Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Skyline. Easy walk to Four Winds and back.

US 2-Day Classic Champs, Day 2. Ran my butt off, stayed away from big errors, but still had a half-dozen errors in the 30-to-60 sec range - way too many. Nevertheless, very pleased with a come from behind victory.

Just as I left the Finish and headed for the Start, felt a pang of hunger. Turned around, jogged back to the car, ate half a Power Bar, then jogged back towards the Start, getting there in plenty of time.

Last night, finally felt adjusted to the altitude (after arriving on Wed). Even jogging to the start, I could tell my body felt a lot better. Today I need to push it, and I feel like I’m going to be able to do it.

1. Hadn’t seen any Brown X runners leave the start triangle (Walk had moved up to an earlier start) but quickly figured out I needed to head generally S and started in that direction. Took a bit too long to get my map straightened out and get a compass bearing. Down into the open reentrant, across the spur, next open reentrant with the marsh, rocks are on the other side - but no flag. Check map for other rocks: I’m 80m too far E. Start along the contour, realize I need to climb a little so veer upwards, then straight to the control. Lost :40, but didn’t get upset about it.

2. Due S. Pass just E of the trail junction (as I should have) but don’t worry about any further details, figuring I’ll sort things out when I cross the second trail. Cross just E of the N facing bend, which is perfect. See the line of boulders, pass W of the depression on the little hilltop, see the boulder in front of the trees across the broad reentrant, and go just E of that. Take a bearing, look up, see a rocky knoll and head up. Don’t see the second boulder (NW of the circle), a bit worrisome. Get to the knoll, no flag. Look around, spot a flag 50m to my left behind a knoll: that’s gotta be it, and it is. Don’t know how I got that far off in the last little bit after doing so well for 600m. But not too down because I feel like I’m running well and that a good day is still quite possible. Lost :30.

3. Cross the fence by the W side of the trees, bearing to road, see the wide bare-rock-topped knoll beyond, go around that to the big boulder and slow down - want to be careful from here. Figure to aim for the reentrant just right of the double knoll which is just right of the line. Careful bearing, see it, see the reentrant, and once I get there, see the little hilltop below where the control should be, and it is. 2nd best split, :27 behind Peter.

4. First thought was to go by the S end of the aspens, but my BAOC instincts kicked in and lead to a poor (though not very costly) decision: didn’t want to go down and then have to go up, so headed for the N end of the aspens instead. Contour across the big open area, climbing the spur a bit, hoping to see the boulder on the other side of the spur, but I don’t. There’s a big pile of rocks in front of me, but is it the one N of the line or the one S? Decide it’s the one S, veer left and start to climb. But after a few steps, realize I shouldn’t be climbing plus there’s no open area ahead, so back down, swing around the big rock pile (realizing now that it’s the N one) and into the rough open - yes. Confirmation when I pass the little reentrant. Over the spur and confidently right into the control. Lost :25.

5. Quickly down the reentrant, looking for the two aspen patches. They seem bigger than mapped. See the boulder and stay to the right of it, see some boulders and knolls up ahead, go around the one that looks least like a boulder, and there is my flag. 2nd only to Peter, by :09, and :16 ahead of Natalia in 3rd.

6. Think about going along the fence (which is what PG did) but decide to go for the aspens instead. There’s a young woman ahead, moving quickly, try to keep pace with her. Push myself uphill, figuring to run to the W tip of the aspens and then start being careful. But when I get to the W end, find myself at the E tip of big clearing with marsh-plant in it. Could the aspens have grown that far up the hill, and could I have bent that far right without noticing? Stand there a few seconds (and I had noticed the rock-covered hill on the right) and decide that that’s exactly right, so make a 90-degree left, go over the spur, and right there in the reentrant is my flag. Whew! Could have been disastrous (and was for Walter, Beatrice and perhaps others). Lost :40.

7. Bearing for 100m, thinking about how to get beyond the rocks ahead. Consider going around to the left, but see that there should be a way across just S of the line. (Didn’t consider going around to the right, which is what Peter did.) A bit slow over the rocks, but find the cliff-free section I was hoping for, push my way through some thick branches, and see a broad reentrant, a spur with a cliff beyond, and Rich Parker and two women (one of whom was Angelica, I learned later) coming around the cliff and heading N. Get there quickly and punch. (Wonder how Natalia had such a fast split on this one?)

8. Around the E side of the cliff because that’s what I saw the others do, but then angle NW to get into the rough open. Force myself to keep pushing uphill. By the time I get to the form-line knoll, I’m feeling strong and running. Rough compassing towards the little patch of aspens before the road, figuring if I’m off a little either way, the trail junctions will tell me. Running hard, pass Rich, see the two rocky spurs to my right, finally see the road ahead and the aspens just to my left. Slow down before the road, take a good look at the map; look up and see the rocky ground, the fence, and the rocky double knoll beyond. Once across the next trail, see a control to my left, oddly close to where I’m going, realize it must be a leftover trail-O control (had seen a couple earlier in the run) so don’t get distracted. Around the left side of the little hill with three knolls and see the little hill that should be (and was) hiding my control. Angelica crosses my path, wondering out loud where the control is. I point to where I’m headed (having no idea if she’s looking for the same control). She punches in behind me. This felt like a really good leg, and it was: my only #1 for the day, :05 ahead of Peter, :37 ahead of Natalia in 3rd.

9. Rough compass towards the trail on the E-W broad spur on the other side of the open reentrant. Angelica is running alongside me. First thought I’d aim for where the trail has a loop (N of the line), then decide I should aim further E, but wind up at that loop anyway. Along the trail for 100m (Angelica is ahead), see the higher ground ahead, decide to go left of it, and then Angelica heads that way, too. She crosses the end of the trail (which has an unmapped loop) just ahead of me but heads too far left. I go down the little reentrant between all the knolls and see a boulder ahead, and Angelica headed towards it from the left. We get there about the same time, but no flag. There’s another boulder just beyond (mapped as a knoll), but no flag there either. Realize we’re out in the open and that these must be the two rocks N of the circle, so run S, see the boulder in thick trees and then the flag. Angelica comes in as I’m heading out to the N. 2nd fastest split, :15 behind Walter, but I think I lost :30 at the end, having had such a good split because I’d run so fast. From the GPS tracks, it appears that Peter made the same error I did from the reentrant between all the knolls.

10. Ran hard, but was too careless. Noticed the boulder on the other side of the trail, and expected to see the marsh next, but instead I was confronted with a patch of aspens in a deep reentrant. Stopped and looked at the map, no patch of green, which threw me off. Of course, what I was seeing was the patch of white on the E edge of the circle, but I expected the aspens to be mapped as light green. Angelica caught up. Dived into the narrow reentrant to the right, despite thinking that it was too narrow for the mapped marsh. No flag. Stopped, came to my senses, went around the N edge of the aspens and right to the flag. Lost :45, which could have been disastrous, but wasn’t.

11. Run hard, stay near the fence. Only Peter beat me on this leg.

F. Punched the left Finish box, but didn’t hear a beep. Punched again, looking for the light, but didn’t see it. Punched the other box, and it worked. Lost :03.

After finishing, felt I’d had a pretty good run despite all the bobbles because I’d run so much faster that yesterday. Very happy to win the division. Later, still happy, but realized that 6 errors in the 30-to-60 second range is far too many; have to do better than that. Wish I could have another crack at Round Mtn soon to get a better balance between running fast and fine navigation, but of course that is not to be.

C • Congratulations 7

Warm up, including jogging back to the car for nutrition. Walked the uphills.

Brown X - Splits

Event: 2014 US Classic Championships
 

Round Mt. Walk part way to the start and back.

Warm up by jogging to the start (walking up the hills).

US Classic Champs, Day 1 at Round Mtn. 5.3 km, 80m climb. Start time 10:33. 5 min error on #1 (couldn't see the pit though I was in the right place a couple of times), not too bad the rest of the way. Details below.

Got out to Round Mtn from Woodland Park plenty early. Not having had a great night’s sleep (still adjusting to the altitude), figured I’d take a nap. Instead, I walked a good part of the way to the start, just to see roughly where it was, and that didn’t leave any time. When I went to the start for real (.75 mi from the car), jogged the flat parts, but was feeling it on the hills so walked.

1. George Walker started 3 mins ahead of me, and I watched him head across the S side of the field, so I knew which way to go at the start. When it was time to go, my legs didn’t feel too bad, though my breathing was definitely feeling the altitude. Checked off the form-line hill in the woods to the left of the corner of the field, the boulder just before the first trail, then went between the two patches of rock just past the second trail. Looked (what I thought was) dead ahead and saw a bunch of medium sized rocks, and presumed that that was my destination. My Garmin track shows, though, that I veered a little left at this point. So, the rocks I wound up in were the ones just S of the trail junction (I neither looked for nor saw that junction); naturally, no pit. Must be in the wrong set of rocks, so headed NW crossing a broad reentrant, yeah, now I see where I was, into the next set of rocks, ah there’s a pit - no flag! OK, where is there another pit on the map? There isn’t one. (Rich Parker also came across this unmapped pit.) Oh-oh, confidence crumbling. Better head to the trail to relocate. Hmm, another set of rocks, closer to the trail, but still no pit. (Note: GPS track shows that at this point, 6:45 into the leg, I must have been within a few feet of the pit.) Yikes, out to the trail, go further NW, no more rocks, so that last group must’ve been the correct one - now what?? SE on the trail to the bend to be sure of where I was, back NW to that last set of rocks, so it’s gotta be the right location, still no pit - but, wait, is that a bit of hole? Flush to the ground, very hard to see and, finally, when I’m a meter or two away, I see the flag lying at the bottom of the pit. Had I seen the pit the first time (and based on the model event and previous events at Round Mtn, I was not expecting a feature that would be so difficult to see nor a bag that was completely hidden from view) it would have been a 1.5 min error, but instead it turned into a 5 min error (which is what I estimated at the time and what it turned out to be). I felt my shot at the championship slipping away.

2. Onto the trail, head NW, just walking because I’m deflated. Gotta put that error behind me: it’s the 2-Day Champs, gotta hang in there, you never know. Start to jog, but stay on the trail instead of going more directly. Had figured to cross the fence at the trail bend, but noticed the gap in the fence on the road to the N, and didn’t feel like scrooching, so ran parallel to the fence to the road. But I didn’t see how to open the gate. OK, no problem, there’s a big gap under the lowest wire. But I still don’t feel like scrooching, so I try to just duck under it. Ack! My shirt gets caught on the barbed wire. It’s my favorite O-shirt, I don’t want to rip it, so I spend 10 secs trying to get it loose, OK, forget it, I’ll just have to rip it, tug, pull, tug, 20 more seconds later I finally rip free, with a substantial wad of shirt left behind. This is not my day. Push those thoughts away! Get going! There’s still good orienteering ahead! Easy to see the hilltop N along the fence and then the next one to the W, so skirt the right side of that one, into the reentrant, across the road, see the marsh ahead, veer a little right, soon spot the top of the cliff a little further right and then the bag. Later, someone said that anyone who’d spent any time on a farm would know how to open that gate - hey, man, I grew up in the middle of a city! Worse: Sue K said that at the side of the gate there was a place between two post with no barbed wire where you could just squeeze through.

3. Had seen earlier that this was a long leg into bland territory. Think for a moment about swinging around to the left (which is what PG did) but decide I have to take a chance and go straight to make up for lost time. Emerge into a big clearing before the road and see the rocks in the woods to my left; see the finger of scattered trees on the other side of the road and go along the right side of that; boulder on my left, then rocks with a flag (not mine, don’t even think about checking the code) and then finally, ahead and a little to the right, the boulder I’m looking for. Good leg (4th, 10 secs behind Walter and Natalia, who were 11 secs behind Peter).

4. Knew I had to get across the gulch and go to the right of the big rocks, but fumbled around a bit trying to get my map straight as I skirted the pond. Soon see the big rocks and start trudging up the hill. Seem to be a lot more patches of rocky ground than the map shows, but I stay on my bearing until I see one with a flag. 4th, behind Peter (:29), Piotr Z and Bill C.

5. Tried the obvious: up the hill to the rocks on the “corner” then contour. However, I drifted right while contouring: started seeing that I was too close to the rocks on my right and then, as my pace count was running out, saw mild reentrant on the other side of the hill, so made a 90-degree left and quickly saw ahead a knoll a little to the left and a large rock a little to the right. Looking for a 2m cliff, so it’s gotta be the rock to the right, and it was. Lost about :40, though a little of that might have been slow climbing early in the leg.

6. Knew from the past that a course starting and finishing where this one did would likely have a point where we’d turn E and be heading downhill. Clearly, this was that point, so time to start pushing the running, altitude or not. Had already figured out the route: between the patches of rocky ground, to the right edge of the stand of trees, look for the rocks in the next stand of trees. It was rocky between the patches of rocky ground, so that was slow, but otherwise ran at a good pace without looking much at my map. Once past the stand of trees, saw rocks ahead in the next stand of trees. But, hmm, there’s another set of rocks in the trees a bit to the left, and the map shows only one set of rocks. Keep going to the ones I spotted first, but when I get there I see there’s no flag, so quickly head to the other set, maybe 50m away, which I see is much more substantial and so must be the mapped ones. Around to the E side and to the control. Lost :20.

7. Run hard to the high ground on the other side of the road, without worrying too much about anything in between. Nevertheless, able to check off the rocks before the intersection and the intersection itself. Once near the top, see the bare-rock-topped knoll ahead but to the right - good - and continue on the control. Good leg, 4th, :09 from 2nd - but Peter did it in 20% less.

8. Had had plenty of time to plan this leg, so proceeded immediately on a bearing. The reentrant showed up at the expected pace count; soon saw the big knoll, and remembering that the cliff was around to the left, went there without looking at the map. My only #1 split of the day.

9. Tempted to get on the road and follow it around, but resist, and go straight. Hit the road at the SW end of the SW loop, so a drop too far right. Along the edge of the clearing, check off the lone tree, look left as I cross the road and see the knolls straddling the road, a little further away than I’d hoped: I’m clearly a little too far to the right. Try to correct as I go into the woods. See a narrow reentrant a bit to my right; sure looked like the one SW of the control, but somehow convince myself that it’s the one WNW of the control. Pace count hasn’t run out yet, but there are no knolls ahead, so I stop and look around. There’s a control on a knoll 40m to my left, but it can’t be mine because I haven’t gone far enough yet. But, hmm, look at the slope of the land to my right; maybe it is mine. Go there; it is. Lost :30. From the Garmin tracks, it appears that Peter made essentially the same mistake.

10. Bearing. Check the curves in the road, the boulder straight ahead; see the high ground on the left. Straight to the control. 2nd only to Peter, by :08, and :06 ahead of Walter in 3rd.

11. Really pushing the running now, despite starting to feel tired. Keeping first the rocks and then the hilltop on my left, get into the scattered trees and try to use the E tip of the yellow as an attackpoint. As I descend, see rocks ahead - but no flag. Check map: no other set of rocks. Hmm, unsure which way to go. Try to the right and quickly see a lot of rocks, so go there and to the control. Lost :25.

12. Run hard on a rough bearing, figuring I’ll see the control on the fence and the flagging to the finish. See cars ahead, which should have told me I was too far right, but didn’t. Keep scanning the fence, finally see the control and the chute well to my left. Lost :10.

After the initial 5 min error and the half-minute stuck on the fence, lost about 2:00 over the last 35 mins, good but not great. Felt like I should have run about 43, which was what I had hoped for based on the distance and climb. Finish the day 4 mins down to Bill Cheatum and nearly that much to Walter. Gonna be hard to make up that much tomorrow.

Brown X - Splits

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching.

Back out to the model event. Just walking, taking the controls in a different order. Jogging yesterday, I thought the map was very accurate; walking today, I saw quite a few places where the map could be better. I suppose that when you're running here as fast as one is capable of running in this lightening fast terrain, those map deficiencies don't matter.

Had originally planned to rest today, but last night my body felt kind of jumpy, as if I needed a little more exercise. So, didn't push it at all today, but at least I moved around.

Afterwards, went with Charlie S and Mark to the Red Roof Cottages where they were staying and hung out for a while.

Model event at Round Mtn. I love this place: jogging slowly and I did under 9 min/km :-). Pretty much go straight, try to read off a few features on the way. A couple bobbles within the control circles. Took a fairly hard fall going into #7, getting a gouge on my wrist and a bump on my forehead, but that didn't spoil the fun. Hope that when Sat comes I'll be able to actually run, but it wasn't clear at any point today that I could have done so.

Nice to see a lot of people, including Soupbone, Mark Parsons, Kevin T, Scott Donald, Boris, Ian Smith, and others.

C • Ready for a good run 1

A little loosening up prior to a long day of travel. Cool, light drizzle.

Did an interesting experiment the other day. My Garmin Forerunner 10 seemed to run out of juice very quickly a couple of times on the recent trip to Europe. So, I charged it up, got a satellite signal and started, and just left it on my desk, near a south-facing window. It lasted 6 hours, 50 mins before fading out, so I guess the battery is OK. But here's the interesting part: it said I had moved 5.06 miles! I uploaded the track, and you can see data points as far away as 100m from my house, with the track being a general morass of angled lines. Makes you wonder.

C • Garmin 5