Training Log Archive: Timato

At this point most people take 2 rest stages in a row and then go out for a 3 hour stage at 3 am. Given that I had to drive home by myself right after the event I decided that I wanted to finish the race with a rest stage to grab a bit of sleep before the drive. So at midnight I was one of 3 people up ready to tackle our 3rd stage.

This was probably my best leg, and the leg where I was able pull into the lead. I had planned 2 loops that both had a lot of trail running and were all close to the finish. The first loop involved a bit drop follow-ed by a steep climb back up, but otherwise was just a trail run with a few sections where I darted into and out of the woods to punch the control. After finishing the first loop I ran through the finish area and started my second loop. On this loop the controls were a bit tougher, but still I was able to run most of the leg. I came into the finish and had enough time to jump in the canoe and grab the island control before finishing with 15 minutes to spare.

Everyone else was now standing around looking pretty tired getting ready to head out. I was able to grab some hot oatmeal and head to bed feeling pretty good about the leg I'd just finished.

When I got up in the morning they'd calculated my score at 1500, which I didn't really pay attention to at the time, but was definitely not correct (they'd counted some controls twice on my card). However, I would learn later that my third led was the all important one as this is what pulled me into first.

For my last leg I was trying to figure out how I could get all the the remaining controls (well except 44 which was to far out of the way to consider), but no matter what I tried the distance just seemed too far. I ended up planning a route that I knew I could do and then at the last minute decided to do it in reverse so that I'd grab the highest controls first rather then waiting until later. This turned out to be a race safer for me later on.

First controls went smoothly and I found myself on the edge of the map moving along a property boundary in some great wide open woods. At this point I was having a lot of fun. I was still feeling good and I was just enjoying the fact that I was in the woods in the early morning with noone else around. I ended up making it back to a cut-off point much earlier than planned. So rather then going for a 34 point control I decided to run along the road for a longer stretch to grab a 66 and 33 point control. In hindsight what I should have done was grab the 34 pointer and then go for the others as I probably could have done them all, but after grabbing the 33 pointer I realized I probably didn't have enough time to come back for the 34 points. So rather then risk coming back over time I headed back to the finish line and made it back with 15 min to spare.

With everyone else in the woods I got to hang around with the organizers chatting for a bit, grab a coffee and some food before I went down for some more sleep.

Once the final points were calculated I'd scored 1771 points over the 4 stages, the controls I left out there were 44, 34 and 51. 2nd was roughly 40 points behind me. I was pretty pumped at this point given the mistakes I'd made (but I think in something like this everyone makes a few mistakes) I'd still come back and won the overall. This will also put me in 1st place for the Trifecta Cup going into the Rogaine in August.

Awesome weekend for orienteering, it didn't rain at all and there were hardly any bugs. I felt like I pushed really hard during each stage, but also also felt like I was always in control. I think M&M would be very proud of the pace I maintained during the whole event. Best race I've had in a while and very happy with the result to match it.

C • Congrats! 8

Event: CNYO Regaine #7
 

One of my goals for this year was to try to win the CNYO Trifecta Cup. In the last two years I've done pretty good at 2 out of the 3 races, but I always miss the Regaine which takes me out of the running. This year was going to be different.

Leading up to the event I couldn't convince anyone else to come with me down to the race including Mrs. Tiny who was ready to come until our sister-in-law's baby shower was planned for the same weekend. So with the car all packed up I made the trip down to Tully NY by myself.

Regaine is a 24 hour race broken up into 6 segments. At the beginning of each segment you have to declare which combination you're going to do. During the race you have to complete the following segments
- 1 segment of 5 hours on and 1 hour rest
- 2 segments of 4 hours on and 2 hours rest
- 1 segment of 3 hours on and 3 hour rest

You could also choose to rest for the longer time block and run the shorter, but where's the fun in that.

My strategy was start with the 5 hour run to try to maximize my distance while I was still fresh.

Standing around the start line just 10 minutes before race start, maps where handed out and you had to plan not only what controls to get in 5 hours, but also which ones to leave for later segments. My strategy was pretty simple. Try to stay to one edge of the map as much as possible, don't skip any controls, work to get to the bottom section of the map given this was my longest leg and try to avoid coming back too early grabbing controls near the finish as these could be punched in later stages.

The first leg went pretty well until I got to control 44 which was on a stream. I hit the stream and figured I was a bit south of the control. As I worked my way north the stream disappeared so I figured I was now too high. In the end I think the stream continued on again and I needed to go further north, but I'd already wasted some time on this control so I decided to move on rather then wasting more time. The rest of the controls went pretty well for me. I spent a bit of time wandering around looking for 35 which was a veg boundary, but eventually after attacking it twice I was able to find it.

I ended up with lots of time on the way back and picked up 2 controls near the finish, so I guess I didn't execute my plan as well as I could have. Upon completing the leg I had 1 hour to rest and plan the next leg. I figured I'd done pretty well given how hard I had worked both on trail and off trail. When the results were posted I was really disheartened to see that I had roughly 650 points and the leaders were up in the 700's. At that point I remember thinking "I guess I can't compete with these guys, I'd better focus on getting as many points as possible to keep it close for the Cup."

For leg #2 I was going to run 4 hours followed by a 2 hour rest. My goal with this leg was to get to the bottom right section of the map. With the extra time to prepare I'd been able to measure my route and I had a more detailed plan for which controls I was going for.

The leg started with a really nice trail run along the NCR trail to pick up my first control (41). After grabbing this I continued on the trail and then the road until I jumped into the wood and had to climb the "mountain" to control #21. I'm pretty sure this is the same area where during snowgaine last year Pete and Leanne came up behind us having leached off of our trail breaking for the whole day to pass us and take the win.

This leg was pretty uneventful and I was able to grab everything I wanted to get until I started to head back. By this time it was dark out and I was trying to find a trail off of the road to grab one last control (69) and then run back to the finish. I never found the trail and after wasting what I figured was enough time I just jumped into the woods and covered the 1.5 k downhill in the bush. Luckily the woods were very open and I was able to move pretty well down to the next road (I later came back at 69 in the day from the other direction and followed the trail back to the road where I couldn't find it. When I popped out to the road the trail ended about 20 m before the road, which explains why I never really found it at night).

After hitting the road I had to work pretty hard to run back to the finish, which I was able to make with 10 min to spare.

After the results were calculated I'd pulled into 3rd so I was starting to think I still had a chance although the guys in front of me still had a gap that I wasn't sure could be overcome.

O-Training at Homer Watson. Felt really smooth the whole run. I think this is probably the most O-training I've ever done consistently. Hopefully this correlates to a strong result this weekend.

C • Good luck 6

Run into work.

A good run tonight with some extra hills thrown in at the end. We ended up stopping a bit more than usual to get the group back together because we were without the normal group leader and making the route up as we went along.

C • Geez - you make it sound li... 1