Training Log Archive: Ecmo

West Point Long

This was rather epic. I was pretty tired after the last 2 days (and my lack of decent endurance training showed out) so this was more like a long training run than a race. I was over 10min/k pace but finished 3rd only a few minutes behind the winner so it wasn't just me that found the going very physical. Moving so slowly made the navigation not too difficult at any rate. I made 1 bad error on no 6 (2 min or so), a tricky spur on the side of a vague hill, however that control seemed to flummox more than just me.

The terrain was fantastic in parts - it was the southern part of the West Point Base close to Harriman park and the WOC 93 area (I think). Comparable with some of the best areas I had run in Scandinavia. The course setting could have been a bit better - mainly all long legs mostly with only one obvious route choice and plenty of climb, some not really necessary. There was at least a fair bit of micro route choice on some of the legs and it was easy to lose time if you choose the wrong contour to run on around the hillsides.

The map was ok - contours and rock were fine but the vegetation puzzled me greatly in places. There was one huge ride and vegetation boundary running in a straight line for a mile or so that I could barely see in the forest.

After the 2 forest races I hung on to first overall by a few seconds.

There were a lot of pretty epic times on the elite courses (which were WOC trials for the US and Canadian teams).

Long - Red - Splits

West Point Middle

My start was diabolical reflecting the same sort of lazy orienteering I practiced yesterday. I got sharper through the middle of the course but sloppy again at the end.

The area was a bit easier than I expected - generally because the visibility was good in most parts.

Was second place in M45s. Just a few seconds ahead of a brace of experienced US/Canadian runners. The winner was about 3.5 min quicker which was a pretty good time I thought.

West Point Sprint

It was a real privilege (especially as a foreigner) to be allowed to race around West Point. The town and Base/Campus looked like a movie set. Everything neat and tidy and suitably impressive from the parade ground, the buildings, the sports fields (the finish was on the indoor running track) and the views over the Hudson river. The only negative was the wind and sleeting rain which made warming up a real ordeal.

The orienteering was less than impressive. I lost a fair chunk of time at the 2nd control which was as much to do with the map as my o skills (a passable wall on my route was about 2 meters high and it took me about 20s to decide I wasn't going to be DQed if climbed it). That threw me and I made about 3 other simple errors on the course each costing me 20-25 sec as I reverted to lazy o mode and failed to plan ahead on most legs.

Was a bit pissed when I finished, however Elise won her race (first win ever) which cheered things up. Samuel DNFfed after a well meaning soldier who obviously didn't know much about O told him to follow someone else down a hill rather than go to his control. Poor Sam had been lectured by me about having to behave perfectly while on the base so he was too worried to go back and punch.

I still came 3rd on the course and 1st in the class (I think) Judging by the splits I wasn't the only one who had issues with no 2.

Middle - Red - Splits

Sprint - Red - Splits

Finally ticked off one of those orienteering bucket list items. A run in Harriman Park. This was a one person relay as a warm up for the West Point races on the weekend.

I was pretty sloppy reflecting a lack of orienteering over the last 4 months. Just a lot of little mistakes when I was too lazy to try and read the map when running over rough ground. Nevertheless I found it very enjoyable.

Last Orlando run

15 x 30sec (30s recovery)