Training Log Archive: cedarcreekIn the 7 days ending Jul 27, 2011:
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Tuesday Jul 26, 2011 #
7 PM
Orienteering race 37:57 [4] *** 3.67 km (10:21 / km) +47m 9:44 / km
spiked:12/17c shoes: Nike Trail (Blue)
Course 3 at Miami University Western Campus, set by Mike Minium.
I loved loved loved this sprint. Out of 17 controls, there were only (by my count) 2 legs that weren't especially awesome. This is the sort of course that could cause someone to become addicted to orienteering. My only regret is that my fitness didn't allow me to run it at sick fast speeds. (At the speed I was going, it was a little too easy to stay in contact. I'm really interested in the thoughts of the faster runners.) I was very impressed by the number of interesting legs and how even the shorter control picking legs at the end required attention.
One leg I'll mention only because it was so unexpected for me was the run from 17 to the finish---As I crossed to 16, I picked up the "stone" feature, a sculpture that was also a bench, and then as I ran to 17 my plan for 17 to the finish was to aim for the right side of that bench. But when I punched at 17 and lined up toward the finish, there was a crest between 17 and that bench and it wasn't visible. I glanced down a few times at the map, but wasn't able to pick up a feature that would align me perfectly toward the control. As I got to where I could see over the crest, I had drifted a few degrees left. I wouldn't call it a boom, but it for sure wasn't a spike. The control wasn't hidden at all, but it was occluded from view in a manner that you couldn't easily detect by looking at the map. I love that.
Looking at the results, I was 3rd fastest on 9, the knoll next to the major trail. {Edit: I was off by one---the hazards of trying to remember the course without having the map in your hand. It wasn't the knoll it was the reentrant. I was 3rd on this leg because I generated splits for 2 people by halving a big number. I'm guessing I was really 5th. So...Nevermind.}
Other than that one leg, I was mostly just slow and slower.
I loved loved loved this sprint. Out of 17 controls, there were only (by my count) 2 legs that weren't especially awesome. This is the sort of course that could cause someone to become addicted to orienteering. My only regret is that my fitness didn't allow me to run it at sick fast speeds. (At the speed I was going, it was a little too easy to stay in contact. I'm really interested in the thoughts of the faster runners.) I was very impressed by the number of interesting legs and how even the shorter control picking legs at the end required attention.
One leg I'll mention only because it was so unexpected for me was the run from 17 to the finish---As I crossed to 16, I picked up the "stone" feature, a sculpture that was also a bench, and then as I ran to 17 my plan for 17 to the finish was to aim for the right side of that bench. But when I punched at 17 and lined up toward the finish, there was a crest between 17 and that bench and it wasn't visible. I glanced down a few times at the map, but wasn't able to pick up a feature that would align me perfectly toward the control. As I got to where I could see over the crest, I had drifted a few degrees left. I wouldn't call it a boom, but it for sure wasn't a spike. The control wasn't hidden at all, but it was occluded from view in a manner that you couldn't easily detect by looking at the map. I love that.
Looking at the results, I was 3rd fastest on 9, the knoll next to the major trail. {Edit: I was off by one---the hazards of trying to remember the course without having the map in your hand. It wasn't the knoll it was the reentrant. I was 3rd on this leg because I generated splits for 2 people by halving a big number. I'm guessing I was really 5th. So...Nevermind.}
Other than that one leg, I was mostly just slow and slower.
Saturday Jul 23, 2011 #
9 AM
ARDF 2m race 1:12:09 [4] *** 3.84 km (18:47 / km) +128m 16:06 / km
shoes: Nike Trail (Blue)
2m ARDF at Stanbery Park, set by k4bri. Dick and Marji also competed.
My order was 42531. Some very challenging transmitter placements. One was placed more-or-less at the focal point of a gooseneck stream bend (with earth bank as reflector), and it was very hard to figure out. I approached it directly in the major lobe, and I was getting signals so strong I thought I should be seeing a transmitter.
5 was another very hard one---Once I was in the circle it still took about ten minutes to find it. I saw Dick there, and I think he arrived one cycle before me. So with two people, it still took ten minutes---crazy.
I didn't take a mapboard or even a grease pencil, so I did everything by memory---I did okay. My biggest mistake was thinking 1 was NE of the spur when in fact it was to the SW. That probably cost me at least 10 minutes.
It was a good, hot day, and I really felt it. I was at the far end of the course,, basically at the lowest point, and I thought to myself, "You better take it easy." When I finished I drank 1L of ice cold water, and a glass of cool water. I didn't feel better until I finished all of that.
It was a really fun course on a humid day with a lot of really complicated ARDF.
I need to dig out a camelbak or something. I really could have used it today.
{Edit---The "Stanbery Park Trail" shown on Google Maps (click blue globe, above) has almost no connection with reality.}
My order was 42531. Some very challenging transmitter placements. One was placed more-or-less at the focal point of a gooseneck stream bend (with earth bank as reflector), and it was very hard to figure out. I approached it directly in the major lobe, and I was getting signals so strong I thought I should be seeing a transmitter.
5 was another very hard one---Once I was in the circle it still took about ten minutes to find it. I saw Dick there, and I think he arrived one cycle before me. So with two people, it still took ten minutes---crazy.
I didn't take a mapboard or even a grease pencil, so I did everything by memory---I did okay. My biggest mistake was thinking 1 was NE of the spur when in fact it was to the SW. That probably cost me at least 10 minutes.
It was a good, hot day, and I really felt it. I was at the far end of the course,, basically at the lowest point, and I thought to myself, "You better take it easy." When I finished I drank 1L of ice cold water, and a glass of cool water. I didn't feel better until I finished all of that.
It was a really fun course on a humid day with a lot of really complicated ARDF.
I need to dig out a camelbak or something. I really could have used it today.
{Edit---The "Stanbery Park Trail" shown on Google Maps (click blue globe, above) has almost no connection with reality.}
11 AM
ARDF Setting 25:00 [1] 2.03 km (12:21 / km) +87m 10:10 / km
shoes: Nike Trail (Blue)
Walked out to pick up the two most distant transmitters. After all that water, I was a little waterlogged at first, but after a few minutes I was fine.
I had heard a few bits of thunder in what looked like a sky filled with smallish cumulus clouds, but almost exactly at noon there was some louder thunder and then raindrops. It was a wonderful cool shower to be out in (luckily I had a hat to keep rain off my glasses). Lasted a good 30 or 45 minutes, and then no rain. The temperature was actually civilized until about 2pm, and then at 2:30 it was back to crazy hot.
I gotta cut the grass. I'm not looking forward to it at all. I'm going to wait as late as possible. I should do a J-J, and go see a movie right now...
I had heard a few bits of thunder in what looked like a sky filled with smallish cumulus clouds, but almost exactly at noon there was some louder thunder and then raindrops. It was a wonderful cool shower to be out in (luckily I had a hat to keep rain off my glasses). Lasted a good 30 or 45 minutes, and then no rain. The temperature was actually civilized until about 2pm, and then at 2:30 it was back to crazy hot.
I gotta cut the grass. I'm not looking forward to it at all. I'm going to wait as late as possible. I should do a J-J, and go see a movie right now...