Training Log Archive: maprunner

Sandy and I did a contours only course at Clinton.
http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

Mike designed a change of direction course for me. We went to Riverfront, which has some pockets of nice woods (it also has tall grass and crappy undergrowth in other areas). The coolest thing is that it is really, really flat, with very few contours. Good training.

I also practiced stopping when things didn't make sense. I thought I would try taking a split, to remind myself to stop, breathe, take a drink of water and think before I wandered off. I sensed that had gone too far on 11, so I took a split, and did everything right. Then I moved along to 12. I always forget that this knoll is in a depression, and think it is up on a hill (it's hard to see the depression tag line here). So I took a split, and thought things through. When I got to the control location and wanted to take another split (to see how long I had wandered) I realized that I had stopped my watch instead. Duh! This plan may not work out so well....

After I finished, I had to run back pretty fast because I was going to be late to meet MIke. I foolishly tracked it on my watch, which is full from other trainings this week, and so my first track from 1-12 was overwritten in the memory. I hate when I do that!

So the map only has my track from 12 to finish.
http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

C • nice workout course 1

I have been taking it pretty slow and easy in the woods this week, so it was time for a relatively fast run today. I asked Mike to drop me off on campus, and I ran on some old Tour de KU maps all the way home. The second map is totally changed; the whole center is now a construction zone. After I left 3, I tried to get around a new parking garage, but that didn't work. I couldn't get any where near 4, and had to hit 5 from the wrong side of the fence. I walked a lot in this area and getting up the hill, but I ran the rest of the time. I was surprisingly tired at the end; I haven't run much lately.

Parts 1, 2 and 3:
http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...
http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...
http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

Mike and I went out to Rockhaven. He checked the map for his event, while I ran the course from last New Year's. My goal was to keep moving and never stop. I did stop about 3 times when something in the terrain surprised me, or once when I fell.

But looking at the quick route I see how much I slow down in the woods (duh, it's really thick and crappy) or going uphill. I swear I kept moving from 8 to 13, although it was hard!

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

Putting out mini-markers for a Thanksgiving do-your-own-course event. I seem to orienteer differently when I'm hanging tapes or markers. I go so much slower into the control location, I also walk around a lot more (when needed) to verify the spot. Sometimes this is justified and prudent. Other times, I wonder why I'm not just running into the spot? Still, this was good fine map reading practice today.

Contours training at Lexington Lake. This is a new area, and the map is a work in progress. It was fun to explore!

I picked contour features, and took it slow and careful. Did pretty good. Just didn't go high enough on 2. And 3 is just a generic "ruin" that hasn't been precisely field checked (in fact, there are 2 ruins in that area). 4 was hard, and I doubted myself many times along the way.

I was getting tired and thirsty, and my mind was wandering, so I cut the course short.

Woods are thick and thorny, no surprise there. I did scare up lots of deer. And I forgot that there are trails here (not on my map) so I was really startled to see a mountain biker !

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

I'm on vacation all week, so I hope to orienteer each day. But I want to do purposeful training, not just "go orienteering". Today's exercise was direction and distance on essentially a blank piece of paper. I laid the paper over a copy of the Overlook map, and picked some locations and drew a course. Then I went out with just the blank map, which was a mistake. First off, I forgot where the start was! And second, I thought I knew where the finish was, and used that "memory" to find the start. Third, there were no markers or tapes, so if I was wrong on one location, then I would start off the next leg from the wrong spot. I tried to remember some control locations, but I was usually wrong. Next time I will ask someone to hang markers for me.

Learned that I suck at distance estimation, but that I can occasionally follow my compass. Some weird routes are due to difficult vegetation. Totally wrong on 2-3-4-5, did OK on 6 and 7. I was totally messed up on 11. I was no longer getting anything useful out of this training, so I went to "17" instead and then the finish.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

Fun day working at Possum Trot XVIII at Blue and Gray. A few glitches with results (folks forgetting to clear, punching the start even though it was a mass start, etc). But it wasn’t too cold, the race was exciting and most folks had a good time.

Event: Possum Trot Weekend
 

Putting out and picking up markers at Heartland. We had a good event, lots of fun to see the regulars plus some new folks.

C • Heartland 2

Day 2, US Champs, Quantico

A miserable day. I was not sharp. I tried to read features along the way, and had mixed results with maintaining concentration. I got tired and made big mistakes.

On the 1st control, I got pulled aside when I saw Mike at a control, even though I thought to myself, that's weird that they had the same control for Green X and Green Y. Checked out another marker before I finally decided on a bailout plan (head to the stream) and found my marker along the way.

Very long leg to 3. My plan was to cross the stream, north to the trail, cross one hill and stream, find the road/ride and into the control. I did really well checking off features to the first stream and up the hill towards the trail. But I had no plan of what to do if I didn't see the trail. I didn't even have a picture in my head of what it would look like beyond the trail. It's as if my mind switched off at "trail". So, of course I didn't see the trail and I blindly kept heading north hoping I'd find it. I finally admitted I didn't know where I was when I hit a couple of stream junctions. Thought I could be in one of two places and when I climbed the hill and saw the power line, that was a surprise. But at least I knew where I was. Should be easy to run along the power line, then the road, then the ride, right into the marker. Right? Not. Had to attack off the road/ride a few times before I found the marker. Did I mention I was getting tired?

5 to 6 was a short leg and I thought I would be smart to avoid the dark green and just head a bit east of the line. But somehow I got all confused with my direction. I would line up my compass and map, and start off. But when I would glance down again, everything was off. I also had no sense of distance on this leg. And the "stream bed" and "ditches" all looked alike. But at least I admitted that I needed to relocate somewhere safe, so I headed up to the trail. Found a trail bend near a reentrant, and headed into the woods. But of course, it turned out to be another parallel error. Stopped, went back up and tried again to attack from the trail. Lost a huge amount of time here.

When I saw the long leg to 8, I panicked at first. But then I was determined to execute it cleanly, and avoid the errors I made on 3. So I chose the stream bed as the safest route choice, and that worked. I spiked this control!

But by now I was really tired and brain dead. For each of the next two controls, I checked out several other nearby markers, but at least I checked the codes and didn't MP.

Overall, I'm extremely frustrated and disappointed with my performance (or lack thereof) this weekend. No discipline to follow the plan, not enough fitness for two long days, and basic errors in map reading, distance judgement and rough compass. Nothing went right in the woods, despite all my efforts to prepare beforehand. Need to think through a better way to prepare and practice. And execute the plan!

Of course,the social aspect of the event was great. Also, loved the open woods and pretty leaves. Temps were a bit cold for standing around, but felt great in the woods. I enjoyed the course design on day 2. Overall, I'm glad we went to this event.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

Day 2 - Green Y - Splits

Event: QOC Quinquagenary @ Quantico National Meet
 

As I was getting ready, I noticed my Garmin battery was practically at zero. This was really upsetting since I had plugged it in overnight. I really like having my GPS track when I’m done.
Warmed up well, but I was wondering why I never saw Mike near the start. I tried to put him out of my mind and concentrate on the race.
I started my Garmin a minute before, and decided I’d track as much as I could.

The splits will tell the story: 34 minutes on leg 1 (750 meters). 68 minutes for the rest of the course (5.45 k). I’m thoroughly upset with myself for how I handled the first leg. I had plenty of plans and systems to react to mistakes. But I did none of them. A total fail.

Turns out I had made a parallel error. I’ll download my track later. My Garmin battery lasted just long enough to track this mistake. I turned it off for the rest of the course. (Edit: track uploaded below)

At this point, I had relocated to the trail near the start and was ready to attack 1 again. I ate some gorp, drank some water and decided what to do. Quit? Walk the rest of the course? Nope. I decided to give it my all and prove to myself that I could orienteer here tomorrow.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

C • Have a great run tomorrow 4

Day 1 - Green Y - Splits

Easy travel day to DCA. Then a longish drive through heavy traffic to the model event. Then a quick jaunt through the lovely woods. This is going to be a fun weekend!

Short control picking course on west campus. It was weird to orienteer in the middle of the day while the campus was open. I had to look out for cars and people!

Tried to keep moving the whole time. Big mistake at 8, obviously I wasn't looking at my compass at all. The constant changes in direction made this a bit of a challenge, not the usual easy campus orienteering.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

A long day at LeanAgileKC 2017 conference. Exciting, but long. I gave a presentation on my Kanban projects at work. I was the lone manufacturing rep among the speakers. Everyone else works in IT. I don't care, I think Kanban and Agile are totally cool.

C • Agile and Kanban 3

Mike and I went to Perry and I ran part of his course from last week. I need to practice running on areas with lots of trails. I tend to either zone out when I'm on a trail, or get lazy and only think about the trail and not the contours or other features. I was advised to skip 1, so I went to 12 first, then onwards.

So my goal today was to always know what I wanted to do with each trail: cross it, turn left or turn right. I give myself a B. I missed one time where I planned to turn left (crossed it instead on the way to 3) and also I expected to follow the straight line from 2 to 3, but I drifted south and crossed more trails than I expected. And on the way to 9, I thought I would cross a trail and keep going uphill, but I misread the contours (I was tired).

I liked the leg to 5. I have problems with long legs and crossing trails, so this was really good practice. Did not enjoy falling over the barbed-wire fence halfway there (Mike had even warned me that there were unmapped fences). As I approached 5, I realized that I should probably turn around in order make it back on time, and I had successfully navigated most of the leg, so I went to 6 instead. This was fun because I had never been in this area before. Scared up a flock of ducks and some pelicans.

The woods here are nicer than Kill Creek yesterday. It was nice to be out, but my legs were tired. I pushed hard at the end, knowing I would be a few minutes late. I pretended I was on my way to the finish at day 2 next weekend, and I should leave nothing in the tank. So I pushed.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

PTOC event at Kill Creek, Advanced short. I wanted to make this a good practice for next weekend, so I treated it like a real race. I warmed up, stood around at the start for a bit and then took off.

Map (below) is Mike's long course. I saved my Garmin track after the race, but somehow it disappeared. Maybe my memory is full? Any way, using Mike's map instead. My course went from 1 to 6, then was the same as his.

Decision time right away at the start. I did not go the same way as Mike, I took the southern route and stayed on the trail the whole way. I knew the grass near 1 was rough and that I would have to walk, whereas I could keep jogging (slowly) on the trail route I chose.

Down to the paved trail, then on to 6 (on Mike's map) I took the same routes as him through here. As I approached 8, I saw Eric (a tall man in a bright orange coat). He punched ahead of me but when I got to the field after the control, he was nowhere in sight. How was that possible? Made me doubt that I was in the right place, took it slow through the tall grass (I went on the straight line, different than Mike's route). Turns out that Eric was just out of view around the woods to the east, he was right behind me at 9.

I was doing a good job of ignoring Eric and reading the map. I was talking out loud a lot but I found it helped me concentrate better. I was also moving fairly well, jogging non-stop on the trails and walking purposefully through the woods.

I took very similar routes to 10, 11 and 12 (not much route choice here). I saw Blair leaving 12, and he was on the north side of the stream. As I punched at 12, I thought to myself, I'm getting tired and thirsty, I should drink. That distracted me and I didn't see it as a sign to be careful. I just blindly headed back across the stream. I should not have done that, I should have stayed on the side where I was. Doh!

I caught up with Blair on the way to 14 but I went straight and he missed it a bit. I was glad to have the practice of seeing, then trying to ignore, other people.

Pushed it hard on the run in, telling myself you never know how everyone else is doing. In the end, I beat Gene but lost to Sandy. I was pleased with this race, it was good practice (mentally) for next weekend.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=spi...

Blair and I went to Heartland to check out the courses for the Pre-Possum. Slow walking, checking points and talking over course design. Blair designed the course, and I was his mentor this time. The last few winters, we have been pairing up newbie course setters with experienced course setters. It's a good plan, working out well to help the club develop.

Nice night to move around on west campus. Cold to start, but was dressed just right for the end. Felt good to move my legs.