Training Log Archive: dlevine

Hunter's Creek Meet - Red Course

Start->1: Trail to stream bank where three bicyclists offered to tell me where the flag was. Said that I knew it was "on that ridge" and they said there must be lots of them out there. Yeah, right. Up the stream bed to the spur to the tree. 4:52

1->2: Over to trail, all the way to junction (NOT cutting through those woods). Saw the trail junction SW of control (in circle) and couldn't see flag until I stood around for about ten seconds. 3:41

2->3: Stupidly took southern trail to W and ended up in swamp instead of headed to control. Came out in woods and saw #6. Took trail to road and then in to third reentrant before cutting up to flag. Overshot by a small bit to the left, but turned upstream because I thought I saw a rootstock. Got to trail, saw bypass trail and knew that I was on the right stream. Went down and saw Tom Rycroft also looking for it. He commented about #1 being over 100m "off" which confused me. We both found flag and punched. 19:57

3->4: While leaving, he commented that he hadn't been looking for a rootstock because #1 had been a rootstock. I pointed out that #1 had been on a distinct tree ("look at the clue description"), he cursed and took off towards #1. I went on the line, but found four or five rootstocks in the circle before finding the correct one with only a small delay. 5:55

4->5: E down spur and then to the trail (mostly) S towards flag. Descending hill above the flag I tripped, landed face first and tumbled/flipped onto my back. Worst orienteering fall in years. After a check that all parts still worked, I looked up and saw the actual flag for the first time. 7:21

5->6: SE to creek/stream junction and up the spur and in. Saw Tom heading for #2 and was a bit confused as to how he had missed it a second time (but in fact he had simply gone around the long way to be able to run more. Drank much appreciated water. 4:16

6->7: Trail NW to road across stream, cut in up the hill and take the trail essentially to the flag. 4:16

7->8: Straight line to trail at lip of hill, down wherever I could and then I saw it. 2:22

8->9: NE to main trail to junction on spur, then saw it. 3:58

9->10: Decided to take hill in woods (instead of sunlight on gas line) so doubled back to trail junction on spur and went up that way. Took trail to woods N of second clearcut and went straight in. 5:49

10->11: Tried to straight line it, but the woods were a lot greener than on the map (where they are white). Ended up drifting right and went across the rectangularly shaped swamp to trail. Oddly, I was then momentarily confused about which way to turn, but eventually decided correctly. 5:30

11->12: Trail to gas line/stream junction, then trail a bit W and then in. 4:46

12->13: SW past #3 (which was now SO obvious) to trail, across road, up past #6 and down where I could. Many people near control. First people I've seen in over half an hour. 9:10

13->14: Down to creekside trail which I took even after it stopped being mapped. Past a landslide (slow going) and I got caught creekside below the terrace well E of the control. Climbed up and took perimeter trail around and back to distinct tree E of line, then down to the stream and up where it looked good and in. A decent execution of a terrible route choice. 10:05

14->15: Linda Kohn punched behind me and we both headed E to the control, I went down the spur and beat her by a bit, but saw Stina looking a bit lost. I went right to the stream/path crossing, but no flag. Went E a bit with no luck, but saw the flag as Linda and Stina were figuring it out. Linda remarked that she thought it was in the wrong reentrant; I think I agree. 2:45

15->16: Behind Stina and ahead of Linda on the trail. Stina was still on the trail when I saw the control, but she turned up to it and beat me in. 1:34

16->17: WSW to trail and then in to #17. Occasionally saw Stina ahead of me, but it wasn't going to matter at that point. 1:52

17->Finish: 0:11

Third out of twelve behind Pavel and Stina, both of whom beat me by more than 15 minutes.

Hunter's Creek Map Hike

Headed out for two remaining map hike controls as part of a run/walk cool down.

Car->#3: Trail to road across main creek. Got on wrong trail and had to climb small hill to trail junction. Jumped off trail at right spot, but the vegetation is mapped "backwards" near the control. What is mapped as "slight green slash" is now relatively white and vice versa. 10:07

#3->#1: Back down trail to road to junction by control. In to pit, but couldn't find the marker for over a minute even though I was "right there". 8:52

#1->Car: Straight down the trail even though the road would have been faster. 2:48

Sunday Afternoon course (even though it was Saturday morning). Didn't feel great at the start, but shook it off. Only time at my Y, but a decent time overall. P: 206, C: 58

Sub instructor, so we had a bit of a crazy class including dodge ball!

Almost nobody showed for class - including no instructor. Three of us tried out one of the "virtual trainer" classes, but it was a pretty easy (beginner?) step class. I made up for its easiness by having trouble with the balancing required for a couple of the moves.

So, Theresa and I went to campus to ride the trail, but her hands got cold so we did one full loop and one campus loop instead of two longer ones.

ROC Mendon Ponds race: Red Course

Start->1: Tried to go in strip of white woods off left clearing, but the swamp pushed me way left and I walked through a bunch of thick green stuff. Once I got through, all was fine, but I lost some time (2 min?) there. 7:03

1->2: Trail N of the line all the way. 9:33

2->3: Through depression to trail past pond, cutting in when I saw the field. Went to the wrong tree first, but there was a herd path. Saw Jackie N. leaving along with another guy. 5:53

3->4: Muddled my way W to the smaller trail and then took it all the way around rather than going over past the water tower. Was slow and confused and then cut in way too soon before cutting back out and then making the proper attack. Lost about four minutes here. 14:49

4->5: Up hill and then down. A bit sloppy, a bit slow. Jackie was coming in with confidence as I more or less stumbled in to it with "grey shirt guy". 5:05.

5->6: W to trail on the N-S ridge, then S past the triangular intersection and cut in. Grey shirt was ahead of me and took the turn; Jackie was behind me and I don't know what she did. I cut in after the bend, planning to skirt the depression and then cut up, but I got confused. I saw a marker, but thought it was too high to be mine (like there would be others out here!) so I went to the spur S of the control and had to do a "down 'n up" to get to it. Saw grey shirt and Patty L. leaving. 11:15

6->7: Grey shirt and Patty both went low, but I climbed to the ridge trail to the E and took it around to the reentrant. Saw grey shirt at the flag as I came in; I had definitely gained some here. No sign of Patty. 4:59

7->8: Down hill through reentrant and to the left of grey shirt. Got up to the ridge ahead of him, turned right on the trail to the saddle and spike it. 3:48

8->9: Grey shirt and I passed near the ridge trail, but I dived right off and took the lower trail in. Found the swamp easily, but the flag was more on the E side than the NE, so I had to scramble through some crap to get it. 4:50

9->10: Out to trail (almost a dog leg due to brush) and NE to the junction. Grey shirt was coming down the trail to my left; he obviously hadn't been to #9 yet, so I took off. Around the swamp N of #9 on the E side to take trail to field to trail to pond and flag. Unfortunately, when I got to the right spot, there was no flag. Four minutes of search shore line in both directions and grey shirt appears. He expected the flag where I did and was also stumped. Two and a half minutes later, he says, "it's here"; although I am five meters away, I don't see it. He reaches down into the grass and pulls it up. We punched and then re-tied it up. My initial stop was less than five meters from the flag. Had it been tied to its branch still, I would have seen it from the trail. Lost 6:42 here inside the circle. I know because I took an extra split on the watch. I had run hard to open up some distance on this guy and now it was for naught. 14:04

10->11: Hugged the shore and came in from the E. Conservative, but simple. 6:09

11->12: Saw Nate Lyons pass me as I started across the field, but he was headed left of my line. Then he passes me in the parking lot. I figured that he must have been on a different course(?) and had an additional control. Later, I found out that he was dehydrated and had run for some water at the fountain. Chased him and another guy along the path out of the parking lot and over to the control. Both were out of sight by the time I looked up after punching. 7:46

12->13: Took the whitest woods I could find (right of the line) and ran to the field and the flag. 1:53

13->14: Gotta love a downhill finish even if there was no psych left after a crappy run. 0:24

Not a good day. Sadly, just as I had finally found my mojo, I lost it due to a fallen flag. Oh well. I guess I'll have to do better (both ability-wise and luck-wise) next time.

Red - Splits

Apple Grinder Course

I am currently the fastest person in the world on this course. (Disclaimer: they reset by the seasons, so there are only ten times posted, but I will take what I can get!) P:212, C: 57

One lap of the river trail (with an ice cream stop) after a long day in the yard and watching the Red Sox choke in the 10th...

Cascade Road Loop by my mom's house

Chasing Dragons for 25 minutes as I finally ran a course in less time than that. 70,275 points with no swims. Kept the gears low and tried to blitz the hills as I tried to act strategically. Not clear this worked as I barely made the top half of the overall leader board and the top 6 folks in my age class doubled my score. P: 158, C: 67

Heart rate went down in record time, probably because it wasn't that high for that long...

Ravens Roost Course - There were FIVE names on the leader board. Three were too slow to worry about, but two appeared to be too fast. The course starts downhill, so I seemed to be making pace and then thought that I would see how long I could push it to keep pace. In the end, I finished in first by 24 seconds! Probably my best and toughest ride yet. P: 248, C: 60

Heart rate went down relatively fast, considering

Longer version of Tuesday's "Pill Hill" run

Lycoming College to Williamsport "Riverwalk Loop" and back.

Lycoming College up "Pill Hill" and back

Stormy Hollow course. Legs still felt dead. One guy on leader board, a guy I usually can catch with effort, but there was no chance today. I lost by over three minutes, but it turns out that he averaged 277 watts, an unheard of number for him. P: 185, C: 54