Training Log Archive: Mr Wonderful

Event: SMOC Night Orienteering at Haven Hill
 

Cemetery walk. Actors stationed at their respective characters' markers gave a short life history of notable Plymouth citizenry who now reside at Riverside.

Short of actually racing...couldn't ask for a better night.

Rick joined for the first 9c, giving some coaching along the way. He is much more attuned to vegetation than I am - I more use it as some judge of "nope" or not, whereas he is guided by it.

Fantastic weather, enjoyable course. Quite a confounding route to clear; I ended up with several S shapes.

Mussed 75 since I lost track of where I was exiting, so I detoured through the campground. Then #39? I for some reason missed the saddle high and misread depressions, not much of a time loss. Token overshoot at another, otherwise pretty clean. It helps to be moving slowly.

Sprinted through the field to finish in under 4 hours.

Who will win night o?

tl;dr;

1. Igor
2. Coop
3. Syd
4. Kev

It's hard to argue against two-time champ Igor. His last night o featured total mistakes of...20 meters. He's not afraid of a 30°F marsh and waist deep creek. He has a good light and has been training solidly.

But Cooper may want it more - he's come infuriatingly close several times, has more night nav experience than anyone I know, and is fresh off some solid bike training and a great USARAs. He may be hungry enough to shoot for a super run, at the risk of disaster (overtime). Stupid running was the only trick in my PLRA west night o toolbox (other than two dusky training sessions).

There are no shortage of other potential candidates - Sydney's impressive immediate correction on PLRA red #2 shows her spidey sense is well-calibrated, which is key at night. Kevin's fitness means he can certainly go fast enough to win, if he keeps any bobbles to Farsta levels. Misovski will be fit enough if he shows, and is no stranger to the dark. BNM and MG trained night nav and have the speed to mix it up (I ran my race slower than most of BNM's recent training runs.), AND they both have recent good results. Scott D's podium breakout is looming, but I don't think it'll happen at night - small mistakes can get crazy out there.

Not known to be attending that could jack up my predictions: Phil S, Tizoc CG, Tom Svobodny. (I don't know that Tony M is attending, but he pops up from time to time randomly, so odds are maybe better.)

Mark would be a really interesting addition. I think I keep Igor first and put Mark 2nd

How would I try to win? I'd plan on the clear - it's only 8 km, so it's doable, and you have to expect that Coop and Igor are going for it. Haven Hill has many smaller sections bounded by large trails or roads, so hammering between them while reliably checking off junctions, then slowing to plunge in from solid APs into the trickiest areas, could maximize speed. I'd use high caution and a lot of deliberate compass in the vague area in the west of the map, and hope that the relative openness will correct me, because if not, people have ended up on the wrong swamp in daylight. I would avoid as much vegetation as possible, because it's miserable at night and I can't even stay straight in veg during daytime.

I wouldn't sweat it if a few people are ahead of me through the first half dozen controls. Between skipped cps and people going out too fast, it's bound to happen some. You will hopefully be nearly alone for much of the middle third, and then be back among people at the final third.

Rick will design a good course, which means the middle will be infernal - what will be the right way to get some of those in the middle? But that's the trick - if all of the ways stink, just pick one that fits the general scheme best and do not worry about it.

I would dress lightly, max two t shirts (long sleeve okay), and take two gels, for the 0:45 and 1:30 marks. I would pre salt with endurolytes (two of the extremes). Rick's not explicitly putting out jugs and cups, so I might be tempted to take a small bottle to cover a couple oz of water with the gels or the halfway point, unless the map said I'd be near something at the right time. There is likely a campground vaguely around the halfway mark, but any detour is time lost, more so than a little water weight.

For ease of reference, 2015 results. Igor was sick iirc. I had forgotten Ashley was a night o monster.

I really should have looked at these first!

2014 results
2013 results
2012 results

Jealously cheering for all of my friends,
Jens

Small pup to vet for eye trouble. Supposedly will clear up with drops.

Homework doesn't look too bad, and wife and Nemesis A were off to Jazzercise, so I took advantage.

@ 43F...didn't think much of it, but long sleeve T + light windbreak + light weight non windproof tights + light balaclava + light gloves = about minimum attire, I was a little red in places afterwards. Glad I didn't try less!

C • We got soft 1

Sunrise up at Fort Holmes.

Slight confusion on arrival: Since our 2014 visit, they have added a fort.