Training Log Archive: cporter

Flying Pig Sprint Stage 1 - Miami University, Oxford, OH. First sprint of the day was on the campus at Miami University, a very urban-like area - hence the 2.9 km was really significanly longer since there were so many buildings to run around. Despite the longer distance for a sprint and the exhaustion that began to set in at about control 8, it was a very fun race. I had several controls that I wasted precious seconds on in the control circle including numbers 3(thought it was on the vegitation next to a stairwell, but was actually on the stairs), 4 (took the wrong trail and had to cut through the woods), 12(was above the control and had to run around the wall to get down), and 14(was running for the wrong tree and ran right past the control, but fortunately saw it as soon as I passed it). One thing is for sure...my speed definietly needs some work in the upcoming weeks.

Flying Pig Sprint Stage 2 at Southpointe Crossing, OH. Second sprint for the day, which definietly did me in. This sprint was in the forest on some rather variable terrain (open woods-briars with dense trail networks). This spint was still fun, although my performance was slower and less clean than the morning. I took a nasty fall on the way to #4 over a wire fence that had fallen over (dejavu from the AP injuries dicussion threads???) which thoroughly disrupted my concentration. It took me until #8 to get my head back into the race (I ran pretty sloppy from 4-8), but by then I was pretty tired and the mud was pretty nasty. Once again, I emphasize that I will need to focus on my speed in the upcoming weeks.

Red/Blue Sprint 1 - Splits

Red/Blue Sprint 2 - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XII
 

Flying Pig WRE Middle Distance Race at Rentschler Forest, OH. Although I may have waited around the longest I ever had for an orienteering race (5+ hrs), the race was definetly worth the wait. Since I didn't start until 5:06 and it had been raining for the past day or so the woods, especially within the control circle were very muddy. The mud did make the elephant trails easy to see, however, running through them was all together another story.
Although I hit every control almost dead on, several of my route choices may not have been the fastest (starting and then finishing last prevented me from doing any course comparison with anyone). Legs that may have costed me the most time were 2-3 (slow to make a route choice), 8-9 (ran up the spur rather than around the trail and up the reentrant), and then 13-14 (hesitated too much). All in all though I was pretty pleased with my run and had a great time getting muddy out in the woods!

Flying Pig Middle Distance Model Event. Since Julie and I had tons of time to kill we decided lesiurely walk the model. The only notable thing we encountered were these awesome rusty pieces of old farm equipment and ruins that had had trees literally growing up right through them. Just goes to show you that you can't stop mother nature.

Red - Short Pig/WRE - Splits

Since I finally had a day without rain I was able to run in my new trail runners for the first time. So far I like them - good stability without sacrificing cushioning. My run today was a bit discouraging...I was exceptionally tired today and my confidence in my sense of direction had taken a definet hit. I ran at Greenbelt Park again, which I had only run once before, but I felt confident that I could manage a run along the park's perimeter trail in 50min without too much trouble. After studying the park map for a few min I assured myself that I could stick to my planned route if I just took a right at every trail intersection (the signage around the park is sporatic and they don't use blazes to mark their trials). As it turned out the trail network is more confusing than it looks on the map and after several wrong turns (is my sense of direction really that bad without a map and a compass?) my planned run time was nearly up and I still had over a mile to go on the trail. Were it not for a couple of factors I simply would have stuck out but: A. the Flying Pig, B: new shoes, and C: unhappy knees gave me enough justification for slow down to a brisk walk back to my car.

For the future I am going to have to get in contact with someone from QOC that has an orienteering map of Greenbelt Park. First, so that I don't get lost on my runs and more importantly so that I can run with a map. Maybe I can even persuade someone to lend/give me some maps of the park with old Green/Red courses on them that I can use for some mid-week orienteering training. If anyone from QOC reads this and can help me out I'd greatly appreciate it. I'll also post this request on the QOC Yahoo page.
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C • Sounds like an adventure ev... 2

It was a gray, rainy day today so I took the chance to check out the golf course that is right next to the Archives. I was pleasantly suprised by what I found. There is a decent trail network that runs along the bit of woods between the Archives and the golf course, the trail also continues along the perimeter of much of the golf course (must have been an old golf cart path) which means I can easily avoid disturbing golfers if I run there. The course has a lot of rolling hills which is a nice change from the rather flat and paved running options that I have around the rest of College Park, although I think that I will appreciate that more once I am in better shape (sadly it was a struggle today). As nice as the terrain for running was, I'd have to say that the best part of the run was the relative peace and quite. Running in a suburban area with few sidewalks had led me to forget that it is possible to enjoy a run with out worrying about dodging traffic or enduring the inevitable shouts and honks of sketchy men. Between the golf course and the few parks that I have started to discover, I may, once again run in peace.

QOC's local event at Wheaton. Small 1:10,000 map with short legs. I was fairly happy with how I ran my first nine controls - there was very little I could have done to make up lost time (except run faster). However, on my approach to the number nine control the cold that has been plauging me for the past 2 weeks finally caught up with me. First of all, it is my belief (and others I spoke with after my course) that the control was hung on the wrong rootstock. There were two within the control circle, but only one marked on the map. I, of course ran to the wrong one, it was less than a 30 sec. error, but just enough to throw my concentration. Coming out of the control I completely lost all sense of direction and really struggled to re-orient my map which easily lost me 2 min...I did the same thing again on my way to #16 when I came out on a trail and could not figure out which trail I was on (there were several intersecting in a relatively small area). From #9 on my head was in a bit of a fog which caused me to hesitate and second guess myself. Had I been able to keep my head attached to my body for the entire race I could have easily saved 10min.

Overall, though I was not disappointed in how I ran. I'll probably run the course again in a month or so to see if I can beat my time from today and run a cleaner race.

Red - Splits