Training Log Archive: oxensd

Day 2 of Boulder Dash, Burnt Mountain again. Much better run today, no major mistakes. My running was again impeded by a sore left calf muscle.

Fun course, stayed focused throughout most of it. #1 was one of the many controls I found while searching for #12 yesterday, so bittersweet re-acquaintance! And running to #2 I found the marsh that so confused me yesterday, darned thing. Only control I had some trouble with was #4, at first I mistook where I was on the path system and ran too far west, then I never found the path heading south west I was aiming for. Also a little wobbly coming in to the control, first saw another control which of course I ran to, then saw something else control-like which turned out to be a red sign on a tree. By that time I had probably lost 1 minute chasing mirages, attachpoint reports about 3 min lost in total on #4.

To #5 I looked for a route choice for a good while but ended up going straight, the path to the north seemed too far and too much climb. Hit the path intersection perfectly, saw Jeff and Paulina and someone else I couldn't quite keep up with. Aimed straight for the marshes and found the small open one, then navigated straight for the northern edge of the large marsh before the control.

Rest was fine, Jeff caught up with me again at #7, I hesitated slightly coming in the last 50m. #8 was fast and efficient. Came a little low on both #9 and #10. Going up to #11 I kept wondering why it was so steep, nothing fit, then I realized I was looking at #12 the whole time! Luckly they were both in the same direction more or less, so no damage done. Opted to run on the road to #13, likely the faster choice.

Placed 15 out of 30 on red, relatively pleased, stamina and running speed is mainly what's holding me back.

Map and GPS:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/oxensnas/Archive/Archive/...

Sunday - Red - Splits

Boulder Dash on Burnt Mountain, Hanover NH. Back to the NAOC 2016 map - super fun and challenging. I optimistically signed up for red / M45. Wise from various mistakes last year, I told myself from the start to navigate carefully and focus on a clean run. Which probably explains why I immediately made a 5-6 minute mistake on #1! It wasn't particularly hard, I was just sloppy and unfocused. This terrain is unforgiving if you lose contact!

The rest of the course went fairly well, until #12 that is (see below). To #2 I initially thought to go straight, but as I made my way to the first path I noticed the that I could run on trails to the east almost all the way, so changed my plan, pretty sure that was the faster route choice.

I stayed focused with no mistakes until #12....plan was to go straight and locate myself along the valley with various swamps some 100m before the control. I found one of the open swamps without problems, and thought it was the narrow one to the left of the line. Then I compounded the error when I came upon a control by a boulder and concluded the open swamp must have been the one further west/southswest. Following that logic, I ran a good 200 meters NE, and was soon thoroughly lost. Nothing fit, I saw about 6 other controls, ran up to each one hoping beyond hope...Then decided that I had to relocate by finding the large path to SW. Happily I did, right by the open narrow swamp, and from there easily found the control. By that time I had realized my original error - the open swamp I came to was the round-ish one to the right of the line. Classic parallel error. Ted told me afterwards he thought going straight was too risky, boy was he right!

19-20 minutes lost on #12, plus 5-6 minutes on #1.

Frustrating, but at least I missed fewer controls this time on this map than last year! Still a fun day, this map and terrain truly demands full attention 100% of the time!

Map and GPS track here:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/oxensnas/Archive/Archive/...

Saturday - Red - Splits

Event: UNO Boulder Dash
 

Meant to run more this week, but too much work...
Calf muscle felt ok, slight warning sign around 4km but seemed to go away.