Training Log Archive: CleverSkyIn the 1 days ending Jan 6, 2020:
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Monday Jan 6, 2020 #
10 PM
running (pavement) 23:16 [2] 3.45 km (6:44 / km) +40m 6:22 / km
shoes: Saucony Guide 8 Powergrid
The Woodlands, including the side roads, In The Dark. Connector out to Gilchrist was hard-frozen snow with a dusting of fresh powder, making for some delightful twkinking in the headlamp. Temp still in the mid 30s F, I guess (phone says just below freezing, thermometer is probably on the fritz), and I was a bit overdressed.
11 PM
Note
J-J's Ten (plus one) Memorable Orienteering Experiences List, #6
Pawtuckaway State Park, New Hampshire, 8/30/2003
[Many of these memorable races occurred before the Attackpoint era, and I had at most a few sentences in my paper running logbook. This is one of the ones where I did have some comments on Attackpoint, so I was able to refresh my memory. I consider myself to have a good memory, but it's well known that eyewitness testimony is unreliable, and the more times you recall something, the less accurate your recollection becomes. I was surprised that some of the details that I remembered about this race were completely wrong. That raises the possibility that a lot of these accounts of memorable events are actually a lot of hooey.]
This was a sprint knockout tournament. The first race was a mass-start, and the results were used as a seeding list for the single-elimination rounds that followed. There were some big names in the field, but herd mentality got the better of most of them, because just about everybody sailed off into oblivion at a few different controls. I somehow kept my wits about me, and took my own path, which was the correct one, and I was the third one back, not far behind Marc Lauenstein, and just steps behind Balter.
See my notes
So, that set me up in a good position; as a high seed, I’d be facing someone in the next round who had been one of the slowest. Specifically, it was Jeff Lewis. I didn’t know Jeff, but it appeared what he lacked in the way of navigational expertise, he could make up for in terms of speed. With the two of us starting together, I was doomed, because all he had to do was to follow me around the course and outsprint me at the end, and I think his friends (Nova Scotia crowd?) were even advising him to do just that.
People sometimes talk about orienteering tactics, but in reality, that’s rarely a real concept. In this case, I had to invent some or there was no hope. Notice that the route on the map between #2 and #3 is missing. That’s because when I got to #2 and Jeff was stuck to me like glue, I just took off fast in a random direction to try to shake him. He waited when I paused to look at my map, and when I stopped to tie my shoe, but then we encountered some people who I knew were on the other course (there was a Red for Masters/Women), but maybe he didn't know that. I followed them a little, knowing they were not heading for our third control, then when he started following them, I quickly hid behind a tree. As soon as there was a little space between us, I took off as fast as I could possibly run the opposite way. I kept it up for as long as I could, and got myself completely lost. But that meant that I had probably gotten him completely lost as well. I relocated and found my way back to #3; my split for that 250 m control was 16:37. I was then in a situation where he had either latched onto another pair of Blue runners, or else he was toast. Once I got to #4 without him, there was no way he could follow me even if he found me. So I jogged around the rest of the course, and as I made my way leisurely down the finish chute, Jack Williams saw me and said, believe it or not, you won your heat. I just smiled and said, I know.
See notes
The next round had me up against Sergei Zhyk, and that was the end of the line for me. But those first two courses went very well!
Pawtuckaway State Park, New Hampshire, 8/30/2003
[Many of these memorable races occurred before the Attackpoint era, and I had at most a few sentences in my paper running logbook. This is one of the ones where I did have some comments on Attackpoint, so I was able to refresh my memory. I consider myself to have a good memory, but it's well known that eyewitness testimony is unreliable, and the more times you recall something, the less accurate your recollection becomes. I was surprised that some of the details that I remembered about this race were completely wrong. That raises the possibility that a lot of these accounts of memorable events are actually a lot of hooey.]
This was a sprint knockout tournament. The first race was a mass-start, and the results were used as a seeding list for the single-elimination rounds that followed. There were some big names in the field, but herd mentality got the better of most of them, because just about everybody sailed off into oblivion at a few different controls. I somehow kept my wits about me, and took my own path, which was the correct one, and I was the third one back, not far behind Marc Lauenstein, and just steps behind Balter.
See my notes
So, that set me up in a good position; as a high seed, I’d be facing someone in the next round who had been one of the slowest. Specifically, it was Jeff Lewis. I didn’t know Jeff, but it appeared what he lacked in the way of navigational expertise, he could make up for in terms of speed. With the two of us starting together, I was doomed, because all he had to do was to follow me around the course and outsprint me at the end, and I think his friends (Nova Scotia crowd?) were even advising him to do just that.
People sometimes talk about orienteering tactics, but in reality, that’s rarely a real concept. In this case, I had to invent some or there was no hope. Notice that the route on the map between #2 and #3 is missing. That’s because when I got to #2 and Jeff was stuck to me like glue, I just took off fast in a random direction to try to shake him. He waited when I paused to look at my map, and when I stopped to tie my shoe, but then we encountered some people who I knew were on the other course (there was a Red for Masters/Women), but maybe he didn't know that. I followed them a little, knowing they were not heading for our third control, then when he started following them, I quickly hid behind a tree. As soon as there was a little space between us, I took off as fast as I could possibly run the opposite way. I kept it up for as long as I could, and got myself completely lost. But that meant that I had probably gotten him completely lost as well. I relocated and found my way back to #3; my split for that 250 m control was 16:37. I was then in a situation where he had either latched onto another pair of Blue runners, or else he was toast. Once I got to #4 without him, there was no way he could follow me even if he found me. So I jogged around the rest of the course, and as I made my way leisurely down the finish chute, Jack Williams saw me and said, believe it or not, you won your heat. I just smiled and said, I know.
See notes
The next round had me up against Sergei Zhyk, and that was the end of the line for me. But those first two courses went very well!