Training Log Archive: Gswede

So, right now, it looks like Northeast PA will continue under a stay-at-home order and only essential travel order until at least June 4.

Assuming that's the case and it's deemed responsible for people to make non-essential trips, I'll be offering courses on five or six maps in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre area starting June 12 (possibly until the end of summer) for your socially distant enjoyment.

Because I'm only one person with few resources, the only option to do this is with GPS punching. I'll provide everything you need to do these courses with O-Range or Usynlig-O.

I hope this will be a nice break for people coming from nearby areas where the summer vegetation gets too unfriendly to orienteer.

Important:
-If, by June 12, travelling these distances is still considered counter-productive in the fight against COVID, then I will not offer any courses.

-Many of these maps are made remotely. As you have probably seen on my log, they're usable but you'll need to adjust from the precision of fieldchecked maps.

-Start playing around with GPS punching now so you can be ready for it. It's a bit different from normal punching. But once you get the hang of it, it is very fun.

-I'll make an AP event when we get more info from the gov't. This post is just for people to be aware of the event.

Man, I really wish I had the new data for this area. It is honestly spectacular terrain and deserves much more than this vague image I'm about to post. Oh well, I love being able to run to a map from my front door.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vBNyaZtoW86QGQCc9

There were a few guys firing off semi-automatic rounds right on the trail next to 20 as I was running up. That carries a heavy fine. There are heavy fines for just firing off blindly in a state forest. But it really messed with my mental state before started. I waited until they stopped firing to start. Would have just gone back home had they continued. I reported it, but it's also tough for rangers to patrol that stuff.

Event: Billygoat 1979 Reenactment
 

Core and lower body

It was windy, cold (-2C), and snowing all day. It was pretty tough to get out the door for this since I had already gotten into a spring mentality. But I put on some warm tights and got out there.

I wore the watch Jarkko-style on one loop and then boring-style on the other. Can anyone tell from the GPS track which style was on which loop?

Almost had an altercation with a not-too-friendly goose. But I decided to take the high road and go off the road to go around it. It didn't even thank me.

2.23 miles

Map: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q7nvyx7R6zMdnr6J6
Cut it at 34 because I was at 56 minutes and I wanted to keep it to 45 minutes. Probably should have cut it earlier, but I wanted to see some new areas.



It doesn't just look like Norway. It's extremely physical like Norway. Even doing this course as a downhill was slow. I was trying to push, but also kept making mistakes. Good thing o-range forced me to get to the actual features. If I didn't have it I would have gotten to similar features nearby and left. Very helpful and worked really well.

I wish I had found these areas before WOC in Norway, but better late than never I suppose.

Lower body kettlebell

First real test of o-range. Worked really well.

I wanted to do a night course since that's when I really need flags the most. This forced me to be more accurate and find the actual points. Ultimately I had a more successful run because I spent more time in control.

Running down slick rocky hillsides was less than fun and fast, but it'll do.

I started off with a 20m punch radius-the largest-but then moved it down to 15m and it still worked well. Pretty excited about this.

Core workout 1

Testing out o-range walking around my neighborhood. Seems very accurate. We'll see how well it works when I start running.

Recovery run around the lake. Brought a Navigabl exercise with me. These exercises require a lot of discipline. I honestly feel less motivated to do them than many other components of my training, but they are also extremely beneficial.

Even this simple 20-minute exercise was mentally taxing and trained my eyes to read extremely fine details.

So, possibly one of the least fun parts of training, but also a huge boost in technical capacity.