Training Log Archive: bigE

Of the races over the entire weekend I believe this was the most technically challenging. Here is the route gadget for the long and the splits on winsplits. For the most part I believe I picked good route choices. Of the entire weekend my biggest mistake was control 21 of this course.

I had caught up to Michael Lucente a few controls earlier and I knew that I needed to focus through these final short and technical controls. We had just spiked the last leg and were booking it through the dense vegetation. We reached the end of the trees and I noted that we were exactly to the right of the small circle of open woods in the middle of the clearing. Unfortunately this was the extent of my thoughts and I ran off in the wrong direction, costing me a minute and allowing Wyatt to slip ahead of me. In the final five controls I made the same mistake to a lesser extent going to 18 and 23, not slowing down and precision orienteering into the control.

Other then this particular segment of the long I felt comfortable at the speeds I was running. Staying on top of my map, reading ahead, taking each control smoothly. This in stark contrast of last year when I ran blue at the US team trials. On the long of that competition I mispunched three times. I had not been training nearly as much and couldn't handle the long distances. I was so happy every time I arrived at a water control that I forgot to punch the control.

On control twelve of the middle distance I had reached the spur that the control was hiding on top of and had started climbing the 6 contours to the top. It is impossible to tell just from the picture below but this entire leg was crisscrossed by many other legs of other courses. As a result there were runners everywhere going in all directions, none traveling in the same direction as me. I had to fight the urge to start fishing around and keep myself pointed in the direction I believed was right. I was extremely nervous approaching this control. The hill stretched on for farther then I expected and I still could not see any sign of a depression at the top. I reassured myself that I had not trained all this time only to make a bad mistake here and hoped that I had to go just a little bit further along the top of this ridge. I finally caught sight of a depression and found the control. It wasn't till I had verified the number on my control description sheet that I finally relaxed and continued on my course. This single control was of enormous help for my run on Sunday because there were numerous similar controls where you needed the confidence to find a pit or depression somewhere along a large spur.

C • good job 4

C • compass 7

Blue Day 2 - Splits

Another good race. I am having trouble breaking into the top 5. The orienteering here is relatively simple conisisting of big spurs and re-entrants and streams and fields. For the first time I fealt as though I was orienteering faster then I was running. There were a few sections over flats and up hills where I wanted to run faster but was arleady running at my limit. I focused on being smooth and precise taking the controls.

C • top 5 4

A succesful relay with Jon and Emily. Crossed path almost 4 times with Andrew.

Blue Day 1 - Splits

Event: Ran-it Granite
 

No big mistakes. Started to tire towards last 4 controls but tried to keep up speed. No big mistakes.

Easy orienteering. Lots of trail running. Not very complex.

Testing my clips out. Amazing how much more power you get.

C • Sprint relay on Saturday 3

Went to sports doctor because I've been having problems with discomfort in my knees. Doctor said right away I had mild Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, the major cause being accessive training before quads can strengthen. Thus I am strengthening quads with targeted strength excercises, stretching and biking more.

C • I wouldn't worry much 2

Sub 24min home. Not sure exactly cause I stopped at a traffic light to unzip my jacket.

New loop down along the river. Still quite a bit of ice on the bike paths. Going to be another week or so.