Training Log Archive: cedarcreek

80m ARDF set by Dick A. at Mitchell Memorial. It was Field Day, so we had a small audience for our 4 competitor event. I get the impression they have no desire to try either ARDF or orienteering. Oh well. Someone will bite eventually. Dick set a really fun course. It was fairly short, and I ran a lot more than normal. Winner was Bob F. in 58 minutes. He said he ran a perfect race. I was 2nd, then Brian D. Emily D., Brian's daughter, got two of the 5, which is better than it sounds, because they weren't the typical beginner controls. The order was 15243. I spiked 1, 2, and 4. On 5, I had a crossing on my map near the T, but I stayed a little higher to avoid some climb, and it cost me several minutes. On 4, I called it a spike even though it was only a 99% spike, which is cheating, I know. My big screwup was 3. I lost the race on 3. I should have been paying very close attention to 3 when I was at 2 and 4. It was really hot this weekend, so Dick started the Transmitters at 6:30am---I started around 8:45 or so, and it was still cool. Great day in the woods.

80m ARDF at Umherst Park near Raleigh, NC. Setter was Nadia Scharlau (former ARDF World Champion). Nadia shortened the course probably 1km or so, because we needed to drive home 9 hours, and because we whined about the Saturday length (not really, but sort of). It was probably 5km or so straightline (I correct this later). I had a great day physically. My lethargic Saturday somehow prevented me from being *really* sore, so I felt pretty good, except for one blister on each foot. I ran about as much as I walked, which is really impressive for me, especially for this distance. The course was technically about as difficult as they get, with the controls in areas that required reasonably close-in bearings to select the right feature of many (for example spurs) and somewhat difficult bag placements with little long distance visibility (which is okay for small ARDF events, unlike regular O). I lost time on 5 (my first T), when I had a bad initial bearing and underran it somewhat, and on 4 (my fourth T), when the minute was up before I could take my bearing for off-cycle hunting (which I usually try to take in the last 10 seconds of the minute). I lost nearly 5 minutes because of that. I also failed to draw the start and finish exclusion circles on my map before the start. Usually that's a pretty minor thing, but here it could have cost me 10 minutes or more on 3 (my fifth T). I made some good decisions, and had some good bearings, and pretty much spiked that one, so I didn't lose anything. Unlike yesterday, I was feeling great. It's hard to believe my performance could be so different on the second of two hard days, but it was. The biggest "take-away" for this event was that I need to work on taking and drawing bearings on my map. Once again I had several bearings with enormous angular errors. I don't know where these are coming from. I must fix this.

2m ARDF in Umherst Park near Raleigh, NC. Setter was Nadia Scharlau (former ARDF World Champion). A very good course, where all four competitors screwed up the order. Number 1 was very tricky, and everyone got it last, when it probably should have been 2nd. The straightline course was 6.6 km or so, but the order screw-up and Nadia's warning to use trails rather than cross large reentrants pushed my course distance to over 10km. I felt slow all day. I was wearing my HRM, and my heart rate was higher than it should have been based on my speed. I walked 95% of the course, but my heart rate was at or beyond my anaerobic limit a lot. Of the four competitors, one quit without getting 1 (due to illness), and two others went back to the finish before going back out to get 1. I didn't go by the finish, and probably had a little advantage because of it. I haven't seen the times yet, but I'm either first or second. Overall a clean day radio-wise, with the exception of my/our screw-up with 1, and a single (big) bad bearing and underrun problem on 2.

Nightmare course setting day. The five transmitters have a little computer box that you program. I programmed four of the five, assuming the fifth was okay. Well, not only was it not okay, I screwed up one of the four and another had some other problem, so I had to go back out and fix them, then go out again and get four afterwards (I had help with the fifth--w00t!) I'm calling it 4hrs, but it had to be more. This was a new map, and a very small event (2 competitors---was hoping for five), but I didn't have time to scout. I planned it based on my scouting experience on other places of the same map. Well, it wasn't the map---It was a lot slower than I expected because---It's summer. Spring. Whatever. I set the course in rain, but by start time it had stopped, and the weather report is saying we're going to get rain off the remnants of Arlene starting about now. Overall---Great, great day in the woods. Here's how good a day it was: The rain and the water on the plants was the exact temperature of a good swim. I was soaking wet, but...It was amazing.

Did I mention the 100m long patch of stinging nettles? I hate those things.

Ran to the rec center with Brach. The St. Michael festival is going on, and we ran down to that. This route has a long hill on the way back, and I can't run all the way up it. I did 150-170 quasi-intervals where I run until my heart rate gets to 170, then I walk until it says 150. My anaerobic (?) threshold is between there somewhere. The last one I ran as long as I dared, and got my HR to 184. It was supposed to be LSD, so I probably shouldn't have been pushing so hard, but it was fun. A few months ago, I could've kept my HR above 150 by walking briskly up that hill, but I don't think I can anymore. My knee is still bugging me a little. Probably need to lay off the paved downhills.

Sharon Woods Hill route. This is one of the first summer-like days this year---It felt hot and muggy, but it will get a lot worse later in the summer. I got light-headed climbing some of the hills.