Training Log Archive: mparsonIn the 7 days ending Apr 3, 2011:
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Sunday Apr 3, 2011 #
Orienteering 53:34 [5] 4.3 km (12:27 / km)
Last race of the Flying Pig- Mid distance at Hueston Woods. Somewhat mediocre race, although looking back, it could have been worse, especially because I was on the same map (albeit different section) of the Ultra Long that had given me such trouble the day before. What sticks out to me the most is just how difficult it was to run through the woods- I felt like every step I took there was some sort of thorn or undergrowth in my way. Still, everyone's running through the same woods, so I guess I just need to get better at muscling my way through.
I was very confused going to #1- looking at the map now, its because I thought the start triangle was on a northern trail where it was really on a southern trail very close to it. In terms of finding the control, I got pretty lucky- I started heading off one direction, but decided on doing a safer route after Saturday's race, and ended up running right to it (when I thought I wasn't anywhere close to it on the trail). A little embarrassing... haha. #2 I was pretty hesitant on because I had had such trouble with compass bearings the day before, but I actually hit it ok. #3 and #4 were ok. #5 I definitely lost some time on- although the control was on a pretty disinct reentrant, it was in the middle of extremely thick green and I was getting pretty nervous when a cadet came along and led me to the control. Probably lost 2min on that. The other control that gave me trouble was #9. I decided to try to navigate the trail network, because I was so incredibly tired of fighting through green. This might have worked out if I slowed way down, but instead, I ended up about 200m north on a stream. I eventually relocated and found it, but definitely should have been a lot more careful. 3-4min mistake there, rest of the course was ok.
So, definitely not as bad as the day before, but not as clean as Friday.
I was very confused going to #1- looking at the map now, its because I thought the start triangle was on a northern trail where it was really on a southern trail very close to it. In terms of finding the control, I got pretty lucky- I started heading off one direction, but decided on doing a safer route after Saturday's race, and ended up running right to it (when I thought I wasn't anywhere close to it on the trail). A little embarrassing... haha. #2 I was pretty hesitant on because I had had such trouble with compass bearings the day before, but I actually hit it ok. #3 and #4 were ok. #5 I definitely lost some time on- although the control was on a pretty disinct reentrant, it was in the middle of extremely thick green and I was getting pretty nervous when a cadet came along and led me to the control. Probably lost 2min on that. The other control that gave me trouble was #9. I decided to try to navigate the trail network, because I was so incredibly tired of fighting through green. This might have worked out if I slowed way down, but instead, I ended up about 200m north on a stream. I eventually relocated and found it, but definitely should have been a lot more careful. 3-4min mistake there, rest of the course was ok.
So, definitely not as bad as the day before, but not as clean as Friday.
Saturday Apr 2, 2011 #
Orienteering race 1:14:30 [5] 8.8 km (8:28 / km)
Ultra Long at Hueston Woods, Day 2 of Flying Pig. This one's a bit painful to log... Going into the race, I was thinking much more about the distance than the navigation itself- which was probably a mistake, because in the end my navigational errors sunk me so much more than the running speed did. Also, I feel like I should mention that as me and my dad were driving to the park, a black cat ran across the road in front of us... I think that sets a nice tone for the race...
Anyway. Started out ok. Got #1 and #2 fine. #3 was the beginning of my troubles: my plan was to set a bearing, aiming off to the right to hit a fence right behind the control. However, the green was so thick that I ended up in a reentrant way off to the right (north) and beyond the control. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the fence direction- aiming west-east instead of north-south. After that I was able to re-locate and find it, but not after a nice 3-4 min mistake that definitely rattled me. #4 I did not hit cleanly either- passed the control, although I re-located more quickly from that. Looking back I think I was confused because the fence that marked the park boundary was barely noticeable, although the fact that fences weren't reliable or obvious should have already entered my mind, both from the model and #3. Maybe a 2min mistake there. #5 I got. #6 was another disaster. I was back in the terrain near #3, but again, there was so much green that I got very disoriented, stumbled around for a while and got entangled with the invisible fence before seeing a control that I soon realized was #3. This was actually pretty good news- theoretically, all I had to do was set a very precise bearing from #3 to #6 (only about 200m away). It still took me a few more minutes to find it, which did not bode well for the rest of the race.
Thankfully, #6-#7 I made into a very concrete road/trail run, and I found the reentrant pretty easily. #8 was ok too. #9 was the next trainwreck. I ended up making a somewhat classic parallel error, following the wrong stream off the high tension wires. There are so many things that should have clued me into that I was taking the wrong stream- first, I needed to take the second stream I crossed, not the first (although at the time, my decision seemed very justified). Then, the stream I should have been following was aimed southwest, and the stream I was following was headed west. Both streams were somewhat curvy, so I guess that distorted my sense of direction, but still, I feel like I should have clued in earlier. Only when I headed up a reentrant (the one that I thought #9 was supposed to be up) and realized it was actually a new stream, did I realize where I was and that I needed to go over 2 hills to get to the control.
Not happy after that one, but I recovered relatively well as the rest of my course was somewhat mistake free. #10,11,12,13 I all got. #14 was a bit more dubious, as I ended up one reentrant to the north of where I was supposed to be, but I caught that pretty quickly. #15 and #16 were fine. Running into the finish I realized I was actually less tired than I was at the end of Friday's race- sadly, that just shows how much of my race I was just wandering around, in patches of thorns or up the wrong stream valley. Ah well.
Anyway. Started out ok. Got #1 and #2 fine. #3 was the beginning of my troubles: my plan was to set a bearing, aiming off to the right to hit a fence right behind the control. However, the green was so thick that I ended up in a reentrant way off to the right (north) and beyond the control. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the fence direction- aiming west-east instead of north-south. After that I was able to re-locate and find it, but not after a nice 3-4 min mistake that definitely rattled me. #4 I did not hit cleanly either- passed the control, although I re-located more quickly from that. Looking back I think I was confused because the fence that marked the park boundary was barely noticeable, although the fact that fences weren't reliable or obvious should have already entered my mind, both from the model and #3. Maybe a 2min mistake there. #5 I got. #6 was another disaster. I was back in the terrain near #3, but again, there was so much green that I got very disoriented, stumbled around for a while and got entangled with the invisible fence before seeing a control that I soon realized was #3. This was actually pretty good news- theoretically, all I had to do was set a very precise bearing from #3 to #6 (only about 200m away). It still took me a few more minutes to find it, which did not bode well for the rest of the race.
Thankfully, #6-#7 I made into a very concrete road/trail run, and I found the reentrant pretty easily. #8 was ok too. #9 was the next trainwreck. I ended up making a somewhat classic parallel error, following the wrong stream off the high tension wires. There are so many things that should have clued me into that I was taking the wrong stream- first, I needed to take the second stream I crossed, not the first (although at the time, my decision seemed very justified). Then, the stream I should have been following was aimed southwest, and the stream I was following was headed west. Both streams were somewhat curvy, so I guess that distorted my sense of direction, but still, I feel like I should have clued in earlier. Only when I headed up a reentrant (the one that I thought #9 was supposed to be up) and realized it was actually a new stream, did I realize where I was and that I needed to go over 2 hills to get to the control.
Not happy after that one, but I recovered relatively well as the rest of my course was somewhat mistake free. #10,11,12,13 I all got. #14 was a bit more dubious, as I ended up one reentrant to the north of where I was supposed to be, but I caught that pretty quickly. #15 and #16 were fine. Running into the finish I realized I was actually less tired than I was at the end of Friday's race- sadly, that just shows how much of my race I was just wandering around, in patches of thorns or up the wrong stream valley. Ah well.
Friday Apr 1, 2011 #
Orienteering race 35:06 [5] 3.9 km (9:00 / km)
Middle distance at Miami U... felt pretty good about the race. Beginning part was much more sprint-like than I had expected, but because of the Yale sprint last weekend I thought I adjusted pretty well. Had a bit of trouble with #2 (under a bridge) because I didn't know the symbol; also, #6- my bearing somehow was way off, and ended up heading uphill to the trail instead of across the hill to the clearing (in retrospect, I definitely should have realized this...) Ended up attacking that control using the next control (#7) as an attackpoint. Oops. Only other control that gave me trouble was #11- I didn't have a totally clear route choice ready, and then wasn't quite sure if I was in the right reentrant (turns out I was). Overall, a pretty good start to the weekend! (Turns out, my best race of the weekend).
Wednesday Mar 30, 2011 #
Running 34:21 [2]
Tuesday Mar 29, 2011 #
Running 30:12 [3]
Moderate, short run in the woods. Not too sore after yesterday so that is encouraging!
Monday Mar 28, 2011 #
4 PM
Running long 1:10:48 [4] 8.5 mi (8:20 / mi)
Oops! Thanks, Ali, for clueing me into the fact that I had stopped updating my training log.... still not quite used to putting it onto the computer :) By this time I can't quite remember the details from last week so I'll just start up again from now. Also, did some orienteering on Saturday in CT for the WCOC training- control picking, compass work and the sprint- which was definitely good practice.
Anyway. Today was a long run-- trying to up the length of my training runs in preparation for the Ultra Long in Georgia. Didn't feel too bad, too, which was encouraging, although definitely started getting tired by the end. Kept the pace pretty slow... we'll see how my muscles feel tomorrow though!
Anyway. Today was a long run-- trying to up the length of my training runs in preparation for the Ultra Long in Georgia. Didn't feel too bad, too, which was encouraging, although definitely started getting tired by the end. Kept the pace pretty slow... we'll see how my muscles feel tomorrow though!