Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyle

7:23/km

RMOF, Day 3. This was a weird run in that I felt really good about my nav - good planning, flow, visualization, etc. - and had no trouble finding controls, yet still lost 4-5min due to two unfortunate route choice decisions and one silly mistake.

First (most disastrous) decision - Leg 2-3 here. How would you do that leg? I outsmarted myself and instead of going straight I elected to head to the right around the big hill (notice monster loop in GPS track). Clearly didn't analyze this fully; if I had would have realized that it only saved two contours and added a ton of distance. Executed it terribly to boot and ended up traveling even more distance than was necessary for the route (though I realized none of this at the time - which was lucky for the rest of my race's sake). +2:21 to Eric on the leg, so at least 2min time loss.

Second decision - Leg 15-16 here. They had warned us at the start that the water was very high in the big E/W marsh just south of 15, so I headed back W to find a better crossing point. Came through okay and popped out into the open as planned, but then crossed the smaller N/S thicket/marsh way too early, because I happened to see an easy way through, and found myself having to side-hill across a bunch of rocky, slashy crap to reach the control. Could have saved >1min merely by running 100m farther S in the open along the W side of the marsh, then crossing and shooting directly up the (non-rocky) reentrant for a foolproof AP.

Silly mistake - Leg 16-17 here. Obvious route is the long, gradual reentrant that leads just left of the line almost all the way to 17. Note also the very similar long, gradual reentrant just right of the line - at a quick glance to the map about halfway through the leg I mistook the right for the left and apparated myself over there, which led me to erroneously correct left (again, notice big tumor in GPS track) and since I had always been left (according to plan) I naturally ended up well left of the line on the hilltop with a very picturesque view of the big lake. +1:29 to Eric here, so likely >1min lost.

Nonetheless, felt pretty positive about this race, as I had a lot of really solid legs (1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 15, 18, 19) and did many more good things than bad things. For example, won the splits battle against Bonesaw 11-9, which doesn't happen all that often. At 3, I was 1:40 behind Eric and 2:21 behind Nick, then at 15 was 1:32 behind Eric and 3:05 behind Nick, so was holding my own other than the three miscues, in terrain that was more rugged and technical than yesterday.

Happy America, everyone!

Bonus hike with Alex, Hannah, and Kevin at Lory SP outside Fort Collins. Nice views of the hills and the beginning of the endless plains stretching eastward.

Alex and I then ran down from the top of the hill along a slightly longer trail. Nominally said trail was closed due to dubious claims of fire damage, but we were not deterred.

Blue - Splits

5:38/km

RMOF, Day 2. Much better today! Though there wasn't a ton of technicality. Only a couple small errors - hooked 5 and 18 somewhat for 10-15s each, lost a little bit of contact in the circle at 10 for at most 20s. Also felt stronger than yesterday. In first place through 9 and second through 17, just 20s back, but couldn't hold and finished 57s from Bonesaw and 50s from Barrable. The Killer B's. These creaky old "experienced" guys are tough to beat.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I ran without my patella strap! And nothing bad happened :D

Blue - Splits

7:06/km
Mappy

Rocky Mountain O' Fest, Day 1! Not such a good result; finished ages behind Nick Barrable and the Bonesaw. About 4min of errors:

1min @ 2 - mixed up my rocks and overran it.
1min @ 6 - lazy with the compass leaving 5, allowed myself to drift too low and left of the line.
2min @ 10 - purel time loss here, as I elected to go left and low around a big rocky hill. Turned out the ravine was pretty slow going and high and right out of 9 was both shorter and faster.

Felt good early on but the elevation began getting to me after 40-45 minutes, and I lost the ability to move well through the sage and up hills, even slight gradients. Probably a bit fatigued and short on sleep due to the previous night's travels.

Orienteering in the Medicine Bow is just so much fun. I have been here once or twice, but not for over a decade. One of my fondest O' memories comes from a Laramie Daze of unknown vintage, likely in the 2002-2004 range. There was a four-person relay and we formed a family team - my dad, my two younger sisters, and myself. I was the anchor, and as things progressed it became apparent that everyone was doing great. I was super excited to run and did something like 47min over ~7km, which was my best race ever to that point and the fastest per-k I had ever orienteered. In fact, up till then I had always assumed that only superhumans like Eric could possibly go faster than 9-10min/k. Anyway, we ended up something like 10 or 11th out of 30-some teams, and had a ton of fun cheering each other on and whatnot. I've searched for results of the event online once or twice, but without success. Could be all a dream...

Blue - Splits

A new ongoing goal of mine is to train >300hrs in the period of a year, which I believe is the nominal minimum for US Senior Team members - though I'd guess that many (including myself) generally don't hit that number. I have probably never gotten over ~250, but over April, May, and June I'm right on pace at 74:43, even while incorporating the TT taper.

Event: RMOC Rocky Mountain Orienteering Festival
 

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