Training Log Archive: dlevine

Event: 2010 Golden Leaf Orienteering Fest
 

Got to the GLOF site with little time to spare (wrong line at Canadian customs cost me over twenty minutes!) but I knew that I have had trouble getting up to speed quickly so I wanted to run hard for a bit before the sprint.

GLOF Sprint race

Fine to #1, but went back to the trail for #2 when I should have crashed down the hill to the bridge. Then, leaving #3, the field was so enticing that I didn't see the way around (90 degree departure) that would have saved a bunch of climb. In my defense, no one I spoke to saw this during the race. Overshot #5 by a bit but saw my error. Went West out of #7and down to the stream. It had looked runnable when I crossed it from #3 to #4, but wasn't so much so where I was. Once I hit the main stream, I was fine, but sucking wind on the hills. Clean through the spectator area, but I missed the exit option on the trail to the right and went straight at #11 which was further than I expected. Then clean through #14. Attacked #15 from behind the cabins and was surprised to find the control at the bottom of the streambed as my quick reading of the map had put it one contour up. So, down and up one last time before finishing.

4th of 9 in my age group (top US - I NEVER get to say that), and 16th of 33 on the course. A good, not great run, so I'm happy with that.

Winsplits says that I lost on 34 seconds (on #8) so I have to be happy with that, too.

GLOF Middle 6

A bit rough to #1, but right on. Crossed the stream a bit too soon on the way to #2, but I recovered reasonably. Sucked wind up to #3, but it turned out okay. Tried to contour to #4 and came in WAY north of the control and spent what seemed like a long time working my way south to the flag. Clean to #5 and then took the high road to #6. Coming down, I couldn't find it and wandered around long enough to be caught by Stina Bridgeman. We sort of triangulated on it together and I took off to #7. I went through the circle just right of the flag thinking that I had crossed the saddle. Stina came in behind me, punched and left. I relocated off the swamp and then the fence corner and found the control in what I would have called a gully more than a saddle. (Lesson NOT learned by Monday). Through the woods/swamp to the Northbound trail heading to #8. Once I hit the main trail, I was clean the rest of the way in, including seeing #10 from a great distance. #12 screwed me up momentarily as I saw the feature and the radio transmitter. I thought the control was stolen until I touched the transmitter and saw the flag hidden behind the tree while looking for a manual punch. Those rocks were slow, too.

Not a very good run, though I had recovered to beat Stina (who apparently blew #8). I made large mistakes at three controls in the first half of the course (Winsplits says over 7 minutes) and I was very frustrated. Nothing like the morning, but it was a great course and a beautiful day.

Sprint 4 - Splits

Middle 6 - Splits

Payne - Never could get the rhythm of the game; in any of the three rounds

7-15 - really never got it
15-7 - he was off at the beginning (I led 11-1) but I wasn't really on
11-6 - Okay, it was 6-5 and I finally found some ability, but it was mostly serves

Warmish pool...

"Comedic" class as the instructor has laryngitis and had to "mime" the moves unless someone nearby would "echo" them for him. As the class went on, the nearby folks realized the potential and stopped being so cooperative. All in good spirits.

Random @ 18, but the bike was the one that skips. (They moved it on me!)

Warm pool and kinks from Sunday. (Not enough warmth to help with the kinks, though.)

Event: Hudson Highlander
 

Hudson Highlander 15

Start -> 1: Followed the pack. I'm continuing to have trouble "getting up to speed" in my workouts, but I didn't want to put lots of effort into warming up given how long I expected to be out. 17:02

1 -> 2: There is a small train still heading to #2, but the navigation is easy. 6:17.

2 -> 3: Just Sam Levitin, me, and Zach and Dan Barker moving down the hill. 3:33

3 -> 4: All four of us together to the unmapped trail. For some unfathomable reason, I thought we were NE of our actual location and decided to follow it for a while. Even more unbelievably, Sam followed me. Zach and Dan disappeared. When we finally turned off it, Sam and I decided to visit each stand of laurel in this section, getting totally lost. Moving very slowly and randomly, we eventually came out to see the last runners heading up a ridge. One of them explained that they were on their way to #6 and Sam and I began the "jog of shame" as we ran against traffic all the way back to #4. Splits analysis says that we lost sixteen minutes here. I was also the last Highlander to punch there. Great, four controls in and I'm already in last place. 28:45

4 -> 5: Sam and I join Sharon on the way to #5. Fortunately, we've been over most of it already. 2:24

5 -> 6: Up the ridge, past the swamp, Sam even double-checks the code on #9. I veered off right and lost Sam and Sharon and found the cliff system just off the 8->9 line, relocated and went in. Saw them leaving. 17:19

6 -> 7: Tried to catch them, saw Eric Smith and Paul Beckwith near the flag. Beat them all to the flag by a moment. 3:25.

7 -> 8: Train down the hill, but through a bit too much green to be fast. 3:25

8 -> 9: I went left of both swamps on an old (unmapped) road. Did well until I missed it right and went into the green with a bunch of (Lowlander) cadets and Eric/Paul. Realized that the flag had been in white woods before, relocated and got it. 12:43

9 -> 10: Down to the road, passed by cadets. Could see Sam and Sharon ahead. The three of us attacked semi-cooperatively and got it at about the same time. 7:05

10 -> 11: Followed Sam out, but Sharon was slower. Got to the map exchange and realized that Sam was waiting for her. Figured I'd go on ahead and they would catch me. 5:49

11 -> 12: Down the trail I could periodically see a pair in front of me. At the "V" (21:54), I caught Francis Hogle and Bob Bullions. Walked up the hill with them, but slowly opened up a gap after cresting the climb. Saw numerous other groups coming back to #13. Heard Zach say to his father, "You're not seeing the trail I'm talking about." Also saw the NEOC rogainers (Barb Bryant, David Yee, and Adam Rudner), as well as Susie DeWitt and Craig Webber. 58:49

12 -> 13: Back down the red-dot trail, remembering Zach's comment. I took the red-dot trail down the spur to the white-cross trail to the flag. Splits analysis says I lost half a minute here, but that could be route choice and could be eating at the aid station. 21:07

13 -> 14: Contour, climbing slightly and approach from above. 4:30

14 -> 15: SW to trail, around and down. When I hit the road, I saw the NEOC group being hesitant as they went in. I joined them and beat them slightly to the control. 12:10

15 -> 16: Hurried out of there hoping to put some distance on them, but ran right by the control into the green woods. By the time I figured out my error, they were gone. 4:33

16 -> 17: Poor choice of exit sent me due north to the road only to decide to double back and do part of the trail run again. Followed trail up past power lines and cut in. Saw cliff system with the yellow and cut around. Caught both NEOC group and the two Russians. Drank heavily while thinking about the King of the Mountain. 16:56

17 -> 18: Considered redoing the trail run, but I had hated that climb and even after I made it to #12 again, there would be climb to do, so I decided to go right of the line, hoping to find the "white corridor". Headed out and realized that the NEOC group was doing the same thing, but was higher on the hill than me. We met at the white corridor and were together the rest of the way. We hit the trail and Barb decided (for all of us) that we would go up the reentrant and cut over to the summit. We slogged up the climb (but it WAS better to do it all at once, passed the shelter by the bare rock and came out on top. I drifted left a bit, but we all found the control with little trouble. 28:43

18 -> 19: Barb decided that going down the spur first was the right idea, but I liked the direct approach. I went down the hill to the east, saw the swamp, cut over to the control. As I was punching, I saw them coming down the hill and I waved, hoping that I looked helpful rather than gloating. 6:07

19 -> 20: Went east to the stream and then proceeded to get lost in the cabins spending WAY too much time befuddled before crossing the power lines at the junction. Turned in and worked my way towards the control, slowing down to explore the reentrant just south of the correct one. Saw a flag on a man-made object (right under the control circle) but heard voices and saw the NEOC crew leaving the correct site going down to the road. Good karmic payback. 23:08

20 -> 21: Decided to go more or less straight at it. Was rewarded by finding #22 (whose code I recognized). I made a mental snapshot of the area and continued until I saw the water tower and contoured around to the road and down to the flag. The NEOC crew was just coming in from below as I punched. 7:49

21 -> 22: Down to the map exchange for a quick snack of bananas and gatorade before heading right back out. The NEOC crew looked like they were determined to take advantage of the break for a bit. Road to control at trail junction and then in to the site I expected. 12:22

22 -> 23: Back past #20, through the cabins, including the long driveway that starts at the tennis courts. Caught Zach and Dan Barker at the driveway. Slogged with them towards #23. Dan seemed very tired and Zach had stores of energy that I could only envy. Alone, I might have pulled up early, but Zach led us in even as Brian Sutherland wandered in the circle. 26:29

23 -> 24: Downstream to the trail, I started to focus on #25 and spent too long on the trail. Realized the swamp was staring me in the face and I cut in and up the hill where the Barkers were pleasantly contouring. Crossed a deer path by the swamp and climbed in a good bit behind them. 10:01

24 -> 25: Cut low to the deer path and made it to the road slightly ahead of the Barkers and Brian. Foolishly climbed the gnarly power lines (Brian went around more easily in less time) and headed down the road. When I saw the yellow area, I cut in and over the spur. Found the flag first among the four of us and waved Brian over. Nice communal drinks. 18:05

25 -> 26: Others cut up, but I decided to just contour. As I was coming around, both Brian and Zach were running down to the power lines. Thinking they saw the flag, I veered off, but no luck. Dan came in "last" walking right to the flag. 8:41

26 -> 27: Due north on road past cabins to paved road. At the power line junction cut in (as did the Barkers) while Brian ran ahead on a longer, but more road-oriented route choice. Climbed the ridge, but made a parallel error and came out to the west of the control. The Barkers were having trouble, too. Dan seemed really tired, but we all saw the cliffs past the control and figured out what was going on. 17:59

27 -> 28: Down to the road and past the stone wall up the reentrant. Realized that I really needed to be left of that big reentrant and climbed its shoulder. Was rewarded by seeing Susie and Craig at the flag. Waited for the Barkers, though. 6:33

28 -> 29: Down the hill trying to use as much white as possible. Tried to skirt the first swamp to the right, but hit a lot of that dark green at the power line. Did skirt the second swamp to the left and could see the flag from about 200m. Also saw Susie and Craig moving from 29 to 30 across my field of vision. Damn they made up a lot of time there! (Turns out that I was wrong; they were headed as I thought, but hadn't been to 29 yet.)
Went in and waited again. 12:37

29 -> 30: Heading out slowly, across the power lines to the trail just west of the road. As I hit the road, I see that Zach is now running full out and is going to finish strong and that (presumably) Dan has said he is fine on his own. I run to the clearing, past the cabin on the low side and to the flag just ahead of Zach. 6:50

30 -> Finish: Let's see. It's me versus a 16-year old on a race of 250 m. The only way this turns out good for me is if the clock goes back five years and I run fast enough to beat an 11-year old. Not going to happen, so I dial it back. 3:22

All in all, a good, not great race after a monumental gaffe at the beginning. If I could go out faster, I could have stayed with some of the folks in the 6-6.5 hour group, but that's something to work on for next year. The good news is that this is a 50-minute improvement over last year. Also, as I write this 48 hours later, the stiffness is already abating.

Highlander - Splits