Training Log Archive: eileen

Short, easy 15 min jog from my apartment before dinner.

note to self: I should buy some road shoes so I don't wear out my sweet new trail shoes on pavement.

I'm not a complete failure as an orienteer! Woo hoo!

Today went much better. Still some mistakes and confusion but overall I am happy with this race.
Good things- I had an easier time reading the map and recognizing features. Chatting with Tori and Holly at the start helped me stay relaxed and I think that helped. I had good concentration.
Bad things- I did stop so many times to check my map and compass bearing. But this was better than yesterday and I think is more a reflection of skills I need to improve upon than what went wrong today. I also was not able to plan ahead very much, often I arrived at one control then stopped and left with only a simplified plan to the next one. Then I would figure out the details along the way. I wasn't able to read the map well while running. I continued to get confused in areas with vague, bumpy areas with detailed contours but no large features that stood out.

1- Unsure of exactly where I was from the first stream until the trail. Then contoured around hillside, saw stream and cliff and got the control fine. Much better start than yesterday!
2- Had one of my bigger mistakes of the day on this control. Ran to the hilltop with three boulders on top, then down and in between the two swamps where there were a bunch of cliffs. Ran north along marsh to trail. Hit trail same time as Sam who was heading to 5. Then became confused as I became closer to 2. Made the same mistake as Tori when I was on the sorta middle ridge in between the two large swamps but thought I was on the left one next to the large swamp (from atop the cliffs the marsh looked larger). Wandered north then decided to go west to check whether I was on the middle or left ridge. Found actual big swamp then went to control.
3- Was unsure of my exact location at a couple points (same kind of terrain that I keep having trouble with) but mostly knew where I was. Knew exactly where I was when I got to the large reentrant with the cliffs to my right. Went up and over hill. Went to wrong small reentrant. Two blue runners ran by me on their way to somewhere else. Realized where I was and went over to correct tiny reentrant between cliffs.
4- Slow and hesitant until I found northern boulder then ran to mine
5- Other bigger mistake of the day, but it didn't throw me off by that much. Planned to cross between two swamps on the trail where I had seen Sam doing exactly that before. But then I became confused again in the terrain on the map in between the the first and second large swamp and realized I was being inaccurate on my compass bearing. Hit just below the southern swamp instead of in between the two. Became confused again after this but knew where I was mostly. End of the leg I was reading the map well and went right into the control.
6- Followed along marsh then ran up third reentrant.
7- Navigated by going from small marsh to marsh, then up over little hill.
8- Noticed this leg earlier on as one that could potentially be disastrous to me. When I got to this control told myself outloud that I'd done ok so far and wasn't about to screw up now. Since I know I'm bad at contouring on hillsides with lots of cliffs... decided to not do that. Tried to go straight and over the cliffs. Went very slowly. Hit the control exactly like I wanted to! Yayy!
9- Saw Tori behind me on the way to 9 and we kept each other in sight for the last few controls, which was nice. Moving slowly over cliffs and through the green. Followed stream, saw trail, got control.
10- compass
11- Tori got ahead of me, and then I hesitated before the control to check my map.
12- Compass.
13- Race to the finish. Didn't catch Tori, but almost!

My combined time for the two days was awful, but Sunday I was surprised to find out I beat both Tori and Holly so I consider at least that day a success :)

Event: US Two-day Classic O Championships
 

Horrible race. I had a lot of trouble matching the map to what I saw around me, and just reading the map and navigating in general. Bad orienteering in general.

1- Was very close to the control for a very long time. Just confused when I shouldn't have been. Can't figure out why
2- Disaster. Tried to follow the trail around from the right and then go by control 4 on the way to 2. But couldn't follow the trail, kept losing it and searching for the next markers. In doing this I wasn't paying attention to how far down the trail I had gone on the map. Went too far east before getting off the trail and spent about 20 minutes wandering around completely lost. I just couldn't relocate. Eventually did off a large cliff next to a small marsh, then found the control.

Controls 3 - 9 I had no mistakes but was going very slow.

3- followed ridge
4- fine
5- ran to marsh, saw knoll, skirted around it to cliff
6- ran to the top of the small hill, followed spur north to end then could see control
7- fine
8- was very hesitant approaching the control even though I was in the right spot
9- fine

10- small mistake. followed the spur just SW of the control a little too long. realized quickly and went back uphill slightly to control
11- another disaster. I've always had a lot of trouble contouring on steep hillsides, especially when I have to be recognize cliffs on a rocky hillside. Started off fine, but then never saw either stream or the cliff in between them that I was aiming towards. Figured I had naturally gone down to much to climbed up. Lost and very confused. Bailed out downhill. Saw indistinct trail then dot knoll that had a control on it. Went past that and found control.
12- fine
13- A little hesitant but fine
14, 15, 16- all good

C • Wandering around 2

Started off running on trails with my headlamp. Twisted my ankle... again. Had to sit down for a minute before continuing. Bailed out to the road. Ankle hurt for rest of run but pain was bearable. Still hurts now.

short trail run before going to my practice GRE test. Would have liked to run longer but was afraid it might make me late. felt sluggish.

The practice GRE was ok. It was just one section of verbal and one of math. I will find out how I did next wednesday. But I suspect I did better on the verbal than I initially expected, and worse on the math... Must work on being faster in the math. But this test was a good thing to do because now I might actually do a little studying between now and when I take it on Oct 30th! Maybe.... hopefully...

ran down my road until I found some the trails that enter the woods on either side of the road. Ran on one of them for about 5 minutes but then had to head home so I wouldn't be late for class. Next time I'll make sure I have enough time for a longer run! Or drive to the trails and then run on them the whole time.