Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

37 degrees in the morning at Charlie's when we leave for the airport; 104 in Los Gatos when we get back late in the afternoon.

Cold got worse last evening but fortunately wasn't horrible on the plane rides.

Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Start at 8:31. First place in M65 in the North American Champs sprint, despite a head cold and several ailing body parts. Didn't have a lot of speed but was very aggressive and made quick and good decisions. Temperature around 40 F definitely helped. Lost about :20 on #14 after I got distracted right before #13 by someone calling out to me that I was crossing an uncrossable cliff, which I wasn't. But in checking - while leaving 13 - that what I had done was indeed ok, ran past the turn I should have taken to 14 and by the time I realized it, it seemed faster to just go all the way around the building.

Never stopped except to punch (with one exception). Slowed down a few times (7, 9, 15) to work out the details of exactly where the control would be; consequently, once near the circle, was able to go right to the control without hesitation in every case and to exit without having to consult the map. Pretty sure I never used the compass except possibly in the start triangle.

The one stop was going to #12 and was only for a second or two. I knew the control was at the bottom of the stairs, but I planned to run on the path and go down the stairs before realizing I should cut across the grass. But as I did that, came to a low retaining wall I had to jump down, so stopped first to check that it was crossable (and actually didn't see the grey line, but saw that there definitely wasn't a black line). So, going a bit out of the way cost another second or two, amounting to a 3 or 4 sec loss on that leg, the only time loss besides the error at #14. (Still had the 3rd best split on that leg, 1st among M65+ North Americans.)

Very pleased to win over such a strong field, including a bunch of top guys (Seager, Tarry, Froyen, K.Walker, Bortz) who weren't at the U.S. Sprint Champs in March, plus top notch Canadians like Konotopetz and Yarkie.

Illness: started getting a sore throat and headache after Fri's race, and those were still there all day yesterday and this morning, with congestion starting last night. After today's race, started coughing and that continued through the rest of the day.

Injuries: in addition to the ongoing problems with my knees, my chest is still sore from last weekend's fall, and after today's race, that really started hurting, especially when I coughed. The three big scratches I got from running into the barbed wire fence on Friday were still tender. Finally, had several dizzy spells this week. Don't think any of these impeded me during the race, though, and amazingly neither did the fact that I got less than three hours sleep last night.

[Orienteering Sprint Race]

Warm up on the Darmouth Green. Knees a little creaky at first, but then felt pretty decent and loose. Temp in the high 30's but no trouble getting warm, but still feel comfortable (as opposed, for instance to the Sprint Qualifier in Tallinn, where the extreme humidity was really uncomfortable for me).

Cool down on the Dartmouth Green.

Sprint - Brown X - Splits

Slept OK for several hours, but then didn't sleep much after that. Still have sore throat and headache, making it easy to stick with my decision to skip the Long to give my self the best possibility of being able to make it to the Sprint on Sunday despite the cold and various minor injuries.

Quekee Gorge. Walked out from the Visitor Center to the gorge, then up to the bridge, then down the path to the bottom of the gorge and back. Nice easy walk, but still have a sore throat and headache.

Afterwards, drove to Woodstock VT for lunch.

Event: North American Orienteering Championships 2016
 

The usual weekly accumulation of morning exercises. Just stretching, no strength or balance.

Middle - Brown X - Splits

Sprint Model Event for the North American Championships. Dartmouth campus. Extremely easy, at least at walking pace.

Drove up from Wellesley in the morning, ate lunch at Molly's in Hanover, then ran into George and Leslie, who'd already picked up their packets and lent us the map for the model.

Middle Model for the North American Champs, at Storrs Pond. Walking, did a few controls, mostly helping Louise. Plenty of trails, so it was very easy. A lot of the "white" looked like "green" to me.

Wellesley College. Louise was going to run around the lake. Thought I would jog along for a few minutes, which I did, but a lot of things felt awful: quads, knees, left upper chest (the latter from falling on Sunday). Could not have run a race today.

Walked back (counter clockwise) and meet L just as she was finishing, and then we walked maybe a third of the way around and back.

Again go into Cambridge, this time for a talk with Ian McEwan sponsored by the Harvard Bookstore, followed by (a long) dinner. Late to bed.

Hanging out and running errands in Wellesley. Legs feel really dead, especially going up the stairs at Linda's place.

Linda takes us into Cambridge in the evening for a talk at Harvard on the upcoming presidential election.