

Event: UNO Boulder Dash
 

This was very challenging navigation. Merick and I were still a little uncomfortable after Pawtuckaway, so he asked to be shadowed. I also thought since it was his first A meet, it would be good to go through the process with him to facilitate his learning it. So after I took so long and had not yet found control 5, I realized I would not finish in time to make his start time. Even though our start times were 2 hours apart!

Merick and I both agreed on the way up that he would not ask me any questions on the course and that he would pretend that I was not there. It worked out well, he doesn't really need a shadow and we both realized that after his run. Thank you Valerie for changing Merick's start time for Sunday.

Day 1 - Red - Splits

Event: CSU Lynn Woods Event #3
 

Great day to be out.

Event: 2013 Nationals (Hamilton, CANADA)
 

The run felt right this morning. Now, I need to go sign up for UNO!!

Event: WCOC - Sessions Woods
 

I am disappointed with how this race ended up. Charlie and Bill set a really good course, it was my navigating that was disappointing. I have come to the conclusion that I am not doing enough post race analysis. Maybe it is because I don't really know how to do a good post race analysis that I have not been doing it up to this point. But I have decided that I am going to try anyhow.

I thought that I had started out well in the early part of the course, moving at a good pace with few errors. I fell apart by the end. I feel like I spiked controls 1-5. My route choice to 1 was to get just over the top of the hill while on the trail and then turn in and try to follow the terrain and compass into the control. When I got to the stone wall I noted that I needed to change direction and that worked well. On the way to control 2, I knew I needed to go past the first large re-entrant and I followed the hillside into the control. To control 3 I used the trail until I got back around to the mouth of the large re-entrant and then turned in to attack it. I mostly followed the terrain up to 4 and then on to 5 as well. Leaving 5, I thought I might use the trail. I thought I might have come across it, but I dismissed it and then later realized that I had missed it, so I decided to run alongside the marsh. I decided afterward that it had been the better alternative because the running was easy through there. I made a slight mistake in going past where I needed to for 6, but I felt confident once I realized it, and I think I realized it quickly. There was no alternative but the trail around to 7. I used the trail junction as an attack point. On the way to 8, it seemed a bit green in terms of vegetation where I was in the marshy steam bed, so I headed south a bit to get out of it, but then I saw the cliff across the stream bed and I adjusted my heading again. Going into 8 I made a poor choice of attack point as I ran up the trail past the cliff and then to the control. That was where I had seen Pavlina and I knew that she had come straight up the green so it must not have been that bad. She had started after me some time and had already caught me. I decide to get some water at the control, but I maybe I should have only had one cup as I took probably over a minute at that control.

From this point on I started to feel that my navigation got weaker. I don't know if it was that I started to get fatigued, or if it was the psychological effect of getting overtaken so easily. I approached 9 slowly as I struggled to keep contact. But at some point I realized that I was too close to the cliffs and then found the control. Going away from 9 I note that I was moving slowly again. I admit that I had lost contact but I started to rely on my compass more to get to the trail. Maybe I should move more quickly even when I am unsure of my location. My fear is usually that I will get more lost faster! When I finally did get to the trail and came around the corner, I saw the huge cliff on my right and I knew right where I was at that point. I quickly decided that following the other cliffs around would be the best route to finish 10. I briefly lost the trail en route to 11, and then I hunted around for a while to find the flag among all the large chunks of rock that had me confused. I did alright to twelve by following the terrain down until it got flat and then kind of looking for the stream to turn away. However, I left twelve in the wrong direction. I wanted and thought that I was travelling up the re-entrant that ran more south-south-west. The vegetation did not seem that green to me on the way up. This turned into a larger disaster for me. when I got to the trail, I thought I was much further to the west of the control. When I turned off the trail, I was quite confused for a while and again moved slowly. I did somehow manage to figure out where I was and even picked up the smaller trail that led to the control. Control 14 seemed fine by attacking off the trail junction again. 15 was fine. Control 16 was my largest mistake of the whole race and I wish that my watch battery had not died so I could see what I else I had done wrong. But if you look at my route, I made a poor choice of attack point as I did not think to get to the trail junction again, but instead relied on reading the terrain. I did not notice, however, that there was a hill to the east and that was the one I had passed, not the one further west that I really wanted. I don't have the rest of the track, but even after relocating the first time, I did not find the control. I had to relocate a second time and then got it. I don't know why that was so difficult for me, but I really felt like I could not find any contact with the terrain and finally had to use a compass bearing to get to the control. After that, I found 17 without any trouble.

In looking at Quickroute, I note what seems to be a long time entering and leaving controls. In good cases, on the order of 30 seconds, but sometimes 50 seconds. This seems to indicate a problem with flow. Again with twelve, I did not plan ahead which direction I should be heading out of the control. And it seems as though I did not pay attention to my compass after that. I am going to check for some specific training that can help me to relocate faster as well. If anyone else has suggestions on what I might do to improve with training, I would be glad to hear it.

C • Don't feel bad 7

Red - Splits