Sunday Aug 27 |
 | orienteering race (long) 1:35:00 [3]**** 10 km (9:30 / km) +180m 8:43 / km | |
| spiked:16/21c |
| Last race of the COC's and I finished off with a bang. I started out pretty well, wasn't really sure about 2 because I couldn't figure out where I was on the trail so then I didn't know when to cut in, but I found it alright. 3 was right in the middle of really nice running woods which was sweet. 4 I was worried about because 1: I was feeling really tired and my legs hurt, and 2: It was hard to follow along the trail. So again I wasn't sure about when to cut in but I did find it really well despite all of that. Once I got into the white, I could see it perfectly but then I had to wade out back to the trail through the raspberries. 5 was good, it was just by this thicket of trees that did not look friendly at all. Very green!!! 6 I found really easily and then 7 was right on the trail. I hesitated a bit on that one though because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to see it, but you couldn't miss it. 8 was easy because it was in that awesome running woods but 9 I made about a 2min mistake because again, I didn't know where I cut in. I really should work on that, geese. On the way to 10, I had my power gel which helped I guess. The only problem was while I was following/tripping over this fence that went right past the control I fell in this swamp. Up to my elbows I was covered in muck. I was also holding my gel in my hand and that also got covered in mud along with my map and compass. Somehow, I must've gotten it on my face too, because once I'd gotten back, everybody thought that I'd been playing in the mud. :-) Anyways, found 11 fine and then I went off to find 12. Twice, I was running and then 2m ahead of me, this giant brown bird flew up and scared me to death. That's probably why I wasted 3mins trying to find the control. Ok, maybe not, but the field was really hard to wade through and I didn't want to go over to this depression that had an orange "flower" in it which actually ended up being the flag that showed where to put the control. Stupid stupid!!! 13 I spiked so badly!!! I was battling through the green when I come upon the trail. I hadn't thought of this route, but I think that it was the best one by far. Instead of wallowing around in the clearings and green, run along the trail to the bend and then cut in and trip over the control, just like that. Did well on 14, 15, 16, and 17, no mistakes there, a bit more mud, but that's it. 18 is in the middle of all of these depressions, so I tell myself "go carefully and don't mess it up," well of course I do because I got distracted when I got near the control and went past it. Only lost about 1min relocatin though. 19 and 20 were good although since it was near the end, I was reading my map as carefully as I should have so I missed the trail to 21 and almost came to the finish chute. Oops!!! Even though this race was longer than The Forks-of-the-credit race, it didn't feel as long. It felt actually shorter!!! Wasn't a perfect one, but I felt really good about it!!! |
| running 38:00 [3]6.5 km (5:51 / km) | |
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| The usual loop and I felt actually pretty good for once... |
Saturday Aug 26 |
| orienteering race (middle distance) 56:57 [3]*** 5 km (11:23 / km) +155m 9:52 / km | |
| spiked:14/18c |
| What a bad race!!!! The first control wasn't turned on, so that kinda freaked me out a bit but 2 was good. Taking into mind what I had learned at the training camp, I read all of the re-entrants and made it to 3 without any trouble. Same with 4, but 5 I had a bit of trouble on. 6 was good and then 7 was awful!!! I was in exactly the right spot at the top of the re-entrant but I couldn't see the control. So I thought I was lost. Then I ran around for a bit getting myself more "lost" until I got back to the same spot. Then I saw somebody go into the control and cursed at myself!!! 8 I had no idea where I was going, but I said to myself, "ok, once it flattens out, I know I'm right below the control." It flattened out, and I was right!!! Phew!!! 9 and 10 were good, and 11 I ended up going in after the wrong trail, but I soon figured out something was wrong, relocated, and found the control. 12 was a disaster, I ended up at 14... hehe, oops. All of the controls were fine after that and I burned off my anger in the finish chute. |
| orienteering race (sprint) 18:16 [3]*** 3 km (6:05 / km) +60m 5:32 / km | |
| spiked:15/18c |
| I had a much better race today!!! It was fantastic (except for that 5 of the controls weren't turned on.) I only made mistakes on the legs where there were 2 controls really close together. I just ended up closer to one than the other. I felt that I made really good route choices and I was going at a pretty good pace the whole. By control 8, I had Justine and Heather behind me so that kept me going too. I just felt so strong the whole way through and it was awesome running in the white (although, most of the map was green) and I was reading a head a lot. I came 4th, and it felt pretty close to a perfect race. |
Friday Aug 25 |
| orienteering (model event) 50:00 [2]*** 4.5 km (11:07 / km) | |
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| Did part of the model event with Rhiannon and Emily (the first 4 controls) which were pretty good. Had a bit of trouble on 18 because the indistinct trails were pretty hard to figure out. Relocated off of the major trail and found it all right. Then I went off on my own to do 21, 20, 12, 17, and 16. Hit all of them right on because I was working on reading the map in great detail so as not to miss anything. Once I got to 12, I only had 5min to get back to the cars, so I just ran past 17 and 16 instead of actually going to look for them. |
| orienteering race (last speed-o) 5:03 [5]***** 1.1 km (4:35 / km) | |
| spiked:13/13c |
| This speed-o was soooo intense!!! When you go the map, the only thing you could see were lines going EVERYWHERE!!! It was so complicated. They had us going back and forth across the map but it was awesome. You always had to read ahead so that you knew which way to go to get to the next control. Only paused once because I hadn't read a head and another time to check the number. Still a really great race. |
| orienteering (relay) 1:05:00 [3]*** | |
| spiked:5/7c |
| Had another relay except with the training camp. My team consisted of Victoria, Afan, and I. Victoria did the beginner really well and then Afan and I did the advanced and the intermediate. The first one that I did wa inter. and it didn't go too badly. My second one was advanced and I totally messed up the second control. Ended up in the wrong re-entrant, but I was smart, and relocated out on the trail and then nailed the control. The third leg was advanced as well and I just killed it. I knew exactly where I was going, I was fast and I hardly stopped. It was awesome. I don't know where we finished but we had a blast!!! |
Thursday Aug 24 |
| orienteering (2nd training) 1:00:00 [2]***** 4 km (15:00 / km) | |
| spiked:6/10c |
| Did the first 6 controls on my own and I spiked them so badly!!! I was in contact with the map, was determined not to make mistakes where I had made them yesterday, and I only made a small bobble on control 3. Then Mike started shadowing me and I just lost it all!!! It was mistake after mistake!!! I'd know exactly where I was, where I was going, but then when I started, I'd end up totally lost. The only good control after was 10. I did learn a lot though; I learned that I need to read the map to it's fullest so that I don't miss some small re-entrant and think I'm in a bigger one (kind of stupid, but I do it all of the time). And I also worked A LOT on relocation!!! :-) |
| orienteering race (speed-o twice) 9:00 [5]* 2 km (4:30 / km) | |
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| Second speed-o today and it was even more fun. I ran it twice again although some people didn't because the relay was right afterwards. |
| orienteering race (relay at Glen Haffy) 39:17 [3]*** 5.5 km (7:09 / km) | |
| spiked:13/16c |
| My relay team was me (advanced), Ilona (beginner) and Molly (intermediate). So I went out with the mass start and got the 7 first controls pretty much perfectly. Just on 3 I wasted 30 sec looking for the control although people lost a lot more than that because the whole thing was kinda weird. My route choice to 8 was a bit iffy but 9 was good. 10, I came out on the trail and wasn't sure where I was, luckily, it wasn't that hard to figure out and I found it. 11 to the end all went really well although I felt as if I could've run a lot faster. Anyways, got back and Ilona went out. Then Molly and we ended coming in 2nd place in the over 8 category!!! |
Wednesday Aug 23 |
| orienteering (first training) 1:30:00 [1]***** 8 km (11:15 / km) | |
| spiked:6/11c |
| Went with Carol with Jim taking up the rear, so Carol and I alternated controls. We were doing pretty well up until 7. We were hitting the controls really well and then leaving them great, but then we got into the part of the map with tons of re-entrants and spurs!!! 7 and 8 were disasters, 9 was excellent, but when I took over at 10, everything went down the drain!!! Oh ya, the map had the trails taken off, so that made it really tricky, although you just learned to run over them. Anyways, I just totally lost myself within the maze of re-entrants and had to relocate almost at 9 again. Finally found 10, and then 11 was a piece of cake... almost. |
| orienteering (line-o) 30:00 [1]*** 2 km (15:00 / km) | |
| 5c |
| The beginning part of the line-o was on the really subtle part of the map so it was hard to know exactly where you were. I was with Carol again except Mike was with us this time. I think we found 5 controls in all on these features: a knoll, between 2 knolls, the top of a hill, another knoll, and a teacup depression. Only did 1/2 of the course though because we had to get back for the speed-o! |
| orienteering race (speed-o twice) 10:00 [5]* 1.8 km (5:33 / km) | |
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| Did the first speed-o today twice, so actually I was about 5min the first time, and 4 something the second. It was sooo fast because the course was only about 800m, but it was intense. The second time, I did it without a map because it's pretty easy to memorize... that was fun. |
Tuesday Aug 22 |
| orienteering race (COF cup) 50:39 [3]*** 6.5 km (7:48 / km) | |
| spiked:15/18c |
| The race was the THOMASS format, but instead of taking my regular handicap (2) I took the elite one which was 5. So that was a bit of a difference but I still think that I did pretty well. The beginning was really fast but once we got into the box, I was pretty much alone until the last few controls. Didn't make too many mistakes except for a bad route choise to B and then mistaking a clearing for another on 10. And then a giant one on the very last control because I wasn't reading my map. All in all, a pretty good race. |
Sunday Aug 20 |
| orienteering race (score-o @ glen haffy) 1:11:57 [3]*** 11 km (6:32 / km) | |
| spiked:13/21c |
| I think I did pretty well on the score-o, a total of 410 points, and I didn't make too many large bobbles. Had a bit of trouble with 9 because the control was hidden in the raspberries, but 10 was good. On 26 I ended up too far to the right and 24 I just had trouble finding the control even though I knew exactly where I was. I was worried about 27 because it was somewhat of a bingo control, but I could see it even before I got into the green. 25, 23, 22, and 19 I spiked, but 18 I got kind of confused because of the parallel features. 17 and 15 were good, 16 I didn't want to run up the hill in case I went up too far, but the control was up there anyways. On 7, I found a beginner control on the same feature, but fortunately, I pratically tripped over the real 7 on the way to 8. 6 and 4 I was careful on because I didn't want to make a mistake when the cut-off time was so close. Then I messed up 5, I'm still not exactly sure what I did, but I'll blame it on the map. Anyways, 11 didn't go so well either because I lost track of the parallel features. Thankfully, the last 2 I hit so I made it back on time. The only big problem with the race were the burrs. By the first 10mins, the back of my pants were covered in them, so every time I ran, they'd chaf the back of my legs with no mercy. Happy with my race anyways... |
Saturday Aug 19 |
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| Event: Canadian Orienteering Championships Festival
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| orienteering race (long) 1:30:15 [4]**** 8 km (11:17 / km) +255m 9:44 / km | |
| spiked:11/19c |
| Had our 1st race at the Forks-of-the-Credit Provincial Park and for 6.5km as the crow flies it took a very long time. They made us climb this 14 contour hill 4 times!!! Brutal! And then the whole map was pratically open fields that were like wading through water it was so slow. Very physically challenging and pretty good technically too. Usually tried to take the trail around the fields just because it was faster. Came 1st in the F-Elite category which I'm happy with. |
Wednesday Aug 16 |
| running tempo 35:55 [3]6.5 km (5:32 / km) | |
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| Personal best for the longer route. It usually takes us closer to 45min to do that one, but somehow we shaved off 10min!!!! Cramped up a bit and it stayed to whole time, but wasn't as bad as another run. I think I need some more sleep because I felt pretty tired. Almost got run over by bikes and a car, but running under the stars was pretty cool. Couldn't really see where we were going because the cars would blind us as they drove past, but we just kept up that steady middle distance pace the whole way. "Ripped our guts" out at the end which we haven't done in a while. |
Sunday Aug 13 |
| running long 1:11:57 [2] | |
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| Ran some of the trails in Camp Traill, and then went on to the ATV trails that go for kilometers and seem to lead in every direction. Very confusing. There were tons of deer flies, I think that we ran through poison ivy, and I ran through this bush that leaves you with this constant burning in/on your skin. Lovely... it was still a pretty good run though. It felt wonderful to just dive into the lake and be all refreshed afterwards!!! |
Saturday Aug 12 |
| running intervals 50:00 [4] | |
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| Did something different up at the cottage, we made a loop using the trails in Camp Traill and then did kind of a mini race. First my dad went, and then 30 sec later, I started. I was 7:37, and he was 7:44. The second time, I started first and came in at 7:55, and he started 23sec after me and came in at 7:46. The whole time and had this knawing cramp which really sucked so it was not a good run. To kind of finish it off, we did a zone 2 run back to the cottage for a swim. |
Monday Aug 7 |
| running hills (more hills) 1:20:00 [4]9 km (8:53 / km) +400m 7:16 / km | |
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| Wow, what a run. We were in Cape Breton National Park and there was this trail that we decided to run in the morning. It was just my dad and I, and a BIG friend that I'll mention later. There was a lot of climb, ALOT of climb, and I still wasn't recovered from Gros Morne yet. The trail went up to the top of one hill, and then down into a saddle, and up the next. Near the top of one, we heard this crashing in the bushes. We look over and this tree falls over just 2m off the trail. Then we see what I though was this giant bear paw coming out of the bush. Actually though, it was just this humungous bull moose that we freaked out and was trying to make a getaway. That really spiked out heart rate though... The rest of the run was pretty good except the map we had and the trail were completely different. I don't know if the mapper was high or what, but it was really off. We did make it back alive though and I'm glad that we got out. |
Friday Aug 4 |
| running hills (a mountain actually) 3:39:00 [5]17 km (12:53 / km) +900m 10:11 / km | |
| shoes: Aasics |
| We actually did it!!! Eric, my dad, and I ran up Gros Morne the highest mountain in the park. It's the same climb as Gros Mountain in Vancouver, but the big climb to the top was all rock. When we were doing the steady climb to the foot of the mountain at the beginning, the hikers that were coming down were giving us some pretty weird looks. Usually people take 7-8hrs to do it, and there we were, at 5:30pm, running. Pretty funny sight I must say. It was amazing up at the top! The sky was perfectly clear so we could see a really long way and we picked out all of the mountains around us on the map. We really flew on the way down so that we wouldn't get caught in the dark and it took us 55min. I did get a bit of trail rash, but that's the only injury that happened. |
Thursday Aug 3 |
| hiking (Green Gardens and Tablela) 3:00:00 [3]15 km (12:00 / km) | |
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| Hiked out from the beach instead of going all the way around the rest of the loop because we had another plan. It was a lot harder hiking out because it was all uphill!!! It was pretty tiring, but it was nothing like what we did afterwards. We had decided to hike to the top of the Tablelands (thankfully without our packs) even though there wasn't a trail. It was a big uphill hike, but what a view from the top. There was the ocean on one side, mountains in the distance on the other, and then the empty expanse of the Tablelands which was pretty cool. Too bad we can't tell Parks Canada about how nice it is up there because they might have the Parks Canada Police after us... ;-) |
Wednesday Aug 2 |
| hiking (Green Gardens) 1:00:00 [2]4.3 km (13:57 / km) | |
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| Hiked to the beach on the Green Gardens hike where we camped right on the beach with the surf roaring in our ears. It wasn't too bad with a packs because it was all downhill so we made pretty good time. I'd hate to have to run through this forest because it's like a wall, the trees are all short and stubby, but they're certainly are sturdy. |