Training Log Archive: Spike

Possum Trot XX. Fun.

I was ready at the start and got moving quick. In fact, I was briefly in the lead. Maybe three steps. Then suddenly Simon flew past me. Small bit of trivia - I've been in the lead of every Possum Trot (but never won) for at least a little bit. In recent years that has always been about getting the first few steps out of the start triangle.

I looked at the map on my way to 1 and spotted the possibility to skip 2. I didn't, but I saw a few people heading off towards 3. Instead I just got in the group and flowed along towards 2. I followed Sandy a bit and she lead me right into some thorns.

I ran with Cristina a bit. We went back and forth a bit. I was behind her when she fell into the icy water on the way to 5.

I wore an Active Ankle on my right ankle. Around 5 it seemed like the shoe was a bit loose. I stopped and tightened the laces. That turned out to be a mistake. On the way to 6 the Active Ankle dug into my ankle bone. I stopped and tried to shift it around. That didn't work. At the 7th control I stopped and removed the Active Ankle and dumped it at the water stop at 8. The slower running and then stopping cost me about 1:50 to Cristina. I never caught back up, but I spotted her in the woods ahead of me a few times.

I saw Minto, Thomas G., Dean, and Callahan a few times over the next few K. But it didn't feel like a group - it seemed like we were all a bit spread out. I also saw Scott N. a bit later.

On the way to 14 I had a fall. My left foot got caught in something and I fell down. As I fell, I twisted my foot. It was kind of strange. Without putting my foot on the ground, I twisted it - almost like a turned ankle. A day later it was swollen and black-and-blue, but not the spot it would normally be for a turned ankle.

From 14 to the finish, I was running/moving slower. My foot hurt a bit. But it was also just being slow and not in good shape.

Controls 11 through 18 were in some fun terrain. Good visibility with plenty of contour details to spot. I orienteered reasonably well, but slow, except for a little confusion around 15. I didn't really lose any time at 15, but the area didn't look the way I expected it to look.

I was surprised to see Ian H. at 19. He ran off and I couldn't keep up with him.

I skipped 21. I think that was a good decision.

Going to the last control I took a chance. Bryan N. was ahead and running better than me. He took the route to the last control that I would have taken. I figured my only chance to beat him was to take a chance. I did. It didn't work. Before I took that chance, I looked back and didn't see anyone coming. In retrospect, I should have just taken the better route. Tired = bad decision.

Shifman has said this is his last Trot as course setter. I don't know if that means this was the last Trot or if someone else will step in.

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Full Possum - Splits

Event: The Possum Trot XX - Weekend
 

Putting out the controls for the Pre-Possum.

When I set courses, I usually put out tapes and test each leg several times. But Knob Noster is a long drive from home. And the day I'd planned to set tapes and test routes, I didn't make it because the roads were sketchy. I'd been to the park once a few weeks earlier and tested some ideas. The leaves were mostly out when I did that. What that meant is I set the course without the normal effort and hung the markers without tapes.

Fortunately, the control features were all pretty distinct and it wasn't too much work to get the markers hung. But it is definitely not a good practice.

You can see the courses on Brooke's log:

https://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_1679/...

My plan for the Pre-Possum was that the courses should be straightforward, but somewhat interesting. I wanted the times to be reasonable so people don't over do it the day before the main race. From looking at the results, I was glad to see reasonable times.

I tried to make the "long" course interesting by adding some direction changes, a bit of tempo change (e.g. the possibility to run trails to 8 and 9), and a few legs that could push you into a parallel error (3, 5, 7 and 10). Oh, and I wanted to keep people out of the less pleasant and more thorny areas.

I was amused that Simon made a big boom to 10 (about 4 minutes lost on a course he ran in 18 minutes).

Knob Noster is next to the Whiteman Air Force Base.* While I was putting out controls a B2 stealth bomber took off. They make a lot of noise. The sound is impressive, but I didn't catch a glimpse of the plane taking off. A couple of hours later a B2 flew right over the start/finish area. That was cool. They are amazing to look at (and depressing to think about them being used to drop bombs on people). Wikipedia has a lot of info about the B2s:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-2_Spirit

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*Mary's dad spent some time at Whiteman (maybe before it was named Whiteman AFB?). I don't know what he was doing there.

Very short run. I wanted to make sure my active ankle felt ok. It does. I will probably wear it Sunday.

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