Sunday Apr 30 |
 | Orienteering race 1:25:55 [4] 8.5 km (10:06 / km) +270m 8:43 / km | |
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| Long-o champs at Thacher. Nice day, nice course with three long route choice legs. I'm satisfied with the orienteering: I botched the first control, costing over a minute; then I executed all my routes well (though sub-optimal routes on the first two long legs probably cost me 1-2 minutes each). But I'm a bit disappointed with the physical effort: too much slow jogging on trails, walking up minor hills. Need to do longer training runs.
I think I was 5th M50 both days; only 15 seconds out of third for the short, but well out of the money for the long. |
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Green X2 (Long-O) - Splits |
Saturday Apr 29 |
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| Event: US Short and Long Championships
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| Orienteering race 32:57 [4] 3.2 km (10:18 / km) +95m 8:58 / km | |
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| Thacher State Park, short-o champs. A beautiful spring day and a nice course by Glen, with some challenging legs. I got Charlie by 5 seconds; but was on the wrong side by seconds of two M50's.
A decent run, though not as clean as I would like: a couple of small misses, a bad route choice to the go control, and I lost at least 1:30 on #8, the cairn. It looked easy on the map: between a long spur and a form-line knoll. But as I ran along the side of the spur, I never saw any knoll (the whole area was vague and very green), and I thought I must be past it, too far north along the spur. (In fact, I must have been very close). Wandered around and came back. The "cairn" was a small pile of stones, low to the ground, added to the map during updating. Probably only took Glen one trip to haul them in and dump them. |
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| C • The cairn 1 |
| grass 8:00 [3] 1.0 mi (7:59 / mi) | |
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| Warm-up. Should have done more. |
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Green X 1 (Short) - Splits |
Thursday Apr 27 |
| Road Run 37:29 [3] 4.8 mi (7:48 / mi) | |
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| UMass loop with XC cut-off. Steady, medium-hard effort on tired legs. |
Wednesday Apr 26 |
| Trail Run race 22:10 [5] 3.1 mi (7:09 / mi) vdot: 44.0 | |
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| Forest Park Wed night 5k cross country race. I ran OK, just don't have the wind to push the last mile. It was only my second time doing this: I ran 22:42 in 2004 (the day after running the Noho 5k). Back then, I was still beating Peter in 5ks (barely). Today, the plan was to stay close to Peter for the first half, knowing he would pull away over the last mile: which he did, by even more than I expected (21:35). The race got wierd towards the finish: a lot of people behind me took a wrong turn and cut the course short, so I was passing people over the last mile, not knowing what was going on. I think I was 6th actual finisher, just ahead of Rich who wasn't racing hard. |
| Trail Run 28:00 [2] 3.0 mi (9:20 / mi) | |
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| As a warm-up, I jogged around with the map, checking out the areas that had changed in case I do some remapping. Ran a bit with Peter after. |
Tuesday Apr 25 |
| Trail Run 33:52 [3] 4.2 mi (8:04 / mi) | |
| slept:4.0 |
| After lifting at Smith gym. Not feeling all that chipper. |
Sunday Apr 23 |
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| Event: WCOC Five Ponds meet
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| Orienteering 1:32:18 [3] 7.7 km (11:59 / km) | |
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| Five Ponds, set by George. Nice course, enjoyable orienteering (in spite of the cold, steady rain). I mostly did fine, except for losing it on the long leg, first by not being on the trail I thought I was on, then by choosing a wacky route. Also went right by 2 because I misread the map and thought the cliffs were on the east of of the ridge: this kind of mistake has happened before because I can't see the contour lines in the dark green. Also had trouble with numb fingers once my gloves soaked through: I couldn't get the punch to work except by pushing my palm against my body. The fumbling probably cost over a minute, Charlie's margin of victory ;). Also caused me to miss three punches of the watch, equal to six splits. Damn. |
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Red - Splits |
Saturday Apr 22 |
| Orienteering 1:00:00 [2] 4.0 mi (14:59 / mi) | |
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| Setting the second sprint course for my meet 5/27. I was there about two and a half hours, but I'd guess an hour was jogging, the rest walking and standing around. Unfortunately, the areas I wanted to use on the east side of the map have changed a lot - new construction, changes in vegetation and water features. I tried to minimize the problems, but I'm not completely happy with what's left. |
Friday Apr 21 |
| Trail Run 59:10 [2] 6.0 mi (9:52 / mi) | |
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| Ran a section of the M&M trail starting from N. Valley Road, crossing Pelham Rd, heading up towards Mt Lincoln but truning back at the second woods road crossing (only wanted to run an hour). Easy pace, lovely spring weather. On the way back I ignored the "no trespassing" signs and ran along the reservoir. The whole section of trail between N. Valley and Pelham Rd. is cushoned with pine needles: sweet. |
Thursday Apr 20 |
| Track 18:28 [5] 3.0 mi (6:08 / mi) | |
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| Eaglebrook track, first of the season, with about 15 turning out. 80 degrees and sun at the start. 2 800's, a 1600, then 2 more 800's. I ran at the back of the fast group ("cheetahs"), ahead of Peter for the first two intervals, behind for the last three. I did about what I wanted, except I had to back off the pace on the last 800. 2:59, 2:59, 6:21, 3:02, 3:07. |
| Track 17:30 [3] 2.2 mi (7:57 / mi) | |
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| Before and after. |
Tuesday Apr 18 |
| Trail Run 50:29 [4] 6.2 mi (8:09 / mi) | |
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| Frost to Atkins Res. and back; warm but low humidity. It was a struggle at first, but I kept pushing (no injury excuses to back off); my legs started to feel stronger after 20 minutes and I finished with a good time: 24 seconds faster than 3 weeks ago. 8:22, 5:08, 2:25, 6:23, 4:58 (27:17), 5:03, 4:47, 2:05, 4:19, 6:58 (23:12). |
Monday Apr 17 |
| dirt 37:42 [3] 4.8 mi (7:51 / mi) | |
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| From Smith, including 6 laps on .75 m dirt track around the fields, splits ranging from 6:16 to 5:18. Ran last lap with Rich
G. |
Sunday Apr 16 |
| Trail Run 34:22 [2] 4.0 mi (8:34 / mi) | |
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| Trails from Smith. Deeply fatigued, but felt somewhat better towards the end. |
Saturday Apr 15 |
| Trail Run 3:11:07 [3] 16.0 mi (11:56 / mi) | |
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| N. Nipmuck trail race, third time. It was in the 70's by the turnaround, and full sun -- way too warm for me to run this distance well this time of year, prior to any heat training. Plus, I didn't have much energy from the beginning (haven't since last weekend). So I settled into an easy pace, and let myself gradually fade over the second half (as did many others). My only "goals" were to avoid a PW (I did 3:13 in 2003), and stay ahead of JJ! (We were together at the halfway point, he finished 5 minutes back.) Certainly gave me the long training run I needed. Nice runs by Peter (2:37), Clint (an impressive 2:39), and Joe (2:41). Splits: 38:28, 49:07, 54:02, 49:29. |
Friday Apr 14 |
| Trail Run 40:21 [2] 4.5 mi (8:57 / mi) | |
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| Easy run from Mill R parking, crossing Pulpit Hill Rd on the Frost, but then stayed on the dirt road (instead of turning right up the hill), along the tree farm, across nice open fields, across the stream, to a deadend at a private gate; then back the same way. Low energy. Maybe getting only 5-6 hours of sleep per night all week is catching up with me. |
Thursday Apr 13 |
| Trail Run 50:34 [3] 5.8 mi (8:43 / mi) | |
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| Met Peter in Greenfield to do the 13 hill run, at a moderate (non-competitive!) pace. First half I felt good, and could easily have gone faster. By hill 10 I was struggling to keep up. Maybe still dehydrated? Maybe having eaten only a glazed donut for breakfast wasn't optimal? (I should report that at least one, maybe two, of these so-called "hills" was bogus, and should be stricken from the record.) |
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| C • I would say at least 5 are pre... 2 |
Tuesday Apr 11 |
| Trail Run 58:32 [3] 6.8 mi (8:36 / mi) | |
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| From Mill River past Juggler to where the trail crosses the tracks, then back. Gorgeous spring weather. Effort was a 2 until I got back to Juggler - it took a while to get the poisons out of my leg muscles. But I gradually felt better, and upped the effort to a solid 3 coming back from Juggler. 8:47, 10:46, 7:30 (27:04), 3:57, 3:48 (7:45), 6:45, 9:32, 7:24 (23:41) |
| Note | |
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| Local headline: "Fastidious hiker causes Mt. Norwottuck blaze". Apparently, this guy burned his toilet paper to avoid littering and torched 8 acres on the the south side of Norwottuck, near the summit. Can't but improve the per k times. |
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| C • Mt Laurel 7 |
Sunday Apr 9 |
| Orienteering 1:24:28 [4] 8.7 km (9:43 / km) | |
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| Day 2 Red at Wolf's Den, 45-50 degrees, sunny. It was a bit of a stuggle physically, but the orienteering was good. Only the middle controls, 5-9, in the south were navigationally challenging. Worst mistake was overrunning the cliff at 7 losing maybe a minute. Other misses were under 20 seconds, plus a couple poor route choices. It was nice to be in faster woods, with a map where the green could (almost always) be relied on. Nice course, Charlie! |
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Red 2 - Splits |
Saturday Apr 8 |
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| Event: NEOC Spring Rock Festival and Intercollegiates
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| Orienteering 53:05 [4] 4.7 km (11:18 / km) +125m 9:58 / km | |
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| NEOC A-meet, day 1, red course (M45), at Wells State Park. Didn't feel comfortable or confident out there, and made some stupid mistakes (totally about 4:00). (Well, I guess almost all orienteering mistakes are stupid, but some are stupider than others.) I didn't much like the terrain, and I often felt unsure exactIy where I was on the map. I guess I'm still trying to move a tad faster than my skills can handle. But a "bad" day now isn't nearly as bad as it used to be a couple years ago. |
| Orienteering 20:52 [5] 2.1 km (9:56 / km) | |
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| Ran the second leg of three person team with Jeff Schapiro running first, Jeff Saeger running last. I had the "long" course. My legs were dead! especially for climbing hills. Then I choked the penultimate control and maybe lost 45 seconds. That, plus a very bad route choice, made this a mediocre result. We were a three-point team, so not really competive no matter how well I had done. |
| Orienteering 13:00 [3] 1.5 mi (8:39 / mi) | |
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| Warm-ups before each race. |
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Red Day 1 - Splits |
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Sprint C - Splits |
Thursday Apr 6 |
| grass 38:18 [3] 4.9 mi (7:48 / mi) | |
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| UMass loop clockwise, running almost entirely on grass or dirt alongside the road. Had a bad case of runs during the run, requiring an emergency pit stop in the math building. Caught a virus over the internet from Peter? |
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| C • Nope, if you'd caught mine you... 2 |
Wednesday Apr 5 |
| Trail Run 55:19 [2] 6.0 mi (9:13 / mi) | |
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| Slow running on trails at Mt Norwottuck, south side. Practiced mapreading on the move. Legs tired and stiff. |
Tuesday Apr 4 |
| Trail Run race 21:10 [5] 3.1 mi (6:50 / mi) vdot: 46.5 | |
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| The first Tuesday night cross country race of the season. Temperature was a wintery 35 with flurries, but I didn't mind. I placed 5th, about 30 seconds behind Rich Clark; I guess all the fast runners are afraid of the cold. My predicted time was 21:30, so I was pleasantly surprised to be a bit faster. Legs felt good, but I need to work on conditioning and speed. Goal is to get under 20 minutes this season, but I would need to stay healthy for an extended period. What are the odds of that? 6:37, 6:41, 7:09, 41. |
| Trail/Road Run 24:00 [2] 2.5 mi (9:36 / mi) | |
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| Slow running before and after. There was a bear hanging out around the abandoned buildings of the old state hospital, about 100 meters up the hill from the Smith fields. We stared at one another about 30 feet apart until he got bored, and wandered off. Reminded me of my bear-of-a-dog Kayla. |
Monday Apr 3 |
| machines 22:00 [3] | |
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| Elliptical. A new machine, "Octane", with lots of bells and whistles including a button that says "glute kicker". I abstained. |
Sunday Apr 2 |
| Trail Run 19:00 [2] 2.0 mi (9:29 / mi) | |
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| Slow warm-up for the two sprints. It seemed clear I wasn't going to have a lot of zip in the legs, but that was a minor problem ... |
| Orienteering 38:10 [4] 3.08 km (12:24 / km) | |
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| First of two sprints at Needham, first time on the map. When I turned over the pre-printed map, I couldn't see the control circles or the numbers or the connecting lines very well: the pink and the brown contour lines just all mixed together; and the course crossed itself 14 times. That contributed to two bad errors: I skipped 4 and went straight to 5; when I noticed I hadn't yet punched 4, I went back for it, then back to 5, adding about 570 meters and about 6 minutes. Then, leaving 7, I ended up on the southern trail that came in south of the control when I thought I was on the northern trail that came in north of the control. (Was I looking at the circle for 10 when I exited from 7? In any case, I obviously wasn't looking at the map much while running on the trail). Then I checked out a control in the parallel location before figuring out where I was, losing 3 minutes. (Scott Turner apparently did exactly the same.) 9 minutes is a lot of time to lose in a 3k sprint! |
| Orienteering 29:26 [4] 2.66 km (11:04 / km) | |
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| sprint 2, time for redemption -- not. I was being very careful to follow the lines between the circles, obsessively checking that I was going to the right control (this course only crossed itself 6 times); but I bungled three (yellow level) controls, losing about two and half minutes total. Of course, the problem was the familiar one for me in sprints: too much running, not enough map and terrain reading. Just didn't feel prepared (yet!) to be orienteering at this pace. Lead to some poor route choices, and not enough looking ahead (which is especially important in the sprints). |
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Sprint 1 - Splits |
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Sprint 2 - Splits |
Saturday Apr 1 |
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| Event: WCOC Brooksvale meet
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| Orienteering 1:40:54 [4] 8.5 km (11:52 / km) | |
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| WCOC score-o at Brookvale on a beautiful day to be in the woods (60's). 26 controls, 90 minutes; but with only a one point per minute penalty for the first 15 minutes of overtime, it was effectively a 105 minute score-o, which gave me enough time to get them all (except I didn't try to find the "bonus control" which was not on the map). The woods are pretty crappy, and my legs (especially my right hamstring) didn't feel prepared for all the lifting; but I orienteered well with only about 2 minutes of mistakes. Rich N., the coursesetter, had some fun and games with the clues and the control placements (for April fools day), but it only caused me serious trouble once: the flag was one of those tiny car flags you hang from the rear view mirror and, though I was in the right place (more or less), it took me 2-3 minutes to see it. Overall, a good start to the racing season: I think I was the only one to get all 26 controls. |
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| C • My assumption is that you are ... 4 |