Training Log Archive: Nadim

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Round Mountain map. I jogged to the start. I felt physically better than the day before though I noticed a touch of sciatica and tightness in my right hamstring after the race yesterday. This went away with the warm-up. The assembly area at the M Lazy C Ranch was about 8,400 ft. In elevation and the start was closer to or above 8,500 ft.

RMOC 2014 US Classic Championsips on the Round Mountain map. I tried to make some adjustments today-some of this worked but not always. One thing I tried to do was to adjust to the right of what my compass was telling me to do. This worked on the first control and a couple of others. However, on the second control I ended up way to the right of where I was supposed to be. I fumbled around searching more to the right and beyond where I should have been, finding several trail-o controls before correcting. This was a +4 minute error.

On the third control, I was right of where I should have been when crossing the road figured this out and was able to reinforce it at the fence crossing. My route took me near a campground which I went around, but a small dog chased me. Fortunately, I spiked the control.

On the fourth control, I aimed to the right again and thought I knew my position at an aspen/reentrant crossing. On the approach, I found a reentrant just before the one with the control, and I went down it nearly to the fence. It hen had to run back up the correct reentrant. This was a +2 minute error. I must have missed it by only a little bit on my initial pass.

I went around to the right for the 5th control, a little hesitantly but I did ultimately spike it. The sixth control was similar though I went more directly toward it, reading features along the way.

For #7 I went directly toward it, read the two boulders about 100m before the the control, then missed to the right, getting drawn off by the much bigger boulders. I lost close to a minute on this.

For #8, I ran across the field, spiking the control. For #9, I found myself off to the right when crossing the road in the field. I remember the intermittent trail coming up early but thinking my bearing was good, I followed a line of rocks to the wrong control. I wandered back and forth, then went higher. I saw a 2m rocky knoll but wasn't sure it was mine since it was so much to the left of my earlier attack. I saw others hesitantly approaching, including Steve Gregg, and I turned to it, getting there just before Steve. This was about a 4.75 minute error.

Going to #10, I wanted to put ground between Steve and myself since Steve started after me. Having rested in my wanderings, I was able to pull ahead, but more importantly, I was able to spike the control. Still concerned about Steve being nearby, I pushed toward #11 swiftly at first. When climbing the blandly mapped hillside with some rock on it, I slowed, but kept going on to spike the control.

I ran quickly out of #11 hoping that I wouldn't give away the control position to Steve. I found myself on the knoll farther from the fence than I had wanted to be so I corrected. As I passed the long straight fence, it did seem clear to me that there was a problem with the magnetic north/south lines on the map. I pushed on and spiked #12. Going almost straight toward #13, I saw Peggy ahead, coming from my right to my left, before the reentrant so I crossed behind her and got around the aspens. I passed her when she popped out of the aspens, and ran to my control. It was easy to find and see from far off. I hit #13 fairly quickly, passing an older runner in the possess. I ran somewhat hard after the Go control but the bumps were awkward for me, and I didn't want to injure myself.--I didn't go all-out.

Overall, I think I had about 12 minutes of error, and ran 5.4 miles. It was a disappointing end of the weekend orienteering for me.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO. A storm was threatening as we took off for the nearest dune. We saw some lightning but the storm appeared to be heading away from us so we went on. We got over the creek and partway up before the rain fell. The wet sand made it easier to climb. Unlike last time when Peggy and I took one step forward and one sliding back, we just moved upward stepping in the footprints of those who'd gone before us. The rain stopped but the wind was still brisk. We took a fairly direct route; more so than last time. Peggy thought we ought to turn back with about 200 vertical feet to go because our time was limited. We made it to the top but it was like being sand blasted up there. +30mph sustained winds were whipping sand that was stinging our legs. Peggy and Max got sand in their eyes. For a while, they didn't want to move or stay there. We moved down but the wind kept up force, blowing into our faces. Eventually the lower we got, the wind was less fierce but it was still troublesome all the way to the creek. The conditions took a lot of the fun out of galumphing down the soft sand. It took effort to get back too. We got sand everywhere and it locked-up both of our cameras for a while. Peggy's remained locked-up and worse, she was hurting for the next hour in the car.

C • wind 2

Green Y - Splits