Training Log Archive: mintore

Event: OLOU Billy Goat
 

OLOU "2013" Goat, 9.1/540m 28C

This meet was the cancelled goat from last year. I don't think there has been an OLOU goat that I have not had a good time at, and this year was no exception. A fun course, technically on the easy side (as a result of some restrictions that would have been in place for the original meet), and comfortable weather. These events are one of the fall activities that I look forward to each year :>

With that, my goat experience today was probably a 7.5/10 that accounts for a bonus 2.5 for the enjoyment of the day. My run was no more than a 5. Navigationally, I didn't seem to ever fully settle in. The map was 1:7500, which I don't seem to do as well with, and I found that I couldn't sense the contours in the flatter areas. Summarily, some cross-country legs were good and others I felt like I was just grasping for straws for no reason. As the bags were high and the trail network substantial, I didn't get bit often.

For errors, they were concentrated to two controls: approaching southerly fork 13 and exiting 16. For the first, after crossing over the ridges, I must have been pretty much right on but the reentrant seemed to be too flat and so I thought I was high. This was not the case so I lost maybe 2 min dropping down to within sight of C11 and climbing back up. But the real difficulty was between 16 and 17. I went S to an absolutely certain point, a trail crossing a small hill, and then cut E to diagonal to C17. Apparently, something drove me to make a 2nd 90 and very shortly thereafter I was looking at reentrants that decended N rather than the expected S. Eventually, I convinced myself that magnetism doesn't frequently lie, the odds of an iron mine underfoot being low, and climbed back up and tried a slightly safer approach going further along the trail to C20 and cutting cross-country from there. In discussions afterwards, it came up that there was a blowdown on that hillside, which I certainly found when backtracking, but I don't recollect needing to dodge many horizontal trees on my original path.

For the steeper hills, I felt like I needed more training but it is essentially the start of a new season. For the route planning, I should have been clearer on control skipping rules. I didn't consider either the entry or exit controls for the forks as skippable but they were fair game. As a result, I went to the highest point C14 that was a clear skip. On the plus side, C14 was unassailably a goat control.

Probably the biggest detractor leading to my "5" rating was my response to seeing Dan Mattingly and Aaron Smith as I headed to C5. Nothing :( I was maybe 2 min back there but I didn't jump at the chance to put in an extra effort and try to catch up. More of this run was a 2 than a 4 in effort. Mentally, this was a big problem that resonated in my head for the entire course and I will be working hard to shake by the rematch.

The result, a fortunate 2nd.

Open - Goat - Splits

Event: UIUC Campus 1-Hour Score-O
 

A fun, fast course from the growing University of Illinois club. A very nicely done map that felt almost too easy to read today (props to Wangki). Only the most detailed controls required a break in pace to decipher. The asymmetric buildings, passageways, and hedges make for some interesting courses in the very rectilinear Midwest. I lost about 250-300 m due to weaker route choices or changes in plans as the plan formed. Still, I was able to clear it with slightly dead legs from yesterday. I really enjoyed that it was a turn over the map and go score-o, where the planning was on the clock and running!