Training Log Archive: ParkSchool

I still was quite worn out after St.Louis, even after sleeping away most of the morning, but the dogs were getting very antsy, so I didn't think a rest day was going to be an option. Chose to do the short loop at Caryl Park as it seemed to be the shortest option that was not completely shortchanging the dogs. I felt like death going up the first long hill, but once I got to the crest, I was pleased to find some spring returning to my legs. I actually felt my stride lengthening out as I ran the second half of the course and was not the least bit unhappy with my overall effort by the end.

Despite my fairly consistent training, I was certainly worn out after the three earlier races, and I sensed it was going to be a long day when I had to walk up the hill to #1. I at least took the time to see that I wasn't going to skip two consecutive controls. Control #4 looked like a good early skip, but then the group I was with (including Charlie Shabazian, whom I thought might be running about my speed) veered well off line to #3 hitting the road 200 m N of the line. At this point, the road run to #4 suddenly became a very attractive option, so I skipped #3 instead. Charlie made the same decision, and we ran together to #5 where we ran into Ian Harding, a runner from MNOC who had finished third in the Friday sprint. It seemed like this was a good place to be, and I tagged along, often in the rear through #10. Charlie had asked if I had a plan for my second skip, and at this point we somewhat precipitously decided that #11 would be a fine choice. It wasn't. Control #12 was a technically difficult gully branching off one of the plentiful reentrants on a relatively bland hillside. I had hoped to run into a fenced-in region N of the control, but never saw it. So we wound up wandering lost for several minutes before I dubiously bailed out back towards #11, perhaps in the hope of seeing Ian Harding approaching to rescue me. Ultimately, I ran over another mapped fence (it seems in retrospect that these linear features were not as helpful as I had assumed before hitting a trail I recognized. At this point, I probably should have attacked the control from below, but I followed the trail back along the ridge above the control where I already had been. This time, I chose to attack from a flat but recognizable hill above the control. And yet again I missed it, although this time I was sure enough of my position to at least circle productively until I found the control. From that point on I was just concentrating on finishing, usually running alone, although occasionally running into runners who said how happy they were to be keeping up with someone who had performed so well in the Friday sprint. Of course, this did little to improve my mood. I made additional errors at #13, where I was just very tentative and having trouble ascertaining the scale of the features as I crossed several reentrants obliquely (reprising my difficulties from the previous day), #18 where I ran out the wrong reentrant, and #19 where I left the trail too soon and incautiously dumped into a EW reentrant rather than the intended NS reentrant. I also lost time at #20 where I navigated fine, but just didn't see the flag (along with several other people) although we were practically standing on top of it. I did manage to pull away from some of the people who were with me over the last five controls, but I was still well over the 3:00 limit that I had set as the mark for an acceptable performance. On the whole, it wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't a very uplifting performance either, and I was left with unsettling feeling that I had some innate difficulties in visualizing the terrain that might make future efforts in "ridge and reentrant" topography a challenge.

This was the race that really mattered to me. I had sized up the competition as best I could and thought I had a realistic chance to fulfill one of my longstanding orienteering goals of placing on Red in an A-Meet. And everything seemed to be falling into place. I had been a little tentative heading to #2 but had nevertheless spiked it and then had a series of good controls. By #5, I had gotten close enough to glimpse Tom Svobodny, a runner ranked similarly to me who had started perhaps 2-3 minutes earlier. I was briefly confused on #7, but didn't feel I had wasted more than a few seconds, and then I was delighted to see Tom again heading into #11 only about 8-10 seconds in front of me. And then the thought hit me that I actually was on the verge of accomplishing my most cherished goal for the weekend. All I had to do was navigate the long leg to #12 and I would be fulfilled. But then I choked. Tom seemed to be heading too far right, so I cleverly ignored him and kept on course to pick up the trail I was planning to run for the first half of the leg before running along a broad ridge and then navigating more carefully for the last 250 m. But something didn't seem right about the location where I had hit the trail, and all of a sudden I was worrying that I was on some different, perhaps unmarked trail. Or maybe I was on the right trail, but not where I should be which might make it difficult to recognize my planned departure point. And so I foolishly departed the trail trusting myself to find a smaller trail running above the stream that ran parallel but maybe 125 m left of the direct line to #12. Needless to say, this was not a success. I found I was easily confused by all the reentrants crossing my path and very poor at judging the scale of the contours on the open hillside. As a result, I wound up stopping short and running up and down the wrong reentrant, even though I had not crossed a trail that should have intersected my path and even thought there was not nearly the volume of rocky features that should have been visible near the control.

It was a rookie move, but even after this 2-3 minute error, I was still under 10:00 min/km, and I still had hopes that my time might sneak into third place as I pushed to the finish line. But such was not the case. I wound up in fifth place 2:34 short of my goal.

Now that the splits are available, it is clear that I was 30 seconds behind Joe Sackett for third place even before my error, so it might still have been a stretch to overtake him. But at the time of the event, all I could think was that I had had a chance to achieve my most challenging yet still realistic orienteering goal and had blown it by panicking on the last difficult control. It did not put me in the best frame of mind for the upcoming sprint.

I even thought of skipping the sprint, but as I had no particular expectations for the goat event on Sunday, I decided I might as well get my money's worth while I was in St. Louis. My performance was notably sloppy with three sizable errors. My worst mistake occurred near the end where two successive controls lay along the edge of a stream. The woman ahead of me checked out the control I was heading for, but then didn't punch and headed away from the finish. I assumed we had both hit the stream beyond the first control and so unproductively (and surely improperly as well) altered my course to search the banks too far downstream. We both finally recognized that we were in the wrong place and went back to the original control. She then added insult to injury by chasing me down in the sprint to the finish. All in all, it was an uninspired performance.

Hawn sprint - Splits

Middle: RED - Splits

Grunt - Splits

Event: A-meet and 2nd Annual Gateway Grunt & Runt - Hawn
 

The overnight shift was rather more busy than I had hoped, and I had some minor concerns about getting my paperwork done before my 9:15 AM departure time, but the actual trip to St. Louis proved very easy, and I did get a couple hours of sleep on the plane. I had been worried about possible commuting delays, so had asked for a late start. When the commute went so well, I had plenty of time to warm up and watch the early runners. It was clear that at least one of the courses had an option to run along the road before entering the woods in a thick but apparently passable area.

I had thought that this sprint was a single course with results broken down into the standard course color of the various competitors, but it turned out that this information referred to the second sprint at Hawn. As a result, I had chosen to run my official Green class for the first time. The course turned out to be fairly straightforward with only 2-3 real chances to miss a control. I had a lot of trouble seeing the large trail markings which seemed easily confused with the contour lines or vegetation boundaries, but nevertheless navigated quite cleanly, notwithstanding a few slightly questionable route choices. As I neared the end, I recognized the route option along the road and took it with the confidence that the mapped thick woods would be manageable. When I hit this penultimate control cleanly and looked up to see that the roof of the Go Control location was already visible, I had a real sense that I might actually be in contention for an award, and I pushed with everything I had to the end. I was rewarded with a second place finish, kept only from ultimate glory by an M-18 runner. It was a very satisfying start to the weekend.

Forest Park: GrBrOr - Splits

I didn't want to shortchange the dogs before abandonning them for the weekend, but neither did I want to risk turning an ankle before the event this weekend, so I went back to the Needham Town Forest where the frost damage was less severe. Wouldn't you know it, but the Animal Control Officer was waiting for me again in the parking lot. But this time I was prepared, and I proudly pranced into the woods with the dogs on leashes. I wonder if the fact that the dogs kept wrapping the leashes around my legs was a giveaway that they were unaccustomed to this approach? In any case, we got out of sight before they succeeded in actually tripping me and then had a pleasantly slow and uneventful jog.

The plan was to run a very comfortable loop in the Needham Town Forest just prior to picking the kids up from school. But then I arrived in the parking area to find The Heat just waiting to harrass the owners of unleashed dogs. And, silly me, I didn't have the leashes in the car, so I couldn't even pretend that I was going to keep them leashed until I got out of sight. So I did an abrupt (and surely conspicuous) U-turn feeling surprisingly anxious even though I am pretty sure you can't be fined or arrested for conspiring to commit an act of unsecured canine ambulation.

In any case, I drove over to Caryl Park, but now the run wasn't as comfortable because I was threatening to be late for the kids. And yes, of course, there are plenty of ways to shorten the route, but I am compulsive enough that I wanted to do one of my measured loops so I could properly record it. At least the run itself was uneventful, and I don't really feel that I stressed myself unduly. I'm pretty sure the fact that I have chosen to work an overnight shift immediately prior to the event will have a much greater likelihood of affecting my performance than the extra 1-2% effort I put out today.

Finally, a not-unpleasant day. It seemed like the perfect time for one last hard effort before the A-Meet. I took care to sleep well last night, then took an extra nap for good measure. I hydrated well, stretched carefully in the bathroom before the dogs realized we were about to go for a run (and thus prompting the standard apoplectic reactions that render attempts at proper preparation unfeasable) and carefully double-knotted my laces. I did stop short of taping them. Then dressed in my finest summer running shorts, I went back to the Needham Town Forest to have another go at my 30:00 demon. Not surprisingly after all the preparation, I started out too fast, but even though I had to back off after the first mile, I easily met my goal while still carefully avoiding all opportunities to fall, twist an ankle or pull a muscle that might hinder my efforts in St. Louis. All in all, my conditioning feels quite acceptable. Now if I can only navigate.