Training Log Archive: vmeyer

Goal was to swim easy and get the number back to the 80 I was doing pre-cast. Achieved the 80 part, not so sure about the taking it easy part, which is good. Egged on by a woman who was doing sets in the next lane. She was alternating between FS, side, back, and breast, and I was having to work hard to keep ahead of here.

For the 545, she was doing all FS, so I really had to give it my all to "win" that one. I think that is a PR for 250, or it is close.

About 10 laps in, my shuffle said low battery, and with 15 to go, it died. I sure missed the tunes.

619 r13 610 r18 601 r19 602 r33 559 r26 545 (PR?) r31 558 r23 554

C • Yay for you! 1

Pool - Splits

Had to wait for a delivery at work, but I was able to get out just in time to squeeze quick 50 in before closing time. Yeah for motivation!

559 558 r31 556 r15 600 r11 552

Then I bought a new pair of "running" shoes.

A lunchtime visit with Sarah and Lailah.

The reason I can't stay cranky for too long - Lydia's write-up from Sunday. Very well said/done.

Special offer to McKeldin Orange course participants: We're sorry for the control mix-up! If you come to this coming Sunday's event at Hemlock Overlook park, do a course for free with our best wishes.

This was a wonderful Mother’s Day at Patapsco McKeldin with lots of sun and the temperatures reaching 80 by the end of the day. This was also the premiere event for our ‘Spring Tumble’ which is a mash up of a Stumble + Billygoat and we kicked it off with a mass start at noon with over 40 orienteers. We had an excellent turnout with 110 starts on courses designed by Dan Quinn. The area received lots of rain the day before which postponed hanging of some controls. Many thanks to Dan Quinn and Tom Nolan who were up bright and early on Sunday morning hanging the rest of the controls to ensure that the Spring Tumble would be ready. There were a couple of mix-ups with the numbers vs. lettering in the windows—something to work on for next time — but overall the runners found the courses challenging, well designed, and had a lot of fun! Also, many thanks to map vetter/updater John Blaisdell for creating such detailed maps -- your attention to detail was recognized and greatly appreciated by many!

“Many hands make light work.”—John Heywood.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you everyone who came out on this Mother’s Day to volunteer! I know it was a sacrifice, but the day would not have been as great without your help! Many thanks to the following volunteers: Set Up – Jody Landers, Mike Newman; Registration – Bill Grubb, Barry W. Fortune, John Blaisdell, Heidi Onkst, Tom Cochrane, Gerson Monjaras, Adam and Kathryn Kemper; Beginner Instruction – Tim VanVranken, Christiana Logansmith, Jack Logansmith, Kathleen Lennon; the amazing E-punch team – Amy Louden, Valerie Meyer, and Erin Jenkins; Clean-up – Patty Mace; and Control Pick-up – Mark Mace, Erin Brandt and her dog, Frantisek Brabec, Eddie Bergeron, Mihai Sirbu, Greg Lennon, Kim Jepsen, and Charles Carrick.

Ranger Joe Vogelpohl and the Patapsco Valley State Park staff were very supportive of our event. They even made sure that the fee box was emptied to ensure that there was space to deposit the parking fees (which occasionally overflows).

Also, many thanks to all the volunteers who assisted long before the event with all your advice and recommendations: Tom Nolan, Corinne Porter, Valerie Meyer, Amy Louden, Vic Culp, Greg and Kathleen Lennon, Heidi Onkst, Mike Newman, and Nadim Ahmed! We are so fortunate to have your leadership at QOC!

With much appreciation,

Lydia Andrews, (first time!) Meet Director

More people at the pool than is usual for this time of day. Sort of a weird session since they didn't put the two lane lines back up after the water aerobics class, so it was sort of a scrum with four people in the three lanes with some of them zig zagging all over the place. But, it was good to get a swim in, so I was happy.

622 r16 612 r20 610 r38 605 r42 606

Event: QOC Patapsco McKeldin
 

I wrote the part below about the control debacle on Sunday night, when I was feeling pretty embarrassed about the mislabeled controls. Though, I would have to say that no one was at all crabby to me about it. Because I am much more of an “objective” thinker than a “subjective” thinker, I let the whole thing irritate me more than I should have.

I took my initial synopsis until I had more time to include something a bit more balanced about the event. There were really so many wonderful things about the day, and QOC is still near and dear to my heart, most of the time. ;)

Lydia was a first-time meet director. She was organized, had arranged for plenty of volunteers, and kept a smile on her face all day. She also checked in on a regular basis to see if I needed anything. And, there was plenty of food and drink at the refreshment table throughout the event.

Amy set up the download/results area in the shelter in a configuration which allowed me to stay in the shade all day, and the sun was never on my face or in my eyes. It was a wonderful day in the warm shade. I also had the pleasure of Nicole’s (age 5 or 6) company while her family was out on their course. She helped get SI-cards registered before going out on a White course with her sister.

It was nice to see George and Leslie at an event with some of their family members, after G & L having to skip the DVOA meet last month.

Eight great people agreed to pick up controls, and the 50 controls were collected up in near record time. Eddie was one of them, and he also brought his soldering equipment and fixed a control unit for me.

So, the day was not a complete failure, and I have to accept that what did fail was not my fault, even if it was related to results.

Synopsis:
Flag out, but not the control box
Control on map is "H", control in location is "J"
Control on map is "M", control in location is "119"
Controls on map are U, V, W - controls in location are a variation thereof
Controls on map are M, N, O, P - controls in location are not lettered...you get the idea by now.

And, this doesn't even address the controls which had random numbers associated with the letters. The course setter was doing a novelty event with windows - get window 1 with controls A, B, C, and D in any order. Software requires numbers, so A = 101, B = 102, C = 103, D = 104. Course setter doesn't quite get this, so he pulls out whatever control and slaps a letter on it. So, A = 154. B = 121, C = 120, D = 153. And, the other five windows are a variation of this fun.

Let's just say, while I like to troubleshoot and make things right, this was the toughest event ever. I can make the numbers to letters match up, in the software but when I am handed a list of numbers to numbers which makes no sense, than really, oh, crap, is all I could think. Um, 120 = B = 137 = 154... [Edit: it has taken me two days to sort out what I need to do to get RG posted. I have to edit the Condes file first to get the correct code assigned to the control location.]

My frustration was compounded by the fact that the beginner course had a control with a flag but no control box, and the Intermediate course had two controls with the wrong controls on the boxes. These two controls affected the most people, because they were less sure that they are in the right place and hunted around quite a bit in some cases before punching and moving on.

All this was after the last couple of controls were being put out 15 minutes after the time the courses opened. Calling for help at 8 PM the night before the event, after things are screwed up, is not really helpful.

And, then there are the controls which weren't exactly in the correct location.

Anyway, this is a club failure, not any individual's failure (NA - please, do not take any of this personally. You don't need to post apologies here, really!!). We know that this course setter is a weak link, therefore, we can not continue to give him such responsibility for an event. If we do, then I will be even more embarrassed for the club than I was today. And, I think today was an all time low. then they can find someone else to do the epunching for the event.