Training Log Archive: JanetT

Night O at Rivermead Golf Club in QC across the river from Ottawa. Because there were mass starts for the three courses offered, they did some forking and mixing up of the controls so following was not advised (not that *I* could keep with anyone :-)).

I was given course 2-A1, 4.3 km. Greens and sand traps were mapped out of bounds and for the most part weren't along leg lines (except 5-6, where I contoured around the hill the green as on). I think I had other people heading into many of the controls which helped. The longest leg was one I called a non-spike because I didn't stay close to the line but got off to the left hitting a pond I needed to skirt, so I lost time there. Otherwise I navigated well and knew which way to turn after punching. It was fun despite my getting so sweaty that the cool evening temps were uncomfortable after finishing. I didn't manage to win a prize; 21st overall on course 2 behind 4-5 other women; 4th F55-64 (an Irish woman who finished about 20 sec ahead of me was F65+).

Order of controls for my forking was:
81-84-107-90-85-105-104-99-87-92-105-93-106-88-101-96

Event: Eastern Canadian Championships - Middle
 

800m, my eye. ;-) I gave myself plenty of time. A bit nerve-wracking following the narrow trail through head-high rough open fields which contained plenty of wild parsnip along with more benign vegetation.

ECOC Middle, course 5, 2.2km/15m, on the Pierrefonds map (1:7500, 2.5m contours)

This was better. No big errors, and just a couple of controls where I wasn't dead on.

About 4-4:30 minutes behind Joanne Woods; 5th overall in F55-64.

I started my Garmin, but forgot to stop it at the parking lot, so it tracked the entire ride back to the motel. 13:50 is where pace and cadence changed in the data so I figure that was about it where I stopped moving.

Fell once in the woods, hit right knee on upper outside (no biggie) and apparently have a minor strain in the right wrist...no noticeable swelling but some discomfort when I bend it.

ECOC Middle - Course 5 - Splits

Event: Eastern Canadian Championships - Long
 

Event: Canada 150 Orienteering Festival
 

Course 5 in ECOC Long at Notre-Dame-de-l'île-Perrot, west of Montreal. 3.6km, 15m climb on a 1:7500 map with 2.5m contours--it was a flattish area with a maze of trails and light-to-medium green woods for a large portion; some white woods on the south side of a large power line.

I ended up taking the wrong trail out of the start but it set me up for a good approach if I'd executed it correctly as the green along the power line wasn't too thick. But I wasn't yet counting paces (I did on the second try) and was too short...I returned to the trail to try again and count paces.

Things went better from 2-8 though I had a couple of approaches where I navigated off features not in my original planned route; but then I blew it going to 9 where I again had no idea of distance and was trying to navigate off features. A 12-minute leg that should have been 6-7...

6th overall behind Joanne Woods and mbo in places 1-2; almost 10 minutes behind Shelagh.

For my future reference...on the big wide trail in the power line (7-8 leg) I tripped over something and went down on the bare rock there. Not too bruised or battered; mostly just scrapes, but I did land on my left knee. I'll survive.

ECOC Long - Course 5 - Splits

Wanted to warm up a bit before this road 5k to be sure knees and feet would be ready for running roads. Forgot to start my watch and probably did an additional 3-4 minutes or so* before noticing and starting the watch. We weren't sure where the course was going to go until later (after warming up I found a copy of the course map). Warm, about 75 with only a slightbit of breeze meant I was dripping sweat already before the start.

*From the finish location at Oakbrook, I went N on Park, SE on Noble, N on Summit as far as Grace Street/5-way intersection, before turning around. It was then I noticed I hadn't started the watch.

Cheesy Chase 5k in Reading, PA by Pretzel City Sports, start/finish at Oakbrook Brewing Co. Registration includes a t-shirt and mac and cheese at the finish. Not great for the diet but should be a fun time.

Results will eventually be here.

Introductory Cheesy Chase run, start/finish at the Oakbrook Brewery in Reading. No water on the course, but I carried my waist water bottle and actually drank a little bit from it.

What can I say; I was happy to break 38 minutes (just barely). I figured I could probably break 40 if I didn't have to resort to walking, which I didn't.

After setting into a comfortably hard pace I kept the legs moving. Kept trading places with another woman who, while taking short walking breaks, still managed to finish about 30 seconds ahead of me.

From the posted results I don't know whether I'm 224th or 226th but there were 275 overall. Clydesdale division didn't list people's age groups (because you could get Clydesdale or age group, not both) so I don't know if any of the Clydesdale women were 60-69, but of the age-groupers listed, I was fifth. There was a lone F70+.

Besides the ubiquitous pretzels (this IS Pennsylvania, and the race was organized/timed by Pretzel City Sports), every runner received three tickets, each of which could be redeemed for a small bowl of macaroni and cheese of your choice (of three flavors offered). We each ate two there and brought one home. We also received a free growler for registering early, and paid to have them filled...I hope the beer is good. ;-)

Another somewhat-challenging class; there were three of us this week. Nothing like a handstand, though. ;-)

C • Can you DO a handstand??? I'm impressed! 2

Jacobsburg Envir. Educ. Ctr. and State Park in Nazareth, PA. I carried a trail map and magnifier/compass with me because there were many places to get turned around without it. Shortcutted across a rarely used (but not obviously closed) trail to get out of open trails and back into the woods. Nice introduction to the park.

Event: CNYO ROGAINE XXVII
 

Event: DVOA French Creek State Park Central
 

French Creek Central Wednesday Sprint Series sprint, last of the season. Nominally 2.5 km, 50m climb. Another sweat fest wth temps near 90 and high humidity at the start, though a slight breeze started up in the open areas. Map was last updated in 2012, so I was expecting inaccuracies especially since we'd used it a week and a half before at the Rogaine.

Didn't expect a mapped-as-open field to be rough open, though...on the way to #1, which I think was intended to be on a tree that's no longer there (there's one on the satellite view in the right spot but I'm not sure it exists now). As I waded through the shoulder-high-in-some-places grass I could see another orienteer in a blue shirt at a tree so I headed his way. He helped a bit on finding the right trail to #2 as well, then we parted ways to #3 but I turned the wrong way on hitting the ditch and he was there before me. I think I fell somewhere here and put a hole in my map, but fortunately it was through the lake and not part of the course.

Got ahead of blue shirt* for good on the downhill to 4. Stayed in the woods and was off to the left to 5 but I could see some larger boulders and the slope of the hill and corrected at the right time. Ate some really nice, ripe raspberries on the way to 6. ;-) The rest was pretty straightforward.

*After I was done he was at the refreshment table and laid his map and splits down; name is David Morgan.

Nominally 1.9 km. This was more of a white course so pretty easy and a good way to finish. Not much climb so I was able to jog more than on the first sprint I did.

Thanks to Nate and Steve Orwaschel for all their work on these sprints (and Sandy F on the rest)... great way to motivate me to run in the summer heat. These were US Team fundraisers and they figure about $250/week was raised.

Sprint 1 - Splits

Sprint 2 - Splits

With Glen and I the only class attendees today we did some more challenging poses, since the instructor has noted we do well with the stuff she usually throws at us.

Eagle, for one, and some Warrior variations. Warrior 3 with one foot on the wall was interesting...I'd almost rather do it balancing (better for ankle strengthening) but I guess this way gets you into the pose straighter.

Event: DVOA Fort Washington
 

Wednesday sprint series, course 2 first, 2.3km, 55m climb

We knew going in this was going to be a sweat fest with temps in the upper 80s and humid (dew point "feels like" temperature in the low 90s), and it was. Left hamstring achy and tight still from Sunday's Rogaine where I aggravated an old injury.

The control I had the most trouble on was number 5, as I cut into the semi-open area and confused the wider section with mapped path (heading NW toward 6) with the narrower clearing pointing more northerly that I should have been in. I should have just stayed along the parking area longer. I stumbled across #41 first (I was looking for 40), which is the code for the NEXT control, so I recovered from there, somewhat, though I again apparently didn't find the proper trail at first.

On the long leg to 10 I chose to head up to the road rather than take the trail that entered the woods near the pavilion. While execution was fine, it seems I added more climb as I have more total climb on this course than Glen had, where we had similar total climb on the other sprint. My reasoning was that 9-10 left looked like up 2 contours down 1, versus down 1 up 2, or so I thought. There's a squiggly form line I think I was seeing as a contour line but 9-10 right was apparently down 1 up 1 contour.

Nice courses by Greg Ahlswede, set by Sandy (who also updated the map with disc golf tees and holes, quite the job).

Now that I was used to the maze of trails wth the large barn in the center I did much better. :-)

Sprint 1 - Splits

Sprint 2 - Splits

Open access maps from New York public library

http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/new-york-public...

Putting this link here so (maybe) I can find it again.

Back to yoga...needed it today as well as a bit extra that I did on my own. Since instructor Deanna was back from vacation she called this one "returning to balance from travel" as we focused on breathing techniques.

I added a bit more detail to the Rogaine description with order of controls and some route choice notes, if anyone's up to more details (easier to follow if you have the maps). :-)

Event: DVOA Lucky 7 Rogaine
 

AOWN notes: Strange fungi and a number of garter snakes. Fortunately no rattlers or bears. :-)

Note 2: Our Rogaine team name has been Ramble On ever since the first one we did in the '90s. We sometimes hear the Led Zeppelin song of the same name (part of the inspiration...we both like the song, along with thinking it's an appropriate Rogaine name ;-)), and we did again this morning on the drive down to French Creek.

DVOA Lucky 7 Rogaine...using 7 orienteering maps of French Creek SP and surrounding parks. FWIW we only used 4 of the maps-- FC North, East, Central, and West. Some maps were 1:10000 and others were 1:15000, so it wasn't possible to tape them together to see the big picture which was frustrating to me. It was a warm (80+) and humid day, but some clouds/overcast kept it from being too oppressive.

I wasn't quite ready when the start whistle blew, but we caught up to a number of folks looking for 86 (first control we visited) and basically made up that time. It was a "clearing", overgrown with tall weeds, with the vetter's streamer but not the course setter's. CS said he couldn't find vetter's streamer when he hung the bag so gave us all credit for it.

Found the streams for which we needed a junction (3rd control we did, near the quarry) but had to turn left to hit the control. Later we missed 71 on the first attempt; went up the hill to look for 44 where we found a boulder with two streamers for this event, but no flag; then attempted 71 again from where the streamers were, and found it.

873 points, 14 controls visited. Turns out we were 1st "senior mixed" team once we got credit for the streamer finds.

More later when I can look at maps.

Many thanks to Steve Aronson, Sharon Siegler, Ed Scott, and the cooking staff headed by Janet Porter!!!

EDITED:
Rogaine partner for every Rogaine I've ever done (except one, where we each headed out with a son at a CNYO event) is GlenT, of course. He's the chief strategist, attempting to maximize points in minimal distance; and I make sure the routes/climbs aren't too insane as I don't have the climbing legs he does. ;-)

Order of controls: 86*-48-81-39(FC-N, 1:10)-83-85-64-56-53(FC-E, 1:15)-57(FC-C, 1:10)-(71 first attempt)-44*-71-54-52(FC-W, 1:15)-Finish

If we(I)'d been moving faster we might have tried for 61 and 63 on West also, but I was getting tired just climbing the hill to 64....

Fuel included eating a sandwich during planning, a Camelbak bladder of diluted Vitalyte (aka Gookinade), a bladder of water, a couple of GUs (I carried three and consumed two), and a snack bag with peanuts, raisins and a few pretzels. On the trail to 56 I had some of my snack, focusing on the peanuts and pretzels. This combo worked well, but I was ready for food, especially protein, when we finished.

We didn't encounter anyone as we headed in to 81 near the quarry as others reported, but maybe we were just lucky. We attacked 39 from the jct of the trail and the intermittent trail near the dot knoll, then headed SE to skirt the marsh heading to the water stop on Shed Rd. Attacked 83 from the water stop and counted off platforms but went a bit beyond before I turned around and saw the flag.

Stayed on the trail too long to 53 (my fault), then it was trail/road/trail to 57. We bashed and flailed our way through the green to the clearings SW of it, avoiding the campers there. Thought we attacked off the correct trail bend to 71 but apparently didn't go quite far enough (though both of us were pace counting), so we bailed to the trail to get 44 (the boulder with two streamers but no flag/punch). From there we reattached 71 and found it. Headed back up the hill to see if we could spot 44's flag but never did.

A bit sloppy to 54 (attacked too early) and 52 (missed the reentrant, and first--likely invisible--trail junction, but saw the Y jct ESE of control), and then called it a day.

Fell twice and caught myself from falling once, which I think strained more muscles than falling as I had a bit of tightness Sunday morning, but it was doing much better later in the day. No lasting injuries.

Event: DVOA Springton Manor
 

AP is bugging me to train...well, we're going orienteering this evening, so take that, AP. :-)

Summer Sprint 2 at Springton Manor Farm in Chester Co PA. 1:5000, 10' interval. Nominally 2.6 km, 35m (I counted 170 feet).

Not a lot of energy as it was still about 80 F and humid, but I did run on the downhills (first half of the course). Jogged a bit on the "run in" (40' climb) because I punched Go control just ahead of someone I wanted to finish ahead of, who was walking.

Springton Manor is on a gently sloping hillside. The fenced areas near the farm itself had sheep, goats, and at least one cow that I noticed on my second trudge up the hill (second sprint finish). Also interesting here were the multitude of rocky outcrops scattered around the fields where the animals were (maybe, "too big to remove for plowing, so let's put animals here to graze"?).

Summer sprints, #1 with 2km, 42m climb (I counted 140')

Route choice to 2 was suboptimal as I chose to head north to a break in the woods (trail mapped, but only a bit of usage here) taking one to rough open. I guess I forgot that rough open had rather tall weeds growing, so I had some wading to do, and ended up with my socks covered in seeds). Eventually made it to a mown trail and stuck with it to the control. Followed a herd path out of 2 to another trail through what was mapped as rough open with tight vertical green, so that wasn't as hard as the rough open I plowed through alone.

After 3 I was on a path in the woods and managed to fall not once but twice. I did a roll though and recovered fairly quickly. Felt silly, though, as I'd run past a father and son who asked if I was okay.

Thanks to Nate O and his dad, whose name escapes me today! These sprints provide good motivation to get out on a hot day.

Sprint 1 - Splits

Sprint 2 - Splits