okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Sunday, September 01, 2002
Last week's race
Last Sunday I ran the Rocky Mountain O' Club "Scapegoat." I scanned the map with my routes.
Round Mountain terrain
The race was at Round Mountain. The area is very pleasant. There isn't any thick vegetation. The ground is firm and not rocky. You can see a long way into the terrain. There isn't much relief -- no big hills to climb and not much route choice. For the most part, the technique is to go straight.
Round Mountain is a popular area for camping. It isn't unusual to bump into campers just about anywhere (especially near one of the roads). Some of the campers have small four-wheel vehicles (sort of like motorcycles). They've created a number of trails that aren't on the map. The trails don't really help with route choice, since the forest is so open, but they can confuse you if you are relying on trails for navigation or relocating.
See the August 31 blog-entry for a photo of the area around the first control.
Running at altitude
A challenge at Round Mountain is the altitude. The map is at about 8500 feet. That's high enough to give me a lot of difficulty.
When I run at altitude it feels like I have to go a lot slower/easier and the margin for error is small. When I race, my heart rate usually averages about 165-168. At Round Mountain, my average heart rate was about 155. I have to consciously hold back. If I go just a little bit too hard (raising the heart rate to about 157-158), I suffer a lot. I have to slow, or even walk, to recover. In a sea-level race, I can push the heart rate up a bit and then just back off slightly to recover. At altitude I have to back off a lot, often walking, to recover.
I find running at altitude interesting, but frustrating. Having a small margin for error is a challenge. But, seeing people I'd beat at sea level running away from me isn't fun. The Scapegoat is a mass start race and there was a small pack of Colorado-runners who got away from me in the first kilometer or two (several of them using the good visibility to keep Mikell Platt in sight as he found the controls).
My run at the Scapegoat was the best I've ever had at altitude. I was able to stay right at the edge most of the time. There were a couple of places (I'll write about one of them) where I went a bit too hard. But, overall I kept the effort just right.
A big boom
On my way to 12, I pushed a bit hard and boomed. It was not just a boom. It was a big boom. I'm guessing I lost 3-4 minutes at 12.
The control is fairly difficult -- a pit in a flat area with no strong features near it.
The way to take the control was to recognize the difficulty and slow down in the area about 300 meters from the control. Take it easy from that point, reading the map carefully and watching the compass.
Unfortunately, I pushed a bit too hard leaving 11. I recognized the risk and recognized the way to take the control. But, I didn't execute it. I just ran and hoped. That is never good. That is something I don't usually do.
Other than my huge boom at 12, I orienteered fairly well. I am satisfied with how I was navigating -- not as sharp as I will be in a month or two, but not too terrible.
The mass start
This year's Scapegoat is a mass-start with simple forking. At registration, you were assigned to either "X" or "O" group. I was an "X." I began with a small loop, two controls then back to the start. After the loop, I picked up my map for the rest of the course. The first two controls of the rest of the course was the first loop for the "O" group.
The forking didn't break the group up much. The terrain for the first loops was physically and technically relatively easy. You could see a long ways, so you could keep runners ahead of you in sight and use them to help you find the controls.
posted by Michael |
5:11 PM
