Training Log Archive: oxensd

Event: DVOA Hickory Run Sand Spring
 

Ran red course at Hickory Run (8km, I ran 9.1km according to GPS). Finished 7th out of about 30 which I was pleased with. Gorgeous day, clear blue skies and moderate temperature. Hugely enjoyed the course, spiked most controls except for 9 where I made a silly parallel error. Subtle terrain with lots of light green, read contours extensively to most controls, backed up by compass and step count, which paid off. Map quite accurate, except for green in places as it is probably growing quite fast.

Only real error was 9, after the path I meant to follow the contour lines up a bit and pass between the two swamps and then up the reentrant. Should have been straight forward, but I somehow got pushed down the slope and ended up north of the top swamp instead. Was well past it when I figured it out, then I aggravated the error by underestimating how far east I was and ended running around the dark green swamp to the east of the control. A nice 4-5 minute roundabout. To add insult to injury I tripped and fell by the control, right in front of practically the only other runner I saw the entire race! Pretty funny, I was fine with only a few scrapes.

Loved the run, in spite of all the green these woods are really enjoyable, with good orienteering challenges in the subtle terrain...

Map with GPS track here:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/oxensnas/Archive/Archive/...

Red - Splits

Event: DVOA Hickory Run Daddy Allen
 

Night-O at Hickory Run Park in the Poconos. I ran the Advanced, 3.1km (distance run 4.58 per GPS). Beautiful evening, cool and crisp. Unfortunately Alexandra couldn't come with me (she had been signed up for the day training as well). Started out with a 15 minute mistake on 1, at first I held the map upside down (2 mins, how embarrassing is that!), then I just couldn't find the control. It was just 40 meters off the 90 degree bend of a path, should have been dead easy, I tried it about 6 different times from different angles, it just wasn't there. I was about to give up when I went a little further down on the path, and further west, and found it straight away. I went back in daylight the next day to check it out, as I wondered whether the control was misplaced. But no, it was my error, though the white area where the control was situated, in between the greens, is now considerably smaller than what's shown on the map. That's what confused me...

Pretty OK after that, a bit of a wobble on 2. At one point I thought I saw the reflectors on the control...ran towards it but then it started moving...eyes of a deer! On 3 I didn't see the small path on the map and thought for a while I was already on the bigger solid path a bit further on. Spiked 4 through 7, which funnily enough were the hardest controls on the map! To 7 I caught the re-entrant from the top, just as planned which felt good. Tough going to 8, ended up in more green than I wanted.

Fun as always, would have placed around 6 or 7 out of 29 if it hadn't been for the first control...placed 15th instead.

Map with GPS track here:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/oxensnas/Archive/Archive/...

Advanced - Splits

Biked up to top of Stanwich Road, then down North Street. Very nice day, not too hot.