Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

So I probably shouldn't have mentioned besting 70 minutes for this course :) Hubris makes for some very painful lessons as the Greeks have shown us. So map 1 and map 2 from the race with QR.

I was just plain not careful enough. The beginning of my race was going swimmingly so I was kinda lulled into a sense of well-being. Then I got caught by the uncrossable fences at 4 and then again at 6 ( I just don't read those black lines with double ticks very well). Then a really serious error as I came across the hillside to 8. Looking at the QR it is now, finally, obvious what happened. I was contouring along and saw a spring/mine shaft opening. It was very nicely built and must be on the map. I scanned the slope as I was running and saw what looked like a mine shaft-y kind of cliff just before the control. So I altered my route and used this new feature as an attackpoint. On the QR it is clear that the mine shaft spring thing is really marked as a black X and that's why I was so far off coming down to the cliff. I relocated on the marsh just east of 9 and was able to move on... but it derailed the sub 70 train for sure :)

For 13 I wanted to stay high which I don't think was a great idea here anyway, and then I did a poor job of reading the cliffs in the circle and very confidently ran too low thinking my flag would be at the base of a different cliff.

On 15, I hadn't even flipped my map over yet to read ahead (just forgetful I guess) and was greeted with a beautiful long leg. I looked left and it seemed pretty far off the line and I looked right and it seemed even farther off the line. Straight was a joke because of all the sidehilling.... or was it. I'd been along that slope a lot already and it wasn't so bad... so I chose to go along the righthand slope. I executed my plan as best I could but the green near the end of the contouring was murder and truly destroyed the route. In retrospect dropping down at the end to run along the fence at the base there would have been nice. In quick routes i can check and see that it took me 8:30 to get to where the green begins... and I bet I could have done the rest in about 4 minutes... puts me even with some of the other guys that went left.

The last set of controls was really fun, I left 21 too low and had to climb up the road a fair bit to cut over to the finish control... but otherwise the last loop went very nicely.

Awesome course by Hannah.

C • wp maps 24

Blue Long Distance - Splits

My quickroute for the middle shows both my drawn and my quickroute track for the race. Not the clean race I had been hoping for. I had a cleanish start, got off line on 3 as I had simplified to think that I was just following along the top of a line of cliffs after I cross the stream.... I followed the wrong "cliffs" and had to correct. But then really fell apart on the way to 6. climbing hills makes me stupid I guess. I really had thought that I had gone farther than I had and I was not good about relocating. Could have been much worse, already pretty bad as about a 3-4 minute error. Could have gone around, would have been safer. I didn't want to be afraid of the climb though... I felt strong and it looked faster to go straight.

back in the saddle for the middle section, but then chose to contour around the hill on the way to 12... again thought I had gone farther than I really had and dropped down into the barberry bushes and had to climb again back to the control when I had figured out, finally which of the various walls I had come across. Contouring would have been okay if I had executed better. Going over the top worked for Boris, and I probably should have done the same but it seemed like a lot of climb and I was feeling tired.

A bit sloppy on 13, and, comparing splits from when Jordan vetted the course, it looks like I lost time on 14 too. I wasn't super focused at the end just tired.

3rd, 1 min behind a broken Boris and 15 seconds behind a wily Wyatt.

Rough start to the season, but plenty of things in the race that I did well.

C • Good and Bad 3

Quickroute from the sprint.

This race went pretty well. Managed to just stay in control the entire time apart from control 6. Lost maybe 25 seconds by running to the wrong rootstock. Possibly thrown off by another runner in the woods at that point. Especially like my route to 13, but think that it would have been faster to go right on the way to 12.

Blue Middle Distance - Splits

Red/Blue Sprint - Splits

just dumping my Garmin before West Point this weekend. Will come back and clean up (well that's the theory at least).

C • Leg 1

Trying to catch up with my logging. Adding a few maps from the Harriman camp and will follow that up with splits too. My DOMA page.

Plan for the week
Tuesday - Track
Wednesday - Terrain Intervals? Possibly set flags at Cat Rock?
Thursday - Park O Cat Rock
Friday - Drive to West Point

Had big plans to get a lot of stuff done around the house and then go for a long run on the way to work... but by the time I actually got ready to leave it was late enough that biking was necessary. I did make time for cruches and push ups so that's good, and the kitchen got cleaned and some of the laundry got folded and put away.

To make up for missing my morning run I skipped the noon seminar on Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and went for a run around Jamaica Pond instead. Beautiful afternoon, I'm pretty sure I made the right choice here.

Leaving from work I was in a hurry so I took the straight route home along Rt. 9. Actually, heading west along this route is just fine, there is a wide shoulder and traffic isn't too bad. Going east wouldn't be so pleasant though.

A splendid dinner at Casa Luis in the evening. Feeling happily spoiled with good food. As Sam likes to say "We have a pretty good life", though my favorite quote of hers today was "I kinda forgot how time works" in reference to running late on her schedule of events.