Training Log Archive: JanetT

Event: Flying Pig XIX - U.S. Individual Champs - Sprint-Middle-Long
 

Temp in the mid to upper 30s; mostly sunny.

Checked out the five controls on the model map at Carter Caves State Resort Park after breakfast in the lodge. Some of the mapped cliff and rock features are pretty impressive. The model map's circled boulder wasn't.

Watch it be in the 80s for West Point in early May. :-/

C • 80s at West Point 2

Warming up between Morehead University and the road on the strip of map they had given us to practice on and check out the sprint mapping. One staircase in particular looked tricky, reminding me to watch for traps during the race which worked for the most part.

Sprint Championship at Morehead State University in Kentucky, map by Mike Minium at 1:4000, 2.5 m contours

Brown 4-5, 1.9 km, 40 m climb

A cold, raw, breezy day, but no snow (oh, until the flurries started just before we left). Good for running though not so pleasant for standing around and chatting afterwards, plus there was a good hike back from finish to parking/start.

Pretty good sprint overall for me for not having done one in awhile. Some hesitations to read the map and check routes, and a bit of going back and forth in a place or two, so I'm calling 6 and 12 non-spikes. Coming out of 5 I didn't turn left at the long building but actually went around it on the north side but realized what I was doing so tucked back in at the end for control 6; George W (who had started 2 minutes behind me) passed me there but never saw me.

After 7 I knew I had to really look closely to see the options as there looked to be several dead ends with uncrossable walls. Decided that around to the left to 8 was better than around to the right where I'd have to reverse direction to continue on to 9. Coming out of 10 I had to hesitate again to read the map and determine I had to go around (again left).

To 12, although it was hard to tell because of the purple connecting line, I reasoned that there wouldn't be a staircase climbing the hill if there wasn't a way through; the line wasn't broken on the Brown maps, though Green had the same leg and their leg line was broken in two extra places for visibility. Then when I got close to the building I saw George again, heading to 13, but from an odd angle if he'd punched at the building corner on the first floor..... OH, look at that; the description says upper, so I turned back toward the walkway across. Then down the stairs on the back of the building to go to 13.

Fourth overall on F60. I expected Natalia to win, and she did in about 19 minutes. Then Janet Peterson, and Sandy was 25 seconds ahead of me--well done!

Fun to run around a campus, even though the course was too long.

My QuickRoute --

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LdN8hHFxeWd1VDUP6

Sprint - 4 5 Brown - Splits

Drove from the narrowest part of western Maryland to Carter Caves today for the Flying Pig weekend, with only minor stress when it was raining (around Charleston, WV). Glad we didn't do the entire trip from the Lancaster PA area in one day...this was pretty tedious with all the ups and downs over the hills and mountains of West Virginia.

Now ensconced in a nice room at the Carter Caves lodge. Glad we made reservations early. :-)

Middle Creek State Wildlife Area, near Kleinfeltersville, Pennsylvania

Walked on a relative short trail from a parking lot to the lake to see if we could see snow geese and Tundra swans. We saw a few... then we drove around the tour road and found a whole bunch more in the fields. The lake was still mostly ice packed but there was melting at the edges and in a few other places, and the birds were hanging out there too.

Photos I took with my 10X zoom camera -- not as good as some of Glen's (30X zoom), but they're what I have.

C • Middle Creek 3

Somewhere in the last few hours my "log hits" number surpassed 30,000. I'm nowhere near as popular as some folks but have been an AP member practically since the beginning.

Thanks for reading. :-)

C • how did you find that out?? 3

Maps for the weekend

Day 1 - no track

Day 2 - no track

Day 2 with track --

From Track jpg files

Best quote, from arthurd's log:

Funny moment of the day: the call-up lines for the start went through an impressively large gate in the impressively high deer fence around the planted areas of the arboretum, and someone had posted a sign that said "Welcome to Jurassic orienteering!" It was perfect. :) Fortunately, no velociraptors were spotted on the course.

C • :) 1

Fox Chaser II day 2 at Tyler Arboretum, Brown X F60+
Nominal stats: 3.9 km, 125 m climb

The snow had done a lot of melting/compacting, but there was still a good 2" on the ground in the woods (and in the field where we parked). Temps were in the 30s for the most part, sunny with a breeze. The download/awards area was behind a large stone barn which mostly blocked the breeze and was in the sun so that was very nice. Finish display screens were even indoors (though the room was not heated).

Fewer distinct herd paths to follow made the navigation a bit more fun today, though there were a LOT of trails in the Arboretum. A number of controls were very trivial (I don't understand why they bothered with #4 which was at a trail junction! 3-5 might have made an interesting leg because of the out-of-bounds area to be skirted/avoided) but then there were some good advanced controls to make you think again.

I went as fast as I could for my current fitness level. Janet F. again won, so yay for her...she's really come a long way after starting orienteering just a few years ago. EMPO sweep in F60, as Sue H-T placed 3rd. :-) (EMPO was also 1-2 in M65 as Janet's husband and Sue's husband took top honors there.)

Used Glen's backup Forerunner (a 205 with a crack in the screen which makes some fields hard to read, but the watch works just fine) since I didn't trust mine to hold a charge long enough to record the entire race. I'm glad he brought it along. I'll have to figure out what to get now (and maybe send the old one in for a battery swap?)--any suggestions from the peanut gallery?

Day 2 - Brown X - Splits

Event: Fox Chaser II (U.S. 2015 IS / IC / Trail O Champs)
 

To the start from parking. I stopped at the clothing drop-off and picked up a warm-up map and jogged on the road and trail looking at what was mapped there, then dropped my sweatshirt and continued on to the start. Timed all but the warmup loop on my Forerunner (should have saved the battery life for the race).

Day 1 Brown X course at Ridley Creek State Park (South)
Course stats are per the map; I used my FR 205 but the battery didn't last through the entire race (gave up the ghost at 49:35 and 3.15 km).

Happy first full day of spring / SnO(w)rienteering! 5-6 inches of new snow fell yesterday making for slushy conditions today. The snow was wet enough to pack down nicely after a few people had passed through making for well-packed trails when you were on a trail, and noticeable herd paths off the trails. Temps in the mid to upper 30s while I was out, warming up later in the afternoon.

The map is probably 75% some shade of green (more light than dark, though), and some white woods had areas of wide vertical green lines. I got stuck with prickers (mostly raspberry and wild rose) here and there, having to extricate myself at least once.

The snow was actually fun to run on/in and didn't seem to slow me down, but I did have cold wet feet when I finished. Made an error on a short leg to number 5 (up and over a spur to a ditch end (near a stream); I hit just the stream into which the ditch emptied a bit too far to the left and turned the wrong direction; lost the most time here. Then to 6 I swung wide right to take the road around and then climb up through white woods versus trying to follow the trail through the green that climbed even higher up the hill. AP doesn't show a time loss to 7 but I started straight along the beeline, crossing the road and stream, but followed tracks heading more N than NW when I probably should have just taken the road to begin with.

2nd F60 (12+ minutes behind Janet F., with AP-calculated 5 minutes lost; I think I lost that much just on #5, and another 2-3 minutes on route choice). Head not quite in the game yet (and not really in running shape) but that's what this weekend is for -- to shake things out a bit before next weekend's individual champs, right? :-)

DVOA and Valerie's results team are doing a fantastic job! There was a pavilion but no indoor shelter so the workers were all out in the open. It was a good thing there was very little wind.

Day 1 - Brown X - Splits