Training Log Archive: Charlie

A very nice event this weekend. Despite the difficulty I had on Saturday (and the trouble I had on day 2 two years ago), I think this is one of the best places to orienteer I have been. Diverse terrain, hard to relocate, demands absolute attention to do well. And then all the great folks who were there and the beautiful weather. Really fine.

Then there was the bonus of getting to work on my Italian. Nice chats with Katia and Giovanni, and also with the mapper, Marcello Pradel, very nice guy. I am told, by J-J, Giovanni and Katia, and by Marcello himself, that he speaks a pretty strong dialect. A bit lost on me, as I was concentrating so hard on understanding what he said that I was not really paying attention to the way it sounded, and not capable enough to pick up any unusual words. Perhaps if I get a lot better at it.

Not sure what to call this. Yoga is about as good as anything. When I first heard about the finale yesterday, I was pretty glad I had missed it, but it got me to thinking and eventually I was sorry not to have been a part of it. I tried to catch up by trying for a three-minute forearm plank. Well, I made it, but I was certainly tired of planking by the end of it, and not just warming up, like Gail and Alex.

Around W Simsbury. Legs a little better than they have been the last few times.

Brown X, Day 2, Much better than yesterday, 3rd overall on brown X, compared to 31st yesterday, and good enough for a bronze medal in the US Champs. Mostly careful, ran a lot of the yellow skid trails. A little trouble late in the course, but not enough to spoil the run.

A nice few minutes at the start call-up chatting in Italian with Katia Bertoldi. Then down the path deliberately, cutting in at the low point and along the low ground, heading for 1. A bit further than I thought it would be, but I knew it had to be at the bottom.
1-2. Back out to the trail, past where the marsh would be, then in through the middle green to the big boulders, up the reentrant in good visibility. Met up with Sandy just before the control.
2-3 picked up yellow under the line, then at the big yellow junction got on the yellow going up the spur. Thought about Tony F advising looking for spurs at the dinner last night. Followed yellow and spur up then when yellow cut R straight in. Apparently Sandy was right behind me, but didn't see the bag and had a little excursion from there.
3-4 Along the yellow just left of line. As I got close saw Dennis going the other way, Huh? Turned out he had missed 3. Saw the knoll and along the top. Easy.
4-5. on compass, across the two skid trails, came to a small knoll that I thought was right in front of my control, but turned out not to be mapped. I was off a bit to the left. Looked around a few seconds then up the knoll and in. Maybe 15-20 seconds lost, although AP says 34.
5-6. R side of the marsh. Maybe should have climbed to the skid trail, as it was slow lower, but eventually hit the N-S skid trail. Checking boulders and hills off along the way. Saw George W up ahead a bit, diving into the medium green. Didn't look very nice, so I stayed in yellow and around, got to the control same time he did.
6-7. In yellow until just S of #2, then right by 2 and on compass. Saw the flag from about 50 M or so, which was surprising because it was supposed to be in green.
7-8, Out to the road the same way I came in. Heading in more or less on compass. Got passed by Glen T. Got close and chickened out, headed more toward the marsh, but realized I was too close. Coming back out when Dennis and Linda K went by. Followed them in.
8-9. Out to the trail, Dennis behind. Linda went a little straighter I think. Left from the trail bend, but trouble following a straight line and curved back to meet the stonewall near the trail. No memory of the stop that my QR track shows just before the control. Party at the control, with Linda, George W and Dennis showing up.
9-10-F First out of the woods, but George and then Dennis passed me on the road into the finish.

Map

C • Great comeback 6

Day 2 - Brown X - Splits

Event: UNO Boulder Dash
 

Brown X course at Bear Brook. It helps to at least point somewhat in the right direction. Failing to do that caused a lot of lost time, but otherwise very nice woods, and a fine place to orienteer. Once I was in the wrong place, very hard to relocate. After #4 I settled down, drifting way L on 6 but in contact, and otherwise fine. My leg was better than I expected, so I could jog, but not with any pace to it yet.

Map

Not my best work. Fine to #1, along the trail a bit then cutting up the hill, finding the hill a lot greener than I expected, so slow finding my way to the control in the small pine trees.
1-2 down to the trail, trail to the bend, cut through the green spur and down across the stream. The stream was a lot more diffuse than I expected, got wet feet crossing. More or less along the stream and the marsh checking hills. Apparently went over the hill nearer the marsh, didn't see a bag, so kept going. When I got to the next hill, it was clear I had gone too far, so fish-hooked back and found it. Lost about 2-3 min.
2-3. Trying to reconstruct what had gone wrong, I thought maybe I had left in the wrong direction, but QR shows that I left in the right direction, just didn't go far enough. Thought I had come to the right place, but no bag, and started to wander, mostly aimlessly. A pretty shameful performance. Found #6, but didn't look to see that it was my control from later. That alone would have saved at least 7 or 8 minutes. Saw PG running through the woods. Later figured that he was going from 6-7. Finally relocated at the big depression NW of 7, and headed mostly in the right direction. Still not quite getting it, but saw the bag from a distance and just ran to it. Lost about 14-15 min.
3-4. Still not settled down. Heading more or less the right way, but started seeing knolls and checking them out, to the R and the L, becoming generally more erratic, finally heading for the right one, saw Dennis leaving. Dennis had started 15 min behind. Lost another 3 or 4 here.
4-5. OK. Now starting to act a little better. More or less on compass, found the long shallow reentrant heading my way and kept on it.
5-6. Plan was to bear a little left and pick up the edge of the marsh, but somehow ended up way more L than that, heading NW instead of NE. Hit the marsh W of the small marsh in the middle, then a long slog down the edge. No problem with finding it, just a much longer route than necessary. Maybe another 2 min.
6-7. Easy enough. Aimed for the R edge of the depression, then up on compass and spiked it. In control all the way.
7-8. Also easy. Checked off the boulder on the knoll along the way, looked for the large boulder to my L after that, check, and right in, seeing the shape of the land just fine. Spike.
8-9. Trying to go W, kept drifting N. Seemed to take forever. Passed a cup depression, thinking it would be right before the trail, but no trail, then realized it was the one on the spur, so kept going, hit the trail junction. Right across, because taking the trail didn't seem to be an advantage. Slow on compass across the marsh and hit it right on.
9-10. A little slow crossing the stream, but then saw it from a distance. A little surprising because it didn't seem like it was on the edge of any particular green.
10-11. Up the hill, more or less reading the green and on compass, saw the reentrant before the control and followed it up. Spike.
11-12-F. Seemed to take a long time to get out to the road, then realized right away I had to go very slow on the road to protect my leg. Stately pace into the finish.

Looks like about 22 min of errors. A pretty sad performance, but a powerful learning experience. Now if only one of those experiences would last more than a day or so.

Day 1 - Brown X - Splits

dog loop + with Rhonda and Sassy, including a side trip to evaluate a control location for night-o.

Dog loop with R&S. Walking pretty normally today.

A test to see if I could progress beyond walking, in anticipation of Saturday's o-meet. Intention was to do three laps of the 600+ m "hospital" loop on a 6 minute clock. First slow, second two at a moderate pace. Slow one was ok, but already a bit uncomfortable. By the time I started the so-called moderate pace, I had already figured out that these would be a bricker set. Moderate pace was unsuccessful, and don't see any way I can run more than a step or two this weekend, but the good news is that I seem to be walking just fine.

C • Have a feeling... 3

With R&S. Steep, a little uncomfortable. Including stops for a couple of stick throwing sessions at the stream crossing and a visit with neighbor Stew, whom I haven't seen in a while, probably a year or more.

Rhonda's morning class. Enough overlap that maybe I'll skip the back series this morning, or at least modify it.

Out to the summit of Pine Mt along the Tunxis trail, with R&S. Leg improving, but the adductor is still inflamed, and the last 45 minutes were hard work. Getting better.

Dog walk, with R&S. Walking still somewhat compromised, but I'd say 25% better compared to a day and a half ago, so perhaps at that rate of improvement I will be back to normal in another several days. Quite a fine day today.

My g is getting away from me, though, and perhaps time for some measures, if not some stern measures.

Not quite to the point of being a habit, yet, but getting a little easier to convince myself to do it, and feeling a bit better for it, too.

Some of this stuff is a lot like Rhonda's morning class.

Not any worse than walking, but not any better, either, so this was fast enough and long enough.