Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: Falls Classic - Letchworth State Park
 

Letchworth State Park, NY in the eastern half at the Parade Grounds.

Rochester Orienteering Club, Falls Classic - Letchworth State Park, Day 1. It had been a while since I'd been to this park so I was having trouble remembering the terrain. We started on a steep and angled climb. I felt I was reading it pretty well but I was off to the right at #1. I hit the road, and to be certain I didn't pass the control, I cut back to the right before turning around. I realized where I was on the road by some subtle bends. I probably lost 30-40 seconds on #1.

1-2 - I felt behind so I didn't read the leg very carefully. I took off with a general plan to go straight and should have taken longer to see the lower route linking ponds together. As it was, I thought I was reading features okay, but I mistook one spur for one that was further ahead and lower. It seemed the easiest way around it was up and over. I was then surprised going higher to find myself on the ridge. I also briefly had trouble telling which side of the ridge the control was on--I was rushing again. I ended up climbing to an unmistakable hilltop and then descending about 4-5 contours to the control. I felt I lost 4 minutes.

2-3 - I felt I was losing the race but held out hope since it was difficult to navigate and run in the area. I planned a route pretty well and was encouraged that it went along the hill that I'd climbed unnecessarily on the way to #2. This was a longer route to the right, and mostly around the green along a long rib/spur. I spiked it.

3-4 - I headed for the dirt road through the woods mapped white, but part of what I went through was light green. I never saw the trail intersection that I was going to use for an attackpoint. Realizing it from the road bends, I plunged down at a formline knoll and a spur, ran along the stream reading the bends, and got to the large reentrant northeast of #4. I spiked it.

4-5 - I mostly stayed along the south side of the marsh reading the contours and vegetation along the way. I caught and passed one guy and spiked it.

5-6 - I got onto the road to the west, and ran to the water stop. It was warm and there was a lot more to go, so I drank. I went down the side trail a little before a dropping attack (north) right to the control.

6-7 - I thought I'd see the boulder by going high, but never did. I just read the curving change in steepness until it got me to the stream, then I descended that to the control.

7-8 - I ran low where it was flatter, then after crossing the stream, I climbed back up and spiked it.

8-9 - I'm not sure why I lost time on this other than it being green and steep. I was right on the bearing.

9-10 - I went a little left/higher to reduce time lost crossing the streams. I passed one guy and after passing the last stream, I saw a control. I changed direction to run to it. It wasn't mine and was a dot knoll that I couldn't find on the map. After the race I realized the notes had indicated something about the feature actually being a dot knoll but mapped as a boulder. Fortunately, I didn't lose much time. I adjusted my bearing and went on to spike it. I probably only lost 15-20 seconds.

10-11 - I thought of heading straight to the road, but with that being steep, I angled over. Hitting the steep reentrants at an intersection, I doubled back a little along the edge to save myself from dropping into it--going around was best. I got to the road soon enough on an almost intermittent trail. Along the road, I read the side reentrant and the vegetation. I pulled off in just the right place to allow me to run to the reentrant system that the control was in. I ran along the gully like streams to spike it. I saw Barb Briant ahead leaving the control as I was approaching.

11-12 - Dropping back to the road, I got very hung up in thick vegetation. It was probably mapped as white marsh. Unknowingly, my legs got covered in scratchy stick-em seeds. I passed Barb on the road and went around the bend to attack from the SE. I came down the spur and took a twisting semi-controlled spill, but I was right on target for the control.

12-13 - I dropped low early and ran on bearing. I was confused seeing the hillside continue to drop when I thought I should be in flat ground. I saw a cabin in a field off to the right so I presumed myself to be close to the out of bounds area. Really, I was higher. I caught a younger runner near a stream. I should have known were I was at that point but I was more in race mode. I figured it out soon after and I angled toward the control. Andy Hall came along from behind on my left. I kept right of where he was going and then lost sight of him. I turned out to be too far right but I corrected after climbing.

13-14 - I saw Andy move away to the left of where I was headed. I figured he was on Red, and had another control. I ran straight to the edge of the marsh along the road. Once on the road, I could see Andy Hall ahead. Another younger runner was around too. The finish was pretty obvious, but I chased the younger runner to it.

14-F - I was tired so I didn't sprint hard.

Despite my early errors, I think I did pretty well against the competition, and that it was due to being pretty calm and not rushing. That's a hard balance to find and hold onto.

Day 1 - Green X - Splits

Prince William Forest, VA. From the Pine Grove parking lot, I checked control locations and made some map updates. It was nice to have the day off. I had forgotten to print out a 1:5,000 scale map; I had a 1:10,000 scale printout with control locations to go by. With my eyes these days, that made it hard to do the field checking and to make updates. I was able to make a good many updates to the Pine Grove area. I'll have to get to other locations later.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, Wisconsin Ave. to Norwood Dr., through Norwood Park on the trail to the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT), to Woodmont Ave., to the Bethesda Metro Station. It was a warmer day than it had been. I felt pretty sluggish.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd. I had a lot of stops and starts.

It had been rainy the last 2 days and I was working late. I was less motivated to go out.

From Northfield Rd., to Del Ray Ave., and back. I went into town for lunch and had to rush back for a conference call.

Event: QOC Lake Accotink
 

Lake Accotink Park, VA. Walking from the event pavilion to the start near the dam.

QOC at Lake Accotink, VA. This is the traditional opening event of the club's season. John Torrance set a variation a normal score-o and gave the option for advanced runners to do what he termed a "dog bone" score-o too. The dog bone required one to do designated pairs of controls, and required more strategizing. We were allowed to look at the map before going out, so I looked for a little while. It was set such that once could be efficient through most control pairs. However seeing the routes while standing around is quite different than executing them. The park is small to begin with so with a lot of control pairs, I lost track of which ones I'd done. Running out of time at the far end of the park, I missed a relatively easy pair high up. When I realized it, it was too late to fix it. I did what I could on the way back and finished with almost 4 minutes to spare. It turned out that I'd missed 2 other control pairs without realizing it. It didn't bother me too much. I was happy that I was navigating well, spiking most controls. The worst that I did was leaving one control pair early on and getting over close to the start of another pair that I'd already done (lost about 5 minutes). I figured that the forgetting to do some legs on something like this wasn't so big an issue since it's so different from standard orienteering.

Lake Accotink Park, VA. Walking the finish near the dam to the event pavilion.