Training Log Archive: TomN

West Point Day 1. I loved the 1:7500 map from the minute I set out on it. The terrain features stood out like sentinels, and it was the first time I was able to navigate in this area with anything other than luck.

I went straight east leaving the start, and climbed the cliffs through the gap between the two little hills. Then squeezed past the upper cliff and went right to the control. AP has me losing a minute and a half there, but it must have been me just marveling at nature, as revealed in the map.

The only place I actually messed up was going to #3. I tried to pick up the little trail past the tip of the marsh, but never saw it, and then wandered without a plan, looking for the change in contours, when I suddenly realized I was in the open area and the taped-off bits were mapped as uncrossable. I had to backtrack a little, and the control was higher up the hill than I expected.

I made up for it on #4, climbing fast up the right edge of the cliff that extended down to the bottom of the valley, coming to the flat part where Carl M. and others were wandering with puzzled looks. The layout of the little rocky hills seemed clear to me, and the next big cliff confirmed it. I went around the right side of it, then crossed over to the left of the spur where the control was, as expected.

#8 was a bit of a head-scratcher, until I realized that it was down in the reentrant, a little hard to read on the map because of the rock markings.

This run was highly satisfying.

Saturday - Brown - Splits

Short and fast. I kept it at 2-2 breathing. Rest day tomorrow, drive to NJ.

The GSFC perimeter trail, with the antenna range this time. My legs are finally feeling better. I don't know why they got beat up so badly last week. I did a lot of walking yesterday, which I'm convinced is therapeutic. Also hopped on a bikeshare for a trip to the credit union, which is on center but a little over a mile away from my office.

Noontime run around GSFC perimeter road.

QOC Platformpalooza at Cunninham Falls. This was fun, but it was hard both physically and technically. Some of the technical difficulty would have been alleviated with a complete map, but we knew what we were getting into -- a lidar base map with minimal field checking, and all controls on charcoal platforms.

I struggled a little with the first 2 controls when they weren't where I thought they'd be. My pace count was short the whole way through this event, and I finally got used to that idea. Big mistake on #6, it was a beginner's mistake and I shouldn't have made it. I aimed for and found a recognizable feature (platform and rootstock) but then ignored it because everyone else was going up much higher. Lost track of where I was but when I came back down I finally found the 2 big mapped boulders and the control was nearby. Lost at least 10 minutes.

Navigationally, things got much better after that, but it was still tough going. Steep, with lots of rocky ground, some of it loose, and deadfall, some of it old and dry. I nearly got beaned by a big stick that broke underfoot and spun upwards. Tripped and fell when a stick got caught in my shoe. And it was hot out. But did I say it was fun?

Red - Splits