Training Log Archive: JanetT

Needed to get out in the beautiful weather (low 70s, sunny and crisp) and away from my computer. Standard two mile out and back. (My 2-mi choices are this one, one with a flatter overall profile, and one with a relatively steep, though short, start.)

Event: WCOC Town Forest
 

Debut of Simsbury Town Forest map by Grorge W; meet administered by him and Lyn. Turned out to be a very nice day after downpours this morning (per reports and as evidenced by puddles), 70s and less humid after the front passed through.

Green course was advertised as 4.7 km and map looked fairly flat with sandy trails so I did that. Basically same first 10 controls as Red then two more (Red had an extra loop after #10) on the way back in. Some vague terrain out there but good practice for vague areas. I was a bit off line to #7 but corrected when I saw Susie coming in from the trail I planned to relocate from. I was trying to key off a shallow hill shown on the map but it really wasn't obvious. I would have used the backyards instead but didn't want to get too close to the houses, and anyway (again) it was good practice on navigating in vague areas.

A good map for WCOC to have scoreOs for beginners on. Lots of trails to run on; hard to get too lost, and enough features to make it interesting. ;-)

Green - Splits

Event: EMPO - Thacher Park
 

30 control locations, 300 total points possible. Missed only one control I tried for, a 10 pointer, and finished with 140 points, tied with wwk (and about 45 seconds to spare).

A very nice day on the escarpment with clouds to start and sun later but a constant breeze to cool you down; about 5-10 degrees cooler than in Albany. This map (2005 vintage, last used nationally for a Billygoat in 2007) is still in pretty good shape though some vegetation has changed and there has been some new construction north of the park road (not on the map, but I didn't spend much time there).

Edited to add control order for those paying attention:

38-57-(43)-36-44-41-54-48-69-69-55-39-46-33-45

We spent several hours at Thacher yesterday too, helping Phil out with a group from a Waldorf school in Saratoga (high school age), who were mostly dressed in shorts and a few in sandals. They did an abbreviated version of the score O (same time limit, fewer controls) after some instruction and a short map symbol relay race. A club member works at the school and has been teaching O classes the past few years; kids who'd been doing this for awhile ran and had top scores, and less experienced kids teamed up with the more experienced ones.

More O (in CT) tomorrow, so I'm getting behind in assigning start times for NAOC....

Skipped Pilates so I could work on Middle start time assignments. (Don't go looking for them yet; they won't get posted until double checked and the other two races assigned.)

To the mailbox and back, more leisurely than last night because I wasn't fighting darkness.

Brisk walk to the mailbox to pick up mail which hadn't been collected yet. Not much there.

Stretchy bands, more hip torture. Good stuff.

15:22/15:45/3:40

A younger woman (who had been in Pilates and recently--late July, I think--had her second child) was doing some jogging laps alternating with walking, pushing the stroller, while I walked. Tough lady!