Training Log Archive: mikeminiumIn the 7 days ending Feb 2, 2014:
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Sunday Feb 2, 2014 #
orienteering race 54:51 [4] *** 5.9 km (9:18 / km)
24c shoes: Icebug 2012
Slop Bowl at Woodland Lakes Christian Camp. I made this small map in two days last summer, so that David Williams could lead a team building program there. The map needs more work - I missed some features, including a ruined fence that a few people tripped over, and they let me know about it in no uncertain terms! David set courses today, and made great use of every corner, taking us to just about every mapped feature, and using a two-sided map for green so that he could criss-cross some more. Amazingly, I almost never found myself running the same place I had already been - every leg had new and unique challenges.
Anyway, the camp is very flat - there are maybe two contour lines on the whole map, and it is a fairly small (but almost perfectly square) area. After over a week of deep freeze, temperatures rose above freezing yesterday, with heavy rain overnight. The result was deep frozen ground, but surface water everywhere - pond after pond of standing water and slush. It was an ice bath for the feet. Almost every step was either slipping or sinking or both at once.
Otherwise it was a blast. The camp has a mix of open areas and woods, with several trails and lots of structures. Two small ponds add some interest, and David made sure to add gratuitous distance by placing the start on the island. It paid to make sure that nobody was about to come across the narrow isthmus before you punched the start unit and took off across it. At least one runner was observed taking a close look at the lake surface before starting, but with several inches of standing water on top of ice of unknown thickness and structural integrity, I don't think that anyone was rash enough to attempt a crossing that if successful might have shaved thirty seconds.
Anyway, the camp is very flat - there are maybe two contour lines on the whole map, and it is a fairly small (but almost perfectly square) area. After over a week of deep freeze, temperatures rose above freezing yesterday, with heavy rain overnight. The result was deep frozen ground, but surface water everywhere - pond after pond of standing water and slush. It was an ice bath for the feet. Almost every step was either slipping or sinking or both at once.
Otherwise it was a blast. The camp has a mix of open areas and woods, with several trails and lots of structures. Two small ponds add some interest, and David made sure to add gratuitous distance by placing the start on the island. It paid to make sure that nobody was about to come across the narrow isthmus before you punched the start unit and took off across it. At least one runner was observed taking a close look at the lake surface before starting, but with several inches of standing water on top of ice of unknown thickness and structural integrity, I don't think that anyone was rash enough to attempt a crossing that if successful might have shaved thirty seconds.
Saturday Feb 1, 2014 #
Event: Cabin Fever
orienteering race 1:58:00 [4] *** 8.5 km (13:53 / km)
18c shoes: Icebug 2012
Eagle Creek West Score O. 2 hour time limit. 10 controls worth 1 point, 10 worth 2, 6 worth 3. I got 18 of 26 controls and 40 of 48 possible points. A couple small bobbles cost me enough time that I probably could have picked up 1 more 1 point control.
The day started with an early morning drive, taking AddisonB and dylpop to the race. Temperatures were just barely above freezing, and back roads were still icy, although the main ones were well treated. A little fog and drizzle.
We arrived an hour before the start which proved to be just the right amount of time to copy control descriptions, prepare punch cards (good old manual punching), plan our routes, and otherwise prepare to face the conditions of the day.
Temperatures gradually rose to upper 30's F (3 or 4 C), and the snow cover gradually became more slushy. We avoided the heaviest rain which passed north of Indianapolis, but drizzle and light rain dominated the race. Anything you touched guaranteed a soaking, and the steep slippery slopes guaranteed some squishy falls.
Straight line distance to the controls on my route was 8.5 km, but of course the actual running distance was much greater.
My route, and some comments: Start-9-8-11-13-12-15-17-19-20-21-23-24-25-26-22-18-16-14-Finish
9 was a popular first control and several folks beat me to the punch. Apologies to the young lady that I nearly clobbered as I slid into the control. When she froze in front ofd me with a deer-in-the-headlights look in her eyes, I shouted something like "MOVE!" because I could feel that I wasn't going to stop - I hope she didn't take that the wrong way. It wasn't intended as "get out of the way stupid", it was more of "look out - this overloaded rig has no brakes!". Somehow I missed a collision.
The next few controls were pretty straightforward and I felt like I was making pretty decent time. I'd see other runners from time to time, but only one set of long-striding tracks that seemed to keep consistently showing up in front of me.
17 was a bit misplaced. The description said reentrant, deep, and I came straight off the little section of fence that pointed straight at the center of the circle and looked down into the short section of gully that was obviously the mapped DEEP part of the reentrant. Moved to see around a couple big trees and was increasingly frustrated to see no control hiding in the depths. Turned to the right, and there was the control 30 or 40 meters down in a much shallower part of the reentrant. By the time I got to it, punched, and started to step away, I unwittingly led a following runner straight into it. I don't like a control that helps the lucky and hurts the precise navigator. Grrrr. Of course, my rain and fog clouded glasses were not helping matters either!
A couple controls later, climbing a steep hill from 20 to 21, disaster struck, but I didn't notice until I got to the top of the cliff above 21, where I noticed that my compass no longer had a bezel. The whole capsul had popped out. Well, nothing to do but stick the useless thumb plate in a pocket and continue. Especially frustrating on such a grey drizzly day with not even the slightest trace of the great solar compass to light my way. I was a bit hesitant for a control or two, and had to convince myself that I have done this before and could still hack it. I do blame the lack of compass for a couple wide "C" routes on 25-26 and 18-16, that sealed out any possibility of picking up one or two more one point controls at the end.
21 was also the adventure racer special control (I hear that number 2 was equally evil). The control was near the top of a very steep 10 or 15 meter tall earth bank / cliff. The key word is "near". Punching required lowering oneself over the edge, hanging onto a flimsy looking sapling, while contemplating what would happen if it pulled out by the roots. As I approached the control, one adventurous soul lowered himself and punched. Amazingly, as I waited for him to come back up, he instead extended a hand and offered to punch my card for me! How gallant! I accepted, then braced myself and extended my arm to help pull him safely back to the top. What teamwork!
The remainder of the course was relatively uneventful, although as mentioned I blew some time on a couple widely circuitous routes. 18 was another adventure racer special control at the top of another death-slide, but this one was just a little easier to reach.
By 16 I realized that I was running dangerously short of time, and that I would be really close to the limit. I contemplated skipping 14, but I hit it cleanly.
The great news was the unmapped track that started at the road north of 14 and went diagonally northwest up the green hillside to the fields. If I had needed to fight through very much green, it could easily have cost me the couple minutes margin by which I finished.
Got back to the van to find Addison and Dylan already warming up the engine (I had told them to do so if they were too cold and wet when they finished). Dylan was fine, but Addison was nearly hypothermic and needed a little assistance getting out of wet clothes. I had Dylan pull out the sleeping bag and extra towels from under the floor (at least we were prepared), and by that time the heater was cranking out some pretty good warmth. But all is well that ends well, and once we all had on warm and dry clothes, it was off to a nearby Mexican restaurant for a post-race feast.
Another great adventure, but I sure wish ICO would do away with the death defying controls!
The day started with an early morning drive, taking AddisonB and dylpop to the race. Temperatures were just barely above freezing, and back roads were still icy, although the main ones were well treated. A little fog and drizzle.
We arrived an hour before the start which proved to be just the right amount of time to copy control descriptions, prepare punch cards (good old manual punching), plan our routes, and otherwise prepare to face the conditions of the day.
Temperatures gradually rose to upper 30's F (3 or 4 C), and the snow cover gradually became more slushy. We avoided the heaviest rain which passed north of Indianapolis, but drizzle and light rain dominated the race. Anything you touched guaranteed a soaking, and the steep slippery slopes guaranteed some squishy falls.
Straight line distance to the controls on my route was 8.5 km, but of course the actual running distance was much greater.
My route, and some comments: Start-9-8-11-13-12-15-17-19-20-21-23-24-25-26-22-18-16-14-Finish
9 was a popular first control and several folks beat me to the punch. Apologies to the young lady that I nearly clobbered as I slid into the control. When she froze in front ofd me with a deer-in-the-headlights look in her eyes, I shouted something like "MOVE!" because I could feel that I wasn't going to stop - I hope she didn't take that the wrong way. It wasn't intended as "get out of the way stupid", it was more of "look out - this overloaded rig has no brakes!". Somehow I missed a collision.
The next few controls were pretty straightforward and I felt like I was making pretty decent time. I'd see other runners from time to time, but only one set of long-striding tracks that seemed to keep consistently showing up in front of me.
17 was a bit misplaced. The description said reentrant, deep, and I came straight off the little section of fence that pointed straight at the center of the circle and looked down into the short section of gully that was obviously the mapped DEEP part of the reentrant. Moved to see around a couple big trees and was increasingly frustrated to see no control hiding in the depths. Turned to the right, and there was the control 30 or 40 meters down in a much shallower part of the reentrant. By the time I got to it, punched, and started to step away, I unwittingly led a following runner straight into it. I don't like a control that helps the lucky and hurts the precise navigator. Grrrr. Of course, my rain and fog clouded glasses were not helping matters either!
A couple controls later, climbing a steep hill from 20 to 21, disaster struck, but I didn't notice until I got to the top of the cliff above 21, where I noticed that my compass no longer had a bezel. The whole capsul had popped out. Well, nothing to do but stick the useless thumb plate in a pocket and continue. Especially frustrating on such a grey drizzly day with not even the slightest trace of the great solar compass to light my way. I was a bit hesitant for a control or two, and had to convince myself that I have done this before and could still hack it. I do blame the lack of compass for a couple wide "C" routes on 25-26 and 18-16, that sealed out any possibility of picking up one or two more one point controls at the end.
21 was also the adventure racer special control (I hear that number 2 was equally evil). The control was near the top of a very steep 10 or 15 meter tall earth bank / cliff. The key word is "near". Punching required lowering oneself over the edge, hanging onto a flimsy looking sapling, while contemplating what would happen if it pulled out by the roots. As I approached the control, one adventurous soul lowered himself and punched. Amazingly, as I waited for him to come back up, he instead extended a hand and offered to punch my card for me! How gallant! I accepted, then braced myself and extended my arm to help pull him safely back to the top. What teamwork!
The remainder of the course was relatively uneventful, although as mentioned I blew some time on a couple widely circuitous routes. 18 was another adventure racer special control at the top of another death-slide, but this one was just a little easier to reach.
By 16 I realized that I was running dangerously short of time, and that I would be really close to the limit. I contemplated skipping 14, but I hit it cleanly.
The great news was the unmapped track that started at the road north of 14 and went diagonally northwest up the green hillside to the fields. If I had needed to fight through very much green, it could easily have cost me the couple minutes margin by which I finished.
Got back to the van to find Addison and Dylan already warming up the engine (I had told them to do so if they were too cold and wet when they finished). Dylan was fine, but Addison was nearly hypothermic and needed a little assistance getting out of wet clothes. I had Dylan pull out the sleeping bag and extra towels from under the floor (at least we were prepared), and by that time the heater was cranking out some pretty good warmth. But all is well that ends well, and once we all had on warm and dry clothes, it was off to a nearby Mexican restaurant for a post-race feast.
Another great adventure, but I sure wish ICO would do away with the death defying controls!
Wednesday Jan 29, 2014 #
mapping - field checking 30:00 [1]
Mounds SRA. Had just enough time to get out a little bit before dark.
Note
A little armchair O' the last couple days. Reviewing and editing DSW's courses for Woodland Lakes.