Training Log Archive: cedarcreek

Last night, not 30 minutes after I wrote my ribs were okay, I went to bed, and in the process of rolling around and getting comfortable, did something terrible to aggravate the injury.

It wasn't a question of wimping out from the Billy Pig (12.5km) to the Piglet (7.5km), it was whether I should even try to walk it.

I was running the SportIdent today, and was in pain most of the day. I'm not sure if I've got a cracked rib or just some pulled soft tissue. The worst thing seems to be running, and certain backwards-leaning stretches. I have sneezed and coughed without too much pain. I think it's probably a soft tissue injury.

Both courses were marred by a misplaced 3rd control, and an unfortunate parallel arrangement of 4 and 5a (relative to 3) meant at least one competitor who didn't check the code dnf'd. Of the four dnfs, two were related to not checking codes, and two were due to the competitors deciding to quit early.

The worst part of the day for me was that I arrived late and forced an 18 minute late start, since I had spare dibbers that could have saved the original start time if I had arrived earlier. I don't feel too bad, though, because if I wasn't doing the SI, I would've spent the day (probably on the couch) not aggravating my rib.

There was a lot of after-run discussion about skips. The course had a lot of potential skips, and some of them were pretty subtle. It looked like two really good courses to me. I was bummed out I didn't get to run one.

C • ribs 5

Sprint 1 at Miami-University Western Campus. The first three controls were in the woods, a fairly nice open woods. The fourth control was the first "urban" control, and I ran the line until I popped out of the woods and realized I was on the wrong side of a building. Lost about 25 seconds, I'd guess. The next couple controls were a little boring; flat, pick a route and just run clean. I started to relax, and then, boom, it got really interesting.

I had decided to run with a baseplate, in the hope that it would help me thumb and fold the map a little better, and the one thing that I don't do as well with a baseplate is point myself in right direction as I'm leaving a control. Tom Svobodny and I had an interesting discussion about this. He ran without a compass, and said he much prefers that. He follows the features and navigates off them. My approach is completely different. As I'm leaving a control (typically), I use my thumb compass to point my body toward the control, and then I start looking for features.

Where the baseplate got me today was as I left 6. I rotated right completely by eye, and looked for a bridge. I was expecting a big, substantial pedestrian bridge with a span of 50m or so. I didn't see it. I saw a little 4m crossing point, and I stopped to look. I simply didn't see the bridge. I was losing time, so I committed to the crossing, and almost immediately saw the bridge off to my right. At that point I changed course and went under the bridge and up a contour or so to the control through honeysuckle. 1:41 was my split. I'm guessing I lost at least 15 seconds. I'm not really blaming the baseplate, just my use of it. I should have been more aware and realized I needed to rotate toward that bridge walkway.

The next control was a similar awesome leg, with another bridge, and some complicated vegetation boundaries. I reverted into 1:10000 mode, and ran the line in honeysuckle when I should have popped out into the lawn area and saved maybe 20-30 seconds.

I really enjoyed this sprint. It had a few boring legs, but the good ones made up for it.

This was my first race on a 1:4000 map, and I now love 1:4000 maps. After I commented about the 1:5000 scale of the NAOC Sprint at McMaster University, that 1:4000 was the IOF-preferred scale, I went back and read the then current ISSOM 2005, and was surprised that the preference for 1:4000 was removed. I believe the last 3 WOCs used 1:4000, so I do sense an international preference for that scale.

Sprint 2 at Miami University Peffer Woods. I think this is a new map.

Mike Minium set one of the best sprints I've ever run. This course was really cool. The first 5 controls reminded me of Sprint 1 at the 2006 Sprint Series Finals---Open lawn-type grass with the controls on trees and bushes with some controls in the woods a little. Then control 6 was a nice long leg (I'm guessing 500m?). Controls 6-13 were in a network of wide trails (rides) in an otherwise nasty green forest. One little control picking area 6-7-8-9 was this really crazy section in this complicated area of vegetation boundaries.

Again, the 1:4000 map is amazing, and I think I like these natural curvy rides and trails more than I like complicated areas of universities. (On the other hand, running around complicated urban areas is just so much fun.) I think someone needs to take another try at Bear Creek Scout Camp with the intent to make the courses more complicated. (That's because of the complicated vegetation boundaries and rides.)

I had three issues. At 9, I couldn't find an indistinct trail junction, and lost maybe 30 seconds. I lost maybe 10 seconds going into 12 (?), and about 20 leaving 12 to go to 13 (?). I ran most of the way, but I was beat.

If you missed this sprint2, you missed a good one. This is one of the best three sprints I've run. The other two are the 2006 Sprint Series Final (I ran the short one), and the NAOC McMaster University Sprint.

After the 5.1km Green yesterday, and these two 3+km sprints today, I skipped the night-O, and I'm hoping to not wimp out tomorrow for the Billy Pig (12.5km). I'm beat, though.

Three things:

1. Turnout today was so light. It might be a record for the least attendence at an A-Meet. There were more people yesterday, and we're hoping the BillyPig is well-attended Monday. I just don't understand it. It was an awesome day of Sprints.

2. My ribs did hurt a little today. I think I just injured the muscles a little. I'm hoping that's all there is to it.

3. Up until now, the sprints I've set had pretty strict limits on the number of controls I could use, and I think that is something the course setter needs to avoid. Sprints need a lot of controls, or, as John Fredrickson says, they're just short regular courses. The 1:4000 map lets you set control picking sections with really intense changes of tempo and direction. If you use 6mm circles, and just let them touch, you can put controls 24m apart. Today's Sprint2 had a leg like that (with bigger circles, just touching) with an 11 second split. My gut says 18 controls is "normal" for a big sprint, just based on my recollection of looking at big sprint maps. I've never set a sprint with more than 14 controls, I think, and I'm planning to change that.

C • It's not orienteering season a... 4

I've been saving this rant for way too long.

Some time ago, Spike had some sprint design comments. Basically, it appears that the European thinking of sprints is that the problems need to be solved at full speed. I think that's bullshit.

Sprints, because they're shorter, allow the runner to run much faster than in middles or classics. That gives the setter the ability to force even more extreme tempo changes. To me, that's interesting. Problems that can be solved at full speed are boring, except as a part of a high-speed section that's setting you up for a problem that stops you in your tracks.

Sprint 1 - Western Campus - Splits

Sprint 2 - Peffer Woods - Splits

Event: OCIN New Year's Orienteering Festival
 

Green course at Miami University Natural Areas, set by Bill Swift. Climb approximate---I'll count it later.

A really fun course. Somewhat complicated. No long leg, but good variety in leg lengths and difficulty. I did better than I usually do against some people. I attribute this to the difficulty of the course. I might be improving in fitness, but this happened the last time I was on this map (and Bill set the courses). Some of the difficulty was traveling along the flatter bottom areas with vague location features.

I had a few hesitations, and I took the right trail route to 5 more to check out the map---the left route through the field looked faster, but boring. The biggest error of the day was about 30 or 60 seconds at 13---the clearing. I overran the attackpoint and misread the map a little. I caught it pretty fast, but it still bugged me.

I also took the hardest fall I've ever taken at walking speed---I was leaving 15 (the go control), and I knew there was a fence, so I looked down at the map, and I could feel the fence hit my legs. I hit the ground hard, and my ribs landed on top of my forearm---deforming the ribs inward. It really knocked the wind out of me. For about 10 seconds, I was pretty sure I was going to the hospital. I stumbled to my feet, started walking, and felt better. After about a minute, I was able to run to the finish. I was shocked when I saw my split was just a little over 2 minutes. It felt like at least 4.

I was amazed how much this course took out of me. I was forgetful and couldn't put words together normally for a few hours afterwards. I hope I didn't hurt my chances for the sprints Sunday. I really want to do the Night-O Sunday, and that means my original plans to do the BillyPig might have to be changed to the Piglet.

Now, about 11 hours later, my ribs have no visible swelling or bruising, but they hurt in places when I push on them.

Spent about 3 hours massaging the entry spreadsheet, setting up the three SI events in the SportIdent software (OE2003), and importing the .csv files. Now it's 3am on the 31st, and I've got to get up in 4.5 hours. The Piglet is looking more and more likely.

Green - Splits