Training Log Archive: ndobbs

Event: WCOC Fall orienteering weekend - morning sprints
 

Bethel Sprints, Course A

Fun! Good map, choices and decisions all the way. No real mistakes, but a few hesitations, probably chose the incorrect (right) route to 4...

No zip, but steady. Beat Mike S, but a Brazilian took two minutes out of me, ouch!

Bethel Sprint, Course B.

Slightly easier than the one before, except that it was after the one before. Clean again, but not fast enough so Mike slipped ahead.

Cookies, cereal bars and apples followed, not quite enough to get me around a middle.

WCOC Middle at Paugussett

No issues, except a 20 s mistake at 8, and a big slow down towards the end as the bruises accumulated on the feet and the stony downhills combined with lack of sugar reduced me to a potter. Was leading by 4 minutes at the 7th control, lost it all...

Blue - Splits

Course A - Splits

Course B - Splits

Blue Mtn, the non-control-pick part of the NAOC training.

Was out for two hours (from car park past the lodge), beautiful, wasn't moving fast and fannied about some, pretty good on the nav side. Looking forward to throwing out the shoes, annoyed I didn't get replacements last weekend.

Thanks, Dr. Granovskiy!

Haircut and flights! If I weren't so damn productive I'd call it a rest day.

C • Yes, but... 6

Rest day :)

Surebridge/Hogencamp control pick, part of the naoc training camp.

Woods were beautiful in the rain, and in theory this should have been loads of fun, but I never got into a rhythm.

At the first control (well, 50m before) there was a flag, clearly not where my control should have been. I decided to stop and think a bit and work out exactly where I was and where the control would be --- description said re-entrant, circle was centred on knoll. Before continuing on, I turned around, and saw someone up a tree. Woah! How weird. Wondered if it was an orienteer, but that didn't make sense, and I didn't recognise him. He also wasn't 70 years old, before you ask. As I was leaving, he jumped down from the tree, moved a few metres, and stopped.

Got one, left in the wrong direction, corrected, got 2, went to three and the badness began. The hilltop before the control was terrible. Almost flat in reality, the knoll atop form-line hill together protruded a whopping metre. This kind of thing goes on in various parts of Surebridge, and I don't know which bits of the map are reliable and which are not. By control 18 (I think) apart from being wrong, one contour just disappears for a while.

Since I'm ranting, I'm going to say that Surebridge is too poor a map to be worth doing middle-type training on without vetting the courses first. In too many places the contours over-emphasise terrain features and the terrain contrasts too much with any reasonable preconception one may make looking at the map.

By number 14 I crossed tree-man again, and he was orienteering, so I introduced myself. He was a Chris from Edmonton. And I think he may have been up the tree for a while, scared of a bear, although that didn't click immediately when he said he'd seen something black going back and forth for almost half an hour. Haha.

Having given up running at 18 in order to think about how one could repair the map, by 20 I was done, and on the verge of being upset, but then I reminded myself I was in beautiful, glorious woods, and smiled :)

C • Agreed on course-setting at... 6

Control pick at BM. Thanks, Boris!

By the time Marek arrived, it was getting dark, and this quickly turned into nighto. Yay. Many streamers were there, but not all, afaics.

Pulled pork at Birdsall after.

to/from the control pick.

I didn't take the camera with me today, but Harriman was lovely, esp by the lakes. I think the rain may enhance the loveliness.

Woodbury Commons

Map was decent. Made a few mistakes, lack of respect. Fun. The Polo Lauren building has grown.


And inspired by Ross and Sam and the prospect of Finland, I bought a NF waterproof duffel bag, which also doubles as a large carry-on bag for my upcoming flights, wherever they may go.

How long before there'll be an A-meet sprint here?

C • Fun course 1

NAOC Sprint.

21st, 802 wre points. Didn't feel like I lost much time. I guess I was just slow. A month of training isn't enough to run three races in a weekend. Also didn't sleep enough. Seemed like a good sprint. I was a bit worried before the start - the warm-up map had a bunch of green-briar that didn't make it onto the race terrain, thankfully.

Had to be in quarantine at 7:30, still very cold... sun was slowly coming up...


After the race, ate, socialised, boggled, showered, then went down to watch the relay. Great show by DVOA, hats off. Pics here.

Happy to see Izzy ran a great first leg.


And the senior girls showed how it was done.


This one isn't perfect, but it's still for Eddie -


Exit stage left, pursued by

C • Where was the bear?! 2

Blue - Sprint - Splits