Training Log Archive: GlenT

Around the neighborhood. Spotted a snapping turtle on the sidewalk heading toward on of the retention basins.

Cal-O-Fest, Day 6. NAOC Long on Sagehen map. Course 5 (M65 and M70). 5.0k, 75m climb. Similar terrain to yesterday but with less rock detail. Vegetation mapped in detail but difficult to interpret in the terrain. Not sure why this terrain was chosen for an IOF Regional Championship - mostly it was a test of how well you can follow a compass bearing and then pick out the piece of rock with the flag on it.

Not quite as warm today but still in the 80s and mostly sunny. Combined with the elevation and being tired from having orienteered 6 of the last 7 days meant that I walked a lot.

An OK run today, with no big disasters. Missed on my initial direct approach to the second control and had to relocate from the road bend about 100m to the SW - lost 2 or 3 minutes. Off a little bit to #5 but spotted yellow tape marking an area which had burned yesterday (and requiring a last minute change of the control placement to a nearby similar feature). Second in M70, 3:37 behind Charlie.

Should be happy with three NAOC Silver medals (to be awarded sometime), but none of the three runs were great runs navigationally. Obviously I'm running fast enough among the M70s to somewhat offset the navigational errors, but know I can do better.

C5 - Splits

Cal-O-Fest Day 5, Middle at Little Truckee Summit. 2.4k, 70m climb. Areas of detailed vegetation and rock (mostly boulders, boulder clusters and rocky ground). Not a lot of useable contour detail. Tough to discern the difference between the various vegetation types and mapped vegetation boundaries were often only visible to the mapper. Since there was more moisture than usual in the area over the winter, ground cover vegetation was thriving (manzanita, some sage and wooly mule's ear), which meant that many of the mapped boulders were just barely visible above the vegetation.

Nice course by Rich Parker, starting off with four technical legs and then transitioning into a less detailed area for the rest of the course. Compass and pace while trying to keep track of features was the technique of the day.

Another hot day, sunny and in the 80s (with a low dew point). We were at about 6500' elevation, so there was less oxygen than I'm used to.

Did it again, big mistake on one control. Tried to rely on compass and reading subtle contour detail to get to 5, which didn't work well. Lost 5+ minutes. Small bobble to 1 and hesitations to 3 and 4. Placed 2nd in M70, 24 seconds behind David Hunter. M65 was on the same course.

C7 - Splits

Event: 2023 North American Orienteering Championships
 

Parking to arena.

Cal-O-Fest, Day 4. NAOC Sprint at Northstar. 1.9k, 65m climb. Courses went among the condos and the main village (where the arena was) . The complexity of the area was enhanced by extensive use of artificial barriers, mostly in the condo areas (shown with heavy purple lines on the map and with double rows of yellow tape in the terrain). Starts were 2:30 - 4:30pm, it was sunny and the temperature was about 90F, so it was quite hot for running - walked several times.

Once again I had a decent run except for one control, taking over 3 minutes on a 70m leg (sloppy with direction and then had a (mapped) dumpster blocking my view of the control). Missed a bit on 11, hesitated going to 4 and had a couple of route choices around artificial barriers which weren't the shortest ones. Second in M70, about 2 minutes behind Soupbone.

C4 - Splits

Rest day. Spent a bunch of time removing seeds and burrs from the socks, shoes and pants I wore yesterday. We were going to do the Model event but decided to skip it when we found out it was the same area as two years ago with the same controls (apparently now more overgrown).

Cal-O-Fest Day 3, Long at Morgan Territory. Course 6 (M65 and M70) - 4.6km, 160m. Lots of roads and trails, wide open. Hilly but the course avoided the steeper hills. Scattered poison oak. Hot, mid-80s and sunny - and lots of running in the open. Course had quite a bit of road or trail running, some of it requiring minimal navigation.

Major error on control 8 when I hunted on the wrong spur for the control and took way too long to figure it out. Lost about 12 minutes, some of which was spent trying to minimize poison oak contact. AP also shows a time loss on 10 - I was pretty beat by that point and was struggling to run. Gotta stop making this type of mistake.

C6 - Splits