Training Log Archive: cmorse

Was just going to go for a run over at Cross Farms this AM, but the GPS had a very good signal lock under trees (2-3m) so I took a casual stroll on one section of trail to get a rough track and wall/marsh/trail crossing points for referencing back to the base.

After walking the first section of trail, I saved the track, then ran easy for a while on some more of the same trail. Its blazed in the woods, but in a number of areas is very vague on the ground and occasionally the blazes are not close enough to be obvious which way to go, so a couple of spots involved standing near the last blaze and scanning the woods for another blaze (orange paint spots) before proceeding.

After finishing that section of trail I ran back to the car via the 'back 9' of the disk golf course - sprinting tee to hole, then a very short jog to the next tee and repeat. The disk golf course goes through the woods but from tee to hole the woods are laced with small trails and I've been trying to figure out how to best map these areas. I think I will map the 'fairways' as rough open w/ trees as they are definitely more "open" in appearance and ground disturbance than regular white woods and would be obvious if crossing them at an angle - leafy forest floor versus heavily trafficked forest floor. We'll try it that way and see how the map legibility goes...

Get out the door and do something was the goal for today. So out the door I went. Up to the forest to see who else was around, not many. A couple of recovering knee replacements walking, and Willi doing a run/walk rehab as well. None of the regular runners in attendance today so I just headed north on the dirt road and headed up into the basemap area east of Bald Mountain. Decided on roughly an hour and the first 10 minutes were tough, but things loosened up after that, but I could tell that the energy level/pace would decline as I went, so I turned around at 28 minutes and headed back. No big hills, no running fast - just an easy run on a very fine morning.

nice casual ride to the lake with Hayden. Nice temps, lightly overcast - hung out by the lake bridge for a bit before coming back. Estimated riding time.

'Race Day' at camp. Put out the 530m, 9 control, e-punching course along with 30+ other bogus controls in an area behind the school. Enough controls scattered around so that you couldn't just go running around hunting for the correct control. Some controls were visible, others were hidden behind their respective features to add a little challenge to the mix. All controls except the start were visible from the finish (so I could keep an eye on everyone) and the course crossed over itself a couple times. A camp staffer started the kids at intervals from behind a wing of the school before starting themselves. Kept it interesting and kids were running in every conceivable direction...

Some kids did surprisingly well, visibly studying their map and the terrain before heading off to accurately spike the next control while others ran off in the general direction of the next control and prayed, and even others ran off in totally different directions. But everyone eventually found all the controls (some with a little assistance) and the faster kids were in the 7-8 minute range while others were in the 15 minute range.

With the younger groups (K-2 plus a few learning disabilities) we reviewed the entire course on the map (but out of sight of the course itself) then sent them out in pairs. A handful of the older kids who had already done their course volunteered to chaperone each younger group and keep everyone focused. Worked out pretty well. Again, all groups finished the courses, though many with quite a few extra bogus punches on their epunch.

4 of the kids enjoyed it enough that they decided to re-run the course for speed so that they could compare splits with their earlier run. Course times ran from 3:20 to about 4:45 for the repeat runners... (benchmark - I ran it in 2:20 waking up controls)

Take home course maps had USOF, WCOC & NEOC web addresses and I think there were at least a couple kids who might show up at a future local meet - one girl even commented to me that she was going to make a map of her house and set a course for her family...

The schools PE teacher who was helping out a couple of the days said he was planning on writing a grant so that they could get some orienteering gear and integrate some O in the curriculum. He had done some orienteering in college, but had never really been exposed to it as a 'running sport' and said that it put quite a different perspective on it and that it would make a good addition to his program. The O.mov video and epunching helped reinforce that as well.

A fun week, though a little stressful at times since I kind of winged the curriculum but it ended up adapting to the range of ages and abilities quite well. Good weather all 5 days didn't hurt either.

And a big thanks to WCOC for allowing me to use a full meet kit for the week - I'll be sending a portion of my compensation along as a donation to the junior team....

I'm on vacation for another week or so - but when I get back to my webserver, I'll post up maps and photos if anyone is interested in checking back...

C • Nice job 3

went to the doctors this afternoon after O camp. Previous two bouts of mystery illness in June (6th & 26th) now diagnosed as positive for Lyme Disease, not shingles, not vague flu-like thing....

'test running' the course for tomorrow. As close to a sprint as I could muster without warming up and without any real training for weeks now. 2 whole minutes and I was gasping for breath. A whole half a kilometer.... Take what I can get...

Spent the first half of each session talking about map scales, using the Cross Farms map at 1:2500 that we've been using all week, then showing the same map at 1:5000 & 1:10,000 and discussing the ramifications. Then showed the Crandalls map at 10,000 and then 5000 & 2500 versions. So one map scaling up, one scaling down. Seemed a pretty good way to get it across to the younger kids.

Then discussed the mechanics of a meet/race - starts, e-punching, finish, checking control codes, description sheets. Followed up with a 20 minute (x4) practice course around the school. Included similar type control sites as tomorrow and also demonstrated how the course could cross over itself (which it does 3x tomorrow). Those that retain today's lessons should be able to do tomorrows course in 7-9 minutes I'm guessing. Others will be hunting since the 9 course controls will be accompanied by roughly 30 other 'bogus' controls (can you say Micro-O?) Should be fun.

I'll try and post maps and maybe some photos of the chaos tomorrow evening...

Another day of map walking and learning to orient the map. Discussed and practiced a couple of advance level legs with attackpoints and aiming off. Most seem to be getting the hang of it and having a good time...

Map Walking - Day 1. No running today, so intensity 0.

Created a map with 50 reduced sized control circles and numbers and took each of my 4 groups on a 45 minute map walk. Learning to identify features, constantly orienting the map and thumbing their location on the map as we went. Began a little discussion of handrails as well. Most of them had quite a few troubles early on, but by the end of the session they seemed to be getting the hang of orienting the map and matching features on the ground with the map. The last 15 minutes I'd lead them along and then stop at a control circle (no flags out today) and have them tell me which number circle we were at and then describe the feature to me.

Tomorrow we'll do it again but I'll take the older kids into the woods and go off trail a bit... Some of the kids really seem to get it, others not so much...

One of the adult helpers is a PE teacher who is switching school systems in the fall and has been asked to 'bring new ideas' to the school system over in Andover and is really keen on trying to work some orienteering into the program. I'll have to dig up some more info for him to keep that spark alive...

Putting out controls, leading 4 groups of kids (7-12 per group) on a mock O course (complete with e-punching - a big hit), and then running the course with my own kids after camp. The picking up controls.

Additionally another (unlogged) 100 minutes of classroom o-training including looking at maps, watching O.MOV juniors movie and talking about orienteering as a sport. Will start teaching them to read maps in tomorrow's lesson.