Sunday Aug 31 |
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| Event: Fair Hill 6 Hour Rogaine
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 | Orienteering race (Rogaine) 5:50:00 [2] *** 20.0 mi (17:29 / mi) | |
| spiked:38/41c shoes: NB 809 |
| Fair Hill 6 Hour Rogaine. Got 40 of 53 controls spread across the Fair Hill orienteering map at 1:15000 for a total of 2648 out of a possible 3445 points. Was 6th oveall (solo and teams) and 1st solo masters (50+).
Sunny and warm (80's) but low humidity. Usually I don't do well in heat, but I kept the pace moderate and had only a few slight cramps later in the race.
Had a good race, jogging maybe 25% of the time and walking the rest. Two small misses (on 54 and 55) and one big miss (searched for but moved on without ever finding 48). Lost map contact briefly on the way to 45 when I was fumbling to get something to eat but recovered quickly since I knew which field I was in. Made one significant strategic error by skipping 84 when passing within 300m of it (was thinking the map was 1:30000 - d'oh). Probably could've had more efficient routes from 86 into the finish but still had plenty of time to get all the controls that were on the route, so no negative consequence.
Route: 63-73-41-69-43-85-55-77-87-71-79-89-45-39-61-47-53-81-67-91-52-
66-70-74-54-58-76-62-(48)-56-88-50-90-86-72-44-68-82-78-42-64-Finish
Straight line distance was about 25km, Forerunner measured 32km (19.9mi) actually covered.
Carried about 2 liters of water and a liter of Gookinaid/Hydralyte/Vitalyte. Had a little bit of each left at the end. Stopped at one aid station and drank about 3 cups of very cold (too cold) Gatorade and water. Ate a handful of gorp, two Gu's and a cereal bar throughout the race (plus a turkey sandwich just before starting).
Thanks to Sandy and the DVOA crew for a fine event!
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Friday Aug 29 |
| Road Run intervals 37:01  4.4 mi (8:25 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB878 - #8 |
| A little speed work to prep for the rogaine. :-) 6 x 400m with 1:30 recovery. Splits: 137, 139, 142 (uphill), 139, 140, 137. 66N, Shaker Museum Road. Upper 60's, overcast and humid. |
Thursday Aug 28 |
| Road Run 30:11 [3] 3.57 mi (8:26 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB878 - #8 |
| Took a few days off (one to finish driving back from the COC's - we got as far as Freeport, ME on Sunday). Also to rest the ankle which I managed to tweak again while carrying stuff in from the car on Monday (after 4 days of orienteering with no problems - d'oh). Ankle still a bit sore today but felt OK running. 66N to Pitts Rd and back plus a bit more to get over 30 minutes. 70 and cloudy. |
Sunday Aug 24 |
| Orienteering race 1:09:46 [4] **** 4 km (17:26 / km) +145m 14:46 / km | |
| spiked:12/14c shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| COC Long/Classic distance on Maple Grove map in Fundy NP - Course 7. Another day of challenging orienteering in technical terrain with thick vegetation (although today had some nice white woods and more trail options than the middle distance). Did a 180 out of the start triangle (100m from where we got maps), and then two more on later controls. For the first of the later 180's I was headed for #13 instead of #3 but caught it quickly and lost less than a minute. The second 180 I also caught quickly, but that triggered a 13 minute error on #6 which was a short (200m) but technical leg. I settled down after that and ran the rest of the course fairly cleanly. Total errors were about 17 minutes but I still managed 2nd in M55-64 (5 minutes back) and 6th overall on Course 7. A fourth consecutive day with great weather and overall an excellent event put on by the New Brunswick club. |
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Long Course 7 - Splits |
Saturday Aug 23 |
| Orienteering race 42:22 [4] **** 2.4 km (17:39 / km) +65m 15:33 / km | |
| spiked:10/13c shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| COC Middle Distance on Maple Grove Map in Fundy NP, Course 7. The woods and terrain were challenging, but this course was quite enjoyable. Took it slow and had a decent run, at least until the road crossing. I lost a couple of minutes total on controls 4 and 5 and then lost about 6 minutes on what looked to be a relatively easy control just after the road crossing (#11). The vegetation in this area was not mapped well at all, and I relied on it too heavily, stopping short of the control and spending way too long searching a small area when the control was further along. Still ended up 3rd in M55-64 but would've been quite close to first without the big error. I was 6th among all those on Course 7, with the fastest time 33:35. The weather was again perfect and the finish was on the lawn of the Fundy Highlands Inn and Chalets, where we were staying. It doesn't get much better than that! |
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Middle Course 7 - Splits |
Friday Aug 22 |
| Orienteering race 16:14 [5] *** 1.8 km (9:01 / km) | |
| spiked:16/19c shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| COC Sprint event in Fundy NP on McLaren Pond map - Course 3 (4 and 5 were W and M WRE courses). Mostly a park sprint with three controls in the woods near the end. Seven of the controls were in an area about 100m x 150m with about 30 small cabins. Had about 1:30 in errors, the biggest being on a short leg in the cabins. Also lost about 20 seconds on a less than optimum route choice on the longest leg. Was 1st in the M55-64 class by 11 seconds. Another perfect weather day. |
| Orienteering 54:00 [3] *** 3.13 km (17:15 / km) | |
| shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| COC Model Event in Fundy NP. Walked and jogged (and ran on trails) to get a look at the terrain. Unfortunately the model map was printed at 1:5000 while the competition maps were at 1:10000. Learned that the vegetation mapping did not resemble reality and that there was lots of thick stuff out there. The contours seemed to be pretty good with some complex areas. Slow and precise would be key. |
Thursday Aug 21 |
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| Event: Canadian Orienteering Championships 2008
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| Orienteering race 21:46 [5] *** 2.1 km (10:22 / km) | |
| spiked:17/21c shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| Sprint at Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, New Brunswick. On the ocean floor at low tide! This area ranks as one of the coolest orienteering venues ever. Huge rock pillars, cliffs and a few caves. Plus some pretty gooey mud and rockweed covered rocks. I didn't orienteer very well (about 5 minutes worth of errors, mostly due to overrunning controls and losing map contact) but it was still a lot of fun. And the weather was perfect - sunny and 50's.
After finishing, we walked around on the beach for a couple of hours to check out the formations at a more leisurely pace. |
Tuesday Aug 19 |
| Road Run tempo 28:44  3.58 mi (8:01 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB878 - #8 |
| Road run to test the ankle with a little speed stuff thrown in. 2 x 0.5 mi at 7:00 pace with about 2:30 recovery in between. Splits 3:31, 3:26. Cooler and drier than it's been, so even the "warm up/cool down" stuff was a bit faster. Rt. 66S and back. |
Sunday Aug 17 |
| Orienteering (Field Checking) 1:30:00 [1] *** 5.3 mi (16:58 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB 809 |
| Checking control sites at Grafton Lakes SP. Map somwhat better in the part I was in but still some low visibility and junky woods. Found that one of my control placements was in a very noticeably "posted" area so had to find another spot and do a bit of course redesign. I knew the area was outside the park but the I think the posting is fairly recent. It'd probably be OK to use outside of hunting season since the posters are a "sportsmans club".
Did a few segments of trail running getting from place to place, probably about a mile or so. Managed to tweak my already sore ankle again but could still run on it.
Woods still quite wet, which is good for mushrooms and mosquitos. |
Saturday Aug 16 |
| Orienteering (Field Checking) 2:00:00 [1] *** 5.0 mi (24:00 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB 809 |
| Field checking control sites at Grafton Lakes SP for EMPO event on 9/21. Some good woods, some junky woods, some flaky mapping of rocky features, at least in the area I was in. I'm pretty sure that other areas of the map yet to be checked are better. All the water features are wet. Was actually out for about 4 hours.
AOWN: Saw probably 20 different kinds of fungi - many different colors and many not "conventional" mushrooms. Oh, did I mention that the woods were wet? |
Thursday Aug 14 |
| Road Run 28:25 [3] 3.32 mi (8:33 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB878 - #8 |
| Run on the roads to test the ankle. Sore for the first half mile or so then felt OK. 66N to Pitts Rd. and back. Low 70's with more humidity than Wyoming. |
Wednesday Aug 13 |
| Note | |
| (rest day) |
| Ankle still sore so took another day to rest it. |
Sunday Aug 10 |
| Orienteering race 47:05 [5] *** 6.5 km (7:15 / km) +120m 6:38 / km | |
| spiked:16/17c shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| Day 2 GreenX, US Champs on Remarkable Flats map, Laramie, WY. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run or not due to a twisted ankle from yesterday but took a few ibuprofen and gave it a shot. Had a very good race, only losing about a minute on the penultimate control which was a short, technical leg almost within sight of the finish. I was certainly not alone in losing time on this leg! Many of the legs on the course were long runs across open areas to very visible features. The key was to hit the position of the flag precisely while pushing the pace (and not tweaking the ankle again). Also lost 10 - 15 seconds by drifting to the left on #7. Was 7th fastest on GreenX, fastest M55.. Winning time ~43 min (by an M-18 from Sweden), 3 M50's ~44, PG ~46. |
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US Champs: GreenX Day 2 - Splits |
Saturday Aug 9 |
| Orienteering 1:17:00 [3] *** 6 km (12:50 / km) | |
| shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| GreenX, Day 1 US Champs. Diamond Bay map, Laramie, WY. Got a GreenY map with GreenX clues on it (and no other labeling). Didn't accept that I had a bad map so kept going. Found all the GreenX controls, and most of the GreenY controls. Took a SPW. Twisted an ankle to top it all off. 'nuf said. |
Friday Aug 8 |
| Orienteering 44:10 [3] *** 4.7 km (9:24 / km) | |
| spiked:9/11c shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| Laramie Daze, East Pelican Bay map, Green course. Took it fairly easy and skipped three controls (3, 11, and 12) which were just runs across the prairie. Ran and jogged through 10 (~35 min) then walked 10-13-14. A couple of minutes worth of errors, drifting off line on two controls. 60's and partly cloudy. |
Thursday Aug 7 |
| Orienteering 1:05:42 [4] *** 6.36 km (10:20 / km) | |
| spiked:13/19c shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| Green course at Laramie Daze. Getting back into the Wyoming terrain and some running at elevation. Pushed a bit at times, but not really racing. Botched two controls and was sloppy on several others. Probably could've been ~10 min faster. Typical Laramie weather (70ish, mostly sunny, breezy). |
| Orienteering 55:47 [2] *** 3.49 mi (15:59 / mi) | |
| shoes: VJ Falcons 2 |
| Afternoon training at Laramie Daze on First with the Most map. Lots of closely spaced controls in somewhat technical terrain. Did 19 controls of 28 available. Concentrated on reading the terrain and only used the compass to orient the map. Distance is measured by Forerunner. |
Tuesday Aug 5 |
| Hiking 3:50:00 [1] 8.2 mi (28:03 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB 809 |
| Grand Teton NP. From String Lake trailhead along Jenny Lake and up into Cascade Canyon. Back via Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls. |
Monday Aug 4 |
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| Event: 2008 Laramie Daze & US Champs
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| Hiking 1:00:00 [1] 2.3 mi (26:05 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB 809 |
| Grand Teton NP. Hike along the shore of Lake Jackson from the Colter Bay visitor center. |
Sunday Aug 3 |
| Road Run 32:31  3.8 mi (8:33 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB878 - #8 |
| Morning run along Lake Yellowstone. Mix of road and gravel trail. Ran about 0.7mi at tempo pace to remind myself about running hard at elevation. Air was a bit smoky from nearby forest fire.
AOWN: Had to slow down a bit during the tempo run to let four mule deer get out of the way. |
| Hiking 3:15:00  7.0 mi (27:52 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB 809 |
| YNP. Hike along south rim of Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (plus a partial descent into the canyon and back - down and back up 240 steps). Hiked to Artist Point (crowded) and on to Point Sublime (very uncrowded). Back via Lily Pond, Clear Lake and some neat mudpots. Also did an out and back to a different viewpoint of the Upper Falls. |
Saturday Aug 2 |
| Hiking 3:15:00 [1] 7.3 mi (26:42 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB 809 |
| YNP. In the Lamar Valley to Cache Creek and back.
AOWN: Lots of bison (most in the distance, one fairly close), a few mule deer, a sage grouse and two babies, ground squirrels, some hawks and tons of wildflowers. |
Friday Aug 1 |
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| Event: Northwest Forest Frenzy
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| Road Run 37:11 [3] 4.17 mi (8:54 / mi) | |
| shoes: NB878 - #8 |
| Morning run in YNP in area around Lake Hotel at ~7700 ft elevation. About 50/50 paved road and gravel paths. Sunny and cool (upper 40's?).
Later did lots of walking around looking at geysers in the Old Faithful area. |