Training Log Archive: PG

On the bike trails in Charlemont again, this time on the north side of the valley up above Zoar Outdoors. A long slow climb up to the TV tower, trail is a little rough (certainly wouldn't want to try to bike it), it was a bit warm, and my legs were tired, so a few stops on the way up.

Back down the same way for the first part, and then on the gravel road that they use to haul folks up to their zipline operation. And that seemed to be a popular activity. I stopped at the start of it to listen to a bit of the pre-jump instructions, and then headed down, passing a few stations along the way and hearing voices up in the trees.

I think it is fair to say that I was happy not to be doing what they were doing, and I'd guess they were happy not to be doing what I was doing.

C • Combine the two 2

I would be remiss if I did not follow up on something from a month ago in this very log, the events of which were --

1. A very fine sighting of a bald eagle crossing the Sunderland bridge (I was crossing going west to east, it was crossing going north to south).

2. My assumption that this was a good omen, thinking primarily about my upcoming O' trip.

3. Unexpected verification of such just two days later with an eagle of a different sort on the golf course.

4. Amateur yet brilliant philosopher Charlie correctly putting things in a proper Homeric context.

5. Professional yet bogus philosopher Phil saying it was all just due to the laws of probability.

And so now we have to add --

6. Winning a day at O'Ringen, something I had been unsuccessful at since my first attempt in 1978.

Laws of probability again? :-)

[References: 1 and 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6.]

C • laws of probability 2

Wednesday evening track group, mostly young(er) women this time. Warm-up.

Distance, time, rest --
400, 1:39, 0:47
400, 1:38, 1:16
600, 2:31, 1:49
1000, 4:19, 3:07
1000, 4:22, 1:35
600, 2:32, 1:45
400, 1:39, 1:18
400, 1:39

Probably a little too fast, as I was suffering more than I wished.

A little out into the corn fields, chatting with Alexis.

Seems the corn is growing and we should have a maze…. :-)

Registration details will be out shortly. Saturday afternoon/evening August 23. Classic and a sprint in the mid/late-afternoon, break for dinner and adult beverages at Bub's BBQ, then the night score-O as soon as it is dark.

C • I'm headed for Laramie Thur... 3

Cooler today. Bummer, how am I supposed to get sufficiently stressed in preparation for the thin air of the Rockies if the weather doesn't cooperate?

I guess the answer is, just run harder.

A nice outing on Pocumtuck ridge, up to the launch spot (25:50) and back (21:52). Good pace, no falls, only one FDF (have I missed the season completely?).

C • That's always the answer. 3

In Litchfield, figured the best thing was to get out before breakfast since I am still waking up early. So did that, all done, a nice tour of town and stopping by the house I grew up in.

Not hot but very humid, got to get back used to that. Certainly better going out early, just have to keep making sure I do that.

And things in Litchfield are mostly the same. Mom continues to fade, but is still hanging in there. The main downside of this trip is that my sister was there, and she is pretty hard to take. But I don't have much choice until this episode of my life is over.

Back home, a little slow (both the plane and the traffic home from JFK) but no crises. A little rain as we left the airport, first time we'd seen cloud cover more than 10% since Italy -- weather in Sweden was perfect the whole week, upper 70s, low humidity, sun.

If I had one conclusion to draw from the trip it would be that orienteering is a lot more fun when you can read the map. And read it without struggling, without stopping, without resorting to some sort of magnifier.

The maps in Sweden were a joy. Just a blown-up 1:10,000, but everything was bigger than is the usual these days -- the contours lines, the rock features, the little trails, even the control circles. So much better than what has become the norm. I am assuming, because this was just for the old folks (60+) and the kids, that IOF rules can be sidestepped. It sure would be nice if it were done more often. Actually, I think it is now the norm in Sweden for those age groups.

Night and day difference between the Swedish maps and the ones I had in Italy.

And I don't think it's just the old and the young that would like this. I'd bet a lot of the 20s and 30s group (and 40s and 50s) might like having a map they could read.

But will anything be done? Not holding my breath….

C • Cloud cover 4

C • Maps 5

Back to reality. Got to start training again.

Short loop around town. Gloomy, humid, raining pretty hard by the time I was done. Though it should be good for growing corn.

Mar from yesterday (day 5) --



Looks very easy. No reason to have any problems, but I think it was a little less so. Often there were young beech and other stuff, a bit more than the green showed on the map, that obscured things, and the features (boulders especially) very small. So #2 could be easily missed, ditto 3 (lots more vegetation than shown). There just seemed to be a lot of good orienteers running not particularly good times.

My only problem was #3, going right at it, stopped about 10-20 meters short, hadn't seen it, back to the east just enough to see the rock, then back just past where I'd been.

And the good thing about the run -- managed to run up the hill from 8 to the last control at a pretty good pace. Don't know where the energy came from as it had certainly been missing until then.

--------------

Article from the paper after stage 4, about Thierry, quote from Jonas Leandersson, who ran with him towards the end -- I could see how he held the same speed no matter if it was stony, thick vegetation, or difficult orienteering. The whole time her ran fast and accurately. That gave me a lot to think about.

And Thierry on hearing that, smiled and said -- This is the result of 20 years of hard training.

Also something to think about.

Interesting, took a look at the splits. Seems the guy who went off first botched the first two, and then the guy who passed me at 2 caught him by 4, and they were together the rest of the way. And roughly just a minute ahead of me. If my eyes were better I might have seen them.

Of course my legs wouldn't have been able to keep up.

I'll post the map when I get some decent internet service.

Good run, third overall, probably second on day. No complaints.

Guy who started just behind me, and eventually won, passed me at 2, different routes, he had 50 meters on me. Never saw him or anyone else again.

Totally delighted. :-)

C • Podium at ORingen 5

Not today. Tried hard, but missed at 4 controls. Not my favorite terrain, point features in bland and often very stony terrain, but should have done better. 6th on the day, but the times were tightly grouped, a minute slower would have dropped a bunch of places.

But very successful socially. Talked to the guy who should have won day three, he said he hada really good run until a massive brain fart going to the last control. Actually happened to lots of people. Should have been simple. You never know. Anyway, very nice guy, we had a long talk about O' and other things at age 70.

Will go out second tomorrow, 4 minutes back, with third guy right behind me.

C • Good Luck tomorrow! 10

Today's map --



Missed #1 just a touch, past it 20 meters and looked back. Missed #2 a bit more, not good at dealing with such stuff (lots of fly shit, who knows what is mapped, no contours to help). Missed #3, just bad orienteering, fine to the group of big boulders and then took a while. Not a good start, maybe a minute to a minute and a half gone. Plus really stony, not fun.

Main trail partway to 4, then just angling towards it, no trouble finding it but the forest was much less pleasant than advertised. I think staying on the main trail longer (through the bends) would have been quicker.

#5 ok. #6 not good at all, by the black X on the line as intended but then too far up and left, control in a V, and then corrected badly.

Reasonably pissed by now, so ran the last bit hard and well.

Funny thing, felt like a terrible run. I guess others had trouble too. Or, maybe more the case, I'm not the only one getting old, and most are just moving slower, so what feels like slow and ugly to me is maybe just the norm.

So we will see tomorrow. I had a good attitude today, definitely into it, nervous before the start, just didn't bring the right tactics for the situation.

Hopefully better tomorrow. Or at least no worse.

Went to the awards ceremony, of course. :-)

A massive but not total fail. :-)

Fail #1 -- no garland. Neither my support crew nor I seemed to think it was needed. And no Stud team around to do the job.

Fail #2 -- unbelievable, they were right there in the tent where we line up before going up on the stage, Thierry and Tove that is, and I failed to chat them up. And I thought I was good at that. Lost my nerve. Though there may be a photo when our internet service is restored.

And fail #3, though temporary, no pictures yet. Maybe later.

Nevertheless, it was still pretty cool. :-)

C • Tove 1

A day off today from O'. Just what was needed. Even skipping the O'Ringen golf tournament, why ruin my good mood?

And here's hoping for more good results from our juniors today, though I expect it will be tough going in the Long. Great to see progress there.

So for the awards, they do it in groups, all very organized. A tent next to the stage, you show up about 15 minutes early, get checked off, get a number showing what number in line you are (for the record, I was 24th in the 3rd and last group), Thierry was the last, about #40 in the 3rd group). Then you hang out for a while and have a glass of champagne if you wish (I did).

It happened that the winner in M65 was a French guy (Etienne Boussier) I've known for years (and more often than not lost to), he speaks no English, so I did a quick reload on my French skills and chatted with him reasonably competently for a few minutes. Very nice chat.

Until Thierry walked in, at which point he and Etienne got going in French I couldn't hope to keep up with. And Tove arrived, and now it was English between her and Thierry, very good on both sides. And we were getting lined up, and then I remembered I had a camera, so even though the light was bad --



And, hoping this is not impolite to say, she looks better in person than in a picture, quite gorgeous.

And, hard to believe, I kept my mouth shut.

--------------

And then it was time for business, called up in subgroups of 6 or 8, each announced (class, name, and club, sometimes a comment or two). For me the announced gets to my last name, stops, looks at it again, looks at me, asks if I'm Russian. No, I say USA, quite strongly, and that is how it is announced.

M75 was the last of our group (F75 was missing), and then they pass out the prizes, a towel, hey, it's the thought that counts, and then the trumpeter played a short fanfare, more applause, and then off we go.

All both nice and efficient. And certainly OK by me. And I must say, standing there listening to the trumpet, there was very much the feeling that it was something special. That I should, as they say, enjoy the moment.

And I absolutely did.

C • Award 3

Wow, unreal. Won a day at the O'Ringen.

A bit of perspective -- it was 30 years ago this month, I was standing at the finish chute at the 1984 O'Ringen one day, don't remember which, waiting for my dad to finish. He had one of the last starts, always a good thing, and I knew what the best time was at that point.

When he appeared in the chute his time looked good, and I yelled some encouragement. His response was to start a conversation about his run, which I ended immediately by shouting, and I remember the exact words, "Shut up and run." :-)

He won by 6 seconds. Age 70 (in O' years, his birthday was not until December). 69 people in M70 that year, the other 68 were all Swedes, and that day the Swedes placed #'s 2-69.

And as pleased and as proud as I was, there was also buried away a bit and never said, damn, it should have been me.

So it's taken 30 years to catch up, now the same age, same class, and only 3 seconds to spare.

How sweet it is.

And it reminds me of another goal I had for many years, and eventually figured it would never happen, and then unexpectedly on an April day in Boston, when I crossed the finish line, the first number on the big clock was still a 2. And how sweet that was.

Orienteering has given me much joy in life. It can also be very humbling. Tomorrow my O' may suck. But I will always be able to enjoy today.

C • Nicely done, congratulation... 19

Maybe today?



And the splits are here.

Amazing. It seems I was in the lead for only about the last 40 meters. But the only time it matters is at the line.

A very good run, though not without its flaws, first at #2, a little off on my line and to the right, but just 10-15 seconds, and the other at #12, just a little left, stopped at another control that appeared in the terrain to be on a very small knoll, first thought the one contour feature in the area on the map was a depression, not a knoll, so took me longer than it should have to correct. 12 was one of those controls that always scare me, nothing to go on.

Overall, held a pretty good tempo all the way, still trying to make routes as safe as possible but pushing the pace a little more. Starting relatively later (third quarter), the best time when I left was 26:03, so I had a target, but very little confidence that it was within reach. Really just trying to have a decent run, something under 30 at least.

But the first half went well, and even with the mistake at 12, when I checked my time at 13 and 14 I knew I would have a good run, but I thought someplace around 26:30 or 27.

Got to 15, 24:30 roughly, still two more controls plus the chute, seemed not enough time, but I did 16 the way you do when it matters -- no idea what the clue was, no sense of how the control sat, just it was the same direction as I'd been going on the way in to 15, so just get moving and keep your eyes open. And then it was right in front of me.

On the way to the last control, fairly deep sand now, one last look at the clues -- how long was the chute? 140 meters, damn, a little too much. But as it turned out, I'm sure it was only 100 or so, because partway down it I could see from the big clock that I'd be under 26.

And very glad even then that I kept pushing hard as I could, and for once nailed the finish box on the first try. Because you never know.

And then a couple of hours to wait….

C • I hope so! 31

And then off to the training area that most resembles days 3 and 5, coastal dunes.



And this is #43, photo taken as we were approaching from the SSW. Very fine.

Another good run. :-)

Map was long and narrow, so here is the first part --



And the second --



#1 ok, #2 turned up not quite soon enough so took it a little from behind, not much lost, #3 and #4 ok but a little slow. Round-about routes to 5, 6, and 7 -- 7 I was sure about, other two were last-minute decisions (evaluation of vegetation, presence or not of good beaten tracks), #8 not sure, through the green to pick up the trail, a little slow in the green and fast on the trail. From 8 to 9 was like Venice, too many tourists. :-)

Maybe could have been a minute or two faster with better physical effort, but also might have missed more. You never know. Playing it safe has both its advantages and its disadvantages.

C • Damn Sören 7

Event: O-Ringen 2014
 

I remember going to a Swiss 5-day probably someday around 1990. I'm guessing about that year because it was when there was the first O-net, or whatever it was called, a discussion board on-line for orienteering.

And after the Swiss event I posted something on this forum saying how much I had enjoyed the fact that people over a certain age (I think over 40) got maps at 1:10,000, while all the younger ones got 15K. The 10K maps weren't made any differently, just printed larger. And boy were they a lot easier to read.

A day or two later there was a response, a thank-you for the thank-you, it seemed the extra cost had been financed by a Swiss guy and he was delighted to hear that it had been appreciated.

So 10K was great, just a blown-up 15K.

And then the mappers with young eyes went to work, and before too long you had lots of 10K maps, but all with the same symbol size (or close to it) of the 15K maps. And a lot more small detail stuffed in. And worse than ever to read.

And of course that's been done to sprint maps, the detail on the map is so tiny, they've gotten worse and worse to read.

So today was like a step into the past, and by that I mean a good step. Everyone over 60 got a 1:7,500 map, everything blown up from the 10K map used for everyone else, even the control circles were larger. And it was wonderful. You could read it even when moving. When standing you could read it easily. It's the way an O' map ought to be. How did we get away from it?

It would be nice if this would happen more often.

C • 1:7500 1

You never know who you will run into if you start talking to someone at an O' meet. Today it was a guy in M45, had a decent time on his course, we were chatting, I said we'd just been in Italy, turns out he was doing TV coverage for Swedish television there, except he wasn't there, he was in a studio in Stockholm, doing the announcing off the video feed, the only extra help being better access to the GPS data. Though that wasn't great, often seemed it was the Swede whose signal had been dropped.

Nice guy, his parents there too, also very friendly. If I was more involved in O' matters it would be another name for the Rolex file, or whatever that is called these days.

C • Rickard... 2

O'Ringen day 1. Out relatively early, more thick woods than I expected, but good run, just slow where it was thicker. I expect the forest will get faster.

Took one good round-about route I don't think the average Swede would look at. :-)



Turned out my time was fine. In first when I finished, stayed there for a couple hours more, then a guy came in with 39, and that was that, ended up 2nd out of about 150. Several just behind me. There is an advantage to finding the controls without any circling.

C • Great run 15

Out to one of the training maps for O'Ringen, done with Gail at a walk. Rather nice forest, quite a few rocks in places. The O' was easy if you are going slowly enough.



Otherwise a mellow day.

C • Squigglies 3

C • No, no, no... 1

To Copenhagen and into Sweden. Uneventful, the way you like it. A plump looking pheasant wandered by as we were having lunch.

And, quite the surprise, who else should be in Bellagio but Jeff and Judy and Samantha. We hooked up for a post-breakfast very mellow stroll around the grounds of Villa Melzi. Beautiful morning, already getting warm.

And then off towards Milan, the first part a narrow windy road often high above Lake Como. We have a small car; at times like that I would prefer a very small car. But managed to avoid hitting anything, or being hit.

Now in Sesto Calende, quite nice spot on the south tip of Lago Maggiore, very glad the day's exercise was taken care of early in the day.

Short run before breakfast. Seriously up, but then down… :-)

I planned to go the way I went, up the road out of town. Lots of flowers, pretty houses, a little village with very narrow streets and alleys, and then a round-about with one road going straight up, the other off to the left. Already breathing hard and feeling hot.

Looked at my watch. All of 8 minutes gone. :-(

Figured if I did another 8 straight up, and then back, that would be close to 30 minutes, and enough. So I did. But the minutes went by rather slowly. Grade was about 10%, not bad, but still a struggle.

Turned around right at the end of the second 8. I'm guessing, if I'd had in mind to go up for 30, I would have done it. The mind just needs to decide. And this morning it decided that enough was enough. And headed back down for breakfast.

Shift in scenery, now overlooking Lake Como after a bit of a drive and a fine ferry ride from Varenna to Bellagio. A lot warmer. A run will be more challenging.

C • Bellagio 5

Tourist jog around Bellagio, town at the end of the peninsula sticking up into the middle of Lake Como. Thicker air, but that was overcompensated for by being very warm. But had a nice look around anyway, even though they really believe in high walls and gates to shield things from prying eyes. Had to consult Google maps satellite view to see what I missed.

Followed the run by a walk down to the water. I'm not much of a swimmer, but the idea of a swim was very appealing, until I got close enough to the water to see that it wasn't crystal clear. So scotched that idea.

Energy levels not too high. The heat always does me in. But no muscle soreness from the last couple of days, so that is good.

With Gail in the vicinity of Grosté pass. Two falls. Got too scared at one point and turned back. :-)

Nice and sunny today, so up the lift going east from town, takes you up to about 2,400 meters. Wandered around a bit taking in the views in all directions. We'd seen a bunch of people head up the trail to the north without any special equipment, even though a section of the trail was marked as a "via ferrata", meaning unsuitable for me as I freak out when the steepness of a slope passes a certain point (and that point is a long ways short of vertical).

But we thought about it some, and none of these folks had come back, so we figured we'd go as far as we were comfortable.

We were really comfortable for the first few hundred meters. Then it got steeper, but still OK. Then we turned a corner and I got pretty uncomfortable -- not that the trail was on a really narrow ledge, but if you did something really stupid, or as is more possible in my case, lost control of all muscular function, sort of what I assume a panic attack is like, then you might have a problem. And not too many more yards and then the next corner, and I was going no farther.

And I thought via ferrata meant you had a nice cable to hold onto. Not here.

And Gail was getting a little nervous, though not near so bad as me.

So us two chickens beat a slow and careful retreat. Though not without laughing at our foibles. And also having enjoyed the little excursion immensely.

Map, we were on trail #390. And went such a short distance!



A few photos. First, the overall view. The trail started just out of view to the left, traversed along nicely under the long grassy cliff, then turned up steeply when it reached the scree slope. Up into the chute where the higher scree slope is coming out of. Out of sight for a bit, then a right turn onto a ledge maybe halfway up the big cliff, out to the corner and then bent around to the left just above the really long and serious looking cliff.



It started so very nicely --



And Gail was quite game, even when it got steep --



Just about the top of the chute, the trail turns to the right --



And all of a sudden there is cliff above and cliff below --



Though I'm still reasonably comfortable as long as I'm holding on --



And then I venture around one more corner, and there's no way I was going to take another step…. :-)

C • fall 2

C • glad 7

Made it up to Mount Spinale this time, though a different route and starting a little higher, at the golf course. No falls. Lots of heavy breathing.

From Campo Carlo Magna, up via Gli Orti Della Regina (whatever that means) , past Malghe di Boch and Malga Pezzoi (cow centers), down more directly past Rifugio Malga Montagnoli (lots of cows there.

Took the gondola up from town to 5 Laghi, then walked over to Lago Ritort and then up to Passo Ritort. And back. Very pleasant, weather was mostly cloudy but got no worse, so better than expected. And back to the top of the lift just in time before they shut down for lunch.



The lake --



The trail up to the pass --



And coming back down --

C • Sigh ... 2

Mid-afternoon, a bit of rain had passed, and time for a more vigorous outing. Other side of the valley this time, east of town, heading towards Monte Spinale (2104 meters, town is 1520), not sure how far I'd get, also not sure how much, if any, was runnable.

Well, I ran the first 200 meters, roughly. Then got real steep, no way to run, but as the climb went on I ran here and then when it was more gradual, maybe totaled about 20% of the time. Got up in the open at about 1900 meters, and it was looking a bit ominous, and then it started to rain.

And so I thought, why be stupid, and I turned around and headed back down. Made it as far as Malga Fevri, the spot marked by a couple of bends in the road (jeep trail, really), a couple of buildings, and a lot of cows. Though no bulls as far as I could tell.

Good training for the quads and the lungs, lots of heavy breathing. And beautiful scenery too.

Map, started just below the tourist office (yellow "i"), cross the stream at "1572", and up the route marked by all the dots.

Off from Asiago, heading to Madonna di Campiglio for three days in the mountains. But, since the on-and-off rain -- which we have mostly missed at times when it mattered -- seems destined to stay around for a while, I figured I'd best go for a run in the morning when the weather has tended to be better.

So we stopped in now familiar Lavarone, same little parking area just below the old military cemetery where we were with Jeff and Judy a couple of days ago. And I did a nice loop on the Long map. A good climb at the beginning, then a nice stretch flat or downhill over to the west edge of the map, then down the dirt road back to civilization, then back into town and a final climb back up to the car.

Very nice run, said I'd be about 50 minutes and figured it just about right. Breathing hard on every uphill, but managed to run them. Though the route I picked purposely avoided any steep ups.

And then, because you are supposed to take in some fluids and some nutrients right after a run, stopped at the pastry shop down on the main road for a gelato. It went down easily.

Hope to do more runs this week. Knee was a little off after I finished, but not for long. So no longer an excuse.

Now, in Madonna di C, lots of clouds, a little rain. Tomorrow is supposed to be more rain, but so far the forecasts have been consistently wrong. So who knows.

C • Madonna di Campiglio 1

Today's course (click on map for larger image) --

Italy, day 5, 2.5 km. Finally a run that was reasonably clean. Just decided to be more careful. Meant more stops, but that was better strategy in this terrain.

Will be second overall, probably first or second on the day.

By the way, 70 meters of climb to the first control, mostly straight up. I took 5:06, leader in my class took 4:01. Doesn't matter what the age, you have to be strong. WOC runners might do it in 2:00?

(Added GPS track. Haven't seen final results but I was second overall and pretty sure second on the day to Kurt Huber, a minute faster.

Wondering why I was so out of breath out there. Gail pointed out that we were at over 5,000'.)

C • Kurt Huber 2

Yesterday's course --



Screwed up #2, looking too far east. Screwed up #4, crossed the field and couldn't find the big trail for quite a while (seriously!), really screwed up #5, too far left and mixed up the vague trails, thought I might never find it, screwed up #7 a little, didn't see the boulder in the thicket for a while. But spiked #'s 1 and 9!

Overall thought the course was very uninspired, but that's no reason to do it badly.

One more day left, still in second (barely), but way, way behind.

Otherwise a fine day. Got a fine parking spot (such things matter when you are old). Rode the lift, chatted up the cute Russian F21 on the way up, then spotted the leader in my class, Signar Eriksson, passed on greetings from Hammer and we chatted a while.

Then afterwards we hooked up with Jeff and Judy, went up the hill a bit to visit a cemetery from the first world war. On the way back down there were two guys getting set to go out for a run on some of the WOC courses, struck up a conversation with them, turned out they knew Ali and Alex. And Biggins, and Ken Sr., and Ed.

Because one of them was Antti Myllannen (sp?), who was the IOF advisor when the World Cup in ski-O was out in Tahoe 2 or 3 years ago. And the other was Eivind Tonna (sp?), also a ski-O guy, coaching the Norwegian ski-O team (or maybe the Finnish team?). And both on the IOF ski-O Commission.

So a fun chat, for sure. And Antti said they really want to have another world cup in the USA, to honor at least a little the "world" in world cup. And why not the USA again?

I asked where, Tahoe again?

Yeah, that would be fine, or maybe the Boston area where they had the events this past winter.

Boston area? Oh, you mean Vermont?

Oh yeah, that's all Boston area to us…. :-)

And do Greg and Ken and Ed know about this?

Not yet…. :-)

And then they were off, trotting off up the hill with no apparent effort.

--------------------

And then we went to the pastry shop…. :-)

---------------------

And then to the IOF event center. Jeff wanted to go to the open IT meeting. But it turned out to be at the Hotel Grand Astoria, so off we went to there. Found the IT meeting, just starting, I stayed for the first presentation, but I couldn't hear very well, nor read the power point slides, so I skipped out.

Went to the Foot-O commission meeting, but got kicked out of it, told it was closed. Really?

--------------------

Then after a while to get some dinner, a pizza place just across the square. And there is Kurt Huber, long-time acquaintance from Swissland, also born 1944 so we are always in the same class. Chat for a while.

And then a guy comes in alone, sits at the table next to us, immediately chats me up before I can even consider chatting him up.

Very interesting and entertaining. Swiss guy, neither 20s and 30s nor old, orienteering well as a junior but not since. Works in M&A, last 5 years on his own. And recently got back interested in O' enough to decide to sponsor a member of the Swiss team, just happened to be Judith Wyder. Good choice!

So we talked a lot about business and marketing and all the things that OUSA could really use some help with, but of course he is Swiss. And for him, the sponsoring deal looks really good now, because after WOC is over he can organize events with Judith and a bunch of his clients and it will be a big selling point to them that they get to meet Judith. So he's sure he'll get his money's worth and more.

Anyway, very fun dinner, both interesting and lots of laughs. And then another twisty drive to end the day.

C • Stone walls? 5

C • SkiO friends 2

Day 4. 3.8 km, lots of downhill.

Worse than ever. And I was really determined to orienteer well. But it didn't happen.

But a great day so far socially (except for getting kicked out of the foot-O meeting).

1. Met leader in my class, passed on greetings from Mike Waddington.

2. Renewed acquaintance with four others in my class, including Ivar Helgesen, famous maker of base maps when they were used.

3. And got the early scoop on the next World Cup event(s) to be held in the USA, probably in 3 years.

More when I get back to my laptop. Typing on the phone is painfully slow, though I am improving....

Report from the IOF meetings --

1. Went to the open IT meeting with Jeff. Presentation #1 was about "Live Center" -- Gps, web TV, live results. Seems like so far they have 1,200 paying customers. And others things were said, which I couldn't really hear. So I left Jeff there on his own.

2. And headed to the Foot-O Commission meeting. Where I stayed about 10 seconds until being told it was a closed meeting. WTF? Seriously, what can be so sensitive that they don't want anyone else there? Seems to me to be the perfect recipe for making bad decisions.

Though certainly in keeping with the IOF's general lack of openness and communication.

Alex after she finished --



And Ali, well, the Czech woman finished and down she went, and Ali finished a moment later and down she went. And then after a little bit the Czech started looking at her map, and Ali saw that and rolled over and they started chatting and it must have been the better part of five minutes before they got up. No hurry really, they were the second and third finishers and no one else came for quite a while.



And my map from yesterday --

C • Great races. 2

Italy day 3, 2.5 km. Another rather feeble run, especially at the beginning. Screwed up the first one, then screwed up the second one even more. After that got going pretty good, except not the best route choice on the last one. Once again the feeling is, oh, well, not the end of the world. And still two more chances to have a good run.

Third on the day, second overall. Results are here.

On the bright side, not really ailing. Knee seems better, ankle has calmed down.

And I'm very much enjoying the trip. Spectating at WOC is both very boring, and a lot of fun. And our three runners today did great.

Tomorrow we get to run on a little bit of the Long map from today. The start is a 50 to 60 minute walk (plus another 15 from the parking to the finish), with 250 meters climb. It is possible to reach the start by taking a ski-lift, cost is 3 euros. Guess who's taking the lift?

Ha, fooled you, Kenny is. Plus Gail and me of course.

Course from yesterday in Levico Terme (click on map for larger image).



Results are here.

C • Italian law 9

Having run for 3 straight days, it was clearly time for a rest day (so what if the runs were 12, 26, and 11 minutes, the effort was there). Plus it was raining. Plus the so-called additional O' event was about an hour away over the same twisty roads we drove last night (and will be driving the next two days).

So a rest day it has been.

We are slowly getting acquainted with the folks sharing our small hotel, with real progress this morning at breakfast. Chatted up the guy and his wife sitting at the next table, they are from Halden, Norway, he wanted to know if we knew Tom Hollowell by any chance, they were friends back when Tom lived there as a teenager. Only known him for 35 years, more or less. And that led to a lively discussion. I think his name is Jens Erik Mjølnerød.

And he pointed out the family at one table, that included Emil Wingsted, former champion in sprint maybe? And he pointed out a family at another table, that was the parents and siblings of Olav Lundenes, no slouch himself.

And then a bit later another Norwegian ambles over, didn't get his name, but he'd spent a year in Quantico-land not too long ago, mentioned knowing the Lennon family. Plus I gather he (or maybe his daughter?) has somehow been involved in helping our junior group with their stay in Norway. Obviously I need to get names and facts straight, but it was quite the entertaining breakfast.

And then there is a Swiss group, but they speak Swiss German so that puts them a bit more distant, though not nearly as distant as if they were Finns. Last time we were here, WMOC in 2004, the place we stayed was mostly full of older Finnish orienteers, all part of a group. Didn't meet a single soul….

So breakfast lasted most of the morning, and then at some point in the afternoon it was time to do something, so we did what old people do and went for a drive.

Up to Gallio first, town where Rick and Linda are staying, though we had no idea where, and then, just because I like to do these things, headed off on a side road going severely uphill, no idea where we were going. But the road was pretty good so we were making good speed.

Up and up, mostly above the low clouds, very pretty, and then we come around a corner and there is a ski area. And the name rings a bell, I'd read it in our 5-day meet info, it's where we are supposed to park and catch a shuttle bus for day 5. So day 5 will be up the road a bit. As will the WOC middle and relay.

So we drive up the road -- I didn't think there was any harm, a public road, as long as we didn't go exploring -- and there was a side road heading off to the east and the name of it was familiar, name of the map from WMOC, so I headed off that way, but it turned to dirt and so we turned around pretty quick, didn't really want to get stuck out there someplace.

And there was a refugio, didn't look open, and also a XC ski center, they were open, or at least it looked like the bar was. Beautiful spot, trails heading off in different directions, must be nice in the winter. And then we headed back.

A couple of stops in town for shopping, plus my first gelato of the trip. And then back to our place, where I discovered that the ski center seems to be the venue for the WOC relay. Well, it is a very nice spot. As long as it doesn't rain. Which it is threatening to do for the next week or so.

And I am feeling quite rested…. :-)

C • Familiar People 21

Day 2, sprint in Levico Terme. 1.7 km. Not bad, maybe second or third on the day, but the first guy was a minute faster. One mistake, 30 seconds or so. But these sprints are always fun.

Off to Trento later to cheer for the sprint relay team.

(Added GPS track. Finished second. Seemed to have lost 45 seconds on the one bad control. Oh well.)

C • Signar 3

Another long but fine day.

First a long twisty drive over the mountains to Levico Terme for day 2 of the spectators 5-day, a sprint. Highlight of the visit to LT was clearly our parking space -- in the shade, right by the lake, no more than 150 meters from the finish line, and as far as I could tell, the absolutely best spot of anyone there. And when you are an old man and an old lady, such things matter…. :-)

The sprint was pretty straightforward, which didn't keep me from getting on the wrong side of the stream, and more importantly wrong side of a wall, on the way to #8. Could easily have jumped down, but tried to wait until it was legal and think I got it about right. That cost me maybe 30 seconds. Ended up second on the day (and second overall so far), and 30 seconds faster would have changed neither. And the guy in first is very good. Have been beaten by him before.

Then some time to kill before the WOC sprint relay started at 5:30 in downtown Trento, so off to visit the posh apartment that Jeff and Judy have procured for the week. So posh that it has its own gate at the end of the driveway. So posh it had no address, at least not one J&J could remember. The directions were simple -- look for the gate near the Hotel Dolomiti, we'll try to hang an American flag, then honk your horn and we should be able to hear you, and if not, send an e-mail.

So we have a leisurely lunch and then head over to the HD, which we locate without any problem. But no American flag we can see, nor is there a gated driveway that seems to fit the rough description of where it should be.

But then we spot a possibility -- no flag, but a gate, and near the HD, so we pull in and honk the horn. No immediate action. Honk again. In the house closest to the gate there is movement in the drapes and soon an older woman is visible. We just sit there. In about a minute the gate opens. I'm not sure why, but who's to complain.

Except that once in, it becomes clear that there is no posh place with J&J. Meanwhile the gate has closed. Hmm, hadn't planned on this.

And then the old woman comes out, accompanied by what might be her daughter. The usual conversation, a little bit of fractured English, some Italian, lots of smiles on our part, and pretty soon the gate is back open and off we go.

Cruise around the HD in ever widening circles, no flags, no gates, when on a little alley not far from the HD Gail spots two cars behind a gate, might be J&J's and Linda and Rick's. So act two. Honk a couple of times. The old woman peers out from the drapes. After a little bit the gate opens. We drive in. Gail gets out to check the cars as the gate is closing. She reports they are definite not J&J's and L&R's cars. And we are trapped again.

And act two continues just the same, a little English, a little Italian, smiles, and pretty soon the gate is opened and we are out of there.

At this point we decide to send an e-mail. That takes a while, but it works, and a couple of minutes later Jeff is running up the road to rescue us. And direct us to a gate a little farther from the HD than we expected, and where there was indeed an American flag. We just never saw it.

But all's well that ends well, the place was indeed posh, the company was excellent, and I now feel like I can connect with your random old Italian female. Never know when that might be a useful skill to have.

Oh, and then finally the sprint relay. You can watch much better on the computer, I'm sure. But it is fun being there, just soaking up the vibe, marveling at how they pull this off in the middle of a good-sized city. The results are elsewhere, As I'm sure others did, we rejoiced at Sam's world-class performance, we enjoyed seeing Ross with some of the best in the world, we were dismayed by the missed control for Ethan, and then, as the rain got heavier and heavier and the thunder and lightning appeared, we were amazed by Ali's finishing kick.

It's a pleasure to watch our team in action.

And then, of course, to wrap things up, a long winding drive back over the mountains in the rain. Very glad not to be riding bikes at that moment, as more than a few of the locals were.

C • travelogue 4

Course from Venice. Pretty straightforward. But a lot of fun. Dodging the tourists adds immensely to the challenge and the fun.

Another pleasant day, no buses, no boats, one more observatory, another short O' course that was more than long enough for me, and to start it all off, at least 9 hours of solid sleep, most in a long time. Life could be much worse.

My orienteering was rather feeble some of the time, but not all of time. When we left there were 5 old guys ahead of me, but none by more than 2 minutes, so not too much damage done. Main problem was just not reading the contours as automatically as I feel I usually do. I've had that problem, sometimes really bad, in limestone country before, and perhaps it's happening again. We'll see.

Today's (click on map for larger version).

Pretty sure there were no falls, had my gloves on just in case, but did roll an ankle running on a trail, should be noticeable for a while but hopefully not really bad.

Best part as is often the case was the hanging around time, which included chauffeuring 4 pretty women in our rather small Fiat Panda, so it was cozy, up to observatory visit #3. Ali must think we're nuts….

But the rain held off, and then it cleared up for the opening ceremony, where our team looked outstanding, as did our team leader Tom (Hollowell), once again offering his wisdom and experience and a chuck of vacation time to help us out.

I will also add that my attempt to get with the times, and here I'm talking about life and culture issues, not orienteering, well, I'm making great progress.

The story is, I was told by my older brother that he had been told by his very cool daughter, that he had best get himself a smart phone and learn how to use it, or else pretty soon he was going to be too old to ever learn how to use one, and then life might as well be over. So this spring suddenly he shows up with an iPhone. And sort of knows how to use it.

My brother is only a couple of years older than I am, so I figured my time was running out too. So I got myself one a couple of months ago, signed up with T-mobile because they have a good deal for using it outside the USA, and sort of figured out how to use it too.

So I find myself at all these places in Italy, both civilized and quite far from civilization, and the thing really works -- checks my e-mail, surfs the web, makes phone calls, hell, I've even sent a couple of texts, first ever.

I am definitely getting with the program, no more than 5 or 10 years late.

And just to make it clear, I am not pitching T-mobile. In some parts of the western USA it is rumored to work well, but where I live it sucks. Don't even get service at my house. So as soon as I get back I'm switching to someone else.

But right now, I'm cool. :-)

And I discovered how to learn more about using the phone. It's called bartering. Food for knowledge. I buy Alex lunch, she wises me up about all sorts of iPhone stuff. An excellent plan.

C • timely 5

Day 1. 1.9 km beeline. Not a disaster, but far from good. Very rocky. No falls, but tweaked an ankle.

(added GPS track)

C • Grazie! 15

Event: WOC 2014 + 5 Days of Italy
 

Long day, up at 4:30, off at 5:40, not back until 21:30, but a lot of fun, mostly -- could have done without the hour and a half extra spent at the bus parking on the outskirts of Venice, waiting for, well, who knows. But the rest was quite wonderful, and every WOC organizer is required to demonstrate some ability to screw things up, just so when it is all over the standard isn't set too high for the next year.

The first part, for those of us in the spectator crew -- among others Rick and Linda, Jeff and Judy, Sharon, Rich Parker, team members who weren't sprinting -- was doing our own bit of O' in Venice. First time I had done that and it was very cool. And I had just enough of a course to get the experience -- advertised as a longish sprint verging on middle, I had 1.7 km, took 12 minutes. And after an initial WTF on seeing the length of the course, I must have decided that it meant I just had to run harder, so I was quite exhausted well before the end. Just as one can get if one goes to the track to race a mile and a half or so. And that's what it felt like.

Anyway, good run, no mistakes, first in class.

And then a bunch of hanging out in the shade, and then the women's final started and we did serious cheering for Sam, and that was all fun.

And scattered about was lengthy conversations with three team members, the general subject of each being what either they specifically or the team in general need to do to get better. And those are good conversations to have, and also the conversations that should be going on. As opposed to the two perennial favorites, also known as the great time wasters, also known as pretty irrelevant in making the team better.

Namely, (1) how do we select the WOC team each year, and (2) what the best uniform design is. Banning those two subjects -- just think how much time could be freed up to think about what's important, meaning, what needs to be done to get better.

Unfortunately, not likely to happen, though one can always hope.

And then, as the men's race wrapped up, which we mostly ignored, a quick bite to eat, and then a boat ride and then a bus ride and a fair bit later back in Asiago.

Others run into -- Terje Moen (sp?) member of NEOC long time ago, lives in NZ, Göran Öhlund and Ingrid, he made the first O' map at West Point, at Round Pond, and a few other old-timers I've run into from time to time over here. Plus a woman who asked me to open a bottle of water for her "because I looked so strong." I kid you not. :-)

A taste of Venice. Short and easy but suited me just fine. Ran pretty hard. No serious collisions. :-)

You may think you are alone, but maybe not. Like today.

About finished breakfast at a little hotel in Vicenza and in walks Rich Parker from San Diego. Very nice, plus he was planning on taking the bus up to Asiago, but we have a mostly empty back seat, so good company on the drive, and catch up on west coast things.

Pull into Ago, and there are Hannah and Alex waiting for us (though that was pre-arranged). So get the training for the day following them while we check out every gelato shop in town, no actually every food shop of any sort. And then, after lunch and gelato, the latter for the young ones only, off on a pilgrimage in honor of Ali to visit not one but two observatories just outside town. I think maybe there was something in Italian saying keep out, but none of us has mastered Italian. An then a visit to a memorial in memory of those killed in the first world war, bitterly fought in the surrounding area.

And then at dinner in our hotel in a little village not far from Ago, who should walk in and join us but Patrick Goeres (sp?), soon to be Dr. Goeres. And we catch up on various things Canadian.

So a fine day. And off to Venice in the morning, 6 am bus. And the hotel guy, very nicely, will have breakfast ready for us at 5. :-)

C • Breakfast at 5 3

A little look around Vicenza. Seemed like a nice enough place. Would have been nicer if my knee would stop complaining, keep thinking it's better, and then it's not. Time for it to just shape up.

So this is supposed to be prime orienteering terrain in about 7 weeks --



Interesting that they plant both ways (second planting perpendicular to the first). I would assume that makes for a better maze?

As long as the corn grows, we're good to go, Mike is on board, Saturday afternoon and evening, August 23.

C • Corn Maze 3

Short loop but totally croaked by the heat. Time is Phil's method, stop the watch and take a break whenever you feel like it, so it looks not so bad. Probably took at least an hour.