Discussion: Boston Area training

Update on upcoming training opportunities:

There is a Sprint this Sunday 3/5 at Pine Hill. See NEOC or CSU sites for more info.

Is anyone interested in doing a bit of extra training at Pine Hill after they sprint? Say about 45-60 minutes? If so I'll plan on 1:00-2:00 training there, and I'll make something up! Let me know if you have any particular training exercises you want to do ...

And the next one will be Sunday 3/19 at Boojum Rock, organized by Barb. More details to come.

I'm in for both the sprint and extra training on 3/5. Can't say about 3/19 yet, but sounds good to me.

I was thinking of doing some running before the sprints, then maybe between and after. Starting at 1or 2 just eats up too much of the day.

I have to be at MIT later in the day for a dance festival, but the extra training sounds like fun to me. I think I can stay until 2pm and still make it to MIT on time, though I'm not sure exactly when. Now, can you arrange the weather to be above 25 degrees?

Hmm, no guarantees on that one!

I am not clear on the timing of the sprints ... so I am not going to spend much time planning training - but let's all check in when we get there, and we'll figure something out with whoever is there and interested on the day.

I'll bring all my old Pine Hill maps that are full sized, in case they only have a small section for the sprints.

Dance festival.... MIT .... nothing seems strange about this??

Nope. Plenty of dancing at MIT. Folk dancing, ballroom dancing, ethnic dancing, or where I lived, slam dancing.

I think Bomfunk does some kind of modern dance there too...

Ubercommissioner Gagarin has approved both Sprints for Sunday at Pine Hill (Sprint Website isn't yet updated).

Sprint 1 is 2km, 6 controls. Sprint 2 is 2.6km, 11 controls. Starts are from 11-1 at the back corner of Medford High School.

The Sprint maps are only of the small section of Pine Hill. I will bring along whatever larger versions of Pine Hill I have floating around as well.

It's updated on the new website -- http://www.petergagarin.org/

I had to change, they changed the security on the old site and it was so good I couldn't in to do updates. Plus I was using about 5 times the disk space I was allowed, so just as good to change.

Thanks Jon (and Michael Commons) for setting sprint courses on such a fine day. Not to mention, thanks to those who helped with registration, results posting, etc. (Patti M., Joanne S., Tori C. -- who else?)
I learned again that bicycling training is only partially relevant to running ...

Yeah, definitely a big ups to whoever was responsible for that weather. It was a fine day.

And of course thanks to everyone responsible for putting on the event. The courses were a lot of fun.

I enjoyed both sprints, the trail run I did later as some standalone training, *and* the MIT Israeli Dance Festival. It was the 30th year of it.

Now, does anyone besides me think The Fells would be an awesome venus for a mountain-bike-O? Does anyone have a mountain bike or would be interested in a MTB-O ?

Unfortunately MTBs are only officially allowed on the MTB loop at the Fells (though there is a lot of law-breaking), so your chances of getting permission for such an event are zero.

An area I think would be really good for mtb-O in eastern Mass is Bradley Palmer State Park, together with Willowdale SF across the road to the north. Way fewer rocks than some other areas (ie, the Fells).

That said, it is a bit puzzling to me why we don't have any MTB-O races in the US, afaik, except as part of adventure races.

There is a great trail marathon/50 miler in November at Willowdale! Highly recommended by Kristin, Deb H. and Tony F ... Dave Dunham has done it (won it) also.
Unfortunately not great potential for a big foot O map ... too much swamp. Though I haven't checked out all of it.

And thanks to all who worked on the sprints - great fun. I'm sorry the training didn't pan out ... but we'll keep working on it.

Willowdale actually had some (one?) local O meet, probably in the 70's. I saw the O map once (B/W). it is lots of swamp. Jim Baker once suggested Bradley Palmer for a short (now middle) race. I walked around it in 2000. Seemed like pretty thick and swampy to me. NIce contour terrain, but too thick for my tastes.
MTB O was done twice by myself in Blue Hills. About 8 people showed up. We managed to hook 1 or 2 MTB bikers who were around that day also.
It would seem MTB-O could be popular in the US, as there are tons of MTB participants already, and I would think O would make it more interesting. But then again there are lots of hikers and trail runners and they don't seem to join up either.
Perhaps it's just the idea of having to think while exercising, most people may like to turn off their brain. It has its appeal........
Another spot for MTBO would be Gilbert Hills State Park in Wrentham. This is known as the High Rock O map. Lots of Mtb bikers go there..

Are there any plans for next weekend? I was planning on doing the Ski-O, but now that it has moved to the Adirondacks I won't be able to make it. I would really like to get in some Orienteering though, so if anybody has any ideas, please let me know.

Please see March 19 Training at Boojum. Pre-registration requested.