Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyle

Morning warm-up course

About half of a one-way Street-O

O-tervals

Evening race @ North Point Park. Not a good race for me; I was caught by one trap for ~30s, even though I thought I had figured out which corner to go to. Also lost ~25s on a couple poor route choices. Michael got me by 7s, and Giacomo ran 12:08 but it turned out he had reached across a impassable barrier (which saved at least 30s) so was DQ'd and naturally we ridiculed him without mercy.

Really fun course and I felt good physically. Finally starting to emerge from the post-TT lazy hangover / rest-on-laurels phase and feel like racing and competing again.

C • Potatoes 2

North Point sprint - Splits

Two-man relay @ Nahanton Park. On my final lap I did one of those where you trip and fall halfway, then take three or four wild strides trying to recover before crashing to the ground like a sack of overripe grapefruits.

Nahanton Relay A - Splits

Nahanton Relay B - Splits

Nahanton Relay C - Splits

Event: Boston Sprint Camp 2016
 

Did some goofing around in the fabled Harriman SP today. First was a little control pick course from the training camp last November. Presumably one is supposed to do this type of training at high speed; I did it at low speed.

Climbing to start

Then did a contours-only course, also from the training camp. Found and collected four or five pink streamers at control sites, including one in the middle of a very thick patch of mountain laurel. Some course designer was mean. I could have sworn I came across orienteering-style elephant trails in two places, though I don't see how that could make sense.

Saw two big turkey-looking birds that clucked or gobbled or whatever, and a big scary black snake that freaked the living gazoobies out of me. Was too busy yelling to see whether it was a king cobra or a black mamba; didn't see a hood so I guess must've been a mamba. Frequent flies buzzing around my head and face were an unexpected annoyance; also, there be a lot of ticks in those woods and now I probably have Lyme and a host of other horrible diseases.

Other than that it was good times! Navigated well, but then I was moving at a leisurely pace. The forest is quite nice, though mountain laurel and blueberry are certainly thick at times. The nicer parts reminded me of the oak forests of Morgan Territory or Joe Grant Park in the Bay Area, but without the interspersed yellow areas. And with more rock. Overall it is indeed quite an impressive O'ing venue but think I prefer the pine forests of the PNW (i.e. Dutchman Flats and environs). I'm biased, of course.

C • That was Ian 6

7:48/km
Mappy

TT Middle. Came into the third day in a position similar to last year, but better situated (2nd in 2016 v. 4th in 2015), only needing to not have a very poor race to stay among the top 4-5 spots. Last year I blew it; this year I didn't. Middles are generally my worst discipline, and I knew I didn't need a spectacular result in this one, so my mindset at the start line was to stay in control and not approach that razor's edge of outrunning my nav.

And wouldn't you know it, I still didn't have a particularly good race - I lost ~80s on 4 after coming in without a plan and heading to the wrong cliff, then another 30s after I left 4 in the wrong direction down the slope toward 11 and had to climb several unnecessary contours back up. Also lost ~45s on 13 after attacking with no plan other than "climb hill and look for control" and ~30s on 14 after coming in too high and dropping back down - there seemed to be more rock in that area than was mapped.

This time I was the first TT M21 starter, with Greg 2min and Eric 4min behind. Didn't see anyone till Greg caught me at 13, then the Bonesaw caught both of us at 14. I was happy to take a seat on the Eric Express after that (I think I've earned a lifetime first-class ticket at this point) and it was just like we were back home at Lord Hill, Teanaway, or Fishtrap.

So, Team Trials is over. Regardless of results or rankings, I have trained well and performed as close to the best of my ability as I could have reasonably expected. Therefore, I am at peace.

C • so what is the result? 13

Warm-up map

Warm-down w/Greg

Middle Blue - Splits