Training Log Archive: iansmith

Event: West Point A-Meet
 

Blue Day 1, nominally 10.4/225. I ran (and bonked) on Round Pond at my first West Point meet 7 years ago; I had vague memories of the terrain, but my orienteering comprehension has so dramatically improved that once bewildering sections seemed trivial.

West Point courteously reminded me that my physical conditioning is inadequate. I was very frustrated by numerous mistakes I made - technical errors which I could have avoided, though deciphering the terrain was tricky and could best have been solved by more intelligent routes. I didn't have enough stamina to be competitive today, but it seemed like everyone but the Zhyk and Wyatt was equally terrible.

I started somewhat aggressively, running like a middle distance. I made a stupid mistake coming into 4 when I ran low instead of high around a cliff costing perhaps 20-30s. I was slow marching up to 5 and slow but accurate converging on 6. I proceeded to make two stupid 1 minute mistakes on 7 and 8 - first veering left on my attack, then going up a hill because I didn't read the terrain well enough. I'm content with my route to 9, though it might have been smarter to bail to the trail earlier. I was starting to lag a bit en route to 10.

I caught up to the Teutsch at 11, then we both blew 3 minutes being unnecessarily confused and stopping early at 12. Furious with myself, I nailed most of my route to 14, then turned one reentrant too early, losing 45s. I attacked 15 poorly for a loss of 90s, then discarded 75s getting confused by green en route to 16. The rest of the course was not difficult, but I was very slow.

The climb was underestimated (by at least 2x), and some control locations were dubious, but the biggest limiting factor was my glacial pace and poor map reading. I finished in an undeserved fifth.

Warmup scamper to the start, which I feared I might miss. I caught up to Misha, and he jogged with me for the rest of the way. We chatted some. I wasn't particularly stressed about the start time, since I knew if I missed it, they would give me another one in short order. This was a helpful attitude to have as I waited on the bus to leave from parking to the meet site. Fortunately, I arrived at the start about four minutes before my start time.

Blue Day 1 - Splits

Park-O at Cat Rock set by Pia. I pulled off a win by about 90s over Giovanni, but my race had much to be desired. I tried to hack my way through the swamps going right to 1 when I should have run wide on trails. I missed 3 by 5s left getting pushed around by vegetation. My attack to 6 was sloppy, and I drifted too far right. Control 7 was a long leg with a mix of trails and open fields, but I was slow on its execution. I missed 8 right when I didn't understand the rock features for a loss of 20s. I saw Alex picking up controls on my approach into 12; unfortunately, I exited 12 poorly and didn't see my attackpoint into 13, losing maybe 30s. A decent but unspectacular effort. Giovanni picked up the finish punch and walked a few meters away as I was finishing.

Picking up controls.

Sprint - Splits

I'm currently undefeated in O-races in New England - two NEOC meets, an UNO meet, and a Park-O. This is undeserved, as the fields haven't been that deep at these races, but I am motivated to keep this streak going. I need Ethan "Hey, Mats" to come down to some races to test my mettle.

C • Undefeated 7

Event: UNO Bear Brook SP: New England Challenge Stage 1
 

Warmup jog to the start on trails.

Blue course (!) at Bear Brook State Park by UNO; courses set by Ernst, Bob Lux, and Jim Arsenault. The orienteering was fabulous today; it was cool, white to light green woods, some deadfall. I eked out a narrow win over Giovanni despite running slowly and blowing several minutes on one control (10). I could have run 70 on the 8.2 km course if I hadn't made a stupid mistake, but 60 is attainable for speedy person.

Today was the first of the (poorly advertised) New England Challenge - a series of major local meets by each of the four main New England clubs trying to encourage cross-club attendance. My reasoning is this: every club has a mix of major and minor events. For NEOC, e.g., the minor events are often WYOG or even WYO at small, frequented parks like Menotomy, Hammond Pond, and even Prospect Hill. These events are great bread and butter, but the major events usually with longer courses, better terrain, and longer travel are the substance of the schedule. For NEOC, these would be the Mt. Tom, Baldwin Hill, Nobscot, High Rock, Townsend, Earl's, and say Breakheart events. Someone not in the club might not be able to tell at a glance the difference between the two; if each club then nominates a few of its events as "big deals," and we cooperate schedules to avoid overlap, then the really serious people can go to more of these, and the casual enthusiasts can try a few events on new, spectacular terrain. The added effort is minimal, since the clubs were putting on the events anyway. Scheduling and advertising just maximizes the bang for organizer and attendee buck.

If this approach is successful, maybe one event per club per semester is feasible - like a little regional league. Today's event had A-meet quality maps, terrain and courses with simpler logistics. It's hard to imagine an easier way to get good training in.

Thanks to everyone who came out! The UNO guys really enjoyed having more Massfolk at their event.

The next events in this series (about 1 per club) are:
- May 17, NEOC Mt. Tom
- Fall 2015, WCOC
- Fall 2015, CSU
- September, UNO Pawtuckaway camping weekend

C • Splits 19

Blue - Splits