Saturday Jul 30 |
 | orienteering 49:27 [4]5.5 km (8:59 / km) +180m 7:44 / km | |
| shoes: Integrators |
| WMOC finals, 6th place, a disappointment though by no means a disaster.
Had a couple of thoughts in mind before the start: be a little careful to #1, don't blow it in the first couple of minutes, and in general be a little careful all the way. And stick to the high ground since the marshes were expected to be wet and slow (and thick). I did both things pretty well, but ended up 5 minutes behind. Reason #1, general tiredness, a day without good legs. #2, a lack of pushing the pace, which should be possible even when the legs don't feel good (that's one of the things you train!). Only in the last couple of minutes did I feel like I was racing. And reason #3, one long rough open marsh turned out to be great running and the best route on one long leg. I didn't even consider it, and I lost 3 to 3.5 minutes on the leg to a couple of people who finished about the same time overall as me.
For a while I thought I was doing ok. Picked up the guys who started 2 and 6 minutes ahead of me on #2, then left them behind. And although I knew I wasn't moving well, I was feeling positive, until I saw the last starter (4 minutes behind me) with about 4 controls to go. That got me revved up a bit, and also discouraged, but I finished well, beat him into the finish by a minute. But by then the race was long since lost.
Guess it's like the old Brooklyn Dodgers -- wait til next year....
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Thursday Jul 28 |
| orienteering 46:30 [3]4.6 mi (10:06 / mi) | |
| shoes: Integrators |
| Qualifier 2 for the WMOC. Splits
Strange day. Much better terrain/course, difficult in some ways -- mainly picking a good route and then executing it well, also in keeping a good tempo in some crappy woods -- and easy in some ways (fast/easy running on the higher ground, controls not difficult). I was taking it as training and was not at all happy despite an ok time (third on the day in my half of M60). It helps to not lose any time at the controls. But I was not planning well, not running well, not happy with routes. Will have to do a lot better in the final on Saturday, hopefully this will be a kick in the butt....
No cows today, but some very active beavers. |
Tuesday Jul 26 |
| orienteering 47:21 [4]4.5 km (10:31 / km) | |
| shoes: Integrators |
| Day 1 (of 2) of qualifying for the WMOC.
One of the least pleasant courses I have run in recent times. Part of it can be blamed on the cows, or more accurately thier absence. They were supposed to have grazed the open areas, but the schedule got mixed up and they never showed. So the open areas were knee to waist high grass (for me, mid-calf for others....). The wooded areas, where the cows wouldn't have gone, were usually knee to waist-high other alien vegetation hiding various deadfall.
Would not have been so bad with a late start, but I was off first in my class. Ran hard in the pastures anyway, but the woods were terrible and I spent a lot of time walking. But managed to find the controls ok, just one small error not seeing a control in the tall grass on my first pass. So mission accomplished. Don't know what I finished, was third when I left.
Results are supposed to be on the WMOC page at some point. I'm in M60-2. Top half make the A final, best start last. Goal is to get a reasonably late start tme for the final. |
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| C • The culpability of cows 3 |
Friday Jul 22 |
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| Event: World Masters Games
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Thursday Jul 21 |
| orienteering 41:03 [4]4.4 km (9:20 / km) +180m 7:45 / km | |
| shoes: Integrators |
| Barebones day 3 at MacKenzie Crossing. Great terrain, lots of variety. Had a good run, totally different feeling from yesterday (which was full speed all the way) -- lots of slowing down in the complicated areas. But no mistakes of any substance. A small sample of the map is at the Barebones site.
A very fine event. |
| trail running 5:00 [2] | |
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| Warm-up. |
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| C • WMOC 6 |
Wednesday Jul 20 |
| orienteering 36:32 [5]5.6 km (6:31 / km) +170m 5:40 / km | |
| max:172 shoes: Integrators |
| Day 2 of Barebones at the ranch where the APOC individual was 3 years ago, though on a different part of the map. Good run, hard effort, first by about 30 seconds. Ran a faster pace than 3 years ago, but it was a lot hotter then.
Routes/comments will be posted when I'm home. Results are at the Barebones site. |
| trail running 5:00 [2] | |
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| Warm-up |
Tuesday Jul 19 |
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| Event: Barbones 2005
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| orienteering 28:43 [4]3.7 km (7:46 / km) | |
| shoes: Integrators |
| Day 1 of Barebones at Beaver Lake in Caroline, Alberta (was here once before, for NA Champs in 1990). Good run, first in M60 (largest class, about 65 entries) by not quite 2 minutes.
Not a FDF in sight, but I hear stories of attacks by the Great Northern Mosquito (not to be confused with its smaller and slower cousin, the Laramie Attack Skeeter). The GNM can be avoided by the simple tactic of just keeping running. It seems to work whether or not you know where you are going. |
| trail running 5:00 [2] | |
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| Warm-up |
Saturday Jul 16 |
| biking 51:08 [3]15.3 mi (3:21 / mi) | |
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| Leverett loop. Warm afternoon, just getting some exercise before heading off to Alberta tomorrow. |
Thursday Jul 14 |
| trail running 20:31 [5]5 km (4:06 / km) | |
| max:173 shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Holyoke 5K XC. Pretty flat, mostly gravel dirt road around the reservoir. Good effort on a very warm evening. |
| trail running 7:00 [3] | |
| shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Short warm-up, didn't take much to start sweating profusely. |
Wednesday Jul 13 |
| trail running 41:07 [3] | |
| shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Up Mt. Wantastiquet (just east of Brattleboro), about 1,000' climb on a rocky jeep road. Up to the lookout in 22:30, a short side trip over to the radio tower, and then back down (16:25). Good steady effort up, felt ok, taking it easy coming down. |
Tuesday Jul 12 |
| trail running 48:17 [3] | |
| shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Sugar/Gunn loop, moderate effort. Yellow shirt, white hat, but no repellent, a few FDFs but not bad. |
Sunday Jul 10 |
| biking 1:06:30 [3]20.3 mi (3:16 / mi) | |
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| River Road/Old Deerfield, same as Wednesday, legs still not feeling great, but put in a decent effort. |
Saturday Jul 9 |
| trail running 1:09:43 [3] | |
| shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Robert Frost loop on Mt. Toby. Legs didn't feel great (sore and tired), but put out a good effort right to the end. Very wet. And with my anti-FDF outfit on, not a single FDF to be seen!
Legs were still sore and tired for the afternoon round of golf, but at least a birdie on 18 got me on the plus side of various wagers that until then had been looking rather bleak. |
Thursday Jul 7 |
| track 23:20 [4]6 km (3:53 / km) | |
| max:167 shoes: Air Max Trail |
| At the track, 6 x 1000 with about 1:45 rest in between. 3:52, 3:54, 3:53, 3:53, 3:54, 3:54. Good workout but not too hard. Helped that it was cooler, low 70s, dewpoint low 60s. Had 22 runners at the track this evening. |
| track 14:00 [3]1.75 mi (7:59 / mi) | |
| shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Before and after |
Tuesday Jul 5 |
| biking 1:08:04 [3]20.3 mi (3:21 / mi) | |
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| River Road/Old Deerfield loop, decent effort but not really hard. Went around the loop in the slower direction given the south wind, since the River Road side is more sheltered and the Old Deerfield side is out in the open. But just felt like going that way anyway.... |
Monday Jul 4 |
| road running race 19:55 [5]5 km (3:59 / km) vdot: 50.0 | |
| ahr:160 max:174 weight:139lbs shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Fourth of July 5K in downtown Springfield. Flat. Was hoping to do under 20 minutes and just made it, though it was a little hard to tell how I was doing as there were no markers for miles 2 and 3. On the other hand, had my main age-group competitor (Art Roberts) about 20 yards ahead of me for most of the first 2 miles, so that added some incentive. Closed the gap with 3/4 mile to go, perhaps too soon I thought, as he took off as soon as he saw me, quickly back to 20 yards ahead again. But I slowly closed that down and this time went as hard as I could going by, and for the last half mile. Turned out I could have relaxed as he backed off, but I didn't know that, and anyway the time goal was more important. A good feeling of satisfaction afterwards, wasn't sure if breaking 20 minutes again was a possibility (PRs are 17:34 on the road, 17:41 on the track, both about 15 years ago).
I don't run many road races, but I do some, plus a number of XC and trail races, certainly more than any other AP person whose log I look at. I think most orienteers look down their noses at this sort of stuff, very boring, etc., certainly a waste of time when you should be running in the terrain (as if most of them do much of that).
I find the races a good way to really push yourself in training, a way to honestly see where your fitness is, and interesting just in themselves. I'm certainly not bored. Most of the time I'm thinking about how to get the most out of the effort I'm making -- running as efficiently as I can, judging a sustainable pace, being as aware of the surroundings (traffic, shade, footing, other runners, wind, ...) as possible, and even getting used to gutting out the last part of a race. I'm not sure I'd say they are fun, I'm usually working too hard for that, but the satisfaction after a good road race can be just as great as the satisfaction after a good O' race.
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| C • 5k's 7 |
| road running 10:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Warm-up. |
Friday Jul 1 |
| trail running 47:45 [3] | |
| shoes: Air Max Trail |
| Sugar/Gunn loop, nice pace, not too easy, not too hard. But the day will go down as Day 2 in the Great Chrysops War, alternatively known as Operation Freedom from the FDFs. Using the Iraq situation once again as my inspiration, the theme for today was "Shock and Awe." Pull out all stops, let the bastards have it, declare victory and mission accomplished, and go home. At least I believe that's what the plan was.
Shock and Awe consisted of (1) a yellow shirt for its well-documented deterrent qualities, (2) a second yellow shirt on top of the first one, just in case they tried to nail me from behind (so what if it was a little hot, war is supposed to be hell), (3) a nice white cap for defense against attacks from above, (4) the words K Swiss on the cap to fool them into thinking I was from a neutral country, and (5) a liberal application of Cutters to said shirts and cap just to show I was not to be messed with.
And Shock and Awe it was, as hardly a FDF was to be seen. Rummy would be proud.
The problem, of course, is that is would be nice to be able to run up on the mountain without having to use the full 5-step S and A treatment. But I have no idea which of the 5 parts mattered and which didn't. Too many variables for a nicely controlled experiment. Of course I could go with plan B (also a possible strategy for Iraq) -- don't go out unless the temperature is below freezing. |
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| C • 3 |
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