Training Log Archive: GlenT

Event: EMPO - Washington Park
 

Warm up jogging to and from car and restroom.

Park-O at Washington Park in Albany. Mostly open land (mowed grass) with many mature trees, a few statues and fountains, some playground equipment, a long narrow lake (with a bridge near the middle), and an amphitheater (where they were prepping for a production of Spamalot). Some contour detail, particularly near the lake. Phil H-T recently remapped the area so the map is vastly improved over the 1988 version.

Frank Boscoe and Brenan Tarrier made good use of the entire park and got a 4km course on a ~0.5 km^2 map. Since this is a very urban park, they used small pin flags to mark control locations (with a letter at each location which we noted on our punch cards).

An OK run with one significant error when I went to a control on an adjacent spur rather than the correct one. Also lost some time (15 sec) waiting for traffic to cross a street (3 cars, 4 Harleys). Took one longer route choice when I noticed a group posing for pictures on the bridge I wanted to cross and ended up going around the lake. Probably could've been 1.5 - 2 min faster. Mostly cloudy and muggy.

HRM needed a new battery (now fixed).

C • 1

C • Time? 3

At Constitution Hill in Lanesboro MA, a BNRC property where we did a snowshoe race this past Winter. There was less snow but more mosquitoes and mud. Trails are mostly jeep road/ATV width (without too much ATV damage). A couple of muddy spots, lots of soft spots due to plenty of rain recently. I ran most of the interesting parts of the snowshoe race (i.e. not the part in the field, which is currently thigh-high grass), plus a couple of additional out-and-backs. Quite muggy.

Didn't push, didn't get hurt.

Stroll with Janet into "town" after dinner.

At Grafton Lakes SP, starting at Mill Pond parking area. Took the Spruce Bog trail then followed a fairly new loop trail to White Lily Pond and back. After returning to the Spruce Bog trail, continued on to the Fire Tower and Chet Bell trails back to the parking lot at the north end of Long Pond Rd where Janet had parked. The trail to White Lily Pond is in the process of being developed, so is marked primarily with flagging tape or pin flags. One portion on the return from the pond had pin flags every 5 to 10 feet but no obvious trail on the ground - very new. It's intended for mountain biking, so lots of (superfluous) twists and turns. I think the piece of land down to White Lily Pond is a new addition to the park, but it's somewhat of a peninsula, so not really a terrain addition from an orienteering perspective.

Temperature was in the low 80's (and noticeably more comfortable in the woods) so tried to keep the pace reasonable. Trails have plenty of rocks and roots. The newly minted trails were fairly soft since they are still mostly forest duff.