Training Log Archive: bishop22

Gave the kids a head start, then set out for the Willink Woods. Just about caught AJ and Geoff, who were walking (and shortcutted on the way back, contrary to Coach Klehr's specific instructions - I suspect they also took the shortcut on the way there, as I saw a couple of sets of footprints on the hill and in the grass near the hotel).

Did a couple of laps of the woods, intermixed with some running around Willink, then went back, much of the way with Eric, Elliot and Thunder.

Doesn't count as a running day, since it was only 12 minutes during practice at Webster Park. The team did the XC course at tempo pace, with one-minute breaks at the mile and 2-mile, to avoid the tendency to slow down too much as the workout progresses. Almost everyone hit their times within an error tolerance. Most (but not all) of those that struggled have less of a fitness base and probably need more time to recover from a big effort like McQuaid.

NAOC Long Championships, hosted by CNYO

Much better than yesterday, but I was not happy with the performance. Some of the problem was from yesterday's race plus running at McQuaid plus over 6 hours of driving, but some was careless map reading.

More details when I have my map.

Jogged and walked to the start with Luke and Patty. Jogged back to the parking area, jogged to the start and jogged back from the finish.

North American Middle Champs at Salmon River Hatchery.

What a disaster.

Despite losing over a minute on C2, I made it thru C5 in reasonable shape, sitting 6th in M45. I lost about 4 minutes on C6, when I missed the trail junction, went faster than my pace count was calibrated, and didn't stop until I hit the property line, and then I missed the control as I headed north, until I saw the field that was quickly approaching. That was still OK - not good, but by C9 I had worked back up to 10th place.

Then came the 16-minute error. I headed towards C10 and thought I was on track. I saw a flag that I knew couldn't be mine, I still had a little farther to go, but I had to check it out. From there on, I kept thinking I had things (e.g. contours and marshes) lined up with something on the map, but kept coming up empty (except for the other non-RedY control that I kept seeing). I finally realized that I had been spending my time on the wrong side of the bumpy spur that headed out into the swamp. Once that was sorted out, it was easy to find the flag. What a waste.

I tried to rally, and put together two good legs, setting up the easiest control out there, C14. I lined up a bearing and took off flying and pace counting, telling myself to keep drifting left, so that I would hit the trail before the flag. Well, I guess myself didn't listen and I ran too fast, because 1) I found a flag on a hill next to the trail (I hadn't bothered to look at the clue which was the opposite of a hill!) at about the right count, and was shocked to see the wrong code. 2) It turned out the flag was a ways past mine, but not knowing that, I popped out on the trail, looked for the nearest bend (since the control was just a few meters from the trail bend), and scoured the area looking for depressions. Finally, I gave up, noticed there was an open area not too far away, and that I was well past the flag.

I ran blindly to C15, missed it way right and had to come back for it, and cruised in, 3 seconds ahead of David, who said he had his worst race in years.

Some jogging around the parking area, then jog/walk with Luke to the start and jogged back from the finish, so Zach and I could hit the road.

The McQuaid invitational went much better than today's orienteering. The kids ran great, in tougher conditions (heat and humidity) than last year - while it rained fairly constantly in Syracuse, not a drop seemed to have fallen in Rochester.

The Varsity Boys had a huge race, placing third behind Union-Endicott and a pretty strong Williamsville North team (ranked tied for 3rd among large schools in Section VI) and ahead of Lancaster (5th in Section VI).

I jogged to and from the car, and got in a serious workout while running around to 7 different spots on the course for each of 3 races.

The girls were not last! And the JV boys were 11th of 30 teams, which were mostly teams from the seeded race (and we finished ahead of Webster Thomas).

Event: North American Championships
 

North American Orienteering Sprint Championship (Prelim Race) at Green Lakes State Park.

Well, I decided that my season was on the line today. I've been trying to improve my orienteering, but my skills are still lacking, and I've been trying to improve my fitness, but coaching duties seemed to have hindered that a bit this year, instead of helped. In any case, my best hope for a NAOC medal would certainly be in today's Sprint. And the event was at Green Lakes State Park, the site of my first NYS XC Championship meet (as a competitor - my state meet attendance dates back to about 1968) in 1979.

I started out fairly quick, and had trouble finding the start triangle, so I had to pause briefly at the first Y/W control before continuing on. I calmed down a bit going to C2 and was ready for the trail route left to C3. The field was too thick around C3 to consider the left route, so I went right and had trouble fighting thru the brush between clearings. I had a cleaner path coming back out and then I made great time to C6. I should have gone back to the trail to get to C7, but I tried the shortcut around the fence.

C8 was my first real problem. I should have taken the trail route to the right, but the woods looked so tempting that I tried for a shortcut. I ended up getting hung up a bit and bailed to the trail to the right and cut back in. Jon T came in from the other direction and punched shortly before me and opened up a gap as he got out of the brush more cleanly than I did. The next two legs were wide open and I busted my butt, and the splits show that - just 1 second behind Sergey on C9 and 4 seconds ahead of him on C10.

C11 was my next issue. I tried to find the clearing that was on my map, but it wasn't there in real life. I had forgotten about the warning off the map error. So, I was stuck in some brush that cost me some time before I bailed to the path. I ended up losing about 15 seconds and my sense of direction, as I had trouble finding the direction to C12 at first, but recovered quickly when I realized the reentrant pointed straight at my flag. I was able to get in quite quickly from there.

Since Greg Balter had some trouble during the sprint, I wound up 2nd in M45+, just 31 seconds ahead of 3rd and 41 seconds ahead of Greg, who was likely to catch me later.

North American Orienteering Sprint Championships (Finals) at Green Lakes State Park

OK, so the goal was to run hard and take safe routes where necessary to avoid any big blunders. Being a late starter, I could see that people disappeared around the curve of the road to the left at the start and punched behind the building to the right after the first loop, and entered the woods across the field after the map exchange, and the finish was flagged, so the transitions were set.

I got off to a decent start, as the first 2 controls were just running and the third had a patch of open land pointing at it, but I got stuck behind an "old" course runner going into C3 and lost a few seconds. I made up for that by flying to C4 and most of the way to C5, but I lost time when I wasn't sure whether C5 was in the brush.

Here disaster struck (actually it had already struck, I was just now made aware of it): I looked down, lining up my thumb compass to decide on the next leg, and the compass capsule was gone. &#%$@*&!!!! I lined my map up with the parking lot and took off along it, and knew I was in trouble. As it turns out, I was ahead of Andrew Cornett from Ottawa by 8 seconds at C5 (39 seconds overall).

I needed the compass on C8 as I had trouble keeping a line along the jagged edge of the field and lost about 10 seconds. No problem getting in and out of the finish area and the shelter was an easy target for C11. I was worried about C12 w/o a compass, but part way there I realized I could see the reentrant and stayed above it. I was off line on C13, but that just meant running a little too far and hitting the road a bit early which almost balanced out.

I lost over 20 seconds going to C15. With no bearing, I tried to just stay in the most open area and turn left near the end. Mary Jo Childs was nearby, so I caught her along some elephant tracks. I blasted out where I saw daylight (to the N) and was able to pick up a decent line to C16. I got in and out of the finish area in good shape (punching 7 seconds ahead of Andrew).

I don't have the last map handy, but I missed the trail into C18 and lost a bit of time trying to line up the map for C19. I think C20 was down below C7 and I lost time trying to navigate there by features, and was now behind Andrew for the course. I don't remember C21-22, but I lost time on them and I zig-zagged to C23 back in the main field, losing yet more time. I got in and out of C24 fairly well, and was down 26 seconds (so, still in 3rd by 5 seconds overall).

C25 cost me the medal. I ran off the corner of the parking lot, but thought I was looking for a reentrant. I was off line and got to the empty reentrant, read the clue, saw the far corner of the parking lot and ran back, losing nearly 40 seconds and the medal. Of course, I didn't know that, so after coming out of the woods off line, I hustled in pretty well, winning the last 2 splits for M45+, but missing the medal by 17 seconds.

All I can do is have this make my hungrier (but no NA champs for me in 2010; where will 2012 be?).

C • 2010? 2

Plenty of w/up and w/dn. Second w/dn includes a lot of walking around looking, futilely, for my compass capsule - not included in the time/distance.

Luckily, the capsule was found and left on a refreshment table, but I have to figure out how to repair it.

Ran around in the dark at Mendon, to find a few controls, then picked up 3 controls.

Made it in time for the second match of our doubleheader. I was expecting to just cruise thru the games to save energy for tomorrow, but the other team was pretty good and had one serious player, so now my calfs are just a bit sore.

Ran the perimeter of Webster Park during XC practice. It included some terrain running near the southeast corner and to get to the new Whiting Road trail, which is now streamered from the usual park trail out to where they've put down some gravelish-like substance.

Running around during the meet at Parma Park. We were the host school, running against Hilton at their home course, what the heck?

Anyway, the girls made a nice effort, but only finished 1-3, losing two close ones. The boys ran great and came away 4-0 for the first time since 2004. We were losing to Hilton early on, but, following Kenny-Nate-Nico going 2-3-4 (and 2-3-5 overall, to all make the D&C on Wednesday), Chris finished just behind Hilton's 3rd man and AB went past their 4th, 5th and 6th guys in the last 400m or so, and we came away with a 24-31 win.

This also includes a few minutes of running around after the later run.

After everyone went home, I felt like I still needed to get in some running to recover from the hard running during the race, so I ran the course. I started just after 7pm, so it got pretty dark in the woods as I went on, so the increased effort was offset somewhat. Miles: 8:12, 7:55, 7:45, 47

VOA Golf tournament at Irondequoit CC. I ended up being the go-to guy on my team (Howie, Vinny and Leo), which means we weren't very good. GTA I (included Scott, Carl G, Stevie V and Jason) won at 11-under, we were 1-over, the other GTA team (Erik, Steve, Frank and Mark B) was about even.

BFLO Meet at Hunter's Creek (new map)

I was pretty slow to C2, as I was having trouble adjusting to the 1:5 scale with lots of undulations in sight. I was pretty good after that, until leaving C9 in the right direction, I looked down at the compass on top of the map, and turned around 180 - I must have thought the 9 was a 6. I lost about 5 minutes being totally confused - even seeing a big rough open field didn't help me relocate (it was on the edge of the map and didn't catch my attention).

So, Nate jogged the course and beat me by 35 seconds. I suck. At least the Bills didn't today! 3-0 (first time since Nate was 3 months old) and alone atop the AFC lEast! And the Rams next.

Running around for the 4 races at the Wildcat invitational at Marcus-Whitman. I covered between 1.5-2 miles each race. For the boys varsity, I saw them after the start (1), just after 1200m (2), shortly after the mile (3), along the far side of the soccer field - 2500m? (4), just before 2 miles (5), heading up along the road (6), coming back with under 800 to go (7) and coming out of the woods (8). Very tiring! For the JV boys and varsity girls, I did all but (4). For the JV girls, I did all but (8).

After the team got off and running at practice at Schroeder, I cruised over to Spry for Zach's modified soccer debut. I got there during the first quarter. Z played 2 and 4, so I went for a quick run during the third. I did 5 x 1 minute pickups, covering just about 172 strides each time.

All 5 of Spry's goals came during the third quarter, so I missed them all.

Easy run over to the woods between Willink and Thomas, where I got to stand and read and record times for everyone.

Then I started running back to the school, but we were going by the rink and there was a parent meeting for Zach's team at 5:15 and it turned out Chris wasn't there, so I sat in on it and got a ride back to the car afterwards (I was way too cold to run after being in the rink).

Sat out the first game, then played three. We punished the defending champs, so very good start compared to last year. Of course, I can't really get excited about dominating a rec league. And we are nowhere near being able to play in the power league.

XC Practice was at Parma Park today, since we are the "home team" for the meet there on Tuesday. There should be a rule that if we are the home team, the meet is at Webster Park. Not in freakin' Buffalo.

Ran a little bit, then ran the course easy with the team (as in 27 minutes easy), then ran around a bit and met the practice-blow-offers at the hilliest point on the course, so they could do some 20 second hill repeats (at least 10 of those seconds were on flat ground). Then ran a little bit more.

Jogged around before the meet at Mendon West, clearing some of the downed branches that remained on the ridge trail, then ran hard at times during the races (included a fair amount of terrain running).

The boys race was very exciting. Our team (record: 1-7) was ahead of Fairport (5-2) for most of the race. But our top 2 guys couldn't hold off their #1 and our 4th guy became our 24th guy, so we ended up losing 27-30. I'm sure we covered the spread! And our boys ran quite well, almost across the board.

The girls race was different. It was up to our top girl to avoid having all 3 teams shut us out (which was a distinct possibility), and she came thru - beating not one, but all three 7th girls, and one 6th girl to boot.

C • Thursday 2

Some fairly easy running during XC practice at Webster Park. Ran with a few different groups briefly and alone much of the time. The dedication of some team members seems questionable, which is too bad, given the solid commitment of several team members. The girls, those less talented, seem to be tougher than the boys. We'll see how tomorrow's big race goes, and take it from there.

Decided to take a day off.

Got out for a (sloppy) round of golf (93) after the Bills game - played the back in under 65 minutes, but still decided to use the Tracer ball the last 2 holes, just in case. I definitely lose some distance with that ball, but I want to try it after dark sometime.

The XC team had a long run scheduled for today, but I didn't want to do a long run before the NOD meet, so I brought the Webster permanent map to practice and knocked off 21 controls in just over an hour. Technically, 20. I didn't find #22, which was surrounded by poison ivy, so I searched for a bit, cautiously, then got out of there. I was going to do all 24, but I mindlessly skipped one, so I skipped 2 near the end.

There were too many people that skipped practice, without warning, so there will be consequences. Probably not on Monday, with a meet on Tuesday, but we'll see.

ROC NOD Sprint at Highland Park.

I figured that doing this after the earlier run might simulate having to do a wicked long Sprint (can 4K be a sprint?) as the second sprint of the day at NAOCs. I hope it doesn't foreshadow the NAOC peformance. I was awful. I missed C2 badly when I was convinced that the biggest hill I could see was the big hill on the map. My error. Then on C3 I lost a lot of time, running off the vegetation that was supposed to point to the control on a fence - can't miss it. Well, it wasn't there - turns out the map had the control in the wrong spot (it was correct on the Score-O map). 2 errors on 3 controls took the wind out of my sails and I even ended up getting beat by Rob who wore flip-flops or something.

Went out for the short score-o with Luke. I let him lead the way most of the time, except when there was a control that needed a bearing. He had fun, and I enjoyed his thinking out loud.

Easy run during XC practice. The kids got to play Capture the Flag for 30 minutes or so.

Well the transportation department f'ed up again and didn't show up to take the kids to XC practice. So there I am sitting alone at the Mendon West XC course when I get the call that the bus never showed up. Today was supposed to be a hill day on the course we are running on Tuesday, but you would be hard-pressed to find a single contour on the Schroeder campus, so I ordered track work instead. 5x1000 for the studs, 5x800 for the up-and-comers and the rookies. But there was no way I could drive back up to Schroeder in time to be useful, so I ran the course.

My first mile was a bit long (I started my watch by the flagpole - I think the line is down in the gully), and I was pretty tight starting, so I went thru the mile in 9:12. I made a wrong turn and tacked on a bit in the second mile (plus just coasted down the hills), so I was 17:09 at 2 and decided I had better pick it up and was 6:39 for the last "1.1" (the 2-mile is probably a little ways before the gate).

This is another course where everyone goes out too fast, with some early downhill. We'll need to be conservative, and then bust a move during the second mile - much time can be lost climbing back up to the ridge for those that don't maintain focus. The final mile will take care of itself with the downhill on the road being the main feature. The finish is a true measure of guts (which our girls were lacking last year), and could make-or-break a major upset over Fairport (assuming a solid second mile by the top 7).

Luckily, I had an old orienteering map in my bag, so I was able to run an old "Green" course (3.8k sounds like Brown to me). I can't remember if this is just the course that Rick and Linda streamered a year or two ago.

Of course, I wasn't completely prepared - no compass - but it turned out to be pretty easy, since there were trails on most legs and the contours were pretty obvious, even to me, in most places.

We scrimmaged ourselves, 4 on 3, since the practice opponents were no-shows. About 50 minutes worth, so I'm taking credit for half (probably too much, but it was enough to get me sore).

Easy run with the core of the team (the big boys went off on their own for 7). Everyone stayed together for a nice, friendly run, until we started getting close to the shelter and they thought we were finishing - they picked up the pace something fierce, then got the bad news that 44 minutes was not 6 miles, so it was back out for another loop.

I think the group included JP, Trevor, Joe Freshman, Tommy, Eric, Geoff, Elliot, Thunder and Alaina. I did not let them stop for a drink after 15 minutes, or after 25 minutes (it was about 65 degrees).

Various running before, during and after the XC meet at Black Creek. Disappointing team effort, both teams were 1-4, with the boys losing to a Victor team they should have beaten; however, Kenny almost made the paper and was only about 10 seconds out of the top 25 times on the course since 2005. Plus, there are a bunch of races left in the season and the most important races come at the end (well, except McQuaid).

Did a brief fartlek workout at Webster Park during XC practice - with a race tomorrow, I didn't have the kids out very long and I got a late start after various discussions.

After a 10 min w/up, I did 6x2 min at Tempo Plus, with 1 min recovery (usually - some of the recovery was during "stop time", such as when I had to check on bee stings on a couple of runners).

Did 10 controls on the Emery Park 2008 Map Hike before the Bills game. About 3 of the controls must have been misplaced or missing (or hidden?), since I was certain I was in the correct spot, but unable to see the markers.

MIT Alumni XC Meet at Franklin Park

Well, I was assigned number 911 and the race was pretty much a disaster. I started out OK, coming thru the mile in 6:30, but struggled just a bit during the second mile. Then I followed the second-last alumni (who followed directions to go left) the wrong way, so we went way too far (over 1/2 mile extra) during the 3rd mile. We slowed a bit after that (me, because of depression more than fatigue) and they had us bypass the last loop to more-or-less make up for the extra we had put in.

There is not enough room to list all of my excuses, but it probably boils down to needing to train more specifically for this event (maybe next year?).

At least I got to see Chelsea run. And the alumni men defeated the varsity team.

Pizza afterward meant I didn't leave until almost 8pm, and due to the heavy rain from Hannah early, didn't arrive home until about 2:10am.

C • Seems impressive to me ... 2

My warm-up was mostly running around during Chelsea's race. I forced myself to go 2 miles after the race (ran the last 2 miles of the course, to get it right), knowing that I would pay the price on the long drive home otherwise.

Easy run - did the old BU Bridge Circuit! With all the running I've done along the Charles, I'd only been passed twice (once was the day before the Boston Marathon, so I let that go; the other was during a long run, so I ran sub-6s for a couple of miles to not fall behind the woman(!) that passed me). This time I got passed by a guy on the Harvard Bridge, who I had dusted between the bridges, while running real easy, so I had to pick it up for a bit to get back by him. Not smart on the day before a race, but it had to be done.

During XC practice from Schroeder, I ran out to Ridge to Jackson, where I started seeing the kids going the other way, provided some encouragement and ran back most of the way with Ryan, to help him with the fartlek workout that we had going (since he was alone and without a watch).

XC Practice at Black Creek Park.

Did a warm-up that ended up being about 2.5 miles for me, as we skipped the first pond loop, then got confused at the 2-mile mark. The directions did not account for a left turn shortly before the 2-mile mark. So, I ran back a bit, then ended up doing some bushwhacking, assumed they had moved on, but then went back and got them when they hadn't.

I divided the team into 9 3-person teams for some hill relays, then went out for a 14:15 w/dn on the course (backwards) from the 2.25 mark or so.

Ran during XC practice from Schroeder. I g-mapped the route (shortcut to Five Mile to Bryden/Harvest Walk-Hatch-Five Mile-Shoecraft & in), but I didn't capture the saved route number.

I kept up with the big boys (Kenny, Nate and Alex) for a little while (only 24 seconds down after 3.25 miles), but couldn't stay close. I think more because they picked it up, since my splits were:
7:12 pace to Hatch
7:15 pace to 5 Mile Line (24 seconds down)
7:16 pace to Shoecraft & State (by this time I was about 90 seconds down, so they were in the 6:40s)
7:23 pace back to the parking lot

Ethan looked ready to go, but when Chris dropped back, Ethan stayed with him. Chris had to stop for a drink at Plank, then just came back. AJ didn't even attempt the full route, he cut it off with Eric and Geoff.

Apparently some of the girls finished 5 miles before I got back, so that's good.

8 strides

Running at Webster Park during XC practice. Once again I chose to time instead of run the workout. I'm not sure I had a choice, since last night's dinner was a little overboard before an AM workout.

Biked during the 6pm practice that I ran for kids that couldn't make the AM practice. Time is estimate of time actually spent pedaling. Went a roundabout way over to Plank S, made sure the 1/4 mile loop was really about 1/4 miles, then some biking in Beacon Hills and over to Embury and in. Hit 27.5mph on Nate's bike on Embury. Nate went over 18mph on flat ground on his rollerblades (into any wind that was blowing).