Sunday Aug 12 |
 | Note | |
| weight:139lbs |
| Back from Colorado 5 day. This trip was more about having time with Adam, and about trying to get him excited about orienteering, then about my own races. It was very successful. Adam was dissapointed that he didn't have any mistake-free runs on yellow, but he did pretty well considering how little he has orienteered. He was consistently second M14 (behind Ethan Childs, who is way ahead), and third yellow overall (with a Norwegian F14 also way ahead). He loved the orienteering races and training, and is psyched to try orange (which he would need to move up to next year).
My own races went from fantastic to dismal. Summary: Day 1: very clean run at about 7:20 per k; tied for best time on green with Rich Kelley. Day 2: another very good run with just 2 one-minute errors. Dropped to second M50 behind Rich Kelley for the two-day, but over 8 minutes ahead of the next best time on green. Day 3, night-O: disaster. The contact lens was somewhere in my eye, but not where it did me any good. Couldn't read any contours or rock in the three technical areas and just blundered around until I got through the course. Day 4: short-O. Pretty good run, spoiled by a six minute error. Still salvaged third M50. Day 5: Long-O. DNF. I spiked the first five controls, with a train of M50s following me from 3 to 5. Then I tried to get away by choosing an unusual route to 6. I got away all right, just didn't know where I was. By the time I relocated on the road I was looking at a 20+ minute mistake, and Adam and I were at risk of missing our plane if I continued. Seemed the only thing to do was hang my head and jog back to the finish. |
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| C • Adam 3 |
| cycling 1:59:44 [3] | |
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| My old Conway loop (rt 5 to rt 116 to Whately Rd). Moderate pace. 34.15 miles, 3:30 per mile. I tried a new sports drink, Accelerade, which has the supposedly ideal 4:1 carb to protein ratio. I thought I might switch from Gatorade for the rogaine. But the taste made me want to puke, and by the last half of the ride my stomach felt bloated. Anyone want a large container of powdered orange Accerlerade? |
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| C • I seem to have a cast iron sto... 2 |
Saturday Aug 11 |
| Orienteering race 42:28 [4] 4.6 km (9:14 / km) | |
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| US long-O champs at Saylor Park on a 1:15,000 map. This was a dnf: the distance and time are through control 5. The woods were not quite as open as previous days, and there were some thick marshes to cross and lots and lots of unmapped rock. I had been looking forward to this race, but I was nervous because my hip was sore from the short-o and our plane departure time didn't allow me to be out more than 2 hours without taking a big risk. The race started well. It was a mass start but, surprisingly, I was quickly all by myself. I spiked the first control, arriving at the same time and from a slightly different direction than Steve Gregg. Then I got ahead of him on the way to 2 and was in the lead of the M50's up through 5, all of which I spiked, with some minor hesitations. But I had Steve G. Dave E, and Charlie S. right behind me at 5 and I purposely took a highter route across the main reentrant, thinking I might get ahead by avoiding a few lines of climb going around to the right. I think the 1:15 scale threw me, because I came up way short in a parallel area and couldn't figure out why I couldn't find it. Unfortunately Glen T soon showed up and was looking in the same area, which just reinforced my belief I wasn't too far off. Actually, I was 300 meters short. I had so oversimplified the leg that I might as well have had the map in my pocket. (I could at least have been pace counting ...) After numerous failed attempts to relocate on rocky knolls (yeah, right, there were hundreds), I headed towards the road over 500 meters away. Since I was looking at the wrong part of the map, nothing looked right until I got all the way to the road and then quickly knew where I was. But by now I was looking at a 20+ minute mistake, and I started panicking about missing our flight. And my hip was hurting. And my hamstring was cramping. And Adam was waiting for me at finish. I headed back to the finish feeling totally deflated. It wasn't even a paticularly difficult leg. All I had to do was keep some kind of minimal map contact as I went. What an idiot! |
| Orienteering 1:00:00 [2] 4 km (15:00 / km) | |
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| The search for control #6 and then the ignominious march back, mostly walking. |
Friday Aug 10 |
| Orienteering race 39:55 [4] 3.7 km (10:47 / km) | |
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| US short-O champs at Manitou Lake. Complex reentrant/spur topography, all forested but open woods. Not a rock on the map. Two one-minute errors, and a six-minute error on 7 that should have been a one-minute error. That is to say, if I had stopped to think, I would have easily figured out that I had gone by the top of the little reentrant I was looking for and dropped into the next reentrant. This is the "thinking sport", right? Instead, I went into panic mode and compounded my error. Others had problems too, many also on 7, so I ended up third M50. But definitely not a "podium run." On the downhill leg to the go countrol, I reinjured my left hip for the umpteenth time. |
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Green - Splits |
Thursday Aug 9 |
| Hike 40:00 [1] | |
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| Short hike at Catamount Ranch in Woodland Park, with Pikes Peak as backdrop. |
Wednesday Aug 8 |
| Orienteering 1:00:00 [1] | |
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| Barb's "bus-stop" training exercise (a big success!), plus pickin up controls with Adam from the Orange 1 course. |
| Hike 1:00:00 [1] | |
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| Hike at Castlewoods, doing a 2.3 mile loop to the ruined dam. |
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| C • Spooky graph... 3 |
| Orienteering race 1:22:22 [4] 5.4 km (15:15 / km) | |
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| US champs night-O. Not good. As soon as I started, I realized something was wrong with my contact and the map was a blur. I could see it well enough in the open areas, but every time we got to the rocky areas, I couldn't make out any contours or tell a cliff from a boulder. I should have adjusted by taking extra safe routes. Instead I moved fast, choosing attackpoints that would have been fine by daylight, but not at night. I blundered around the technical areas, having to relocate on roads or fences multiple times. It didn't help that I gave Adam the better of my two headlamps, and I couldn't even make out a building from more than 20-30 meters away. Over 30 minutes of mistakes. But, hey, the temperature was cool and I felt great! |
Tuesday Aug 7 |
| Orienteering 1:15:00 [2] 5.1 km (14:42 / km) | |
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| Did the orange 2 course from day 2 with Adam and Scott, helping them choose good routes. Some jogging, mostly walking. |
| cycling 1:45:00 [2] | |
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| Got the bike-O in this time before the rains. It was about 10k point to point, but we went more like 15k because there were some out and backs. Easy ride, but the hills were still hard work. One very technical and steep hill we walked the bike. |
Monday Aug 6 |
| Orienteering 1:30:00 [1] | |
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| Designed and carried out some compass and relocation exercises for the "junior junior training camp." |
| Hike 2:00:00 [1] | |
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| About a four mile hike with Adam at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. |