Saturday Oct 20 |
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| Event: WCOC Four Map
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 | Orienteering 29:50 [4]3 km (9:57 / km) | |
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| WCOC 4 maps event in Kent. Fun event put on by Peter Goodwin. Made for a full day (and evening) of good o-training, and even included a sumptious meal at Peter's house before the night-o. Only downside was the (very!) poor quality of the printed maps, which called for a lot of interpretation and guesswork; and the overly reduced (and inconsistent) scale that ranged from 1:11,500 to 1:12:500, all advertised as 1:10,000. My orienteering for the three day maps was pretty good, with only one mistake over a minute (not surprisingly, the first control of the first map).
The first map was "Club Getaway", a tiny map, made tinier by being reduced from 1:7,500 to 1:12,500. Contours, it turns out, were 10 feet rather than 5 meters, which explains why the hillside was much less steep than it looked. Missed the first control, a 4 meter boulder (!), by drifting way left and had to come back down the hillside and do it again. Lost at least 3 minutes. Then settled in and ran well with only one other mistake, under a minute. This was pretty much a sprint. |
| Orienteering 33:06 [4]3.5 km (9:27 / km) | |
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| Second map was Pond Mt. This was my best run of the day: I still had good energy, and lost no more than a minute: 30 seconds on a too roundabout route choice to 1, and (maybe) 20 seconds on a bad line to the trail on the run-in. |
| Orienteering 38:01 [3]3.3 km (11:31 / km) | |
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| Third map was Macedonia/Skiff Mt. Energy was really lacking, and I walked a lot, but no problems navigating except for taking an absurd roundabout route to the go control, which probably cost a minute. |
| Orienteering 1:19:01 [2]3.2 km (24:42 / km) | |
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| Fourth map was also Macedonia/Skiff Mt., the same map as map 3, Macedonia/Skiff Mt., but this time at night. (The "four maps" was false advertising!) The abundance of delicious food was too good to pass up, so I went out a full stomach, but I probably would have gone slowly in any case. Those doing the long course had now dwindled to three - Glen, George, and I - plus Peter going out on his own course and map. The course was challenging, not really any easier than the day course on this map. And reading the map, which was hard enough by day, was even harder at night. Most legs went smoothly enough (at a walk), but I had big trouble on two controls, both times being bailed out by Peter who (conveniently) started behind me and twice showed up just when I needed him. The trouble? Three times I crossed a major trail without seeing it. And some stone walls were either not on my map, or I just couldn't see them. Glen DNF'ed and George wasn't back when I left, leaving me to wonder if I will be the only one to complete the four "long" courses: last man standing! |
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| C • Hardly last 4 |
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Club Getaway, long - Splits |
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Pond Mt., Long - Splits |
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Macedonia, Long - Splits |
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Skiff Mt, night-o long - Splits |
Thursday Oct 18 |
| grass 28:55 [3]3.6 mi (8:01 / mi) | |
| weight:139lbs |
| Four laps around UMass field. Got my heartrate up without bothering my hip, which was the plan. 7:40, 7:22, 7:04, 6:47. |
| grass 7:43 [2]0.9 mi (8:34 / mi) | |
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| "Cool down" lap after. |
Wednesday Oct 17 |
| Trail Run 1:09:52 [3]8.0 mi (8:44 / mi) | |
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| With Peter, Frost to Depot and back. More than 2 minutes faster than we did this two weeks ago, which was the plan when we set out (sub-70). I didn't have the legs today, so I let Peter set the pace and I just tried to stay with him; he gradually pulled ahead over the last mile or two and finished 20-30 seconds before me. One of those days where you say both: "good training" and "glad that's over". 8:41, 9:33, 7:00, 11:01 (36:17), 10:47, 6:41, 8:48, 7:19 (33:35). |
Tuesday Oct 16 |
| machines (elliptical) 30:00 [3] | |
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| After lots of lifting. Was going to run, but it was dark out ... |
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| C • Want to run tomorrow? 5 |
Monday Oct 15 |
| Trail Run 1:01:52 [3]6.0 mi (10:17 / mi) | |
| weight:140lbs |
| From Amethyst, the Robert Frost trail over Mt. Orient to the stone wall and back. Relaxed pace - so relaxed that I caught a toe twice on a root and went splat; soft landings though. Lots of new logging on the north side of Orient, but the trail was OK. Pretty dark by the time I got back at 6:15. Feeling s.a.d. |
Sunday Oct 14 |
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| Event: NEOC Wells State Park
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| Orienteering race 51:46 [4]4 km (12:56 / km) | |
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| NEOC meet at Wells State Park, green course. A lot of in your face vegetation. I was being a bit sloppy, with two minute mistakes on 9 and 11; then, heading to the penultimate control, I took a big stick in my right eye. Wham. Thought I might be carrying my eye back in my hand, but it was still there when I felt for it. And I could still see, sort of. Lost four minutes on the next easy control. Felt a bit better by the time I finished. Hurts like hell now. I may be wearing a patch to work tomorrow. |
| Orienteering 46:00 [3]3 km (15:20 / km) | |
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| Felt like heading home, but I had a date to do the orange with Adam who had just finished yellow in second place (because - again - some old guy ran yellow to steal the glory). I let Adam do most of the navigating, and just tried to keep up. I had to show him where we were on the map once, and correct a couple of errant compass bearings; but not bad. We were first on orange. |
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| C • because - again - some old ... 7 |
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Green - Splits |