Training Log Archive: AliC

Warmup

US Classic Champs @ Bear Brook, Blue Day 2

And challenged again. I was doing fine, cruising around until #11, when I had a close miss and then really on #12, which I spent a whole bunch of time failing to truly relocate and just kinda head-less chickening in a too-far area with Brendan and Andrew. Not good. #13 was also pretty bad (jeez, three in a row!), but then okish from there on in, racing around Jon T.

Maybe the common thread to those three mistakes was just not staying in enough contact along the way. I did still find it difficult to make sense of all the contours in crazy-boulder-land, it's just such a jumble without really any sort of pattern at all.

Ok, the blow-by-blow.

#1 - Fear of vague and knowing light green is kinda slow, I stayed on the trail until the junction with the little trail, then went along the side of the hill and too a bearing and pace counted from there.
#2 - Out on a rough bearing W to the little trail, had bent more N than I meant to, as I had to run along it a ways. Then kept good track of the yellow until the boulder in medium green just about 80m away from the control and just went straight in from there. Helped by someone in a US uniform just leaving it.
#3 - Yellow, then cutting to the left of hill with a cliff, then hopped back on yellow, but went a bit on the wrong one up to far and had to correct. A bit lucky, honestly, wasn't in perfect contact.
#4 - Started straight S on the broad spur, passed the two boulders in a row, then down and up and fell into a reentrant just left of the line that lead me nicely in. Slight hesitation before climbing the hill before the mini-marsh.
#5 - Hm, not perfect memory how I started this one, I think south, until boulders then bent left a bit, hill was pretty obvious from the flat before it.
#6 - Racing Ethan a bit, on a bearing, keeping track of ups and downs. Was a bit right of the line, followed the ridge south to the boulder.
#7 - Ethan led, flying through two reentrants then up over hill and down to stream-side knoll.
#8 - On a bearing a bit left because hit stream junciton. Ethan stopped to tie his shoe, so back on my own. Followed the trail of boulders up, hit the boulders in the reentrant nicely.
#9 - On a bearing straight E, crossed stream and saw the row of boulders to the right, used the reentrant, but didn't sense the contours perfectly as I headed too far right and explored other boulders first, before seeing a peak of orange off to my left. A little more compass to not deviate?
#10 - Never saw hill with 3 boulders, must have been a bit right, went over hourglass shaped hill and headed over to broad hill top to trop into the control.
#11 - Hit the nice saddle of the broad reentrant about 200m along the leg, then hopped over to the marsh, which I went through, because it wasn't so bad. Then I tried to just go on a straight bearing N from there, but deviated left, perhaps *very* close to the control. Maybe I should have looked more for the shape of the hill the depression was associated with than the depression itself. And I should have more carefully relocated off the yellow I found myself in (I decided I was too far right when I was too far left...).
#12 - Knew exactly where I was on a bit of yellow only 250m from the control, but then must have been just slightly left of my bearing and had my patience to figure things out taken away by Brendan and Andrew being a round and continuing on and stopping in a swamp that I then figured must be the swamp *before* 12 even though that really made no sense based on how far we'd gone. Disappointed that it took me so very long to put everything together. 1) I should have noticed the marshyness I was in was North-south, not NE-SW like I wanted. 2) I should have judged the distance there better and thus looked wider while attempting to relocate.
#13 - Difficult in crazy-boulder land zone. I went around marsh on its left, and then I can't quite put together where I was until I was off the the right in a zone of distinct pines (turns out, marked on the map!) in a low zone. Couldn't really place that along the line, incorrectly decided that it was maybe the rocky L shaped low kinda along the way where I wanted to be (too optimistic...). Finally put things together when Magnus was dashing up E from where I was, not cool that it took that for me to figure things out...
#14 - Compass, some keeping track of ups and downs and then boulder-spotting towards the end. I thought it was in the nook of a reentrant below though, so didn't initially spring into action when I saw a control on a boulder. Suppose more attn to control descriptions would be good!
#15 - Got up to rocky nose just right of the line, then contoured a bit, climibng up to the shelf and taking a bearing in from a boulder on a nose nearby.
#16 - Tumbled over to the ride, then ride, then big trail and then used the ride to go into #16. Maybe should have stayed on the trail even longer, actually.
#17 - Went left of line to overgrown narrow ride then a bit of trail before cutting from its corner. Then used the double boulders from the next trail.
#18 - Was using the trail, but then I got hooked up to the higher ride instead? Hm, not sure how/where that happened. used the little trail for a bit on far side of the road before cutting over, down cliffs, along marsh and in. Went down a little to far N, had to back track, would have been better to go down one reentrant earlier.
#19 - Had a look at the leg, decided I wanted to come in from the trail, so just booked in N for awhile, then saw Jon T. ahead of me (had been haunting around him since the ill-fated #12) and kept the pace up. He led about the same pace down the trail, about 25m ahead and turned off just where I wanted to, at the slight bend. On a bearing from there, he found before me, so I was led in.
#20 - Oh, some vagueness challenge to finish again. On a bearing and pace counting, ran into what I hoped was the mapped roostock a little before, Jon snuck away more confident to the boulder, but at least I found before bouncing off the stone wall!
#21 - Tumble down through thick, road run, in.

Nice cool down with Ian and Kenny.

Day 2 - Blue - Splits

Event: UNO Boulder Dash
 

US Classic Champs @ Bear Brook, Blue, 9th

Missed a whole bunch of controls by 1-2 min, hmph! Very slow both in boulder-land and then in vague-land at the end.... more analysis post-flight!

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#1 - Use the trail until the knolls on the left, dived a bit up and over the hill, then down into the marsh, which really wasn't too marshy. I was distracted by the rocky-top hill, before deciding it was too far left and going to the right one.
#2 - Around the bottom of the hill until the stream when I went on a bearing, going through the depression over the form line hill, past the downed-trees wide reentrant and then up into kinda vague flatland, which scared me. After hesitating, I kept on the bearing, ran into the wall of contours and popped over at the corner to the correct boulder.
#3 - Used the shallow reentrant and then popped over when I sensed some nose-y-ness.
#4 - Down on a bearing, just right of the index contour hill. On a correct bearing from there, some slight hesitation when mini-hill wasn't totally visible from top of hill before it.
#5 - Bearing to reentrant on the right of the line, and tumbled down into the depression where I found Ed before skirting around to the saddle.
#6 - My plan was to go in on the nice simple index-contour reentrant, turning up at the double boulders, but I don't think I got into it, always too far right. I significantly stopped just before the control on something like a hill top (actually form-line nose) with two boulders. A bit hard to spot under the line, but still, would have liked to have realized wasn't big enough to be a contoured hill....
#7 - Low visibility, but on a bearing and noting the big boulder off to the right along the way worked.
#8 - First major whoops. I went out to the trail on a rough bearing, then left it to go over the peanut hill before heading down to the marsh. I intended to skirt along its right branch, so made things fit with that plan, but really I must have been in the marsh most of the time. I ran 200m beyond the nose in the reentrant, before figuring that the cliffs to my right were actually telling me something I should listen too. So then approached the control from the SE.
#9 - Out to the little trail, then up on the road, cut across the yellow back to the road then in from there. Maybe too safe, and I didn't see the little trail under the line that would have been faster, I think.
#10 - Up to the road on a bearing through thick. I remember being a bit off and seeing it farther to my right, forget if I was really checking out the too-low boulder or not.
#11 - Long leg. Out to the big trail, then it and the yellow ride at the end before heading cross-country. I just went straight W for awhile, then went through the first marsh, I think, but didn't really notice the second one, and just kind of guessed I was going down the hill in the right reentrant and more or less tripped on the control after hesitating in the right area for awhile. Really would have liked to do this better, I should have been more dedicating to IDing the second marsh.
#12 - Attempted to use the little yellow marsh at the beginning, but never found it. I continued on a vague bearing and eventually realized that I was too far low, after stopping and looking around and finding rocks on top of hills.
#13 - More careful, kept picking things off and just going slowly. Never truly out-of-contact, but sometimes questioning.
#14 - Over the ridge, then hooked up with the water flow up to the marsh, which I then went across and deflected slightly to the right, so I hit the big boulders to the E instead of the control. Should have placed where I was in the marsh better and come out with confidence on bearing.
#15 - Went along the first yellow, then touched the next two to send me basically straight to the control. (Was slightly tempted to head further left from the last yellow, not sure why now.)
#16 - Hm, not sure how I did this at the beginning. I know at the end I headed in from the yellow to the control's W.
#17 - Eddie caught me, I started a bit different way (I stayed on the yellows), but then behind him, and joined his route when he cut from the medium-green acros to the second yellow, coming out right by the control.
#18 - Down and out to the big trail on the yellows, Eddie in sight in front of me. Then through the S marsh (whoops) and into the vague. I thought I was good, but I was looking to far S of boulder, corrected after a bit, Eddie had disappeared.
#19 - Hesitant, but I kept it moving. I really wasn't sure how to approach this one, figured to use the hill tops along the way (which I did, but kinda confusedly, thought I passed low of the first one, but then ended up going over it?). Came out on the yellow in the light green, then straight in from there.
#20 - Ug. Tried to just keep my bearing through the thick, stopped confused a few times, just trying to identify something, but there's not much on the map, so really I should have just kept firing through. Came out on the control on the cairn, then in. Better to just hammer and bounce of the wall if you don't hit it?

Day 1 - Blue - Splits

And decided I'd save the bus trip back from the conference by just running back to the apartment before flying home. Started at Estec and then navigated mostly using bike paths back to Leiden center. A grey misty day, but still sort of starkly beautiful by the canal with greenhouses on either side.

Then travel times back to the States!