Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Drove up to the cabin. We were supposed to go yesterday, but that didn't work out.

Before going for a walk at Armstrong (see below), we stopped at the library to see if Zack was working there, and he was!

Armstrong Redwoods. Steady walk, the usual flat loop, including the amphitheater.

(After driving up to the cabin.)

The usual weekly accumulation of morning exercises. A little short on the strength exercises on several of the days.

Stanford ISSOM map. Course set by Riley. Ran pretty hard. Riley ran 15 min, so I think my run was the equivalent of 15 mins for a Brown-length course.

2.8 km, straight line.

However, two big mistakes:

1. I skipped #5. 5, 6 and 7 were very close together, and somehow I never saw the circle for 5 and went straight from 4 to 6. Maybe in a race the control code would have save me, and 5 was very near by so it might not have been that big an error. Still, very careless.

2. Had trouble at #9, misreading where I exited the outer quad and then getting really confused about where I was. I actually was practically right on a reasonable route, and I realized that once I noticed I was right behind Hoover Tower and found myself on the map. But without that known-to-me landmark, that would almost certainly turned into a huge error. Again, not focused enough.

There are a lot of little details on this map that I can't really see, even with my magnifier. Several times I'd come across a stairway that I hadn't seen on the map, then look at the map to check that it went where I wanted to go.

A few times, ran hard even though I couldn't interpret the details (NOT something I usually do), and it worked out fine; but would it in a less familiar place?

[Orienteering sprint practice]

Jogged from Tressider to the usual meeting spot outside Varian, then around the grassy areas. Got going pretty fast. Waited a couple of minutes for people to show up, finally Tori and Josh Wiley came, and I jogged off to the start (about 3 mins, unlogged) to get a jump on the others.

Cool down. Can feel the run in my hamstrings.

Jeep trail next door. Feeling kinda frisky in the morning (and legs don't seem to be as sore from Calero as I'd expected), so jog two laps in 502.

[Easy distance]

Event: BAOC: Calero
 

Calero one-day "free" NRE. Brown 2.4 km, 195m climb, 9 controls. Very warm when I started (10:34); had been cool at my house before I left.

Given the climb stats and that I knew the dead grass and leaves on the ground would make things slippery, I anticipated slow going, so I wasn't really discouraged when that turned out to be the case. I was able to run for the first two controls (and I had the fastest splits on those, and at that point was 2:20 ahead of the next nearest person), but the rest of the way I did a lot of walking, and when I jogged it was mostly chicken stepping, trying to maintain my balance, Figured that if I could just be accurate, I'd have a good result even though I was moving slowly. That almost turned out to be the case. I had three very small navigation errors, arriving 15 - 20m away from the control at #5 (I was too low), #6 (too high) and #8 (too far left), errors of only about 10 seconds each. My downfall, though, was my route to #7. Trying to avoid some really steep terrain, I went E almost to the road and then came into the control from the W. I thought that was a clever route, but it appears I lost 3 mins! And that was the difference between me and Steve Haas, who came in first. I was 7:40 ahead of Chuck after the first three, but wound up only a minute and a half ahead. I was definitely moving much too slowly over the last two-thirds of the race. Not that I was lolly-gagging: I was exhausted by the end. I'm just not able to move well on that slippery stuff.

1. Aimed for the tree highest up the second reentrant, then more or less contoured from there.

2. Along the road until under the first lone tree on the big hill, then used the boulder (visible from the road) as an attack point. Lost a few seconds checking behind the boulder for the bag, just to be sure.

3. Down a little to the right because there was a good place to get through the fence. Straight up the nose of the spur, though had to stop three times to let my legs rest.

4. Found it very treacherous in here. Saw the cliff above the boulder from a fair distance, so no navigational trouble. Steve Haas had an amazing split here, 30% faster than anyone else.

5. Contoured (climbing a little) towards the cliff in the next reentrant. The vegetation was more identifiable than the cliff. Contoured until out on the broad spur, then saw the bag to my right, 20m above.

6. With the fence corner as a sure bet relocation point, just tried to move as quickly as I could to the fence, climbing just a little. As I approached the fence, could see a bag higher up on the fence, figured that must be the corner, so I appeared to be at the right elevation. Climbed a little bit because there was a place there where the fence was down, but then forgot about that as I contoured again. Saw someone in a BOAC uni coming down the spur, and when I got closer I saw it was Leslie (who was abandoning the course, it turns out) and also that I was about 20m directly above the bag.

7. Spoke with Leslie briefly as I contoured across the reentrant. Ridiculously steep here, and I could see that the big field wasn't too far above, so took an animal path angling up, around the nose, and out into the field. Used the two green patches as guides, going over the top of the second one (should have gone under, I suppose) and then turned left to head towards the control. But the seasonal streambed was a real trench, so crossed it high, contoured towards the road, and when I got out into the open, followed the edge of the forest first N then W right to the control. Thought this was a clever route, but I was over 3 minutes behind Steve on this split, and 10th overall on the leg (next worse ranking was 5th, on #4), and I can't think of any reason why I might have lost that time except that my route choice at the end was too far around, though it sure doesn't look like it was THAT much extra distance (so I'm puzzled).

8. Contoured to the road, coming out just above the lone tree on the other side. Instead of heading straight to the control (I'd have to use only nebulous features along that route), contoured over the big green patch, then down to the lone tree NW of the control. Down, and when pace count ran out, looked around and saw the bag (on what like a small pile of branches) about 20m to my right and just slightly above me.

9. Contoured to the edge of the reentrant, then angled down to the nose, then straight down. As the road came into view, a little alarmed that I didn't yet see the bag, but then saw it hidden by grass around a small stump.

F. Headed towards the Finish - yikes! I could see it across the little valley, and I have to go up a hill! Jogged down and across, walked up as fast as I could, in O2 debt by the time I got there.

WinSplits
RouteGadget

[Orienteering race]

Warm up: 7 mins, half-mile
Cool down: 5 mins, quarter mile