Lake Needwood - Sep 23, 2012

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This was my first orienteering event of any sort since the Beer Chase in early June. I probably should not have tried the Blue course but I did anyway. It was not an easy course but it wasn't extremely difficult either. I made my life difficult by making a number of silly mistakes. I was able to correct them but I probably lost 15 minutes due to a lack of concentration.

Here are some details:

I set my compass wrong when I left control 4/103. I should have set it to northwest, instead I set it to northeast. I knew something wasn't right when it looked like the golf course was in my path but it took me a minute or two to figure out exactly what I did wrong.

There is an unmapped re-entrant between controls 6/104 and 7/108. From past experience at Lake Needwood I knew the map wasn't perfect. I hesitated when I came across the unmapped re-entrant but realized very quickly that the west side of it wasn't the downhill I was looking for because I had not gone far enough from 6/104.

I got distracted a number of times by other people. One of those times was when I was looking for Control 10/107. I went right past it on the first attempt. It  wasn't in plain sight but I might have found it on the first try if I had been paying closer attention to the terrain, in particular the slope just north of the creek I was walking along. When I saw a trail heading north up a re-entrant I knew that I had gone too far and needed to double back. I found the control without any trouble on the second attempt.

Control 21/148 - This one was very well hidden. I had to circle around once before I found it. Even then it was only with a little help from someone else who was more or less standing on it.

Control 22/149 - This one gave me even more trouble. Once again I got careless and wasn't reading the terrain as carefully as I should have. It wasn't until I had gone a ways past the control that I figured out that I must have gone too far. I doubled back and found the control on the second attempt without any trouble.

While traveling from 24/146 to 25/148 I made a couple mistakes. First, I could have sworn that I set my compass to northwest and was following it faithfully. Based on where I hit the road and the GPS data from my watch I headed west until I hit the road. I'm not sure how that happened but the evidence speaks for itself. When I got close to 25/148 I walked right past it. I couldn't have been more than 10 meters from it. I miscounted the re-entrants and thought I had one more to go. When I got to the road I knew I had made mistake, took another look at the map and doubled back. The control was exactly where it should have been and where I should have looked the first time around.

Anyhow, as usual I finished it last place although I was less than 4 minutes behind the person who finished just ahead of me. If I could have just avoided one of the many mistakes I made I might have not finished last. Despite the silliness, I am quite happy that I finished the course.

The weather was beautiful. No rain. The temperature was just cool enough.

I used my GPS watch for the first time for orienteering. It worked great; better than I did.

After the meet I had to pack up the meet kit in my car. It was a lot of stuff. I had to put the back seats down. I had help loading the car but I was on my own when it came to unloading. It took me about 10 trips and 30 minutes to move everything from my car into my apartment. In three weeks I will reverse the process, load up my car for the meet at Swanson Road which I will be meet directing for the second year in a row.

Course: Blue [Controls: 28; 9.2 km; 295 m]
Time: 3:27:57 - WinSplits - RouteGadget - AttackPoint
Actual Distance Walked: 13.33 km

Vacation Plans - Mar 2013

I've started to plan a vacation in Ontario which will include a couple days of hiking. I've found some trail maps on the Internet for a couple long hikes that are both within a couple hours drive to Toronto.

My biggest concern is the weather. I want to go in mid-March and the weather can be a bit unpredictable at that time of year. Provided there isn't heavy snowfall just prior to or during my trip I think I should be okay. I can deal with some snow or hiking in snow, provided it isn't too deep and the trail is well marked.

Walking Health - Aug 29, 2012

I really need to be more careful with my feet. I learned a lesson last weekend about wearing boots that are too snug on a long hike. Here's hoping that I will put that information to good use.

I'm still undecided as to whether I should attempt to do the very long walk from Takoma Park to Shirlington and then back to Takoma Park this weekend. My feet are feeling better but the blisters are still there.

Despite the blisters I have gotten back to walking to the Metro from the office and from home. I've logged over 10 miles since yesterday morning. So far so good but am I ready to walk 32+ miles? I dunno.

Weekend Hike - Aug 26, 2012

I went for my longest hike yet this past Sunday: 29 miles. I'm still a sore from it. The parts that hurts the most are my feet. That is due in large part to the boots I decided to wear. My Merrell boots area medium width. I need to be wearing a wide-sized boot.

I didn't wear my Columbia boots (which are wide-sized) because I thought there was going to be a lot of rain today. I wore them last week when it rained for the last 1.5 hours of my hike and those boots got waterlogged fairly quickly. It didn't rain this week but I came home with a couple blisters.

Aside from that it was a fine walk. I was pretty exhausted by the time I got home. It took me just over 8 hours to complete the walk. Most of it was on paved trails but there was a section in the middle that lasted for 6-7 miles that was unpaved.

I'm undecided at this point as to whether I should go through with my plans to walk from Takoma Park to Shirlington and back next weekend. Once again I think that I will play it by ear and see how I am feeling, in particular how my feet are feeling when next weekend rolls around.

I ate breakfast (oatmeal and a slice of pumpernickel raisin) before I left. While hiking I nibbled at a ProBar. That one ProBar was all I had to eat during the hike. I drank some water but not a lot. I think I need to start taking more to eat than just ProBars. I'm thinking pretzels would be a good idea and maybe some tuna fish.

Walking Plans (as of Aug 24, 2012)

I've taken it easier this week on my weekday walks (I've only walked 25 miles) than I have in the past few weeks (when I accumulated anywhere from 33-42 miles). I'm saving my energy for the hike I'm planning on doing on Sunday. I feel much better about hiking long distance this weekend than I did last Friday.

Over the past 4 weekends I have been escalating my weekend hikes. I have gone from 4.8 to 11.5 to 17.8 to 22.6 miles. If all goes as planned then I will do a 28-30 mile hike this weekend.

Due to time constraints and other scheduled activities next weekend, Labor Day weekend, will be my last weekend for long distance hiking until at least October. I'm planning to attempt a 32-35 mile hike that weekend from my apartment in Takoma Park, MD to Shirlington (where I work) in Arlington, VA and back.

I will be occupied with comic book related events (Baltimore Comic Con, Small Press Expo) the first two weekends after Labor Day. Quantico Orienteering Club has events the next two weekends (Lake Needwood, Meadowood) that I'm planning to attend.

Walking in the Rain

I think I hit a wall yesterday. I went for a hike as planned. It was cooler than I thought it would be. It rained for the last 5.5 miles. My boots were waterlogged by the time I got home. Originally I wanted to try a longer hike (28 miles) next Sunday than the one I did yesterday (22.6 miles). Now I'm not so sure. I'm thinking I should back pedal a bit and rest up a bit before I try a longer hike. I may still hike next weekend but instead of 28 I may try something shorter like 16-18 miles.

Right Ankle

I'm not so sure about my walking plans for this weekend. I think I pushed it just a little too much Thursday night. I probably should have taken the night off. The bottom line is that my right ankle is now sore. It doesn't hurt if I don't put weight on it but when I do it hurts quite a bit. I added insult to injury by walking to the metro Friday morning.

I'm gonna play it by ear but as of right now it looks doubtful that I will be walking any great distance this weekend.