Training Log Archive: davelevine

Event: QOC Great Falls
 

Advanced Course (11 controls, 6.4 km, 275 m)

I left my apartment earlier than I figured I needed to. Google maps said it would take me about 30-35 minutes to get there. I left at 10 AM. I wasn't parked in the parking lot until about 11. The big delay was the long line of cars waiting to get into the park. It probably took me about 20 minutes to get into the park once I got in that line. I parked at the far end of the lot because that's where I found the first open parking space.

Unlike last week I knew better and borrowed a compass from the club. I've had enough trouble in certain sections of the park to know that without one I would get turned around and take much longer than I wanted to take.

For the most part the course didn't give me any trouble. We were supposed to travel in a straight line between controls, unless there was a trail that would take us most of the way there. Where possible I used trails. Other times I cut cross country, quite often missing wide right or wide left on a number of occaisions but I was able to find all the controls without any great loss of time by my standards.

I got a bit lucky with the second control. I was nearing it but the route I was taking would have resulted in my going past wide left. I saw a couple people crossing my path up ahead. I looked in the direction they had come from and saw a control. I thought at first it couldn't be it or it was misplaced but it was the control I was looking for and after studying the map a little more realized that I was the one who was wrong about the control's placement.

I was wide right on the 4th control but had a pretty good idea of where I was. I turned left and looked for it along the the ridge and found it without much trouble.

I spotted the sixth control before I found the fifth one. I didn't do that intentionally or verify that it was the sixth control but it was and it told me exactly which direction to head to find the fifth one. I was a bit slow when I doubled back from the fifth to the sixth but that was only because I decided it was a good time for a snack bar.

I followed trails most of the way from 6 to 7 and from 7 to 8,

I overshot 9 by a little ways, but circling around a little bit in the overshot area I spotted it when I looked back in the general direction from which I had come. I had been wide right in my initial approach although I doubt I would have spotted it from a distance even if I had been on target in my initial approach.

The eleventh control gave me a little trouble, mostly because it is in a section of the park where the map doesn't fully capture the way the terrain twists and turns and rises and falls. I'm not sure if it is possible to properly capture than sort of detail of a 1:10,000 map. I got the general area where the control was a circled around a little bit before spotting it. I was wide right in my initial approach, and before I found it went past it and then came back and found it.

Overall I am happy with my performance and with the course. It was trying enough but not especially difficult. My prior experiences at Great Falls helped to prepare me for some of the difficulties I might encounter. My experiences orienteering at Patuxent without a compass and at Rocky Ridge with one reminded me not to get over confident after finding most of the controls.

There were a couple other sections of the park that were not used this time. I think that probably is because the park officials fobade it.

I hung around for a few hours after I finished orienteering so I could take the meet kit home with me because I will be the meet director of the next Maryland meet.

After loading up my car with the meet kit I went out for dinner with a bunch of QOC folks at Potomac Pizza.

Carrying the meet kit up 1.5 flights of stairs to my apartment. First I carried everything from the car to the porch and then I opened my apartment and shuttled everything from the porch up one level and into my apartment.

C • Next Maryland meet 3

Advanced - Splits

BP: 105 / 63

Home to Takoma Metro

Metro to Office

Office to Metro

Takoma Metro to Home

BP: 100 / 67

Home to Takoma Metro

Metro to Office

Office to Metro

Takoma Metro to Home

BP: 111 / 72

Sport Honda to Silver Spring Metro

Metro to Office

Office to Metro

Silver Spring Metro to Sport Honda

BP: 110 / 66

Home to Takoma Metro

Metro to Office

Office to Metro

Takoma Metro to Home

BP: 91 / 60

Home to Takoma Metro

Metro to Office

Office to Metro

Takoma Metro to Home