Training Log Archive: j-man

Event: DVOA Sprint & Score O'
 

Warmup

Fatlands sprint.

A very technical sprint. Also, covered in stiltgrass and other unpleasant vegetation.

I went out fairly early, so not many good trails yet. Still, it didn't really slow me down.

Almost an excellent run, but lost ~40 seconds on a late control.

Was running pretty hard.

While waiting for Dasha.

Sprint - Splits

Kind of bummed about the lack of interest in the SS Finals. This will definitely set the standard (of meets I’ve been involved in) for most man/woman hours expended per competitor. Between the course setters, vetters, Eric, Sandy, Valerie, etc… it seems like we are putting out a feast for a mouse. Of course, that doesn’t mean that things won’t go wrong, and nothing is perfect, but I wonder whether it would be better if we just threw it together in a weekend?

At this point, it seems like no more cajoling, shaming, or bribing will have an impact, so to avoid being ridiculous, I’ll give that up. Maybe I should have begged?

Of course, I am especially surprised by the lack of interest from Canada. I remember well the conversation we had in the parking lot at Pawtuckaway when we discussed the idea of DVOA hosting the SS finals. This particular weekend was identified explicitly as being the best possible one for the Canucks and us. Things change of course, and with Hammer injured and Patrick in the tundra, you can’t expect them to come. But nobody? (JonT doesn’t count as he is in DC.) I feel like the bait and switch was pulled somehow.

TNT

Nice hard run to Ridley and back with Tom. Definitely started going faster than I intended because the legs started feeling good. As a result, some of it was level 4, but I will be conservative.

On the playing fields

Flatter route. Just 30 minutes as I was expecting Dan to show up and had to pick up Dasha.

15:15 out, 13:45 back

TNT. Just Sandy, Jim, and I.

Ran basically alone, down to the bridge.

Out in 23:31 and back in 23:17.

Very wet. Not quite dark.

Back at HR on a decidedly nicer day than last time. With the clearings beckoning in all their sun-dappled glory, it was a good time to be there.

Revisted all the controls for the final, checked some more corridors, and moved some streamers.

Then hung more streamers and moved some for the night-O. Those courses are now all done, and fairly decent, all things considered, for a night-O at HR. Basically, a brown at night.

The sprints (especially after discussing map corrections with Eric) are now mostly done. Or, I should same, I am 90% confident that they are done. The final may be a bit long (WT-wise). I just need to determine whether I care. If this was the US Champs or equivalent, I would do a lot more to try to achieve this. For the SS, I think I can tolerate some more imprecision. On the other hand, I think Emil or equivalent would have no problem coming in closer to 14... Also, none of the winning times for last year's sprints were Under 16, so maybe this is consistent with that. And it is fine sprint orienteering and a true test.

The first sprint will be much closer to 15 minutes I think.

Actual time there was 5:15 or so, but I can't log all of that. Some was just performing aesthetic evaluations of finish chute angles--clearly not "training"-worthy.

Trying to hammer through the finals terrain to see how fast it can be. (Fast enough, I think.)

Stopped when I found Eric.

Ran at a easy-moderate pace around the final course. Some small errors and some big route choice errors. I did it on a 1:10000 which was very difficult to read.