Training Log Archive: BorisGrIn the 7 days ending Nov 14, 2016:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | |||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||
| Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | ||||||||||
Monday Nov 14, 2016 #
Cross-Training 37:00 [1]
PT 20:00 [1]
Sunday Nov 13, 2016 #
Event: QOC PWF Stumble
Orienteering 2:00:00 [1]
Alli and I walked (and occasionally jogged) the Short Stumble together. We planned to go as Team Barnacle, but the beagle in question spent the day at the vet, getting his teeth cleaned.
We navigated pretty cleanly, and were amused to arrive at #1 at the same time as Kenny, and ahead of Jon T. For a while after that, it was a head-to-head battle for us with Mark Mace and Sandy, who were each moving at a similar speed to us. We had an unfair advantage, though, as I would give Alli occasional breaks by splitting off to punch and then catching up to her on the way to the following control. Also, I served as a course consultant for this event, so we should be doubly marked as non-competitive.
I thought for a while that we had a shot at breaking two hours, but we lost five minutes when the vet called, and we had to discuss whether to pull any of Barney's teeth (he got to keep all the teeth he has this time!!), and that put us over the goal.
Still, I think we did really well and very much enjoyed being out in the woods together. Our biggest mistake was a loss of about 1 minute on the second control of the first box (B?).
We navigated pretty cleanly, and were amused to arrive at #1 at the same time as Kenny, and ahead of Jon T. For a while after that, it was a head-to-head battle for us with Mark Mace and Sandy, who were each moving at a similar speed to us. We had an unfair advantage, though, as I would give Alli occasional breaks by splitting off to punch and then catching up to her on the way to the following control. Also, I served as a course consultant for this event, so we should be doubly marked as non-competitive.
I thought for a while that we had a shot at breaking two hours, but we lost five minutes when the vet called, and we had to discuss whether to pull any of Barney's teeth (he got to keep all the teeth he has this time!!), and that put us over the goal.
Still, I think we did really well and very much enjoyed being out in the woods together. Our biggest mistake was a loss of about 1 minute on the second control of the first box (B?).
Saturday Nov 12, 2016 #
Cross-Training 1:00:00 [1]
Elliptical at the gym. Saved by the Bell was on. I loved that show when I first came to the States. Watching the episodes now - wow, it is terrible and corny and somewhat offensive.
PT 25:00 [1]
Friday Nov 11, 2016 #
Hiking 2:00:00 [1]
A really nice hike with Alli and Barney on a beautiful day. We went to Sky Meadows State Park in Virginia and did a loop that went through the meadows, then climbed up to a portion of the AT on the ridge, and then back down with some beautiful views.
Thursday Nov 10, 2016 #
Cross-Training 30:00 [1]
PT 25:00 [1]
Wednesday Nov 9, 2016 #
Cross-Training 45:00 [1]
PT 20:00 [1]
Note
Time for something positive.
I took the afternoon today to drive up to Frederick, MD and speak to the orienteering team of Patriot JROTC at Thomas Johnson High School at the invitation of their coach, Chief Mike Rodrigues.
I asked Mike to start by giving a quick presentation of the program he has built at Patriot, and it was extremely impressive. In five years they went from not really knowing what orienteering is to an oversubscribed program of 41 kids. The team has regular practices twice a week and wins all of their regional competitions. They have traveled to NJROTC nationals in LA and Seattle, and will go to Georgia this winter, in addition to chartering a bus to go up to the West Point A-Meet.
Mike has amassed a collection of epunch equipment, GPS watches, compasses, books, and other resources for the team. He has had a map made of their grounds, and he ordered a 3-D model of the map of Little Bennett Park (their closest QOC map) to help the kids learn contours.
They have a uniform contract with Trimtex, which includes full uniforms and warm-ups. Mike is working on getting a DOMA server going, and has designed a race analysis form that the kids fill out after every event.
I was blown away by the scale and professionalism of this program. I would love to see more of this in the US, as well as increased cooperation between orienteering clubs and their local JROTC orienteering teams. I believe that is the key to keeping more of these kids in the sport once they leave high school.
Mike asked me to talk about my experiences in competitive orienteering, as well as about ways to improve as a competitive orienteer. I talked for about 40 minutes, describing my experiences training and racing with OK Linne in Sweden, and also describing the ways you can improve right here at home. I talked about ways you can get more out of your local QOC events - rerunning courses, making a course into an orienteering interval session, running an easier course at high speed, etc.
The kids were enthusiastic and interested. I finished off by distributing maps with courses from all different terrain types around the world and had them break up into pairs and talk through legs in a lot of detail to try and visualize the terrain. I think they liked the crazy maps from different places, such as Japan, Israel, or Sweden.
I wish this school was closer to me, so I could more easily get involved in helping their program, but they are in amazingly capable hands with Mike. Look out for some of these kids on the national stage before too long. And I really hope to continue working with them so that some of them make the jump to non-JROTC orienteering and stick with the sport once they are out of school.
I took the afternoon today to drive up to Frederick, MD and speak to the orienteering team of Patriot JROTC at Thomas Johnson High School at the invitation of their coach, Chief Mike Rodrigues.
I asked Mike to start by giving a quick presentation of the program he has built at Patriot, and it was extremely impressive. In five years they went from not really knowing what orienteering is to an oversubscribed program of 41 kids. The team has regular practices twice a week and wins all of their regional competitions. They have traveled to NJROTC nationals in LA and Seattle, and will go to Georgia this winter, in addition to chartering a bus to go up to the West Point A-Meet.
Mike has amassed a collection of epunch equipment, GPS watches, compasses, books, and other resources for the team. He has had a map made of their grounds, and he ordered a 3-D model of the map of Little Bennett Park (their closest QOC map) to help the kids learn contours.
They have a uniform contract with Trimtex, which includes full uniforms and warm-ups. Mike is working on getting a DOMA server going, and has designed a race analysis form that the kids fill out after every event.
I was blown away by the scale and professionalism of this program. I would love to see more of this in the US, as well as increased cooperation between orienteering clubs and their local JROTC orienteering teams. I believe that is the key to keeping more of these kids in the sport once they leave high school.
Mike asked me to talk about my experiences in competitive orienteering, as well as about ways to improve as a competitive orienteer. I talked for about 40 minutes, describing my experiences training and racing with OK Linne in Sweden, and also describing the ways you can improve right here at home. I talked about ways you can get more out of your local QOC events - rerunning courses, making a course into an orienteering interval session, running an easier course at high speed, etc.
The kids were enthusiastic and interested. I finished off by distributing maps with courses from all different terrain types around the world and had them break up into pairs and talk through legs in a lot of detail to try and visualize the terrain. I think they liked the crazy maps from different places, such as Japan, Israel, or Sweden.
I wish this school was closer to me, so I could more easily get involved in helping their program, but they are in amazingly capable hands with Mike. Look out for some of these kids on the national stage before too long. And I really hope to continue working with them so that some of them make the jump to non-JROTC orienteering and stick with the sport once they are out of school.