Training Log Archive: ebuckley

Event: US Champs
 

Jogging around in the model area hitting control points from a bunch of directions and checking out the mapping. Includes running the model course (.9K, 8 controls) at close to competition speed (7:09). Also includes finishing off my warmup running around on the grass near the sprint start.

US Sprint Champs at Prince William Forest (1:5). Sit down first. You sitting? OK, I won M40+. Whacky.

C • 40+ 4

Model event for the classic course on a tiny snippet of the Prince William map (1:15). Ran a few legs hard to get used to the rather trashy woods, but mostly poked around looking at the mapping of vegetation. Seems pretty good, but it's hard to read at speed. 10:00/K will be about as quick as I can go and stay in contact. Might not even be able to maintain that.

Sprint Red - Splits

In to work. A bit less pressure on the pedals than usual.

Back home via Webster Groves...

... where I rode a short course on the Webster Groves bike-O map (1:20).

Two control picking courses at Castlewood (1:15) separated by some trail running. All taken at a pace appropriate for a big meet in two days.

Did it! On a map every day in October. Stats:

Days: 31
Days on a map: 31
Total maps: 33
Orienteering maps: 31
Sessions with technical merit: 21
Sessions with near or above threshold effort: 17
Sessions with neither (fluff): 6
Total time navigating: 29 hours 25 minutes
Total controls visited (includes training locations not marked with a flag): 663

C • That's pretty cool. Of cour... 2

In to work.

Out Olive, then south on Spoede and Geyer to Kirkwood for my O-session. Continued west on Marshall but by then I was riding straight into the setting sun which is how my good freind Jeff Carlson had his cycling career (and almost his life) cut short when a motorist couldn't see him. So, I hopped on the new and improved Greentree Park trail which isn't really that new, but I haven't ridden it since it was resurfaced and lengthened five years ago. The road from the west end into Valley Park is as old and unimproved as ever which was fine with me since I haven't done any pave training in a while. I did notice a whole bunch of survey stakes along the road, so maybe they are serious about bringing the trail the rest of the way. By then it was getting dark, so I turned north and headed home on Barrett Station/Mason.

Control picking at Kirkwood Park (1:3.75) at a fair clip. It's always amusing to run at Kirkwood Park during the day. The tiny features that give you such fits during the night event are visible from 100m away. No problem staying clean.

Warmup (15 min - not enough, but I wanted to be home for dinner by 6) and warmdown.

Rockwoods Test Loop (1:15). Ran as well as I ever have, but Rockwoods has just gotten too thick along the streams to match my PR from 5 years ago (32:24). That's OK, I was considering retiring this version of the Test Loop in favor of one that used the trim controls so I wouldn't have to keep re-taping it. I'll take one more stab at a PR in December or January.

C • tape 5

Test loop - Splits

Hanging all the controls for the SLOC meet at St. Francios (1:15). Easier than even my usual easy pace because, this being St. F, I was taking extra care to make sure I was putting stuff in the right place (map is not great and the terrain is subtle). Glad I did because it would have been a real shame to spoil the great battle on the Prologue & Chase. David Frei overcame a nearly 3-minute deficit to Andy Komm on the chase and then the two of them sprinted it in at the finish. I had to stand off to the side to see who would get the lean at the line, and even from that vantage point was just barely good enough to determine that David did get it by an inch or two.

Control pickup at a somewhat better clip.

Hill training at Greensfelder (1:15). Four uphill legs of 3-4 minutes run at redline connected by some control picking for about 10 minutes recovery between each. Uphill legs were technically trivial (basically run to the top of the hill), which was good since my brain wasn't working too well at that level of effort. Includes warmup/dn on the map.

Got to the park at 7:00AM and found things somewhat colder and much darker than I expected. I didn't have a headlamp so I had to wait a few minutes for it to be light enough to set out on the trail for my warmup. By 7:15, I could read the map OK.