Training Log Archive: cporter

Flying Pig - U.S. Ultralong at East Fork State Park, OH.

Perhaps it was best that my watch stopped at some point during my race (I really do need to get another watch that doesn't have the start/stop button on the watch face) because I think knowing that I had been out in the woods for nearly 3 hours would have affected my race. Regardless of the legnth of time I spent out in the woods, it was a tough race to get through physically and navigationally. I won't deny that I didn't love flying down the steep hills and then crawling up through mud as I crossed the numerous ravines on my course, but by the end of the race doing so had really taken its toll. Even the trails of ankle deep mud required more energy than I would have liked to have spent as I slogged along them. I took another noteworthy fall on my way to control #15 - as I was running down a spur the dirt just gave out underneath me and I took about a 10ft fall. A log broke my fall which left me with a nasty scrape up my forearm and bruises all up my right leg, but at least I was spared from falling into the stream/river right below it (Sam was not so lucky).

Navigationally I struggled with this map. I don't know how much of it was due to exhaustion, especially as my race dragged on. I'll be interested to see everyone's race on RouteGadget, because I'm not sure whether my overall slowness or poor navigation was the larger contributing factor to my significantly longer time. Legs that were particularly rough for me were 2-3 (the vagueness of the vegitation in the last 4th of that leg gave me a lot of trouble), 8-9 (literally ran right over top the control), and 14-15 (my fall really blew my concentration and enthusiasim).

Despite beating myself up pretty badly today I was still very glad that I ran the race (and even more glad when I finished). Overall, I am very happy with my orienteering at the Flying Pig. There is definet room for improvement, but a weekend like this is always good because it helps me to prioritize certain aspects of my training, but I ran well enough that I am not completely discouraged, yet...

Red - Ultra Long - Splits

Flying Pig Sprint Stage 1 - Miami University, Oxford, OH. First sprint of the day was on the campus at Miami University, a very urban-like area - hence the 2.9 km was really significanly longer since there were so many buildings to run around. Despite the longer distance for a sprint and the exhaustion that began to set in at about control 8, it was a very fun race. I had several controls that I wasted precious seconds on in the control circle including numbers 3(thought it was on the vegitation next to a stairwell, but was actually on the stairs), 4 (took the wrong trail and had to cut through the woods), 12(was above the control and had to run around the wall to get down), and 14(was running for the wrong tree and ran right past the control, but fortunately saw it as soon as I passed it). One thing is for sure...my speed definietly needs some work in the upcoming weeks.

Flying Pig Sprint Stage 2 at Southpointe Crossing, OH. Second sprint for the day, which definietly did me in. This sprint was in the forest on some rather variable terrain (open woods-briars with dense trail networks). This spint was still fun, although my performance was slower and less clean than the morning. I took a nasty fall on the way to #4 over a wire fence that had fallen over (dejavu from the AP injuries dicussion threads???) which thoroughly disrupted my concentration. It took me until #8 to get my head back into the race (I ran pretty sloppy from 4-8), but by then I was pretty tired and the mud was pretty nasty. Once again, I emphasize that I will need to focus on my speed in the upcoming weeks.

Red/Blue Sprint 1 - Splits

Red/Blue Sprint 2 - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XII
 

Flying Pig WRE Middle Distance Race at Rentschler Forest, OH. Although I may have waited around the longest I ever had for an orienteering race (5+ hrs), the race was definetly worth the wait. Since I didn't start until 5:06 and it had been raining for the past day or so the woods, especially within the control circle were very muddy. The mud did make the elephant trails easy to see, however, running through them was all together another story.
Although I hit every control almost dead on, several of my route choices may not have been the fastest (starting and then finishing last prevented me from doing any course comparison with anyone). Legs that may have costed me the most time were 2-3 (slow to make a route choice), 8-9 (ran up the spur rather than around the trail and up the reentrant), and then 13-14 (hesitated too much). All in all though I was pretty pleased with my run and had a great time getting muddy out in the woods!

Flying Pig Middle Distance Model Event. Since Julie and I had tons of time to kill we decided lesiurely walk the model. The only notable thing we encountered were these awesome rusty pieces of old farm equipment and ruins that had had trees literally growing up right through them. Just goes to show you that you can't stop mother nature.

Red - Short Pig/WRE - Splits

Since I finally had a day without rain I was able to run in my new trail runners for the first time. So far I like them - good stability without sacrificing cushioning. My run today was a bit discouraging...I was exceptionally tired today and my confidence in my sense of direction had taken a definet hit. I ran at Greenbelt Park again, which I had only run once before, but I felt confident that I could manage a run along the park's perimeter trail in 50min without too much trouble. After studying the park map for a few min I assured myself that I could stick to my planned route if I just took a right at every trail intersection (the signage around the park is sporatic and they don't use blazes to mark their trials). As it turned out the trail network is more confusing than it looks on the map and after several wrong turns (is my sense of direction really that bad without a map and a compass?) my planned run time was nearly up and I still had over a mile to go on the trail. Were it not for a couple of factors I simply would have stuck out but: A. the Flying Pig, B: new shoes, and C: unhappy knees gave me enough justification for slow down to a brisk walk back to my car.

For the future I am going to have to get in contact with someone from QOC that has an orienteering map of Greenbelt Park. First, so that I don't get lost on my runs and more importantly so that I can run with a map. Maybe I can even persuade someone to lend/give me some maps of the park with old Green/Red courses on them that I can use for some mid-week orienteering training. If anyone from QOC reads this and can help me out I'd greatly appreciate it. I'll also post this request on the QOC Yahoo page.
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C • Sounds like an adventure ev... 2

It was a gray, rainy day today so I took the chance to check out the golf course that is right next to the Archives. I was pleasantly suprised by what I found. There is a decent trail network that runs along the bit of woods between the Archives and the golf course, the trail also continues along the perimeter of much of the golf course (must have been an old golf cart path) which means I can easily avoid disturbing golfers if I run there. The course has a lot of rolling hills which is a nice change from the rather flat and paved running options that I have around the rest of College Park, although I think that I will appreciate that more once I am in better shape (sadly it was a struggle today). As nice as the terrain for running was, I'd have to say that the best part of the run was the relative peace and quite. Running in a suburban area with few sidewalks had led me to forget that it is possible to enjoy a run with out worrying about dodging traffic or enduring the inevitable shouts and honks of sketchy men. Between the golf course and the few parks that I have started to discover, I may, once again run in peace.