Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Sprint the Golden Gate. San Francisco State. Masters/Juniors Sprint. Sunny and chilly. Start at 11:04. Great fun. Hesitant the first two, but then did really well, with only a :25 mistake on #7.

Starts were delayed by 40 mins. Fortunately we had the nice lobby of the library to hang out in so we could stay out of the sub-40-degree weather.

Determined to do better today after having one lousy control each of the first two days plus several other suboptimal ones. Wound up with a much better run, with the only real mistake being less than half a minute (on #7, a multi-level situation).

As has happened in other sprints, I didn’t run fast enough in the beginning, something I’ve been trying to work on. Had about :50 of lost time through #8, but I was nearly 2 mins behind Tapio and Izzy at that point; in contrast, from there to the Finish, I was only :13 behind Tapio and was :12 faster than Izzy.

1. Next to last starter, so had seen the direction several people had taken towards #1. But after turning the corner, was wary of crossing any of the out-of-bounds green, and had to stop twice to make sure I was OK. Lost :10.

2. A few steps towards #2, and I again had to stop to make sure about not crossing green. This was the last time I stopped until a brief stop leaving #14. Seemed like I lost less than :10, but looking at the splits, it appears I lost :15.

3. Considered going left, but right looked like smoother running, so did that, and felt good.

4. Back down the stairs, E to the edge of the map, then S. Nailed it.

5. On the way to #4, debated about whether to go around the N or S side of the building to get to #5. Figured going S would give me a look at the route to 6. Did that without problems or hesitations.

Felt like I did 3, 4, 5 very well, but my times weren’t particularly great. I have to learn to ran faster earlier in a sprint.

6. Back out the way I came in, E, then S down the alley I’d spotted on the way to #5. Good split here shows that my route to #5 paid off by giving me a preview of the route to #6.

7. Spent a lot of time on this leg scrutinizing the map trying to disentangle the two circles and other purple markings near #7, which probably slowed me down a little, maybe :05. Unfortunately, mis-read the clue qualifier as “northern” rather than “upper”, so as I approached I wasn’t sure which level to go for. I recognized this as one of the multi-level situations that Vlad had pointed out, and that he said in the case that the main running level was the lower one. So I went there first, with the plan that if the control wasn’t there I’d go to the upper level. It wasn’t there, so without hesitating continued on up the next set of stairs and around to the upper level. Lost about :20 there, :25 all together on the leg.

8. Recognized that the other multi-level situation that Vlad pointed out was at the W end of the level that the control was on, so I headed there without hesitation, knowing that there was a stairway leading down (though that’s awfully hard to see on the map). Never noticed the route going past #14 before turning W.

Halfway through, so I started picking up the pace. Thought I executed #9 through #14 to near perfection. Caught up to Chuck at #13.

15. Leaving #14, stopped (for the first time since heading to #2) for just a couple of seconds because what I was seeing ahead didn’t quite meet my expectations, but a quick look at the map showed that everything was fine.

Love these campus orienteering events!

My route is on the Get Lost RouteGadget site.

Warm up: 10 mins, 0.8 mi

Cool down: 5 mins, 0.3 mi

Stage Five: Masters/Juniors - Splits

Golden Gate Park, The Lost Herd map. Day 2 of Vladimir's Sprint the Golden Gate. Sunny, temp in the high 30’s.

Got there a little late; parked as instructed, but it was far from the assembly area. Less warm up than I would have liked; legs felt heavy from yesterday. Feeling rather unsettled at the start.

Just discovered that the map is 1:7500. I assumed it was 1:10,000. That may have been a factor in overshooting #3 and certainly on #1, #2 and #4.

Had originally planned to skip this day, but 20 controls in 3.39 km made me decide to come. Excellent technical exercise. Did much of it very well, but too many mistakes, totaling about 5:20, including one of 2:15.

1. Stood at the start for 10 secs identifying what was in front of me and picking out a route. Decided on a route that was a bit longer but easier to negotiate. In the long linear open field, almost ran past the turn-off to the little trail (pace count wasn’t up - again, the wrong scale), costing another :05. Lost :15 all together.

2. Northern route was probably shorter, but went for what looked simple. Coming off the last road, I mistook the form line contour for a trail, so I was a bit confused as I approached the control, expecting to run across the ditch. Pace count was still going (another scale error), but judging by the corral above, knew I’d gone far enough, so figured I must be low; as I went up, saw Daniel Sebo punching in. Lost 15 secs.

3. Knew my exit route, took off in that direction, hit the trail. But by the time I had located the control on my map, I was already past it (another scale error), at the next clearing, surprised there was no control in it. Seeing the road ahead, I somehow thought that maybe I was off to the right, so curled left, cut through some low bushes to a clearing, nothing. Saw some buildings to the west, but took a while to figure out where I was, and then it was easy to get to the control. (But why didn’t I realize right away that the most likely possibility was that I overshot the control?) Lost about 2:15.

4. Didn’t see (on the map) the trail under the red line, so out to the road and run along the sidewalk looking for the little trail. My forth scale error: Pace count hadn’t run out, but it seemed that I’d reached the mapped clearing. What I saw on my left didn’t look much like a trail, so I kept running for a few more seconds, realized that I was indeed in the clearing, went back and turned uphill, and sure enough that was the trail and I was soon at the control. Lost :15.

5. Trail S to the junction, then rough compass towards the control and spot it very soon.

6. Didn’t consider getting on the path to the S (probably a better route). Back to the trail heading NE, through the paved area, then turn right and go over the lower part of the spur. Had to stop for a few secs to see what I should be looking for; a few more steps and I saw the bag. Lost :05.

7. Over the hill to the trail and head E. Intended to turn right at the second little trail, but never saw it. When I saw that I was too close to the road ahead, took a bearing, went through the fight, could see the reentrant ahead, then came to the control. Lost :50.

8. Shortest direction out to the road, turn right, left at the next corner, use the lake and the benches to tell me when to cut in.

9. W to the lake, path around the north side, N through the parking lot. Learned later that some people left #8 heading N or NW, right through the fight - something that wouldn’t have occurred to me.

10. Thought for a moment about trying to navigate more or less directly, but it looked like that would be too slow, so headed NNW alongside the road, turned right onto the the trail along JFK, through the parking lot and along paths to the control. Pushed the pace a little on this one so as to make the longer but easier route pay off.

11. Surprised that I had the fastest split on this leg, given that I made a 15 sec error. Took the path E. Didn’t notice on the map that there was a path right before the one I wanted to turn right on, so I was running S on the wrong path. When I got the middle of the pool on the right, stopped because the control should have been there - and, in any case, this didn’t look like a path that was going to have a Parcourse Station. Quickly realized my error, ran up the hill, and there was the control to my right.

12. Back through the start, lots of features to guide me to the control - as I planned my route for the next one.

13. A little E to avoid fight, then S across the road to the trail. Didn’t think of going a little further E and then S to the road. Headed W on the trail and when it veered right I cut left up the hill. Must’ve left the trail earlier than I thought or cut too sharply left because I wound up stopped by dense fight and unsure of where I was. Went W along the ridge line and saw a place where I could get through to the street, but wound up having to crawl under some thick brush. Popped out in the street - dangerous: no sidewalk, lots of traffic - went W for 50m to the clearing and saw the control. Lost at least :30.

14. Hardly looked at the map for this one, as I knew the general direction and figured I’d see it, which I did after saying Hi to Dennis Wilkerson who was guarding the controls.

15. Went SW to avoid the fight. (Later learned that others went N right through the fight without problems.) Noticed that the back of the handle of my magnifier was missing. Stopped and went back a few yards to look for it, but couldn’t see it and went on. Blasted on a bearing from the T-intersection, identified the two thickets ahead, nailed it. Lost :30, half looking for my magnifier, half due to route choice.

16. Had planned to follow the ditch, which was probably the best route, but was just a few steps from the road, so took that E then cut S when I was across from the start.

17. Through the Finish, towards the bathroom, through the tunnel.

18. Back through the tunnel, tail ENE, curled around the thicket.

19. Thought about going to the street, but the bushes were too thick to get through, so ran parallel to the trail I’d come in on, then got on the trail just NE of the control. Cut left into a gap in the bushes thinking it was the path leading to the control, but quickly saw it wasn’t and corrected. Lost :10.

20, F: No need to look at the map as I’d already figured out where to go as I ran to #19.

My route is on the GetLost RouteGadget site. However, I didn't draw my route leaving #6 correctly. I actually went SSE to the E-W trail.

Warm up: A bit rushed. Legs tired from yesterday. 8 mins, 0.7 mi.

Cool down: 6 mins, 0.4 mi.

Middle: Brown - Splits

Event: Sprint the Golden Gate
 

The usual weekly accumulation of morning strecthing.

Sprint the Golden Gate. Point Lobos (Lands End). Temp in the 40’s with a very chilly ocean wind (and an incredible view from the assembly area). Dark, overcast day; 4:18pm start, early sunset, some heavy tree cover all combine to make the map, which has lots of little details, very difficult to see. In fact, my biggest error, on the last control, was initiated because I couldn’t see the small footpaths on the map. Ran the middle part of the course - out of the woods - very well: Only Izzy had a faster time for the 5 legs #6 - #10, 10:00 to 10:36. Lost about 3 mins overall, almost all of it because I couldn't see the map well enough.

1, 2: No navigational problems, but probably should’ve been running faster.

3. Chose to contour rather than go up to trail, but fight extended further downhill than mapped, causing loss of perhaps :40.

4. Had to stop a couple of times to pick out details on the map. Lost :10.

5. Details of stairs and levels very difficult to read on the map; took a circuitous route, but fortunately executed it well, so only lost about :30.

6 - 10: Never stopped, running pretty hard, read the map very well. This is how a sprint should feel! A bit slow going down the stairs to #10.

11. Got pretty tired climbing up from the road.

12. Eric Bone passed me just before I punched #11. He headed off on the trail that I wanted to take, but in the darkness I couldn’t see the map well enough to tell if that was a viable route. Seeing that the road was in sight and not far, chose a safer route that I could see on the map. The last little trail I took, though, wasn’t the one I thought it was (hadn’t seen it on the map), but fortunately it wound up in just about the same place as the one I intended to be on, so only lost a few seconds at the end when I came out into a small clearing, checked the map, then spotted the control 25m to my right. [Looking at it in RouteGadget, where the scale makes it much easier to see, I wonder if the control may have been on the wrong junction.] Lost about :30 (mostly route choice).

13. Frustrated because I could no longer see details on the map, dropped to the road below which I could see in the terrain. This was foolish: I just should have gone back the way I came, up to the upper road. Ran along the road looking for an easy way up, but there wasn’t one. Had to just claw my way up. Came out right at the Finish. Lost 1:15.

My route is on the Get Lost RouteGadget site.

Warm up: A little rushed; it started drizzling just as I got out of the car to warm up, so I had to get a hat on. Only about 8 mins (approx .7 mi), but felt good.

Cool down: Legs quite tired after big climbs at end; jog 5 mins (.3 mi).

Stage One: Masters/Juniors - Splits

Front of house. 38 degrees, but sunny and still, so not bad. Just loosening up.

555, 511

Didn’t feel that great, but was able to go reasonably fast without much effort.

2 sets rather than 3: Theraband (actually before I ran), weights.

Front of house. Surprisingly nice (upper 60's). Just loosening up.

620, 546,512

Cool down