Training Log Archive: MJChildsIn the 7 days ending Apr 23, 2017:
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Sunday Apr 23, 2017 #
Orienteering race 52:43 [5]
38th Annual West Point event Day 2 Lake Welch. Across the road to the south. Nice woods. Much better than yesterday, except the all the blueberries which tired my legs over time.
Much cleaner run today. Suboptimal route choice to #1. Saw all the rhododendron along the trail so I left it early and contoured below it. Those who took the road were much faster. Oh well. On the long leg I went a little bit right and got on the trail that ascended the mountain very early, then ran on the trail on the level for a few hundred meters. Left the trail near the water tower and worked my way down to the control. Got caught in the mountain laurel just before the control and had to backtrack a little to get around it.
On #5 I was doing very well using the rocky reentrant as a handraril and finding the gaps in the mountain laurel (with the help of another runner ahead of me). I could see the spur that pointed to the control and was working my way over to it when I took a closer look at the map and saw that there was a perpendicular spur that pointed right to it also. I was feeling very cocky having spotted that feature and veered off to the right. Even though my sense was that the control was only about 30 m from the 2 boulders on the main spur, I stuck to my plan. Stupid plan. I ran about 100 m away from the actual control before I accepted that I was mistaken. When will I ever learn to pay attention to warning signs: When I get to feeling cocky, I'm probably going to screw up. Lost about 2 min.
The rest of the course went well. Took the trail from the water tank near #6 to get to #7, following it all the way to the junction near the bottom, then headed due east to the control. I could see the big cliff from the power line so I could run with confidence (guarded, after my previous blunder).
Should have gone up and over the hill on #10, instead, I contoured to the left and, not looking at the map closely enough, got all the way to the road near the playground and down to the beach before realizing the last control was on the outside of the fence and I had to backtrack a little. NBD.
No juice left to sprint into the finish. Stayed off of the sand as long as I could, running on the concrete and the grass beside it for 1/2 the run in. Where did my sprint juice go? Felt like I was running in slow motion. What can I expect though when I have not done much running and what I have done has been short and slow.
It was still fun to be in the woods and the weather today was splendid. Enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting a charming new junior, Alexandra Oxenstierna from HVO. She started up a conversation with me at the results screens and wanted to show me her map and explain how she ran. She charmed me with her enthusiasm, having only begun to orienteer last fall. Lots of potential there. Introduced her to Ethan and Barb so she could meet some of the juniors and learn about the junior activities. Hope she sticks with her. Her dad is a Swede who competed in his youth and has just returned to the sport after many years away from it. Great day.
Much cleaner run today. Suboptimal route choice to #1. Saw all the rhododendron along the trail so I left it early and contoured below it. Those who took the road were much faster. Oh well. On the long leg I went a little bit right and got on the trail that ascended the mountain very early, then ran on the trail on the level for a few hundred meters. Left the trail near the water tower and worked my way down to the control. Got caught in the mountain laurel just before the control and had to backtrack a little to get around it.
On #5 I was doing very well using the rocky reentrant as a handraril and finding the gaps in the mountain laurel (with the help of another runner ahead of me). I could see the spur that pointed to the control and was working my way over to it when I took a closer look at the map and saw that there was a perpendicular spur that pointed right to it also. I was feeling very cocky having spotted that feature and veered off to the right. Even though my sense was that the control was only about 30 m from the 2 boulders on the main spur, I stuck to my plan. Stupid plan. I ran about 100 m away from the actual control before I accepted that I was mistaken. When will I ever learn to pay attention to warning signs: When I get to feeling cocky, I'm probably going to screw up. Lost about 2 min.
The rest of the course went well. Took the trail from the water tank near #6 to get to #7, following it all the way to the junction near the bottom, then headed due east to the control. I could see the big cliff from the power line so I could run with confidence (guarded, after my previous blunder).
Should have gone up and over the hill on #10, instead, I contoured to the left and, not looking at the map closely enough, got all the way to the road near the playground and down to the beach before realizing the last control was on the outside of the fence and I had to backtrack a little. NBD.
No juice left to sprint into the finish. Stayed off of the sand as long as I could, running on the concrete and the grass beside it for 1/2 the run in. Where did my sprint juice go? Felt like I was running in slow motion. What can I expect though when I have not done much running and what I have done has been short and slow.
It was still fun to be in the woods and the weather today was splendid. Enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting a charming new junior, Alexandra Oxenstierna from HVO. She started up a conversation with me at the results screens and wanted to show me her map and explain how she ran. She charmed me with her enthusiasm, having only begun to orienteer last fall. Lots of potential there. Introduced her to Ethan and Barb so she could meet some of the juniors and learn about the junior activities. Hope she sticks with her. Her dad is a Swede who competed in his youth and has just returned to the sport after many years away from it. Great day.
Saturday Apr 22, 2017 #
Event: West Point National Meet
Orienteering race 1:12:01 [4]
38th Annual West Point event. Day 1 at Lake Popolopen on northeastern part of map. Cold and damp to start, drizzle and some rain mid-course. Did well to #3, then got to within 50 m of #4 and could not make sense of the map up on the flat. Saw the big hill, big reentrant and large cliffs to my left, but ahead of me the land began to slope downward sooner than I expected so I assumed I had gone too far. Backtracked a bit downhill and to the east (?). Stymied. Found #6 then used compass to return to flat. Still had a hard time reading land forms on top. Guessed at large "knoll" which was the spur on top of which was the control. Left there headed to #5, but checked compass and corrected to go more southerly. Jogged past large boulder and to small cliff below it. Must have been too far to the left somehow. Scoped out several cliffs with reentrants adjacent to them, then headed back uphill and found control. Could not make sense of the map up there, at all. Used compass to return to #6. Rest of course was OK.
First time on a map this season. Shouldn't have expected things to go smoothly. I couldn't even recall which hand I carry my tools in and stopped 3 times to switch things on before control #2. How can I forget such a thing? A little muscle memory helped, but it took me 3 tries to get it right. For future reference: dibbler (R, index), compass (R), clues and map (L). Geez. Funny how distracting and unsettling it is to have it mixed up. I had my compass in my left hand, along with my clues, and it was driving me crazy that I could see the clues through the baseplate. Anyway. . .
First time on a map this season. Shouldn't have expected things to go smoothly. I couldn't even recall which hand I carry my tools in and stopped 3 times to switch things on before control #2. How can I forget such a thing? A little muscle memory helped, but it took me 3 tries to get it right. For future reference: dibbler (R, index), compass (R), clues and map (L). Geez. Funny how distracting and unsettling it is to have it mixed up. I had my compass in my left hand, along with my clues, and it was driving me crazy that I could see the clues through the baseplate. Anyway. . .