Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: CSU Cat Rock Park-O
 

Ross' Cat Rock Park-O. Most interestingly, there was a baby deer (presumably newborn) that was curled up on a trail near the start. I encountered the mother as I meandered in that area looking for a suitable tree on which to relieve myself, but left when I realized the relationship between the deer.

Ross set an excellent course which made good use of the terrain (and spared us a bit of climb on the western hill!). He was generally gentle about the vegetation to the southeast, leaving suitable trail routes in lieu of storming through poison ivy. I rather like Cat Rock Park; it's generally runnable and has a sufficiently interesting and varied feature set.

I had an acceptable, if unremarkable run. I have struggled lately with the mental aspects of racing - concentrating sufficiently, organizing my time and actions, planning ahead, and diagnosing routes and features around me adequately.

I didn't take splits, unfortunately; I had uneventful legs up to control 3, where I caught Alex. I stayed ahead of her through control 7, despite a small flub at 5, but I got confused in the circle at control 8, and she punched ahead of me. I then made a 30 second error at 9, followed by at least a minute error at 10. Controls 11 and 12 were fast, and as I was leaving control 12, I caught sight of Alex. I took a different route to 13, and slogged up a hill to punch just behind her. I then took off down a hill and beat her to 14; I didn't see what her route was, but I think she must have taken a suboptimal path. I was ahead of her again at 15, but I heard her behind me and tried to push it intelligently. I punched 16 perhaps 10-15 seconds ahead of her, and somehow overlooked the seventeenth control. I sprinted into the finish, at least ninety seconds ahead of Alex, whereupon I realized my epic MP disqualification FAIL.

Some observations: I still struggle with ignoring (or at least intelligently noticing) other orienteers. I was so focused on getting ahead of Alex en route to 9 that I didn't plan my route adequately, and so made a mistake. It is likely I would have noticed 17 had I not been preoccupied with staying ahead of her again at 16. I was trying to break away from her, but my errors compounded to make that impossible. I need to be concentrating and ready when I start a course to synthesize information correctly and quickly and make good decisions based on incomplete information. These difficulties caused nuisances today and catastrophes two days ago.

I felt fine physically today; I probably could have pushed harder in the open terrain (e.g. near 6-8, 11). I was wheezing a bit, but my breathing was sufficiently controlled. Had I not ignored 17, I would have had a generally good run despite my errors. I conjecture that were I to perfectly rerun the course fresh, I could complete it in perhaps 26 minutes.

Warm up before the park-O and a warm down run with Alex (and initially Clem).

NEOC Club champs at Mt. Tom. I started too aggressively and immediately ran into some difficulties on control 2 (2 minute error) despite a reasonably well chosen and executed route. My trouble today was orienteering near and within the control circle; I had a complete meltdown on control 9, losing about 15 minutes. Much of Mt. Tom is invariant under translation; the aggregate features of the mountainside (especially the middle of the map) do not change significantly. Even in the technical west region, full of cliffs and reentrants, the terrain looks very similar over a range of a kilometer. I had a lot of difficulty recognizing the small differences, and I really struggled in the technical areas. The climb didn't help much, either.

Overall, this was a very bad day. Kudos to Ian Finlayson's 75 minute championship run.

Blue - Splits

A gentle run to the Middlesex Fells for ARDF training.

ARDF training at the Sheepfold at the Middlesex Fells. I spent a while discussing ARDF mechanics and strategy with Vadim, including topics like exclusion zones, the various switches (clock, tone, and the other one), and general strategies for the order to take controls.

My only previous experience with ARDF was about twenty minutes on a short sprintesque course after a Park-O, so I am reasonably pleased with my performance. With my considerable inexperience, I actually get measurably better during a race; I expect that to still be true in two weeks, when I compete for the US Championship. I will be exposed to the 2 meter format for the first time next week; day 2 of the championship will be on this format. This amuses me.

Anyway, I took about 26 minutes to get to the first control - the only one to the south of the Sheepfold; I ran into Lori at the control, and she found it first. Apparently Lori beat me to 5 (I'm curious how), though I didn't have the best path, and it took me 19 minutes. I found control 2 off cycle as I noticed the bearing changing while I was running on a trail in its general direction. I caught up to Lori and got to control 4 just ahead of her, and while I took a longer route than I planned to control 3, I beat Lori to it (punching at around 69 minutes, also off cycle). I was a bit slow on the run into the finish; I was out eighty minutes. Apparently the competition controls will be full size flags, whereas today's were miniature.

I didn't have much difficulty maintaining contact, apart from when I was closing on control 5 on cycle through some messy trails. I didn't have a pen to record my bearings, though based on my memory, it's clear that the uncertainty in bearing is very large. I still have much to learn, and not much opportunity to learn it. Today's event was on such a narrow map that there really was only one logical order (unless you completely doglegged 1 and ran 1 3 4 2 5).

A morning run; I woke up before my alarm at around 6:50, dozed, rose with my alarm, and sat around at my computer reading ap logs for twenty minutes to avoid falling asleep. I eventually and unenthusiastically dragged myself out the door on what I planned to be a 40 minute run nested around a 20 minute tempo run.

However, ten minutes into the run, I decided that I did not feel up to a tempo run and would be better served by a more moderate run. I have heard it said that every run must have an explicit objective, so I would call this run an "injury prevention/aerobic" run. I just acquired Daniel's Running Formula, so I should know the proper name soon enough.

I felt rather terrible throughout the run, as though I would never be energetic again. Both of my calves felt tight, as though they were being gently squeezed from each side, my knees ached, and I lacked the energy and stamina to push hard. I suspect I may have been dehydrated. I moved gingerly and tried to maintain a steady, relaxed pace.

I have been blowing my nose unusually often of late; whether due to allergies or a mild, localized cold, it may be contributing to my apparent fatigue. On the other hand, my lethargy could be due to my general lack of enthusiasm for early mornings.

C • Every run must have an explicit purpose... 3