Training Log Archive: kissyIn the 7 days ending May 27, 2008:
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Monday May 26, 2008 #
Orienteering race 1:05:25 [3]
Long course at Lehigh University/South Mountain. This was my least favorite day of the weekend. I made mistakes on the first and eighth controls, but even without those mistakes, I would not have liked this day. I just thought the woods were trashy, rocky, and not much fun. Plus, there were stinging nettles and poison ivy everywhere, so I was paranoid the entire time I was in the woods.
My mistake at #1 was because I was so afraid of dropping too low as I came down the hillside, that I stayed too high and couldn't make heads or tails of the trails. Luckily, I came upon a trail intersection with a stone wall, and could figure out where I was. On #8, it was just total lack of attention on my part. I came to a control on the trail in a depression, knew exactly where I was and, inexplicably, decided to leave the trail at that point to look for my control when I should just have stayed on the trail a bit longer. There were several controls in that area, and I just kept checking each one, convinced that one of them was mine! Blah! It was the penultimate control, and I was ahead of Peggy at that point, so I totally blew it nearly within eyesight of the finish. Oh, well.
Overall, a very, very fun weekend. The camping at Hickory Run was a blast, with an entire row of orienteers together. And, even though Dave and I had unarguably the worst site in the entire campground, it was okay because we had the best neighbors! Thanks to George and Lynette for letting us encroach in to their space. And, I predict the big time orienteer from the next generation will be Ethan Hall, who organized his own o-meet at the campground, complete with homemade map, controls, descriptions, and nearly the winning time on his course (beaten only by US Team member, Eddie Bergeron).
My mistake at #1 was because I was so afraid of dropping too low as I came down the hillside, that I stayed too high and couldn't make heads or tails of the trails. Luckily, I came upon a trail intersection with a stone wall, and could figure out where I was. On #8, it was just total lack of attention on my part. I came to a control on the trail in a depression, knew exactly where I was and, inexplicably, decided to leave the trail at that point to look for my control when I should just have stayed on the trail a bit longer. There were several controls in that area, and I just kept checking each one, convinced that one of them was mine! Blah! It was the penultimate control, and I was ahead of Peggy at that point, so I totally blew it nearly within eyesight of the finish. Oh, well.
Overall, a very, very fun weekend. The camping at Hickory Run was a blast, with an entire row of orienteers together. And, even though Dave and I had unarguably the worst site in the entire campground, it was okay because we had the best neighbors! Thanks to George and Lynette for letting us encroach in to their space. And, I predict the big time orienteer from the next generation will be Ethan Hall, who organized his own o-meet at the campground, complete with homemade map, controls, descriptions, and nearly the winning time on his course (beaten only by US Team member, Eddie Bergeron).
Sunday May 25, 2008 #
Orienteering race 42:00 [4]
Middle distance at Hickory Run. Another very fun course. I hadn't orienteered at Hickory Run for many, many years, so didn't have a good feeling for the type of orienteering that it would be. However, as soon as I turned over my map and looked at the first leg, I knew it would a compass and pacing sort of day, which it was! And that worked very well for me on almost all of the controls. I was a little too much to the left going to #6, but I quickly saw the spur that the cliff was on, and corrected myself. Unfortunately, I wasn't as focused on #7 and totally blew it. I must have passed right by it and ended up in an open area with many stone features. I finally re-oriented myself off of a depression, and got back to the control. Definitely at least a 4 minute error. Argh!
Other than that, it was a fine run. I was a bit tired after the climb from the creek and never fully recovered, but it was close enough to the end that I could keep plugging along.
Other than that, it was a fine run. I was a bit tired after the climb from the creek and never fully recovered, but it was close enough to the end that I could keep plugging along.
Saturday May 24, 2008 #
Event: US Team Trials
Orienteering race 25:07 [5]
Sprint at Lehigh University. OGBr course. This was a lot of fun! I opted to take the approach of using the bigger features (e.g., buildings) vs. trying to finesse my way using smaller features (e.g., stairwells in courtyards) because it would take longer for me (and my poor eyesight) to distinguish those rather than just running around buildings. This worked fairly well; I just got messed up in the very beginning when I dropped too low on the way to #2, and was on the wrong road. But, it wasn't too fatal.
I keep telling myself that I'm really not a sprinter, and so I shouldn't enjoy these types of events, but I'm finding more and more that I love these campus sprints. They are like little puzzles that you have to solve running at your top speed. Yes, I love them.
I keep telling myself that I'm really not a sprinter, and so I shouldn't enjoy these types of events, but I'm finding more and more that I love these campus sprints. They are like little puzzles that you have to solve running at your top speed. Yes, I love them.