Training Log Archive: davelevine

Event: QOC Wheaton
 

BP: 104 / 61

Wheaton - Blue
20 Controls, 6.3 km, 120 m

Actual Distance Traveled: 8.0 km

I was a little surprised that there was a blue course, there isn't always a blue course at Wheaton. This one didn't feel long enough to be a blue course, more like a long green or mid-distance red.

To make it a little more interesting I did not take a compass with me. A compass might have helped but I think that it also might have slowed me down a little bit. So I paid a little more attention to terrain features than I usually do and relied on my memories of past experiences orienteering at Wheaton Regional Park.

I only had a couple slips or real big mistakes. The first was when I was headed from 3 (118) to 4 (136). I left the paved trail that passed near 136 much earlier than I should have because I mistook one bend in the trail for another. I should have stuck with the paved trail until I reached the unpaved trail and then turned right or west. Instead I ended up wading through some thick vines for a while as I headed south towards 136. I was headed in the right general direction it was just very slow going.

The second mistake was when I was heading from 7 (129) to 8 (130). I went went right past 130 and kept going. I spotted the big Y but decided to continue heading east until I found 10 (132). Then I knew exactly where I was and that the big Y was indeed the big Y, and then headed west. I found 130 on the second attempt without any trouble.

The weather was great, not too cold and not too warm. There was some mud but not a lot. I worked up a bit of a sweat but I didn't get my feet wet.

At 3 PM I helped with control pickup. It was one of the fastest control pickups I've ever done. I picked up 7 controls and made it back to start in 20 minutes. I doubt that I covered much more than a half mile doing control pickup. The only tricky part was that some of the controls were close together and I got a little turned around between the streams and the trails but the controls were all exposed enough that I didn't lose probably more than 30 seconds to a minute.

Blue - Splits

BP: 107 / 63

Home to Takoma Metro

Crystal City Metro to Office

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Takoma Metro to Home

BP: 99 / 64

Home to Takoma Metro

Crystal City Office to Metro

Office to Crystal City Metro

Takoma Metro to Home

BP: 109 / 67

Home to Takoma Metro

Crystal City Metro to Office

Office to Crystal City Metro

Takoma Metro to Home

BP: 101 / 64

Home to Takoma Metro

Crystal City Metro to Office

Office to Crystal City Metro

Takoma Metro to Home

BP: 97 / 61

Home to Takoma Metro

Crystal City Metro to Office

Office to Crystal City Metro

Takoma Metro to Office