Training Log Archive: David_Waller

Event: OCIN FAST-O - Joyce Park
 

A very fun sprint course designed by Pat Meehan.

Course 2:

1-5. a nice opening. not too challenging navigationally (but some nice options getting to #2). These controls gave me time to settle into a rhythm.

6-8. I had a small mistake on the way to #6 because I had drifted south and did not find the little connector trail near the road sign. I had to bushwhack through the green to get to the trail, and then follow it to the ruin. (BTW, the vinca in that section is gorgeous.) Having messed up at #6, I was a bit flustered going into #7 and didn't have an exit strategy. When I punched #7, I had no idea where #8 was. Thinking that much of the course was still North of me, I stepped down to the bike trail and started walking up it to regroup. Stupid. My next leg was in the totally opposite direction! So I went back, passed #7 again, and bushwhacked through the green to the road on the way to #8. This was my biggest mistake of the night and probably cost me ca. 15 seconds.

8-9. Pat artfully set up the classic decision here: direct way through green versus a safe but seriously long detour. I opted for the green route, which, in retrospect, I don't regret. I took a very direct line, but felt a little slow through the woods. Face-high nettles didn't encourage me. I probably could have sprinted around the woods a few seconds faster, but would have been completely exhausted on reaching #9. No regrets.

10-F. A barrage of controls along the river, some in very pretty locations. Of course, I was too tired to really appreciate them fully. The leg from 16 to the finish was very well-set: several fence-related decision needed to be made quickly at a time when runners were completely drained mentally.

Very fun course.

/Course 1:

This course was a clinic in control placement. Many controls were visible along the route, but never the one that you approached. One of the biggest head-rushes in the sport is thinking "the control will be behind that object", sprinting to the object, turning the corner, and seeing the control. The image of a control suddenly appearing exactly where you expect it definitely releases endorphins. This course offered a lot of these rewards.

I spiked most of the controls, except #4. Same story: I had run 1, 2, 3 too quickly and didn't have a clue where 4 would be as I approaced #3. The time I saved in running the first few controls quickly was instantly frittered away by having to figure out where 4 was. I could have run the whole opening much more smoothly.

I passed Steve Vaughan shadowing his kids in the woods on the way to #9. It was very cool to see a barefoot orienteer. By #11 I was exhausted and just tried to hold it together to the finish. I was proud of my route from #13 to the finish, but wonder if it went through private property that should have been X'ed out on the map?

Easy control pickup -- Joe Burkhead did most of the heavy lifting and I just jogged to some of the nearby controls.

Thanks for a fun event, Pat.

Course 2 - Splits

Course 1 - Splits

Course 1 - Splits

Vinyasa I with Scott. Felt great.

More vetting out on Western campus, just for the hell of it. Quite hot out; in this weather, I can't run for more than 45 or 55 minutes without water, so I jogged back early. Found a stray O-bag in the middle of the woods that was clearly OCIN's next to a kid's fort . I played the grinch and brought it home.

Field checking for the Western meet on 22 July. Course 2 will definitely adhere to Pat Meehan's "get-the-IQ-in-the-toilet-early-on" principle.

C • IQ-in-the-toilet 1

Long slow run around Acton Lake. Got off-trail for a few miles, sometimes as a shortcut, sometimes not. The bike trails at the NW of the lake still confuse the hell out of me. I don't think that I have ever run the same course through there.

C • Cool run 3