Training Log Archive: Gswede

Event: 2018 Billygoat XL
 

Okay, so a write-up about the Billygoat. For me, it's difficult to write out a race report.

We started, I read the map, I ran, I finished. But I suppose I can add a bit more drama than that.

As soon as we started I could tell my legs didn't have any sort of spark in them to run fast. But I knew my base could carry me through to a win so long as I had a clean race.

I started off pretty far back, focusing on reading the first loop and seeing any potential skips there. Didn't see any I liked in the first loop. Once I saw that there was a "break" from 10 to partway past 12, I decided to examine the rest of the race there.

Going into 1, I had Jordan and Tomas right in front of me. I passed them at 2 as they swung too far left on the entrance. Held in front of them until 4 when I crossed over the trail and never saw it. Jordan wanted to keep climbing, but I stopped to read the map and realized we were on the right shelf.

Jordan passed me at 5 when I started reading rocks that were too high as the rocks in the reentrant. He held onto this lead until 9. I just couldn't push physically to catch him. But I stuck with my goal of a stable, clean race.

I lost sight of Jordan on the way to 10, but it took so long when I punched that I realized I had woken up the control. 10 didn't seem like a smart skip to me, so I assumed Jordan had made a mistake. Waking up the controls after that confirmed that assumption.

On the way to 13, which I had a crap route for, I decided to skip 20 because "it looked like the biggest pain in the ass" out of what was left on the course. Not very scientific, but it worked for me.

Leaving 17, my body reminded me that I had pushed my limits at a training camp only a few days prior. I shot back that there wasn't anything wrong with going to the well.

I continued navigating and enjoying the woods immensely until 22 when I heard some thrashing in the woods. Jordan came over the spur and punched 22 while I left towards the southern 23. He had better speed than me at this point and quickly caught and passed me. I picked up the pace but wasn't able to close the gap until 23 when I saw him leaving the control.

As I crossed the swamp and hooked onto the trail I saw him cut north too early and knew he'd have a lot of extra distance and climb to make up. I took a few seconds to make sure I had read the final bit correctly and went after it.

I was still thinking that Jordan somehow could have held onto his lead and was looking for him at the finish as I came down to the line. But he wasn't there and I knew I had won.

It was great to win this Billygoat. The Billygoat is an amazing American tradition and Blue Mountain is such an extraordinary map/terrain that this event was really something special. A big thank-you to HVO for organizing and to Joe for setting a really fun course.

Again, many people may not share this opinion with me, but it's certainly where I am at now: in general, Blue Mountain feels easy to me compared to a map like French Creek. It's so much easier to ignore features and only focus on what's visible than it is to try to see features that are hardly visible in thick woods. But Blue Mountain is certainly much more fun.

I made sure to do a loop around the Blue Mountain lodge to bring a younger Greg back into my memory. It's amazing how much things change over the years. That Greg certainly could have never envisioned himself ever being any good at this sport. Things can improve significantly for American orienteers. I hope to help my juniors down a road similar to the one I took. But my journey hasn't ended yet...

Billy Goat - Splits

Mmmm. Recovery days.

A rerun of the middle that Eric and Sandy set for me earlier this year. Except it looks like I accidentally printed off an earlier, longer version that had two controls more. I was wondering where the extra five minutes came from.

Much more difficult doing this course with leaves. It's surprising how much the forest changes for orienteering from winter to spring.

Wissahickon Wanderers Thursday Trail Series. Tired, but feeling pretty good all things considered.

Intervals on Sand Spring. These glasses really do help enormously.

Compass course. A few screw ups, and a few sections that I did really well. Good practice.

An attempt at the 2015 Billygoat, but the wooly adelgid has downed so many hemlocks that I was too exhausted climbing and jumping over trees to continue to the end. There were many areas that looked as though they had been logged but nothing was taken out. In one section that should have taken about 3-4 minutes tops, I took about 15 minutes. I recorded part of it with my GoPro. I'll post the video once I'm home.

Accommodations for US Orienteering Team training camps: https://photos.app.goo.gl/E3KKNBcmzWr85wiz5

Intervals in the Northwest section of Hickory Run, the State Game Lands. Old map, but a really great place for difficult orienteering. Dense vegetation and a relative lack of features got me VERY lost here. I had to bail to a trail because there was no relocating. It's good to have my limits challenged like this, but extremely frustrating at the same time.

On a positive note, I saw a porcupine while I was bailing to the trail.

And on Eric W's recommendation, I picked up some protective glasses. Other than wanting to keep my eyes safe, I'm running too slow here while trying to protect my face. Also, getting hit in the eyes constantly means that I'm looking less at the terrain and looking less at the map. Now I've just got to keep them from fogging up.

Maze course on Gould's Run. This went really well. The protective glasses were a great buy. I was able to maintain my flow the entire course. I didn't get tripped up even in the thickest part of the forest. It actually made orienteering here enjoyable. I haven't felt that way too often in Hickory Run.

I do have to say that I couldn't find the boulder on the hilltop. But with all the beech saplings in that area, you'd need x-ray glasses to see it.