Training Log Archive: David_Waller

got out to Carolina North for a bit of field checking.

BOK's night score-O at Bond Park, set by Mihai Ibanescu. I had never run on this map, and it caused me quite a few problems, from not being able to see some of the smaller symbols and colors with my headlamp, to mistaking the long crossable fence symbol on the map for a trail, and then finding out that it was really a long uncrossable fence. I picked a really stupid route, and was surprised after three controls that the trail that I thought would take me to the fourth was actually a stream. Just an all-around mediocre effort. Despite the less-than-stellar performance, it was fun to be out, and Mihai set a really thoughtful course.

A really sloppy mile and a half out behind the house. Six inches of melting snow made for a really slick track. Despite our 38 hour power outage, I have made a lot of good progress on the Carolina North map in the last couple of days.

A brisk and enjoyable run at Umstead north. Nearly perfect running weather (which is different than perfect orienteering weather).

A light jog around Carolina North, with the new basemap materials.

Very slow and uninspired run out back, with hand weights.

Three easy miles that coincided exactly with this year's 20 minute driving snow storm. I went out partly to check out the status of the local roads. The untreated roads may sock us in at home for a few more days.

First snow-covered run on the track out back, not as icy and slick as I expected.

BOK 'Blue' course in Umstead North, set by Ian Shields. Probably should have been called a red course, but what the hey. A very fun course with lots of open woods and not a ton of climb. I made two time-consuming errors that probably cost me two or three minutes overall. The first was a pit that took me way too long to find. It was mostly my fault, and I should learn that when the control is on an isolated point feature and under the ground, I should really slow down and take things carefully as I approach the circle. The second mistake was half mine and half Ian's fault -- I would have spiked control #16 in a reentrant in open woods, but it was hidden behind a downed tree trunk and I chose the wrong way to turn to look down the reentrant. I probably could have aimed-off instead of going for the spike, but by the same token, there wasn't a big need to conceal the bag behind a tree trunk. I sort of regretted the stream crossing route choice at the end, which may have saved me 20 or 30 seconds over most of the folks who went around; but I ended-up wet and cold, and couldn't help with control pickup.

My shoelaces broke several weeks ago, and I just replaced them with an elastic shoelace product called 'yankz!' I'm impressed with their performance.

A nice six miles at Carolina north forest.

I re-ran an old red course in Umstead South, designed by Ken. Hanson for a BOK meet in April of 2013. I got the splits from BOK's results page, and wrote the best 'superman' time for each leg in column E of the control descriptions. Then I ran each leg, trying to beat that time, but giving myself a minute or two at each control location to catch my breath and to plan the next leg. I didn't realize until I pulled down the splits from the webpage that I had actually competed in this event, and I didn't remember most of the controls except for a couple that I had really botched two years ago. My navigation was as good as it has ever been, and I beat superman on all but two legs. I ended up completely exhausted by the end - a very physical course, but fun. Vladimir actually blogged about this course here: http://go-orienteering.blogspot.com/

With cedarcreek's help, I was able to integrate the lidar-based contours, aerial photos, and road/trail information from open street map to make a basemap for Carolina North. I spent about an hour checking out how it looked. It's not perfect, but it's quite good, and should be a great start toward getting the place mapped.

Jogged a bit after checking-out the map.

Event: Frozen Beaver Rogaine
 

I took cedarcreek's Kartapulautin map of Carolina North out there, and spent about 20 minutes checking out how it had handled the vegetation and contours, and about 20 minutes jogging the trails.

C • very cool... 1

We have a couple of friends visiting, and we went on a hike with them in Birkhead Wilderness, Uwaharrie National Forest.

Picking up controls. I met a lost and frustrated first-timer on my way out, and he wanted to shadow me as I picked up controls. He was eager to learn, and was good company and conversation.

C • Always a Teacher... 1

Red course at Umstead West, set by Ken. Hanson. Not a perfect run, but SO much better than my last few outings. Mistakes were small, and I corrected fairly fluidly. No moronic behavior in the circle. With temps in the mid 50's and partial sun, it was a really great day to be out.

The calf felt so normal today, that I'm officially calling it healed. I hope I don't over-use it and re-injure it this week.