Training Log Archive: iansmith

Breaking with my tradition, I went for an early morning run around Fresh Pond. Conditions were pleasant with a temperature of about 9 C - for which I was overdressed. I listened to The Name of the Wind.

Running offers a clarity and respite from the questions that overwhelm me, and even if the respite is fleeting, it is welcome.

Easy run after the Harriman camp. This is my first use of my heart rate monitor during my training session, and it looks like I was pushing harder than I expected - either I'm still weary from the camp or my fitness is inadequate for the pace. In any case, it was a pleasant day. It should also be noted that my pace was very erratic, as is obvious from the kilometer splits.

This morning's exercise was a middle distance race simulation that Boris designed. I started a minute after Sam and a minute before Andrew, so I pushed quite hard out of the start.

I had some small hesitation at 1, and I was very slow moving up the hill to 3, but the beginning of my course was solid. I started seeing Sam at control 4, running down the cliff line, and I ran into an ensemble of Lori, Presto, Sam, and Erin inching our way toward 5. At 7, Patrick Goeres caught up to me and blazed past leaving 8. I struggled at 9, and Andrew gradually powerwalked past me up the hill.

Leaving 10, I was alone, and based on the past controls, I unwisely sought to minimize climb. I considered going left (which was by far the best route), but settled on running by the stream to right, which looked like good running. It was slower than I expected, but it wasn't too costly until I attacked earlier than I should have, aiming for the saddle just north of the control. The green was inhibiting, and visibility was low. I popped out into the circle accurately, but I overshot the control and had to double back up the hill. I ran into Eric at 11.

My route to 12 was slightly left of the line, aiming for the white patch in the green (which apparently does not exist). I hit the boulder pair on my line, then attacked down without problems. Eric, who had gone right, was much faster. I then charged down the spur, passing Eric, to 13.

Control 14 was by far my biggest disaster; my plan was to run along the stream to the small hill on the edge of the marsh, clip the marsh and lead into the hill where the control was. However, the marsh was more dynamic than the map suggested, and I drifted far to the left, ending up on the row of cliffs about halfway between 13 and 15. I was convinced that I was near the circle, and so I searched for about two minutes before noting the huge rocky reentrant to the north and putting the pieces together. It was a meltdown-scale failure, costing about 4 minutes.

I also made a comparatively small (15-20 sec) 180 at 15, where I thought the finish was north of me. Orienting my map really confused me, as I had planned my exit relative to the contours, and I figured it out with great frustration. Boris, Marie, Alex, and Erin were all in my vicinity from 15 to the end, which may have mitigated any further errors.

Overall, I struggled with climb and making intelligent local and global route choices through the vegetation. I made an entirely unacceptable 8 minutes of error. I think the presence of other people was ultimately negative because it distracted me from concentrating on the basic orienteering skill set. I did glean some information from people around me, so it isn't obvious what the net effect was. Alex navigated well, and beat me.

The two-man relay was an excellent exercise combining short, almost interval quality courses with team pressure.

Course A of the two-man relay; I was paired with Nikolai Nachev. The courses were on the right side of the Surebridge map, where I met disaster during the 2009 Hudson Lowlander. I was eager to face my nemesis again, but I had a poor showing. I took off about 40 degrees to my right and gradually rectified, at a cost of perhaps 2-3 minutes. I was clean, if sluggish to 2, and then started moving well. I drifted too far to my right on the way to three, but I figured it out and corrected. I banged my left knee on a rock running to 5 and had to slow while the pain subsided. I was generally pleased with my routes to 6, 7, and 8, though I was particularly sluggish on the last two. Andis was running the same course, and he was helpful at 1 and 7. I led 2-6, but couldn't keep up en route to 7. I did beat him to 8 and outsprint him to the finish, but not by much.

Courses B and C on the relay, including hanging around at the finish waiting for Nikolai on course B. I had significant problems on both of these courses. C was the more troublesome; I started with a massive 3-minute parallel error on 1 to the right, then overshot 2 by a minute. I came over the top of 3, but was too far to the left and didn't see the streamer until I had descended some distance, costing another 90 seconds. I admonished myself and started concentrating harder; 4 through 8 were clean, but I drifted far to the right around the marsh going into the go control, and the cliffs and clearings didn't make sense as I was reading them. I also found the streamer much closer to the finish than I expected; my distance evaluation was quite bad.

On course B, apart from fatigue, I only had one significant error which was at control 3 (split 15 on the GPS track). It turned out that going over the hill, I had drifted to the right, but I had so much trouble lining up the map with what I saw. It also hurt that the streamer was on a cliff, not in a reentrant. I was very slow on the rest of the course. I also had bobbled control 1; I am so unsure of myself on that huge SE hillside of that area.

Course times:
Relay A: 18:42
Relay B: 23:37
Relay C: 26:35

Middle - Splits

Relay A - Splits

Relay B - Splits

Relay C - Splits

Event: CSU Spring Training Camp #2
 

Event: CSU Park-O: Fresh Pond
 

Biking to and from Fresh Pond.

A fun Park-O set by Audun at Fresh Pond. The park is more interesting than I usually give it credit, and while it's inescapably linear, good courses can be set there. This sprint was straightforward, though I started very poorly. I didn't really get into the O-zone (i.e. start orienteering well) until control 4. I was a bit sluggish, but I am nevertheless pleased with my performance. Brendan was a few seconds faster than I, and Ross was about 2 minutes ahead (more if he hadn't tried to knock down a fence with his thigh).

Turnout seemed to be good; I ran into the usual suspects, Keith, Dean, Isabel and Barb, and others.

Picking up the five beginner course controls that were not on the advanced course.

Advanced - Splits