Race Evaluation
West Point: RedX day 1
Nadim
| 1. |
Unused to map +04:00 | Was worried on Friday because of back and hip pain. Also because of being tired but the easy Friday helped. I didn't think a lot about my left shin which I had hurt at the Susquehanna Stumble at Great Falls and re-injured on a run again because it didn't bother me too much after warming-up. The back/hip hurt less on the soft ground and I took aspirin also. I went up the road to the picnic area and crossed the creek. Just after that, I pulled my shin again. It would bother me throughout the race. I got off-course higher to get away from deadfall. I got into the ankle grabbing stuff which was abrasive on the scab on my right knee. Going higher for better ground, I past the control, saw the trail and meandered back. | |||||
| 2. |
Bad map reading +09:00 | I went up and down straightish at first, passing the lower side of the marsh after the trail. From there I dropped down and turned right. Having trouble reading the map, I confused up and down. I searched on the wrong side of the slope, passing close to the mark before circling around in a long detour involving more marsh and climbing. | |||||
| 3. | I was slow to plan a route but went left around the hill, then almost straight, crossing the marshy green areas. I pulled my shin again. Somewhere along here, I heard/saw Dmitriy coming from behind with a white scarf on his head. I went left a bit to use the reentrant and spiked it w/Dmitriy not far behind. | ||||||
| 4. | Off to the right a bit, I aimed for the trail w/Dmitriy in pursuit. Pulling my shin again and cursing, I couldn't shake him. Passing the trail intersections, Dmitriy cut left to angle up before I did. The climb was slow and I was really contemplating stopping altogether to keep from injuring myself more. I went straightish up the hill and saw other runners converging to lead me there. | ||||||
| 5. |
Bad route choice | After a drink I went around to the left to lessen the climb. By now, I realized that I couldn't run well with a hill on my right side. It seemed most of the course and routes I took fell into that category. Through the burned area, I dropped to a cliff-like area then went right on contour to the control. Dmitriy had gone much more straight and beat me there. | |||||
| 6. | I went down quickly and was glad to reach flatter ground w/better footing. Chasing Dmitriy, I caught him on the road. I just kept going toward the lake. Dmitriy punched first, then I. | ||||||
| 7. | The deadfall and rocks was hard for me to get by. Not having met Dmitriy before, he must have thought I was part sailor from all the cursing as I kept twisting and hurting my left shin. About 250m out, Dmitriy went higher and I dropped low for better footing. We caught up to others who were much higher. They soon started running down. I just ran toward the spur and over it, getting there ahead of Dmitriy and the others. | ||||||
| 8. | +02:30 | Heading toward the lake shore, the ground was rocky and still had to run carefully to avoid pulling my shin more. A couple people passed me but since I aimed for the inlet and they hugged the shore, I got there ahead of them (I also found a path near the inlet). I followed the lake shore trail from there with one other guy following behind. At the dam, we walked up the big reentrant and felt our way over. Seeing a control we got drawn-off a bit. It was for another course. I climbed higher and the other guy went straight-on. Straight turned-out to be better. I looped counter-clockwise, seeing Dmitriy near the top and then dropped back down to it after he did. | |||||
| 9. |
Bad map reading Disturbed by others +06:30 | About 5 guys spread-out including Dmitriy were headed down the big hill. I had a hard time keeping up in the rocks as my shin bothered me. I turned left on the trail briefly, while passng Dmitriy. We both cut right and around the marsh with him getting ahead of me. After crossing the creek, Dmitriy and several others went straight toward the steep hill. I saw the trail and bet that I could go faster on it. After passing the marshes and trail intersections, I got distracted by some people. I didn't pace count and just turned at the intersection w/the power line, thinking it to be the ride. I never saw the real ride and went down the trail. It struck me that there shouldn't have been a trail there but the course notes said there was a road that was not on the map and I thought this was it. Making a parallel error, I searched to right of the power lines, in the process crossing the concetina wire. Eventually realizing my error, I headed back down and onto the trail. Dmitriy had just gotten to it and asked if I passed it? I confirmed and procedded there without trouble. Along the way, I saw Ted Good approaching and punching his last control. | |||||
| 10. | I gave Ted a chase once on the trail but couldn't make any real ground. My shin hurt too much. | ||||||
| F. | Slow climbing to the finish but with the better footing, I did okay. After finishing I thought there would be no way for me to go out the next day w/ my pulled shin. Usually a pull stops hurting me if the muscle is relaxed but this kept hurting for several hours. |
Total Time Lost - 00:22:00