Training Log Archive: MJChilds

Jogging with a couple of 100m sprints.

Guess at my time, will correct later when splits posted, if necessary.

Thrilled to have a clean race. Actually, a perfect race for me. Nearly blew it today when I almost went from 6 to 8, but luckily realized enroute I had shifted my focus from to the #8 circle when I saw people leaving it and that I was supposed to be going to #7.

Could it be that my forte is the urban Sprint? I was a sprinter growing up. . .I like the tempo, the way the map leaves little room for interpretation, unlike forest maps where each mapper sees things a little differently, and often differently from me. With urban sprints, buildings are buildings, roads are roads, etc. Easy for me to concentrate and keep track of everything. Short enough to push hard running and hang in there at threshold until the last hundred meters or so when I can give it my all.

Feels great after yesterday's debacle!

Sprint Course 2. - Splits

Classic Race at Hidden Meadow in the Carp Hills. Race went well till number 6, at which time I made a stupid mistake and headed off on the wrong trail. After losing contact with the map, I decided to bail out to the power line and relocate which was easy to do because I came out to a huge power line tower--there was only one on the map--and then took a bearing and headed back in. Things matched up for the first 50 meters then confusion returned. Turns out I was off the map. Had the right side of the map been cut straight instead of jagged, showing one more centimeter to the southeast, it would have shown the second power line and I'd have had to consider it. After checking out several "leads", I finally decided to go back to 6 and as I returned to the ride, I realized that what I had done. This was almost 25 minutes later. bummer. The real kicker is that my ill-fated trail choice was in the middle of a big field which even a white course runner should have been able to do correctly. Going too fast and in too much of a hurry again. Too bad. I am feeling a little better seeing the splits and seeing that I won a couple of the legs and wasn't too bad on any of the others. Again, I used the thumb compass and did not check my running direction against the compass needle. Still learning how to use it.

This is the time I spent at a lower intensity trying to figure out where in the heck I was between 6 and 7. Total time was around 54 minutes. This one leg took longer that the total time for the winner on the course!

Middle W55-64 - Splits

Relay at Nakkertok. Team "Whine-Os" with Francis Falardeau from Montreal and Eugene Mlynczyk from Toronto. Expected to do better and I guess I don't have my groove back since I screwed up on three controls! Ran off the map on the first--too nervous for sure after seeing the control and not recognizing it as mine. Lost about 2 min. Had I told myself it was a yellow course, I would have taken yellow course (safe trail routes) routes. Instead, I tried to cut corners and made it more difficult. Screwed up #7 by leaving trail too soon and not finding the indistinct trail which apparently wasn't there and had to relocate and backtrack (4 min). Then, on final control before the finish control, I misread map and and took wrong trail. I was not careful using the thumb compass today and never looked at my direction or I'd have seen that I was going north instead of west on the trail. It'll take me a while to shift my mental processes in using the needle of the thumb compass. Stupid race. Fortunately Eugene and Francis did reasonably well and we ended up OK in the standings. Hope to do better tomorrow. Guess I still need to work on my groove.

Sprint Prologue at park across the street from Carleton University. Had a great race. One small bobble, one not-so-good route choice, one frustrating error in not being able to read that the control circle's center was above an uncrossable retaining wall so I came in from the wrong side and had to go around. Lost about 10 sec on that alone. Won the prologue but had some speedy juniors and Marg Ellis on my tail for the final.

Chase (final). Was quite nervous leading the pack--new experience for me. Had those young legs and experienced legs on my tail starting with 23 seconds back. Nice enough lead so that I could shoot out ahead and be out of sight to avoid being followed. That must have helped. I gained another 5 seconds in this race and ended up in the lead by 28 sec. A very pleasing victory. Am I possibly getting my groove back?

Kanata Lakes in Ottawa. Sass Peepre Jr. Training Camp exercise on contours only map. Shadowed Gavin Tasker and Reed ____. Interesting area with lots of contour detail. Hard to find good attack points using just contours. Apparently, this was to be practice for the Long on Sunday where there will be few trails and most navigating will rely on contours. We won't be here for the Long, but it sounds like it will be really interesting.

Sprint race. Didn't run it, but walked/jogged out into course to observe my kids and had to race back to the finish in order to get Gavin's time, hence the hence the 10 min of real exercise. Later we went to the beach on the Rideau River? and then to pasta dinner at Brian and Marquetta Graham's house just a few blocks away. Wonderful day. Posted some photos on facebook.

Classic Race in the Gatineau near Chelsea on Camp Fortune South map.

Had a decent race. Used THUMB COMPASS for first time so I was really careful. I should be this careful all the time. Made no big mistakes, thankfully.

Fabulous view from start area overlooking the Ottawa River Valley with the forest in the foreground and the cityscape in the middle distance. Enjoyed the race though others had problems with the map's inconsistencies.

Ottawa COC first race. Pouring rain before start, drizzling during race. Got stung by some nasty yellow jackets x10 toward the end of the course. Wish I had access to some ammonia for the stings. . . Rattled me for rest of the course. Fortunately, I knew my angle of departure from the control and as I was flailing at bees running toward the next control I ran right into it without looking at compass or map!! Some consolation, I suppose. Makes the case for knowing which direction to head in.

Overall, not a bad race, but not a great one, either.