Training Log Archive: arcticQn

Ken set a nice 6.1km course on Burnt Mtn which used some of the map that I've never been to before! There is a quarried area at the top of a mountain that is mapped (however not very acurately anymore.) Loki ran with me, but by the time I got up to this quarry area and was then heading back down, Kristoffer ran by (on a crossing loop thing) and Loki (I assumed at the time) ran off with him. So I headed down the mountain without him, but then kept thinking more and more - "what if Loki hadn't met up with Kristoffer and is instead fallen into a hole and can't get out, or got a stick through himself or something!" So I stopped at the next control to meet up with K and verify that he had the dog, and waited...and waited...and waited, probably for about 1/2 hr. Then started makign my way out back the trail and the car, hoping to intercept K as he ran the course behind me. Never saw him, so Ken and I (who I did meet up with!) ran back to the car and sure enough K and L were there waiting for US! (you can read K's run in his log. Nielsen
Great course, for what I ran of it (never got to the last 2 controls, but an hour run was plenty for me anyway.)
I get to set a course Thursday. Anyone else in the area want to come up?

C • smart dog. hey you ready to ... 2

Legs and body felt good, could've gone for a run or ride, but having a nice relaxing evening mowing the lawn and grilling just sounded tooo nice!

1.5km walk/run to teh start. True Swedish style.

I thought that long courses were supposed to be easier nav, but lots of route choice? This was more like middle distance technical and nearly NO route choice. The woods were super thick with leafy saplings, making it next to impossible to see more than 10 feet in front of you. (like kristoffer said, it's like a night-o). Hardly any use of trails, only two sections of maybe 600m each. otherwise the rest was barreling through these thick woods, where some tings were mapped and others weren't...again, very frustrating. Legs were tired, but since it's a "long" I took it a bit easier than yesterday and felt fine for the whole race.
no huge nav errors, just really really hesitant on most of the legs due to inability to see features in the leafy green-ness.

C • Nice work! 3

Event: OOC Eastern Canadian Orienteering Championships
 

Warm -up with Kristoffer. He made me. I usually don't warm up, but it sounded like a good idea. Not sure if it actually helped in the race, my legs felt quite tired the entire way.

I forget how long my time, or the course was, really, but it was about what I have. Like i said, legs felt really tired and I couldn't move very well through this THICK forest. Kept tripping myself up over sticks and logs. Leaves smacking me in the face constantly making it near impossible to run at any sort of decent pace. one huge error, lost about 3 minutes (ok, not so huge, but it felt a lot longer) and then the second to last control took me way too long to find. I was getting tired. Too hot and frustrated with the woods and the map. (Lots of features out there that weren't mapped...frustrating!)

Excellent sprint course. Super technical and with varied length of legs. Good route choice options, especially for a sprint. ( I think there were more route choices in this race than there were for the long!) I had a few iffy route choices, myself, and running was a bit slow on the roads (it was hot out) but overall, nav was fairly clean and quick.) Ended up 6th overall, 2nd female to Emily Kemp. I feel bad, I don't know who she is, but she's quick!!

Work, pack, drive drive drive
Took only about 5.5hrs to get to le Parc du Gatineau. (pronounced in that nasally french sound of course.) We arrived at around 1:30am and since the parc was closed at that hour, (unbelievable.) we set up a tent at the entrance gate and slept for about 5-6 hrs.

Kristoffer set courses for Ken Walker and I for a Thursday evening training at Burnt Mtn. Our flagging works well and the course was great. About 5.9km of about half easy, half really technical orienteering.
Felt good moving quick through the woods and I probably pushed it a bit too much for having races this upcoming weekend, (my calves are sore today!) but it was so much fun. I love orienteering.

C • Sounding pretty positive about... 7

A longish run on gravel/paved roads near our house. Loki did very well on "heel" except for tripping Kristoffer up one time so he skinned his palm. ouch. The route was awesome, rolling gravel roads with the most amazing farm about halfway through the loop! Nice big white farmhouse with a beautifully well-kept red barn, rollign grassy fields and fit horses galloping around. Geese, chickens and ducks mixed in with some wild turkeys! Awesome. K and I are going to write them a letter and tell them we have grand plans for their place and they should really consider giving it to us when they pass on.
;o)