Orienteering (Foot) 23:53 [3] *** 2.2 km (10:51 / km) +105m 8:46 / km
spiked:4/5c
Oregon Ridge Park, MD. Summer Short Series. For what will probably be the last SSS for the summer, Eddie Bergeron set 2 courses. The first was a Prelude to get us used to the map and ready for a longer second no compass exercise. It was 88 F shortly before starting and I haven't been doing that much training recently. I had decided in advance to take it somewhat easy. After getting past the hang gliders practicing on an old ski area I moved slow and steady. I think the first control was slighly mis-hung. It was to be a depression near some green and a small clearing. I found the depression but not knowing if we were looking for real bags or streamers, I went past the streamer doing so. I was hitting things pretty well and rather enjoy running in this park that has so much open ground. Even the spider webs were rare to find. I got slightly low going to #5 and the end control, a man made feature near a ride and a trail intersection wasn't really there--I took some time on the clock for both.
Orienteering (Foot) 52:51 [3] *** 5.1 km (10:22 / km) +150m 9:02 / km
spiked:5/9c
Oregon Ridge Park, MD. For part II of the SSS training, I put away my compass and set off. I ignored a simple trail route to #1 but was a but unsure about the control feature as I got close. I misread the line on the clue sheet and thought I was looking for a depression. I pulled-up at a spring which fit the description, then went on to the boulder. With two different colored streamers on it, I was still unsure what I was to be looking for (a control or streamer). Francis Hoegel had come-up from below; probably the trail route and explained it. I left climbing steadily, surprised at my ability to run without much running training. The cycling in July really had helped despite my 2 week break while sick. I was a bit high at #2 but seeing a rootstock clued me in and I lost little time. Going to #3 I probably left on a bad bearing--without a compass going up a hillside it's hard to tell. Once across a ride, I straightened out a bit but crossing a reentrant and a curving hill, I must have drifted more. I ended-up left 2 reentrants over. I corrected did a better job reading the next reentrant as I crossed it. As I approached #3, Francis was just leaving. I chased and caught him on the way to #4 but in the process of focusing on passing him, I made a classic mistake of not watching the terrain well enough. My sense of distance was off and I wasn't sure if I'd already passed a reentrant on the left. I cut across the creek, and then went on. With a stream fork somewhat hidden I stayed left of it presuming I'd see the fork. Francis passed again as I did this and so I got to #4 after him. I made-up time on him going to #5 and got there just after him. He set of more quickly than he had been running so I still didn't pass him for the next 100m. I chose a more difficult but shorter attack to #6. I angled up a hillside presuming I'd hit a reentrant that I'd seen on my mistake going to #3. This worked well but went I got to the right reentrant after it, I was too high. I could tell by seeing a reentrant fork below and to my right. I corrected and hit the control just fine, finally ahead of Francis for good. I passed another orienteer leaving #6 and hit both #7 and #8 well. #7 seemed further down than expected. Going to #9, I stayed on the right side of the curving reentrant, then didn't cross it until a bit too late. I ended up very near the pipeline ride without having seen an intermittant trail that I must have crossed. I corrected and went right to #9 without much time lost. I also noticed a second streamer on a small unmapped man-made feature just past the streamer. Going to the finish, I didn't have a good bearing and was too far left. I was heading to the top of a hill and was running to what seemed to be the high point. I corrected easily. I thoroughly enjoyed training without the compass. It was a confidence builder that I really needed, not having done much real orienteering training in a while that wasn't mapping or course setting. I was also glad of being able to run through this pretty well. I walked up some hills but my speed was quite good for the effort level that I put into it.
Running (Off Trail) 4:08 [2] 0.39 mi (10:35 / mi)
Oregon Ridge Park, MD. After the SSS no compass exercise, I jogged to the old ski area and down the grassy slope to the parking lot.