Training Log Archive: Cristina

Event: 2010 US Team Trials for WOC
 

Warm up, on the way to the start and back and forth before starting. A few strides, but not too quick.

TT Middle. Quite satisfying, though not perfect. I will elaborate tomorrow.

It is now tomorrow. As best as I can remember, I was very nervous for this, though I kept trying to rationalize the nervous away. I had spent a few days running in similar terrain, which in no way made me a master of Harriman, but did mean that I could expect to take my first look at the map and not cry. Success on that point. I knew that the middle would be very technical, so I knew that accurate was more important than fast. So, taking a cue from the Canadians (Carol especially), I mentally "walked" to the first control. Success, and a boost of confidence.

The confidence lasted for most of the course, except for ~1 min on 6 and 8, and a smaller error on 15. The only scary moment was at 6, when I crossed a marsh that I could not see on the map (I can barely see it now, sitting down at the kitchen table) and ended up a bit disoriented. Recovered okay and kept up the steady drive of orienteering.

This felt really good. It was fantastic orienteering - you had no chance to think of anything except your course, and the terrain is just fun. And it was going well - I caught and passed my -6 runner and never saw my +3 runner (Sam), and I just knew that I was doing well (for me). On the way to the last control I remember glancing down at my map, saying to myself, "it will be in that dip up ahead..." and then seeing the flag. I felt this tremendous joy, like "I win!", not because I thought I was going to be high in the standings (though I hoped I would be) but because I knew it had been a successful effort on my part. And that felt good.

That said, I can certainly see how, with more practice (mostly), and more physical strength, I could knock many minutes off of a course like this.

I was 4th Trialer on the course, though with Ali blowing us all away it was worth ~94 points. A good start.

Trotting and walking back after the finish whilst bagel munching. Best idea I've had in a while: brought a bagel in my jacket so that I could eat immediately after finishing. The sprint started 3 hours after the middle finished, and there was the 2.5 km walk back to the parking lot. Worked well to have food there, I had no issues running later.

Warm up for the long, in the parking lot and the strip of grass close to the start. Easy running and some lengthier strides.

I successfully recalibrated my brain to 1:4000 by pacing out centimeters during my strides. They come quick!

TT Sprint. Same.

Not much to say about the sprint - I wanted to have the same care and focus as I did in the morning, and for the most part I did. I think I was moving a bit too fast for my navigating in the middle of the course - 9, 10, 11 - but they were small areas. I was able to push fairly hard all the way through and was satisfied with my effort.

About a minute back from Sam and Erin, so about 93 points. A good first two races, but still a tough fight to make the team.

Red Middle - Splits

Red Sprint - Splits

A fairly restful rest day.

I'm ready to run tomorrow, just finished re-reading my entries from last year's TT to remember what it felt like to have those good runs. I can't control anyone else's run, so it's just me vs. Harriman. It's on!

C • Good luck! 4

Easy run/walk on Surebridge. Beautiful day, 60s and sunny. Most of the gang ran the relay loops from the CSU camp. I just ran to the start, a little around the start, and then back to the car. Most of it was trail, just picking stuff off of the map and following along.

It's definitely more fun to actually orienteer here than to just trot around with the map.

Warm up run from the car to the start of the O-tervals. Chilly (low 40s), rainy, and foggy. Yum.

O-tervals on Pole Brook with the Canadians. We ran the course from the CSU training camp (map), which Boris (our hero) had left streamered. Carol and I started each one together, though generally she was faster, with Emily and Jeff chasing us down. Patrick just ran ahead after the first, he would have frozen if he'd waited each time and given us an appropriate lead.

This was a blast. Really fun orienteering, and having other people around is always good training. I definitely feel more in control of my focus when doing these kinds of exercises.

That's it for today. Didn't think I'd train twice anyway, but it took over an hour for my big toes to stop being numb, which I took as a sign. Better to relax, drink a lot of water, and maybe update some SS standings...

C • training with Canadians 1

To and from the start.

"Follow John"* training with the Canadians on the Hogencamp map. Nice out, 50s and cloudy. Woods are a bit leafy, but vis is still pretty good.

I teamed up with Carol for this relocation/leading exercise and, after a shaky start, managed just fine. I'd say 400% improvement over the course of the exercise, approximately. I can certainly orienteer here, I just can't let my guard down for even a second.

I've done this 'follow John' exercise a few times times now and I think it's a nice way to force yourself to concentrate in a non-race environment and to do some accurate partner training without streamers or controls. Good times.

*Follow John training = each person only has half the controls on the map. So in this case Carol had 1 and led the way. When we got there, I was then to lead to 2, which she didn't have on her map. So you have to know where you are when the other person stops, and then find your way to your control next.

I wanted to do something physically easy but technically more demanding, so I went for a little control picking outing at Nobscot. I wanted to simulate the constant looking ahead for things that I anticipate having to do next weekend. Woods a little junky, but it was a beautiful day - mid 50s and sunny. The map is also a bit of a letdown after this weekend, but it's still more relevant than anything back in Tucson.

Warm up run to the start and around the start area. Windy and cool, but decided at the last minute to ditch the long sleeve shirt under my O top. It wasn't *that* cool. Nice running weather. Felt pretty good, mentally and physically.

First leg was no good (~5 min). Failed to attack the long leg (~4 min). Otherwise, some fine moments of orienteering in there. A great course and really quality terrain. A few things:

- Some days I'm sharp right from the get go (Saturday) and some days obviously not (Sunday). I need to approach the first leg systematically like I did on Saturday, everyday.

- While I am getting better about tackling very long legs, it's still a major weakness. I think I need to talk to some people for advice on this.

- It is painfully obvious that I do not do enough woods running. Desert running (and desert trail running, which I do plenty of) is not enough. Several people caught and passed me in the woods today, some of whom are certainly not significantly faster (if at all) on the pavement. There were also people who are certainly much slower on pavement who took a little longer to drop than I would have expected. Some of this is also navigational speed, but certainly pure running, too.

This was a very fine weekend, a really great meet by WCOC, and two maps I'd gladly run on again. It's definitely time to tune in to this northeastern terrain and gear up for next weekend.

Red Day 2: Long - Splits