Training Log Archive: GlenT

At Carter Caves SP. Stayed over Sunday night at the park and did some hiking on Monday before we left. First hike was from the Long courses start out to my Middle course control #5 (code 33) to take some pictures of the "waterfall in a hole" feature. Then we drove to the Cascade area of the park and hiked the loop trail there to see another stone arch (Cascade Arch) and the Box Canyon, another giant rock feature. It was sunny and in the 50s so a little more comfortable in the woods than it had been over the weekend.

Stopped at the New River Gorge (north of Beckley, WV) on our drive towards Charlottesville, VA. Strolled around at the Visitor Center overlooking the gorge and very impressive bridge which carries US Rt 19 across it (860' above the gorge, 1700' long single arch). No time to do any hiking in the New River Gorge Recreation Area, so may have to return sometime.

Update to the Flying Pig lifetime stats for me vs. Soupbone: we each had a win this weekend, me in the sprint, Charlie in the long, so the score is now 15-14, my favor. In total time, Charlie made up about 17 minutes on me, so I now only lead by about 2:30. 10 Flying Pigs, 29 races, over 23 hours of orienteering, and we're only 2 1/2 minutes different - pretty amazing.

C • Yes I would of rocked it! 5

Wandering around Carter Caves SP checking out rock features (mostly "holes in rock" features). Saw Smokey Bridge and Natural Bridge, both having openings 30+ feet high. Also hiked out to Raven Arch, just to get a bit more climb for the weekend.

US Champs Middle distance at Carter Caves SP on Smokey Bridge and Shangra La map. Green M - SL 4.3k, 210m climb. Good job by the course setter on getting the character of the course correct but a total miss on getting the proper length. Green M was only 200m shorter than Blue! So winning times were much longer than they should have been, even with Swampfox running Green M. And with over 200m of climb, it was pretty physical. Terrain was similar to yesterday with less prickly green stuff and more rock features, including some pretty neat ones.

The feature at my fifth control was one of those neat ones. Described as a deep depression, as I looked into the hole while punching, there was a small waterfall, starting and ending below ground level. So cool!

A decent run after I spotted the field about 90 sec on the first control (just not being precise enough on a short leg). Bobbled a minute on #3, again not keeping precise track of my position as I rounded a large spur). Small misses on a few other controls. Was 2nd in M60, 1:20 behind Tony M. 10th overall on Green M. Soupbone was a no show due to an injury, but he apparently "would've rocked it". Talk is cheap. :-)

C • Total miss 2

Middle - 8 Green M - Splits

US Long Champs on Bat Cave map in Carter Caves SP. Green M - 6.8 SL, 310m of climb advertised. Steep, mostly spur and reentrant, with rock features and pricklier green than on the model map. Course was good with 5 long, route choice legs but had a bit too much climb.

Not a good run. Was fine through 4. Missed 5 to the right and used the big building beyond it to relocate. Caught up to Tom Nolan on the way to 6 and then we proceeded to reinforce each other as we made a huge error on 6. Ended up in a paralllel reentrant system about 400m west of the one we thought we were in. I think I figured things out first but then bobbled about in green stuff on the big spur between where we were and where we should have been. Lost about 15 minutes on this one. Lost another couple of minutes on 7 by poorly executing my original route choice and then changing my route partway to what I should have initially seen as the better choice. About 20 minutes back of Tony M, in about 7th place in M60.

And, it was even colder today than yesterday - low 30's at best. Couldn't feel my hands until about 20 minutes into the run.

Long - 8 Green M - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XIX - U.S. Individual Champs - Sprint-Middle-Long
 

Wandering around on the model map at Carter Caves SP. Distance is an estimate (and half of it was walking along the road from and to the lodge). Lots of rock features, good visibility, steep. Cold (30s) but mostly sunny.

Warm up for sprint at Morehead State Univ using the model map.

US Champs Sprint at Morehead State University. Green M course. SL distance 2.9 km, climb 60 m. A fun and challenging course set by Mike Minium on a map which he made, although about 30-35% too long for a sprint. Fairly open college campus set on a slope with some complex buildings creating multi-level situations. Plenty of uncrossables to set up some very nice route choice problems.

Had a good run with only one significant mistake near the end. Always made sure I had a route which got me to the control, even if it meant walking or stopping to read the map. Missed on control 21 when I misinterpreted the "upper" control descriptor as "between" (making the control "between paved area, inside north corner" which made no sense). Lost about a minute when I saw the control on the next level above me and had to double back. A couple of other small hesitations. Ended up 1st (in a sprint!) in M60, mostly because others also made mistakes. 12th overall on Green M.

Cold (still!) with temps in the low 40s and overcast. Snow flurries as we left the event site.

Sprint - 8 Green M - Splits