Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Wednesday, December 30, 2009 More indoor orienteering....this time in HungarySome indoor orienteering from Hungary:Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 9:04 PM 
Monday, December 28, 2009 World's slowest run?I "ran" 3.6 km tonight and it took 45 minutes. I ran in the snow. It was difficult. If you ran in the snow every day, you'd get strong.You can see the Attackpoint track of tonight's run. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 8:16 PM
Saturday, December 26, 2009 Beginning to learn about open mapping projectsI've been thinking it'd be fun to try to make a park map without setting foot in the terrain. I've got easy access to lidar data to create a good base map. I could use local government air photos (which are accessible online) and do some spot field checking with Google street view. I've no idea how good a map I could create, but I thought it would be a fun experiment.Another interesting no-specific-field-checking-required approach is the OpenOrienteeringMap. My understanding is that OOM pulls data from OpenStreetMap and creates a view of the data as either a simplified street orienteering map or a map that looks a bit like a real orienteering map. Playing around with OpenOrienteeringMap inspired me to learn a bit about OpenStreetMap. That's been on my "list of things to do" for a year or so. I finally spent some time reading about it. OpenStreetMap has a decent street map of Lawrence: View Larger Map But, the Lawrence map is very sparse in detail. Some other areas have much better detail. Check out the Sanford campus in Palo Alto: View Larger Map I'm a bit surprised that Lawrence doesn't have much detail in the OpenStreetMap. The University of Kansas campus has a few names and streets, but nothing in the way of detail. The Haskell Indian Nations University is just as empty. It might be fun to remedy that lack of detail in Lawrence. So, I created an account at OpenStreetMap and added a couple of features as a way of learning a bit about the process and editing. There is something satisfying about making an edit and seeing the change. I really need to learn a lot more about it and make a dent into the lack of information on the Lawrence map. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 11:11 AM
Monday, December 21, 2009 Art or science?You can think of training for orienteering as an engineering exercise. There are tests, formulas, ways to precisely design each interval session, and so on. You can "optimize" your training.You can also think of training for orienteering as something more like managing a bunch of people working on a project. You have a general end goal and you make steps toward that goal, adjusting as you go, and dealing with problems (both expected and unexpected) as they arise. You muddle along. Both points of view have some value. Both points of view give you some useful tools and insights into preparing. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 7:40 PM
Separating runners reportExtensive Report: Separating Runners in Orienteering.Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 7:08 AM
Friday, December 18, 2009 Upcoming challengeJanuary 2010 will be time to try the 31 day challenge.Last year it was going ok until I turned my ankle at a race in Georgia. Though my feet were starting to feel a bit beat up from running in orienteering shoes. This year I look for things to go better. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 8:16 PM
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 Strange area for a sprint raceMook had an interesting idea for sprint orienteering terrain. There's an "airplane graveyard" in Tucson. Check it out: It actually looks like it might be a bit fun. You can find some more info about the place here. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 8:01 PM
Sunday, December 13, 2009 Today's "Possum Trot"I ran the "Possum Trot" today. The race format is a bit unsual. It is a longer course with a mass start and you could skip any two controls. Being able to skip controls gives you something else to think about. It also constrains the course setting a bit and there isn't usually much tempo change. But it is fun and tough, so I've got no complaints.I'm in lousy shape, so the event was tough and I wasn't moving very well. Here's the map:   Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 5:36 PM
Saturday, December 12, 2009 Sprint course on West Campus Here's the sprint course from today's event on West Campus. Fritz set the course. I made the map.Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 5:00 PM
Friday, December 11, 2009 Sprint orienteering tomorrowOK hosts our annual sprint race tomorrow. It will be on a new map that I've been working on since we moved into our new house (about 200 meters from the map). It is a new map, but not a new area. The area is where I first orienteered.I'll post the map tomorrow. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 6:35 PM
Wednesday, December 09, 2009 If I were dictator...So what would you change first if you were dictator of international orienteering?Good question. I started thinking about it. What would make the most sense? What change would - in my opinion - be best for the sport? Then I realized that I should think like a dictator. I should be arbitrary. I should pick something I'd like and impose it. The first two things that came to mind were: 1. Add an event to the WOC - night orienteering 2. Give Mats Haldin a medal from this year's long WOC race Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 6:36 PM
Tuesday, December 08, 2009 Jorgen M on too many championshipsFrom a story at OPN.NO on the occassion of Jorgen Martensson's 50th birthday:- Ikke minst har det blitt et altfor omfattende internasjonalt mesterskapsprogram. Det svekker i stedet for å styrke orienteringen. Jeg hadde sett det som en fordel for orienteringen om en hadde gått tilbake til to års sykluser for VM. Jeg vet at jeg har mange med meg i det synet, sier Mårtensson. Which is basically Jorgen complaining about too many international championships and suggesting that a WOC every two years - as it was in the past - would be an improvement. If I were the dictator of international orienteering, I'd change the WOC to every other year...but it probably wouldn't be the first thing I'd do. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 9:06 PM
Saturday, December 05, 2009 Looking for Serleena's necklace?Watching Men In Black II? Thinking, "Seleena's necklace is great, where can I get it?"My sister-in-law Annette designed it. You can find - and buy - her work at Ylang23. Here's a direct link to Serleena's necklace. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 6:29 PM
Boris v SamanthaBoris and Samantha have a bet. Whoever trains the most in a week earns $2. Interesting idea. As best I can tell, the 3rd week is nearly over and it looks like Samantha will win this week and be ahead 2-1 (and $2 richer).It is an interesting competition. Samantha hasn't really trained a lot in the past. She's averaged about 275 hours the last four years. Boris, on the other hand, trained roughly 450 hours a year for a couple of years, then ran into some injury problems and has averaged less than 250 hours the last two years. You can make a good argument that betting about training volumes to motivate training is a great idea. You can also make a good argument that it is a terrible idea. My opinion is that it is a worthwhile experiment. Experimenting is a good thing. The competition is also a good opportunity to spend a few minutes looking at their training. In the past, I've dissected Boris' training...part one and part two. I've also spent some time looking at how Samantha trains. Today I compared the most recent three weeks using my grading system. Here are the basics of the grading system: Did you run? You get 1 point. Did you run fast? You get another point. Was your run hilly? You get another point. Was your run in the terrain? You get another point. Did your run involve navigation? You get another point. Did you run more than 90 minutes? You get another point. Except, you can't get more than 5 points for a run. Did you do some alternative training? That's worth a point. Did you take a day off after training for at least 2 days in a row? That's worth a point for an earned rest day. Back to Samantha v Boris. In the week that ended November 22, Samantha trained for 7:51 and got 14 points; Boris trained 5:56 but got 15 points. Samantha won $2, but Boris' training looks pretty good under my grading system. In the week that ended November 22, Samantha trained for 7:00 and got 14 points; Boris trained for 8:09 and got 19 points. Boris won $2 and had a good week under my grading system. As of today, for the week that ends tomorrow, Samantha has trained 6:59 minutes and got 11 points; Boris has trained 4:55 and got 8 points. Looks like Samantha will win $2 and has a higher grade under my system. So what? Yes, so what. I don't really have any point to make or any conclusion, but it was an interesting exercise to go through. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 5:49 PM
Wednesday, December 02, 2009 Mountain lion snapshotsMy sister-in-law is a Park Ranger in Palo Alto, California. She posted these photos of mountain lions in the park. Can't say I'd like to encounter a mountain lion when I was orienteering, but the photos are cool.  I think mountain lions are relatively common in California, even if they aren't spotted all that frequently. There are mountain lions around Kansas, too. Back to okansas.blogspot.com. posted by Michael | 8:25 PM
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