Training Log Archive: jjcote

Team Trials long, Star Village. Easily the least interesting and least enjoyable of the three days. This was in part my own fault, as the O shoes I was wearing seemed to have shrunk a smidge since I bought them (probably due to having gotten wet), and I could tell when I put them on that they were a bit short. It didn't bother me yesterday, but over the longer course the backs of the heels were threatening to blister (but didn't), and more importantly, my big toes were getting jammed. It remains to be seen whether the nails will survive. This in combination with the incredibly stony footing on this map resulted in my feet hurting a lot. I wasn't tired at the end of the course, and my muscles didn't feel fatigued, but my feet were killing me.

I got a fine running start, as my start time was 10 minutes earlier than I thought it was. Since I was parked about 20 meters from the callup, I was able to finish up getting ready in a hurry, and made it to the actual start line in time. Sometimes this sort of thing works out well, sometimes not. In this case, I think it made no difference.

Overall, the terrain seemed really bland and uninteresting. The course was basically fine, but you just can't do much with a piece of woods like this. The meet notes talked about it being a special and wonderful place, but I wouldn't have bothered to map it. I do acknowledge, though, that it was pretty representative of continental terrain (though perhaps rockier), and thus probably quite relevant to the WOC.

My biggest mistake was a clerical error, where I started out heading from #1 to #2, and specifically noted that #5 was not the right place to go. About 1/3 of the way there, I headed for #5 anyway, and was almost there when I realized my mistake and turned. I added substantial amount of climb by this maneuver. I also made a mistake after climbing a hill when I turned the wrong way on a trail for several steps due to my brain being all fuzzy, and on three controls I either overshot slightly or pulled up short, going to similar features.

Not particularly great performances on any of the three days. I was one of the older participants in this race, and I haven't been getting much exercise lately, but the places where I didn't do very well were primarily making dumb mistakes, as opposed to not being fast enough.

C • rocky footing... 1

Blue Long - Splits

Team Trials middle distance, Hickory Run. The nicest course of the weekend, though a poor performance by me. The one downside of the day was the leafed-out understory, which dramatically limited visibility, and in places made it like night-O in terms of the need to navigate based on nearby features. Two of my errors involved running right past controls that I would have seen in different conditions, but had I had my act together more, I would have stopped in exactly the right spot and found the controls without much hunting. (The third error was a completely sloppy move, heading off at 60 degrees to my intended direction and then matching up features in my imagination.) I also didn't have much zip, felt like it was hot out, and couldn't run up the hills.

Blue Middle - Splits

Event: US Team Trials
 

Team Trials sprint, Lehigh University. This was pretty much a downhill race on sidewalks, or more specifically, a race that was back and forth on sidewalks and roads, interspersed with running down staircases. One mistake: on #11 I had noted that I just needed to go around the last building to go to the one behind it, but I wound up going around the building that the control was on. I also slowed down some in the latter part of the course. I think the item that could have improved my time the most would have been increased rate of descent on stairs, which was hampered by the fact that I had things (map, etc.) in my hands.

With Nancy, hiking out to the HG/PG launch at Little Gap, via the new twisty rerouted AT on the way out and the old wide AT on the way back. I had decided in the morning that the weather did not look conducive to flying and left the glider at home, which turned out to be the right move, as it was blowing really hard and there was nobody there.

Blue Sprint - Splits

About 80 minutes pushing the mower this evening. I forget how many hours the previous owner said it took her to do the yard with a riding mower, but I think it was at least three (it might have been six). I didn't quite finish, still need to do the terrace by the deck, and there are parts of the yard that I do not mow, because I'm deliberately letting them go wild, but this was still a pretty good clip. Helps that it was cool (in the 50s) rather than up around 90. I had planned to just mow until the mower ran out of gas, but it never did. I could have sworn that it used to take a couple of tankfuls to do the yard.