Training Log Archive: RJM

Bflo O fest Sprague Brook Park Red X. Mix of quite good and very weak legs. #1 was the worst- hesitated, decided to avoid trails (which was NOT the best option for today on almost any leg), and then turned what might have been a weak leg into a disaster with a parllel error I took quite a while to recover from- lost about 5 or more minutes there. A few other bad choices, but only prhaps 3 minutes more. 8 minutes faster would have put me at the front of a tight middle pack, not in the back of it. Lots of trail running today, and though I pushed, i could use more practice pushing those even harder. Not as good a day as it could have been, but at least even those errors didn't result in one of those terrible days. I am incrementally improving.

Long - Red X - Splits

Event: Buffalo Orienteering Festival
 

Hunters Creek Park Red X course. Good start, but at control 12 somehow got 90degrees off. After I finally figured that out (including visiting the right control but incorrectly deciding the control code was wrong (I was reading for control 14), still had the 90 degree problem - kept trying to force the terrain to match the incorrect orientation in my head. I eventually got over that, but not without spending a lot of head scratching time. After that I was pretty rough, and muddled through the last controls. I probably lost 2 or 3 minutes on control 13 (a 1 minute control!), and another 3 on 14 (where I not only wrestled with frame of reference, but missed a spur trail I needed and went all the way around, adding 400m).
Trying to concentrate on what I did well, I kept good contact with the map from 1 through 5, and mostly did a good job of keeping my head when other people where nearby (instead of letting them distract me). The longish leg from 8 to 9 went especially well - three of us took parallel tracks through featureless forest, and i pulled ahead and spiked it nicely. Some good route choices and decent compass work there and elsewhere.

Course 3 sprint. THe first sprint on which i didn't make any major errors! Open mowed grass most of the way excelt the first 4 controls, so navigation was simple, and around 4 I caught up to a fast runner (Jeff Saeger - he must hafe had problems with 3, which was a little tricky), and used him as a confirmation of direction and route choice. Gradually pulled up to him until i passed him on control 14 where he finally made an error. I really benefited from having him in front of me, and was able to actually run instead of run and carefully read. Control 3 was a lucky break for me in many ways. It required some careful compass work (few clear features to work from), and I wasn't sure for a moment there, then decided that I probably drifted right as I usually do, went left and it was right there. That was the only real navigational issue. I had more running ability than I showed here, but this was much more like a running race than any other sprint I've done - a new and fun experience! 3rd in m45 by 8 seconds.

C • nice job! 2

Middle - Red X - Splits

Sprint - Course 3 - Splits

towpath in and out. speedplay

1min on, 1min off; 7x