Training Log Archive: Sandy

Home from France. :(

C • Welcome back 1

Oh so close to a fabulous race. This was absolutely awesome terrain and other than one really, really stupid error I was finally reading the terrain well and knowing what I was doing. We had another very early start and I had nowhere near enough sleep and I made a 6 minute error on a trivial control - you could see it from the trail. I had gone up the spur next to the reentrant the trail was in for some reason instead of just taking the trail - but I could see the trail so was thinking this was fine. But when I get to the knoll where I think the control should be, either I was one knoll over or just didn't see it from where I was standing, and when I bailed to the trail I decided I needed to be further along the trail (the wrong way). It was so silly since all I needed to do was go to the top of the reentrant that the trail was in and where the trail bent and the control was right there. Anyway, 6 minutes later I finally woke up and did just that. After that I nailed everything, reading the terrain well, taking good routes and moving reasonably well. The leg 2-3 was straight up the hillside - I think maybe 80 meters worth - and I had to scramble a couple of times to make it up but the control was right where I wanted it to be. Used the magnifier continuously for just about the whole course as there was a ton of detail and a lot of it was critical to read. The terrain and mapping was such that you could go from the map to the terrain but it was really hard to go from the terrain to the map. So checking off things as you moved along your route wasn't bad, but it was almost impossible to stop somewhere and look around and find the spot on the map based on what you were seeing.

My time put me in 12th for the day - without the stupid error I would have been 4th. Like I said - oh, so close!

Ended up 9th overall out of about 80 which is a lot higher than I expected, so generally pleased. But the winning times each day were significantly faster than anything I could have done even with completely clean runs; there was a big drop off between the top 2-3 women and the rest of the field.

All in all though, it was great to go orienteer in new and different terrain. The last day and the first half of the 4th day had fabulous woods. The other days had some pretty junky stuff but it forced you to really navigate carefully and I generally liked that. I wasn't real thrilled with the amount of deadfall that we had to go over, under or around - and it wasn't mapped particularly accurately so you couldn't avoid it - but there weren't prickers or thorny stuff so I didn't mind the green too much.

C • Congratulations 4

Relay spectating in the afternoon - another beautiful day on a sunny hillside in France! Eddie built a lean-to with some branches and a tarp which was a huge help by providing some shade - thanks, Eddie! But still managed to get a little sunburn on my legs.

Definitely my worst day. We had very early starts and I was really, really tired and it showed - a 20 minute mistake to a control maybe 50 meters off a trail. I just did not cope well when I missed the control which was tucked down in a depression in some green. Found several other controls in the vicinity and wandered around for a while instead of doing something remotely intelligent like go back to the trail and try again. Eventually, correctly determined where another two controls were and that mine was between them and finally found it on the second try bouncing between the controls. Not sure what was going on in my head but I didn't seem to really care - could not get myself to focus. Had no more trouble finding controls after that - maybe I finally woke up? - but then got stung five times by bees when I must have disturbed a ground nest or something. So not a very good day.

Ended up 37th for the day, a good ways back.

Had a nice brunch afterwards with Peter and Gail (and Eddie and Clem) before spectating the middle final. With such and early start it was a very long day and being out in the sun for most of the afternoon wore me out. Really tired when we finally got back to the hotel after another long, but delicious, French dinner.

A pretty disappointing race today. The first 8 controls were in beautiful woods - so much nicer than anything we've seen all week. The last 7 controls were in a ski resort village and then the fields where the arena is - bottom of ski slopes and the run-in chute, maybe 1.5 km of the 4.1 km course. I could have lived with the fact that I'm just ridiculously slow on straight running legs but I also had lots of errors in the woods. :(

Good to #1 - just went straight since the woods looked nice, enough of this running way around on trails. Pulled up short on #2, but then kept going and it was right on my line (maybe 30 seconds). Same thing with #3 - got a little low and pulled up one reentrant too soon but figured it out, saw a bit of yellow and then in to the control (maybe a minute here since I looked around a bit in the first reentrant before continuing and then had to climb to my control). To #4 I don't really know what happened but I was not reading the map correctly and started wandering around a bit. I lost my pace count by someone who tried to ask me where we were and then I misread features, was a little high, pulled up short but luckily was able to relocate without going too far but it was about a 5 minute error total. And the woods in here were gorgeous - just beautiful. But the map was very simplified and cliffs you might think would be on the map weren't so relocating was tough. Made another 30 second error to #5, drifting a little low but reading the terrain. A minute error to #6 when I got pulled right and I'm not sure why. Got really lucky to #7 - was trying to get to a trail but wasn't doing a good job following my compass. Kept pushing though but was starting to think I had gone far enough and where could I possibly be, but there's a control that looks like it's on a pit so maybe it's mine and it was. I don't think I lost time but could have easily lost a bunch. At this point I had no confidence left and so lost another 30 seconds to #8 when I checked out a control that I knew wasn't mine. So a total of 8 and a half minutes of errors in terrain that I could have really rocked if I had done a better job of concentrating and being careful. And then I'm sure I lost time to my competition in the last legs where I walked a good bit of the time.

I have no idea how I placed today though since we left before I had a chance to check and nothing has been posted yet this evening.

I was 9th again for the day but much further percentage wise behind the winning time; guess everyone else had more trouble in the beginning section than I did!

A pretty decent run today with no navigational mistakes - always knew where I was and was actually reading features. There was a lot of deadfall between controls 1-2-3 and I might have been able to take several minutes off my time by finding better routes around the junk. Unfortunately, I don't think it was mapped particularly accurately, so there was no way to know what route was going to work best. I have decided that the green chunky rocky stuff is actually not so bad because at least I can keep moving through it while the deadfall is really hard to get through.

I'm not sure if today's course was easier or not - it definitely had very little climb so not as physically demanding as the previous two days - but it sure felt easier and I actually managed to run a bit (although always on trails).

Was 9th for the day and am now in 8th overall for the first three stages. Only your best five days count though so there's probably a few people who will jump ahead of me on the final day when they drop one.

Spent the afternoon spectating the long final - those were two tough long courses!

C • Way to go! 1

A long but very fun day spectating the sprints. Wandered around and found a control in a church courtyard to sit by for the men's sprint and saw everyone come in and punch. Pretty neat to be sitting just a few feet from where they were running.

Day 2 of the spectator races. Another decent race with no major errors just a lot of slogging through physically tough terrain. Ended up in 11th place for the day about 20 minutes back of the winner. I think there are about 70 or 75 in D55, with lots of people not finishing. I'm in 14th overall now for the two days.

Took a very safe round about route to #1 basically staying on trails the whole time. Got off my line to #2 but after fighting through some slash and steep stuff got on the trail I wanted and found the control. Pushed my way out to a big trail then off the trail at a corner, then worked my way across a nasty hill full of moss covered square chunky rocks (limestone/karst stuff) with huge holes everywhere - maybe not the best route but definitely knew where I was - then down a reentrant that had a huge elephant track then over to my control through more rocks and downed trees. Felt pretty good about this leg although it was probably pretty slow. The rest of the course was similar - find my way to various small or large trails, find my attack point and then somehow fight my way through slash and rocks and steep slopes. I wouldn't do much different except perhaps one leg where I decided not to go around but to go up and over to a trail junction. The up and over part was fine - not super fast but not too bad - but the back down part was scary. I sat down for most of it and lowered myself with my arms and by holding on to the small trees and dropping a foot or two at a time.

On one long leg near the end I started to go around but then remembered team members talking about taking a trail to a control in the same area so I looked a little harder and saw a small trail with some indistinct bits that went pretty much to the control. I figured the elites had turned it into an elephant track and it would be easy to follow. And it was. It also didn't hurt that it was on one of the beginner courses so it was streamered!

One funny bit today was at the end of that trail where it hit a line of cliffs. My control was just down the ridge in a reentrant. As I started to wonder about how I would be able to get down this ridge, I realized the trail went down so, duh, I could take the trail and then cut over. Down near the bottom there was a control on this trail and it was clear it was on a bit of yellow where the trail bent. But there was a group of older folks standing there very confused and not sure where they were. I headed off into the woods knowing exactly where I was and hoping no one would follow me. Unfortunately, a kid came into the control and punched just then and they all looked at her map and then they knew where they were and came bashing through the woods past me and into the control. Ah well.

The penultimate control was also a bit funny. I took a somewhat around route - I was starting to fade and it looked easier even though it involved a good bit of climb. As I was going and wondering whether to go higher or what, I noticed a cable on the ground. I looked at if for a few seconds and then I remembered the announcer from yesterday talking about competitors punching at the "pre-warning" control and suddenly I realized it was the cable for the computer to tell them who was punching. So I just followed the cable right into the control. That was fun.

It's hard to describe this terrain well. Yes, there are a lot of little trails everywhere but that doesn't make it easy. But one, they're tough to spot on the map, and two they're tough to get to in the woods soemtimes. Also, there are enough elephant tracks everywhere that it's easy to not be on the trail you think you are so you have to pay close attention to other things. But the woods are just really, really difficult to move through - very steep and very uneven ground. And today had lots of slash. So while it's not what I would normally think of as fun terrain - it's challenging in a different way and so fun for that reason. It's definitely not easy that's for sure!

Got lucky with the weather - it was pouring when we arrived at the arena but it stopped before I started and didn't start again until after I finished.

Went to the WOC opening ceremonies this evening. Boy were they lame. Had a very nice dinner afterwards - especially because I ended up with Clem's dish instead of mine. We both ordered mussels but with different seasonings. I commented how delicious mine was several times and I guess Clem didn't have the heart to tell me I was eating his. Thanks, Clem!

If you want to see what today's terrain was like check out this video:

http://3drerun.worldofo.com/?saved=1&id=-28744;0&v...

Other maps and video linked from the Team USA blog:
http://usa-orienteering.blogspot.com/