Training Log Archive: barb

To see Rachael's rugby game (Harvard)

I was out with the kids for a short time; mostly I was at the start/finish.
Two exercises today, both designed by Isak.
Ian came to help today, which was great.
The first was contours only, and the team did it in pairs or three, with shadow.
Then the kids ran their own courses. Half were shadowed. The two high schoolers not shadowed finished first. The one middle schooler not shadowed had trouble and did not make it to all the controls.
My favorite time was the animated course review with Ian. He did such a nice job with them.
Harlan and Keegan think that Ian is *exactly* like some character from one of these superhero shows, I think Roy Harper from Arrow. When they found out later he works at MIT, Harlan said, he's even more like Roy Harper.
We had a potluck dinner with as many of the parents as could make it, and Isak set up an Easter-O, really a memory-O around the neighborhood.

Hanging then retrieving controls for the 3 CSUS boys at Boojum. They did really well; Keegan seems to have come back from some humbling times; Alex did fine until the end when he got pretty lost, and Harlan was solid except when he saw either of the other boys; we've talked a bit about the psychology of seeing other people. (I tell them, when you see someone else, slow down and look at your map. I think I need to do some sort of exercise related to that.)

I had them do relocation exercises while I hung controls: run around for a while and then figure out where they were. They then met me at the start and did the course, staggered starts, and I followed behind retrieving controls.

C • KH 2

Yesterday Isak took Walter to Pine Hill map in the morning (they had a late start due to state testing of sophomores). They did an advanced course, taking it slowly and talking through attackpoints, route choices, etc. In the afternoon, Isak added a sprint on the Harvard map to track practice, for the other 3 guys. Jeffrey did very well with it. Pilli struggled a little; at first going with Jeffrey and feeling slower - but then Isak worked with him in the second half to slow him down and have him think through each leg. Ethan picked it up OK.

Hung some flags and orienteered with Keegan and Nicolena at Hammond Pond. They struggled with the navigation; Keegan said it was humbling. I think that's a good experience to have at this stage.

The press release got picked up.

This morning Isak is taking Walter to do an orange course in the Fells; this afternoon he'll have the high school team do an urban sprint training during track practice. Tomorrow I will take Keegan somewhere, maybe Hammond Pond; should have hung streamers ystrday. Friday the CSUS kids will do another course, possibly at Boojum on a map with no trails, and Saturday we're heading to Nobscot for some contour work. Sunday is off for Easter. Monday and Tuesday the CSUS team will train, and then Thursday evening and Friday morning in Ohio. Psyched.

C • You are awesome 2

Yellow course at Hammond Pond with Alex and Harlan. It went pretty well. We mostly did it together, pausing at each control and talking about alternative routes.

I am seeking advanced orienteers to work with the Cambridge team on Friday and Saturday.
I am not fast enough to keep up with them, and they would benefit from running courses with immediate feedback and corrections. Isak and I have been doing our best to teach, but for this last practice before the Interscholastics it would be great to have more individualized attention.

Today was good. 10 minutes of running an easy course at Fresh Pond. Then about 45 minutes at Harlan's house learning map symbols, walking through route choices on a typical yellow course, learning about the guidelines for course design for their level of course, and then designing a course (each of them separately) on the map that will be used for competition.

Saw the track guys working out at Fresh Pond, and so I handed them O maps to work on. It was fun; they were not expecting me and marveled that I found them.

Dave and I placed electronic controls at Pine Hill using an "attackpoint" training course that I think Erin may have designed, or Ed or Alex, for a sprint camp. Then we went back to the woods; I was there with kids for 4 hours, first the high school, then the middle school team.

All the kids were there; we first did half of the course, then a distance/direction exercise (see below) and then the second half of the course.