Training Log Archive: smittyo

Ultra-Long Champion in F-50+, Yay!

Had a really nice race today with no significant errors. It looks like I forgot to take a split at number 1, so the splits shown on the track are one off. Course was listed at 8.5K and 500m climb.

This was a mass start and out of the start I wasn't feeling so optimistic because most people were already zooming ahead of me. I figured with such open terrain and the opportunity for pack running, I would be soundly beat by those who run faster than me.

Started right off the bat with a slightly more eastern route to #1 than many people took. I believe I gained a small amount of time on this. Similarly to number 2 I took a route through a saddle that seemed a little more optimum than some other folks.

At this point, I was just behind a crowd of people that I could see climbing the hill out of #2 in front of me. But they weren't taking the route that I had planned. I stuck with my plan and was the sole person climbing the reentrant straight towards the trail junction. Everyone else was one reentrant over from me. I figured the climb was the same either way, I'd rather get to the trail and have some nice running and a clean attack. It seemed to about the same either way as I saw the others still ahead of me by a piece at number 3.

From 3 to 4 I dropped to the reentrant junction then took a bearing aiming off above number 4. It looked safer to be too high than too low and this route worked just fine. There was a little climb at first, but after that it was downhill with clear visibility of where I was going. Apparently this is where everyone else took a lower route and got messed up. I didn't see my competition again until the finish.

To number five, I planned a route slightly to the west to avoid climb. I hadn't really read the map well, though and didn't realize there were actually two ridges between me and the trail. After crossing the first ridge and realizing there was another, I bailed even further west to hit the trail lower than originally planned.

At the aid station I asked how far I was behind Eileen and was surprised to hear that she hadn't come through yet. This kept me pushing to stay ahead through the back half of the course.

As I approached number 7, I saw a young green runner coming out going down the reentrant. I had already planned my route to 8, with the intent of climbing the spur to take a fairly direct route, but this, coupled with my fatigue at anything uphill, made me take a second look at the western trail route. I counted contours and decided that the longer, twistier trail route was probably worth saving at least 10 contours of climb. It worked out ok. Split comparisons seem to show it as being no slower and I didn't kill myself with a crazy climb there.

The rest of the course was pretty straightforward. I got passed approaching number 10 by a lady in a light blue top (learned later her name is Christine Brew F40+). I was a little worried by her passing me, but she had so much energy that I figured maybe she had been on a much shorter course - like the standard Brown. At the finish I learned that she had been motivated by seeing me ahead of her and knowing I was on her course, so she raced the last few controls to pass me - Way to go, Christine!

A great day and a fun course. This was a really nice place for Ultra-Long. Made up for the less than stellar Middle the day before.

C • yay is right! 1

US Ultralong 2013 Green - Splits

Event: BAOC: Pacheco State Park A-meet
 

Warm-up to the start

Middle course at Pacheco Pass. I had a decent run, although I felt a little slow. This terrain really doesn't lend itself well to middle. I'm looking forward to the ultra-long tomorrow, which should be better suited to the area.

Most of the legs were pretty straightforward with fairly major reentrants as handrails. Due to a misplaced control, the course was voided. I lost about a minute or two here because I saw the vetting tag in the correct position and went there to check for a control before moving on to where I had seen a control on a nearby similar feature.

#1 - took the trail around and then in to the control. Control visible from trail bend. I felt like the trail wasn't mapped quite right though.
#2 - up slightly and then down the spur, then followed reentrants to the control.
#3 - this was the misplaced one. Went down the reentrant to where the side reentrant goes up to the east and took a bearing to crosshill from there. I ended up on a cow path a little lower than bearing and was surprised when the control I saw was lower than I was. Then I saw the tag above and went up to check it out. Time loss about 1:30.
#4 - once again down the reentrant. I used the rocks along the reentrant and slightly north of the circle as an attackpoint. It was a little confusing with so many rocks round. Definitely not a spike. I wasn't doing a good job of matching the details with the terrain, so just stopped and looked around and saw the control above me and to the left. Possibly lost as much as 20 seconds by not being very sure of myself.
#5 - basically straight. Once I was over the spur, I could see the control. I took a slightly diagonal cow path down the hill and then up to the control.
#6 - contoured then dropped into the reentrant. Should have climbed right away, but was afraid I'd overshoot and go too high, so I went a little further south in the reentrant before climbing to the control.
#7 - lost some time here. I went up the reentrant to just below #4, then climbed. There was a lot of brush here and it was mapped as wide green lines. I felt it would be more appropriate as close green lines. It was not easy to see on the map. The combination of the brush and trying to identify the various areas of woods and trees got me confused. At one point I even considered the possibility that I had made a serious error and was in a totally different spot on the map marked as green. Probably spent a minute convincing myself I had not made this error. Eventually heard someone else punching the control at a tree I was heading towards. Estimated Time loss - 2 minutes
#8 - basically straight. I picked up a cow path that went perfectly along this hillside. Noted when I crossed the reentrant and then started looking for the feature. Should have measured and pace counted to avoid some minor hesitation, but saw the control on my left pretty quickly.
#9 - climbed to west of the saddle just above the shallow reentrant and then dropped to the control. I hit the yellow patch that led straight to it.
#10 - climbed slightly to the east to the end of the small woods patch on the spur. Then it was contouring from there.
To finish - just followed the fastest paths I could find that paralleled the reentrant until I saw the banner.

I reported the misplaced control. I was considering whether to make a formal complaint but discovered that this control was also on blue and a complaint had already been made on that course. The organizers had moved the control to the proper location once it was reported, so they ended up deciding to void both courses. It looks like the time I lost there made a difference of a few places in my age class.

Addendum: On Sunday, they still gave awards to all classes in the Middle. A little disconcerting since this should be one of the points of voiding a course.

I received my Silva Expedition 54 compass this week, so I took it for a test drive out at Pacheco Pass. I got permission from the meet director to go out into some close by terrain that would not be used for Sunday's courses and practiced a combination of sighting item and taking bearings from the map and then lining them up. It's extremely accurate, but takes some time since you have to actually read the numbers and transfer them from the sight to the dial. Looking forward to using it at the DVOA event.

Middle Green (Voided because of #3) - Splits

I didn't make it out to the trails before dark, so I just did a neighborhood treasure hunting run.

Walking with AbbyDog

HDR Interval workout at the track. 90 seconds x 10 reps.