Training Log Archive: j-man

Little sleep and a large ankle made this a rest day.

COC 2008 Long.

A good race. Wore my sunglasses with the yellow lenses and a hat. This worked well through half the race, when the vegetation became so dense that I had to slow way down, and the fogging got worse, causing a downward spiral. I eventually took them off and stuffed them in my pants. Later in the course I got a stick in the eye, cutting my contact and really impairing my vision. Then, at the end of this slog, wanting to finish, not able to see, I do a real bad number on my left ankle leaving a trail, running through some tall grass. Was able to jog in, but at what cost?

Anyway, the orienteering was quite good. I love this stuff. It was varied. The first control was almost too mcuh (as it was the day before) but I think the course was fair. It was tough and the map was not great, but it was not too bad for North America.

A trip well worth making, although did it screw up my fall?

Easy warmup, mostly up and down the road shoulder.

This was after the "mandatory" shuttle ride to the start, which was 1.5 K from our hotel. (Orienteering seems very susceptible to poor organization, and Canadians aren't immune.)

COC 2008 middle.

One of the most intense and favorite middle courses ever. A great time.

Fundy is awesome. It is a real challenge. Physically, a combination of low pines, bracken, ferns, moss, rocks, and swamps slows you down. Technically, hard-to-map vegetation and low visibility in terrain that is otherwise like Land of Vikings/New England. The combination is a middle that never lets up.

It really is legitimate 10 minutes per KM terrain--and not unfairly, or ridiculously slow.

The course was a little marred (for me) by the last minute (and uncommunicated) change in the rules allowing for a route choice along the road. Not a big deal time-wise for me, but the principle of the thing was annoying. They also had some problems with wong maps going to some runners, etc.

This may be the DVOA of the future.

Anyway, I stank up the place on this run, but I enjoyed it immensely. Actually, I had a reprise of my Hickory Run TT 2008 experience. I started navigating from one control to the wrong one, did a 180, etc... 8 minutes lost on one control, just like at HR. But, in terms of navigating to controls and maintaining intensity, I did well.

I would love to run there more often.

Before the COC 2008 sprint.

A warm, sunny day in beautiful Fundy.

COC 2008 M21 sprint.

My first outing at Fundy. A very fine sprint set by Wil. Three distinct terrains, with the final one a taste of the rest of Fundy. Map was good and course was intense. I pushed hard through the first half, and was happy with my work through the road crossing, though I had dropped about 30-40 seconds.

The second half got raggedly. I punched two controls that weren't mine, and took some bad routes intentionally and unintentionally. Gerald and I were running together for most of it. I got ahead of him for a while, but he pulled away into the last control.

Almost 4 minutes behind Patrick who was only 8 seconds behind Holger. Patrick is doing great stuff.

I had about 2.5 minutes of mistakes, liberally counting.

Cooldown after the sprint with Eddie and the Canucks.

Event: Canadian Orienteering Championships 2008
 

Full bore taper. And all I could fit in before work.

Easy bike.