Training Log Archive: maprunner

Another long day of eating, drinking and talking. This time it included all the aunts and uncles.

Very tiring work: talking to 20 cousins and spouses as well as lifting heavy pint glasses of beer :)

I'm heading off to the Bay Area tomorrow, but not for the BAOC meet. It's for a family reunion. Will see aunts, uncles and cousins I haven't seen in 25 years. Plus my parents and 5 of my sibs. Will be a weekend of non-stop eating, drinking and talking. Should be lots of fun, but not good training :)

Updated my logs from the Laramie training camp
Saturday
Sunday
Monday

Fast
More news when home with fast data more bits Also will scan maps plus draw lope upon maps

edit:
Day three, a course at Happy Jack (was it part of this year's Daze?) I had a 75 minute time limit, because we had an early flight out of Denver. So , I decided to skip the hilly legs in the beginning.

Moved fairly well, and was pleased with my route choice on the long leg to 7. Certainly not the fastest route, but it was safe and I made it cleanly. Yeah!

I was concerned about approaching 10, because it looked tricky. I hit the renetrants to the east, on purpose, but then got confused. Bailed out tothe open area, and found a likely little renetrant. But no tapes. I looked at my watch, and saw I was short on time. I knew I had not yet found the control, but I decided to move on.

Guess I was too distracted by the time pressure after this. I started towards the correct reentrant for 11, then convinced myself it was wrong, and went back to an incorrect reentrant. Once I figure out I was right the first time, I still climbed too high and had to drop down to get the control. Sigh.

For the most part, I was pleased with today's run, especially considering it was the last exercise of a long, hard weekend. route

Many thanks to Mikell for his kind hospitality, great terrain, cool maps and pre-hung streamers! It was a great weekend.

C • Nice 1

Fast
Day two was on Bisbee Hill, an old Chase course. I cut the course short, to avoid some of the bigger hills, and I told Mike I would be back in one hour.

Again, I was trying to be careful on the long leg from 10-11. My plan was to pretty much go straight on the line. But when I came down the hill to the stream bed, I did not recognize the strip of yellow, and was pulled off to the east, to an obvious gap in the green. As I was climbing the next hill, I knew things didn't make sense (where were the rocks?) but again, I was sure I was in the right place so I did not stop to consider where I really was (ie the big open area on top of the hill). It wasn't until I got down to the rocks to the east of 11, and saw they were running in the wrong direction, that I figured out where I was. Sigh.

Decided to go around the hill to the east on 13 to 14. Halfway through the leg, I convinced myself I was higher up on the hill (again, issues with processing the contour interval) and decided I could drop down from the "top" of the hill, into 14. Not. Obviously. As I can now see, but I didn't get it at the time. I knew I missed, I had seen the stream bed, and was just beginning to think about how steep it was around the control, and not where I was, when I glanced at my watch. I had been out one hour. Shoot!, I was supposed to be back at the car by now! So, I pulled out my phone and texted Mike that I was at the 14th control and would be running straight back. (Is the book called "Murder at the 14th Control"? Time to write "Texting from the 14th Control"?) As I ran back to the car, I figured out where I must have been, based on where I came out in the field near the road. Not a great outing. route

Slow
Remarkable Flats, walking some of the 2011 Goat course.
Today I tried several things on my slow, deliberate practice (map, no compass). Sometimes, I practiced anticipating what I would see next. Sometimes I looked at the map, and tried to determine what I would be able to see from where I was standing (which was pretty far away on this map). I also spent some time just standing still, trying to match up the rocks in the terrain with the rocks as mapped. Finally, for the last few controls, I would look at the circle, and describe 5 things within the circle, then try to see as many features as possible as I approached the control. Lots of good practice.

Relo
Too tired to write more
Edit:
Mike and I went to Idonwannabe for the second relocation training. This was the same type of exercise as yesterday. I actually figured out the first stop, yeah! But after that, I didn't do so good. Tired and brain deaad, no surprise.

Some more things I learned:
1. I should take a look around for something obvious to relocate with. If I'm in a vague area, where all the rocks look alike (for instance) then I should move on to a better relocation point. I tend to wander in small cirlces trying to make sense of what I'm seeing.
2. Still had problems with fixed view of waht I was seeing, although I was getting a little bit better.
3. I had a hard time orienting ny map at one stop. I would notice it was off, but apparently, I would just turn my wrist, instead of refolding the map. I think this is definitely a result of being too tired, because I don't think I make this mistake too often (although I guess I'll have to check myself and see).

After this, Mike and I discussed that it would probably be a better exercise for me to go to an unknown spot, stop, and then decide which direction to move until I saw something obvious (to me). The standing still and trying to relocate is not a good habit, in certain situations. I would save a lot of time if I move on to a better location. I'll have to try that the next time we're in unfamiliar terrain.

Overall, I'm glad I did this exercise, and I really appreciate Mike's help and feedback.

Followed by delicious dinner and fun conversation wiith Mike and Mikell at the only restaurant in Laramie that understood that people still eat out on Sunday evenings (ie, was open).

C • What? 11

C • restaurant 2