Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: BAOC: Pacheco State Park A-meet
 

Warmup jog to the start. I arrived about ten minutes ahead of my start.

Blue Middle Distance course at Pacheco State Park, BAOC. Unfortunately, the course was thrown out because control 5 was hung ~50 meters off; I had a late start, so it was in the correct location when I arrived.

Pacheco was interesting - the contour detail reminded me of the ridge-and-valley orienteering that I have seen in Missouri and Ohio (e.g. 2011 Relay Champs Middle, Night), but the relief was much more severe. The vegetation was very sparse - the hillsides were entirely open with clumps of trees and shrubs, so visibility was 200+ meters. I wasn't prepared for the physicality of the terrain - both the strength and power needed to ascend/descend and the rock-solid stability needed to side hill with speed and confidence. The entire excursion was arduous.

I was careful to pay attention to my compass especially when I was trying to be conservative with respect to elevation change. Going perfectly straight isn't that practical in this terrain. My only mistake of consequence was at control 15, which was on (actually, in) a tree. I was running up a reentrant from 14 scanning the opposite bank for the tree, and I simply didn't notice the control; I overran by about 100m. I finished five minutes behind the winner, Nick Barable and a little over two behind Zach Schroder.
Quickroute.

Middle Blue (Voided because of #5) - Splits

For my second trip, I shortened a planned North Dome hike and just ascended to the top of the Upper Yosemite Falls Trail - which would be aptly called the "Trail of a thousand switchbacks." It was magnificent, though I didn't feel inclined to run it.

C • switchbacks 1

Expedition: Yosemite! I quite accidentally chose a fantastic time to visit the park: while it was cool in the evenings, the temperature during the day was as high as 15-20 C. There was very little snow and ice on the trails, and most importantly, there were far fewer people in the park than is typical during the summer.

I arrived at Yosemite and purchased a fantastic National Geographic: Trails Illustrated map of the park, then set up my campsite at Upper Pines. For my first day's hike, I set to ascend Sentinel Dome via the John Muir trail, which promised a scenic view of Half Dome. To make the hike more interesting, I ran the flatter parts of it.

The hike was magnificent; some day, I would like to through hike the John Muir Trail. It is my impression that there are two Yosemites: the touristy valley and the popular hikes in its immediate vicinity, and the grand landscape that starts about 10 km away from the frequented areas. I got brief tastes of that Eden, especially on the aptly named "Panorama Trail."

I arrived at the summit of Sentinel Dome about a half hour before sunset, and as it's accessible by a road, there was a troop of photographers packing some L-series heat on the summit taking a picture of the sunset vista. I hung out with them for a little while and grabbed a few shots with my ghetto 18-55 before hiking back down in the dark with my flashlight. While it is true that being out so late was unwise, I was adequately prepared, with a flashlight, matches, several extra layers of warm clothing, two candy bars, and about three liters of water. Still, in the future, it is much better to finish hikes during daylight hours, particularly when I am traveling alone. After the sun set, I was awestruck by the clear view of the heavens. There were so many stars, as the light pollution near Yosemite is mild even with the unnecessary lights in the valley. After descending to the bottom of the "4.6 mile trail," I ran back to my camp.

The running component of my Sentinel Dome hike.

Registered for:
- BAOC: O in the Oaks. Showdown with ebone.
- DVOA: French Creek. Showdown with a host, including AliC and ken-san.
- OCIN: Night and Relay. First 0-pter registered! I imagine I will change my primary club to CSU, as I doubt NEOC will field a team. I would be ecstatic if both NEOC and CSU fielded full teams.

Easy river loop. I felt improbably tired, and my left arch hurt a little. I took care to stretch afterward. I'm surprised at how low my heart rate was. It was very cold - about 2 C.

Event: NEOC: Powissett
 

An abbreviated warmup.

Red course at Powissett, set by Jeff Schapiro. The day was fantastic - temperatures of about 10 C, with clear, sunny skies after a morning drizzle. The forest was dense; while visibility was good, there was plenty of undergrowth thick with green briar.

I generally orienteered cleanly and fast, but there were two noteworthy errors. On the way to 4, after skirting the edge of the private property, I chose to leave the stone wall handrail and punch straight through the woods on a compass bearing. I drifted, and while my time loss wasn't heavy (perhaps 30-45s), I lacked confidence. While the vegetation pushed me around, I should have been more accurate and confident with my compass.

At 6, I drifted too high, and while I corrected, I misjudged the shape of the target reentrant and overshot for a loss of about 75s. Most of the course wasn't difficult, but I executed parts of it solidly. The footing was rocky and poor in many places. Few of the serious contenders showed up, so I comfortably won.

C • The forest was dense; while... 13

While I had considered trying to race all three advanced courses, I decided to stop after red because the navigational challenge would probably be reduced after running red, I banged up my right knee falling on the run-in to the finish, I didn't want to "show up" the other runners, and I only had about an hour before control pickup was to begin. Had I shown up at 10 or 11 instead of noon, I probably would have given it a shot - Jeff was comparatively conservative in his course lengths.

To pass the time before control pickup, because I felt ok physically, and because my mileage has been weak this week (largely due to some lost time making my Halloween costume), I decided to go for a nice trail jaunt. My map ended well to the west of where I ended up running, so I was lost for part of the run before cruising back east.

Jeff, Pia, and I divided up the controls. Mine had two water stops (aw), but I negotiated this by dropping everything off at one control and circling around to pick up the remote controls before returning. I ran into two pairs of people who were interested in what I was doing, and after some pleasant conversation, I gave them the NEOC website. Hopefully they will come! I was wearing US team regalia at the time, which hopefully adds to my street cred.

Red - Splits