Orienteering at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park

Nice course in one of my favorite park, a nice present one day after my birthday! Very dry makes for an easier run but worried about the health of the forest.

Generally an easy course but issues with

• CP2: I wanted to make sure to hit the trail and veered way too far E; 
• CP10: saw it but thought it was not at the start of the gully and went looking farther W; 
• CP11: looked for CP at short gully 2/3 way to CP (and was passed by Ian).

Link to results: Nerstrand Woods State Park / September 9, 2012

MNOC Rogaine at Pillsbury State Forest

Awesome team mate Pete, who is a much better orienteer than me, tough terrain, lots of brambles and a long distance to cover. Thankful for the cool temps and the finish on the beach and last CP in water! Great job on the course, Molly and Justin!

Link to results: 10th Annual Rogaine

Mille Lacs Kathio State Park Orienteering--Blue

A hot and windy day for this meet. Decided against better judgement to do the blue course.

CP1: went along E side of wetland instead of W. Knew where I was when I came across connecting ditch.
CP2: Headed for overgrown beaver dam to cross wetland. Spiked 2.
CP3: Still under the illusion to be able to preserve my dry feet for a little longer I rounded the pond S and got wet feet crossing narrow stretch of wetland. Spiked 3.
CP4: After wet feet wet knees Oh well, at least I spiked 4.
CP5: No trouble with 5 and 6, either, carefully following small wetlands and contours. Starting to feel rather cocky about this course.
CP7: First longish leg, proceeded with caution and spiked 7 as well. Skeeters are an impediment to map reading. Glad for the little breeze.
CP8: Took a little sightseeing detour and got very frustrated. Ended up heading for one of the larger ponds to get re-oriented. It worked but I lost 15'
CP9: Wetland-hopping in the right direction, but what happened. I misoriented the map and without realizing it I headed back towards whenst I came from. I decided to call it a day and clicked the lap button on my Forerunner. I turned around and spotted a CP. Could this be 9? Oh the agony, had returned to 8! Stephen arrived, punched and left again in the direction I had initially taken. I decided to take a longer and what I thought somewhat safer way, with lots of handrails. I made it to 9 just after Steven punched and I was back in the race.
CP10: Beat Stephen to 10, the only time I beat anyone anywhere during this event.
CP11: Spiked. Is this where I ran into Jim for the first time? I yelled "Hi Jim" and fell on my face.
CP12-finish: no further issues except my exhaustion.

I was sopping wet from sweat when I got in. Picked off the first tick when I was changing at the car, four more while I was driving and one last whenI got out of the car at home. I am so glad I hung in there, better to finish slowly than not to finish at all. Some nice flowers in bloom, large-flowered trillium and some others. Multiple deer, woodpeckers and tons of mosquitoes about the size of pigeons.

Distance noted on the map: 10.1 km. Distance clocked on my Garmin: 14.1 km. Pete did a great job setting a technical course and it was a treat to run in a pretty much trail-less area.

Results at Attackpoint
Results at MNOC (I like that one better because I am not as far back)

Some souvenirs from Kathio:

I found this deer tick latched on to the crook
of my elbow. Called my doctor who suggested
prophylactic treatment with Doxycycline. 

Afton SP Orienteering--Red

Great course but I was slow. Overtraining? Possibly. Made it back wet, but from sweat. It started dripping when I got in the car and it was pouring by the time I got to the freeway. 


1 Cut down the hill. On way back I saw that the elites were running the trail down and across. 
2 Bushwhacked again. I should have probably returned to the trail and closed in that way, in spite of the extra elevation. 
3 Took trail to open area, across knoll, headed for gully to N of straight line. Spiked it. 
4 Took trail on top, headed to NNE where trail veered NW. Spiked. 
5 Hung to right of dark-green reentrant. Looked for open area. Could not find CP5. Went to open area and headed straight for it. Lot of wasted time. 
6 Climbed up the spur of W fork of creek. Did not want to go back down and up again. Seemed the right choice at the time, but when I see the big detour I made on my Garmin track I wonder. 
7 Took long way N to trail and then on trail near CP7. I think this was a good choice. 
8 Went around reentrant and straight to CP8 
9 Looked for most comfortable way down and towards trail NE. Crossed knoll and spiked CP9. 
10 Went around spur near lake, should have probably followed the erosion gully near line. But it worked OK. Attacked from bench on trail and got there. 
11 Backtracked to trail and followed to knoll. 
12 Followed reentrant down, climbed spur to S of erosion area. Spiked. 
13 Followed dry ditch up. Got mixed up with camp sites and hung too far S. But I corrected and found quickly. 
14 Followed deer trail. No problem. Spiked. 
15 Tough return to Finish, all uphill. That's Afton! 

Orienteering: 90 Minute Score O at Nerstrand Big Woods SP

No snow-no problem, for the first time this winter. I headed for the second of MNOC's two winter meets, at one of my favorite parks, Nerstrand Big Woods. Format was a 90 Minute Score O. This is only my third, and one of the previous one was part of the 2010 Adventure Race Tune-Up which I did with Bryan. Andrei set a beautiful course and Pete W as vetter, who made sure that the controls were in place. Pete also created a promotional clip for the event.

Pete's Nerstrand Woods Score O Trailer

We had a good turnout and after we received the maps, about 5' before the start I was able to plot an approximation to a route. One of the issues with these type of events is the mass start and the associated inevitable pack running. I have to admit that I probably got a little help from some stronger orienteerers who happened to start along the same route as I did. But I kept my errors to a minimum even after the initial five or six CPs, when I was finally on my own.

Sequence showing my approach to CP207. (Photos Andrei Karpov) 

I hit 20 of the 24 CPs, in sequence, returning 3:35 to spare. My one real map reading error was with CP208, coming from 207. I overshot it by 100 m and lost probably 3 minutes in the process. I should have followed the creek bank, then I would have found it without any problem.

Punching in at CP211. (Photos: Andrei Karpov) 

I decided to cross the larger creek and tick off some of the CPs to the north. I think that was a good decision but in hindsight, I could have easily taken along CP215 before doing CP213. I lost some time thinking about how to get to CP222. The reentrant is in dense woods and not that easy to see from the grassy area to the south. I ended up crossing the woods, climbing to the open area N of the woods and then followed the vegetation boundary to the corner and ran straight to it. That made it very easy. I skipped CP223, too far to the north, and CP226, on a rather shallow reentrant in a dark green area.

Now, back on the S of the creek I picked off 214 and 216, followed by 217 and 219. No more time for 224, which I could have made if it hadn't been for missing time on 208. All in all quite happy with my result. Andrei was out taking photos, a treat to have pictures of yourself while running through the woods.

Done! (Photos: Andrei Karpov)

Also quite happy with my result, 6th place, see at MNOC Results.

Red is the actual track from my Garmin FR305, blue is what I could have
done if I hadn't been pressed for time. Note my error at CP208: ran too far
and had to backtrack.

2011 Year-End Summary

2011 presented a shift in my physical activities. By joining the Sisu Foundation's Master's Year-Round Ski Program, I was part of a focused training effort for the first time since I was a member of LAC Eupen during the 1980s. Being part of Sisu also affected my other activities, especially running. As a consequence, I  felt in better shape than I had been in years.

On the downside, I was plagued with a slew of minor but annoying injuries, especially in my knees. Turning 50 this year, I guess my age is making itself noticed and reminds me that high-intensity training must be consumed with care. With the help of Dr. Abraham, my sports physician at HealthPartners, I was eventually able to overcome all of these small ailments and by the end of the year, I was able to rid myself of most small aches and pains that had been plaguing me for years.

I'll start with my cross country skiing regime since this involves the Sisu program I joined. The '10-'11 winter was probably the best I have experienced since I moved to Minnesota in 1989. Snow, and lots of it, enough to weather any of the thaws that ran interference. That meant cross-country skiing and skijoring, a total of about 400 km. I entered two skijoring races (King Boreas at Phalen Park & the Chuck & Don Skijor Loppet at Lake of the Isles) and the Sisu Ski Fest half marathon in Ironwood, MI. I was happy with my results as improvements over the previous year indicated that I must be doing something right. As the ski season fizzled in March, I had one last adventure when I accompanied James, my younger son and his buddy Joe to Breckenridge. While they covered the on and off piste areas of Breckenridge, Mellie and I took care of the cross country ski trails. It was fun, but for such a short time it was hard to get used to the altitude. I was yapping like a puppy, especially during the first two days. Oddly, the real puppy Mellie did not have any issues, she seemed even to look at me in a funny way like as if to say "what's wrong with you, usually you set the pace."

As mentioned above, I joined the Sisu Year-Round group, meeting every Tuesday at Battle Creek for dryland ski technique, specific strength and endurance training. Our main coaches Ben Popp and Mike Nightingale did a great job leading us, correcting us and motivating us and it was good to be exposed to a variety of skiers at different skill levels. The cardio test which we had every two months led Ben to suggest some training that impacted my running as well.

With all that preparation we were all eagerly anticipating winter and a snow pack to match last years. Unfortunately no such luck, one of the warmest and driest Decembers on the books and we are lucky that several places around town make snow for xc-skiing (Theodore Wirth in Minneapolis, Green Acres in Lake Elmo and Elm Creek Park Reserve in Maple Grove). I did not participate in any of the races, I had to forfeit he two (Test the Lungs freestyle and skijor) I had signed up for because of illness (head cold and ear infection, nasty).

As usual, the first run of the season was followed by some sore leg muscles. I am promising that I will keep up a light running schedule even in the middle of winter. After that, I fell quickly into my running routine. After an early season bike ride with Jack and Martin from work, I experienced some knee pain left. I took it easy even though running did not seem to aggravate the aches. I eventually caved and went to see Dr. Abraham at HP Como. She did not think it serious but recommended stretching ("You are pretty stiff") and "listening to the knee." Consequently a big change in my running routine began, something I should have done years ago. During my years with LAC Eupen, no training session began without first a light 10 minute jog followed by a 15 minute stretching and core routine. From now on, I ended every session with 15 minutes of stretches. The results were quickly noticeable, my chronic back pain eased and eventually vanished, and the knee aches began to subside, too.

These troubles made me also take another look at the wear patterns on my running shoes. I had noticed before that my right shoe was slightly worn in two locations, the very tip and the outside of my heel. My current Nike Air Pegasus + 27 had the same wear, here is a picture after about 620 km.

I don't think the wear is excessive for 620 km. However, abrading the tip of my
right toe like this does point to some inefficiencies and a lack of equilibrium in
my running. The sole of my left shoe is worn perfectly uniformly.

Never thought much of it but as I took the Nike Air Pegasus Trail WR into service, I decided to do start an experiment: I would begin alternating direction of my customary routes. Heretofore I had always been running them in a clockwise direction. Switching off like that is probably better for my joints, too. Will see if this makes a difference.

One of the recommendations coach Ben had made was to work in some 2-3 hour long sessions, biking or running, keeping my heart rate below 130 bpm. So I started to add two to three long runs per month to my routine. The biggest challenge for me was to run slowly enough to keep my heart rate low and steady. I did not find the distance overly taxing, my legs were tired but I did not have any issues with sore joints.

I had some fun running in Belgium and France, for the first time with my boys, especially Colin did a great job hanging on. I also reconnected with an old school mate, Reinhard, who met me for a jog around the Eupen Talsperre (reservoir). In France, near Eze, I did some serious hill work between the Corniches overlooking the Cote d'Azure.

I participated in eight orienteering meets and vetted the Veterans Day Night O with setter Pete Wentzel. I wasn't so happy with my results this year, rather than speeding up I need to slow down and take time to read the map and make better routing decisions. I contracted two major heel blisters at Chester Woods, courtesy of My Inov-8s and a toe injury at Interstate Park when I stepped into a hole and hyper-extended my left big toe joint.

I ended up aggravating my sore knees further by trying a boot camp class at the YMCA. I dropped out after two sessions and returned to Dr. Abraham for some further diagnosis. After some additional pulling, twisting and bending of my legs she declared also this newer injury less than serious and she prescribed further stretches and some strengthening for the quadriceps' vastus medialis, which she declared "mushy. "

After my poor start to the cycling season I did not have the stomach to get onto more longer rides. It did not help that I had changed jobs and that my new place of employ added about 30 km to my 45 km (two way) commute. However, there was light at the end of the tunnel as my new company was going to move in, making bicycle commuting an option again. I had put my injury woes behind by the time of the move in early November and I decided to take one ride, on the second day at the new office near Hopkins Cross Road and Wayzata Blvd. Except for some cold toes it went very smoothly and, due to the absence of real winter I repeated the ride in the week before Christmas. In spite of a little additional distance compared to my previous commute to Eagan I find this ride a lot easier due to the fact that the majority of the stretch is covered on trails. I am looking forward to many rides during the next warm season.

Lake Maria Orienteering Meet, Red Course

I don't generally get disheartened with my blunders during O races, but this time I did. I had few if any problems on the well-laid-out course at Lake Maria SP until I got to CP11.

On the long leg to CP11 I had decided to play it safe and run the last portion on the trail a little NE of the connecting line. I chose the man-made feature (a bench) at the T intersection/clearing as my attack point. When I got there I made the decision to follow the trail west and to attack from where the trail veers from NW to due W. I think this may have been my main mistake. As it often happens, it was hard to tell where exactly the trail veered west and of course, I did not find the wetland withe CP 11. I made matters worse by searching for about 10 minutes until I finally gave up and returned to the intersection with park bench. Now I took a careful bearing and walked straight to the CP, which took exactly 2 minutes.

My self-confidence badly shaken by my search for CP11, I was probably overly cautious when heading for CP12. I wanted to be sure I took the right approach and hesitated to take the path towards the road. When I finally started moving down, I had to stop at a tight spot to let a group of about a dozen horseback riders pass. I found the CP without much further ado but decided to see if the wetland to the N was crossable. It was not, given the thick vegetation this was another few minutes lost.

My last blunder was on the home stretch. After punching CP14, I did not take a careful bearing (not that it had to be very careful) and ended up on the trail moving almost due W from the Finish. Instead of heading home, I took the opposite direction. This was definitely my worst run of the year.

Orienteering: Minnegoat at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park

I went to bed at a reasonable time but ended waking up at 1:30, tossing and turning till about 4:00. The 5 AM alarm chased me out of bed and after some coffee, a breakfast of leftover Thai and a banana/protein shake I hit the road. The farther north I got, the wetter it got. By the time I reached Onamia a fine drizzle was falling.

Start and finish were at the horse camp a few trailers were there and things were just getting going. The MNOC members who had spent the nigh were gearing up and others, like me, were arriving.The first guy I saw was Andrei, he was still in shorts and flipflops. He had don the day 1 races and warned me that the terrain was quite technical, but also that the woods were open and runnable.

The half hour between my arrival and the pre-race meeting went by fast. A couple of labs around the parking lot and some stretches and we were lining up at the start. Apparently the organizers were a little worried over having enough maps for everyone. Extra benefit of doing the online registration: getting in line first to get dibs on a map, welded into plastic no less.

But there were maps for everyone and when the countdown was over, everyone picked up their map and the mad dash for this mass start began. Even by CP1, the crowd had started to stretch out and there was hardly a wait to punch. Mass starts do invariably cause some small groups to form. I was with Todd Peterson, Pete Wentzel, Chris Svoboda from Chicagoland and another couple guys for a while. Pete dropped us at CP6 or so and a guy whose name I do not know fell in a deep mud hole between CP9 and 10. It was one of the very few stretches where one could actually gain some by following a trail for a couple hundred meters. For inexplicable reasons he was a few meters off the trail as we crossed what looked like a dry creek bed. He sunk up to his hip and followed up with a nice belly flop. Man, am I glad that wasn't me. I arrived at the map exchange together with Todd, a Canadian fellow and the Chicagoan. I took a few sips of water, a nip of nut bar and off I went, deciding to leave my hydration pack behind. I went with the Canadian for a while and lost him someplace. Todd and Chris passed me. I found myself alone, especially after I did the one permitted skip from 7 straight to nine.

By now I started regretting that I had not taken more time at the map exchange to eat some more and to take the water along. I was running low on fuel and I felt it. I reached CP10 together with Todd, who had skipped 9. Since Todd runs better than me, I assume that I made a good choice skipping CP7.

I did not even try to match Todd's pace and instead concentrated on not making any mapping errors. Everything went well till I was closing in on CP13. Somehow I misread the map thinking that the small wetland was on top of a hill. That's where I looked for at least 5 minutes, losing precious time. I revisited the map and finally noticed the depression indicators. What a bummer. I have to face the music and get the magnifier for my Moscompass. I saw Chris S waving his bifocal running glasses at me when they were fogging up and Julia, who wears flip-ups on a pair of racquetball goggles told me about the fogging, too.

The rest was a breeze, I am very glad I made it!

Some final thoughts:

I thought that the course layout was excellent. As mentioned above, there was hardly ever a way to follow trails, streams, even contours. The terrain provided handrails in form of the many wetlands, but they were varied enough to keep me on my toes. I do prefer the regular O format but I do understand that with a long event like a goat it would take forever.

Results: 9th of 15, 2:47:40, see also MNOC 2011 Minnegoat Results

Interstate Park Adventure Run--Short

Had been thinking long and hard about participating. My right knee was still making funny noises and I had an appointment set up with Dr. Abraham at HP Como. Should I really risk messing it up even more? I had not done anything in 10 days except some roller skiing during my Sisu class. But I decided it would be worth a try and as a compromise I would do the short distance instead.

The drive out to St. Croix Falls and the Wisconsin side of Interstate Park was uneventful, traffic was less than would be expected on a weekend where the fall colors were nearing their peak. This was making me think that our canoe trip in mid-October would again be in more drab surroundings. Oh well, at least I would be enjoying the leaves today.

After I arrived I had already second thoughts on making the right decision on the short run. Instead of switching to long, I did the whit/yellow course as a warm-up. No problems, not even with my knee. I finished with some stretches and waited for the start.

The adventure run format is basically an O-race with a mass start. At the pre-race meeting Todd Peterson told us about the intricacies of the not-quite-O map and we were off. As I was heading for CP1, I passed Ian, who was walking because of an Achilles-tendon issue. He was walking and I was running but somehow I could not lose him. This shows what a superior orienteerer he is over me.  CPs 2-5presented only slight to moderate difficulty though I managed to hit a barbed wire with my shin (thanks to the gods for gaiters) while dropping into the valley after CP3 and I stepped into a hole after CP5, weding my foot between two rocks and spraining my left big toe in a bad way.

Slightly of kilter from the pain in my right shin and my left toe I headed for CP6, which seemed more difficult than the previous ones. I did find CP6, but then, going for 7 I made my big mistake of the meet: I headed north, looking for the trail I should cross. I missed it and ended up at the bridge across the creek heading out of the wetland. I decided to go for the trail crossing the wetland to retrieve CP7. I met a guy and a father-son team who were coming towards me. I e-punched 7 and passed both again. In hindsight, what I should have probably done is to head south to County S and follow it NE to the trailhead. After I recovered I knew full well that I missed my chance to beat Ian. He arrived a few minutes before me and was just telling the folks at the finish how even crippled by injury and walking he had beaten a runner.  He is right, my results were nothing to call home about.

Orienteering at Chester Woods Park, Eyota, MN

Brand-new map in Chester Woods Park, near Eyota, MN, less than 20 miles E of Rochester. On a gorgeous Saturday morning I drove down there from the cities. Quite a few MNOC runners made it down here, from the looks of it a few were camping here, too. I chatted with Andrei about his August packed with a trip to Utah (hiking), South Dakota and Wyoming (orienteering). The pictures posted on FB were gorgeous and made me want to go.

After gearing up, I ambled to the start and got going. To get to CP1, it looked like I needed to round the northern arm of the lake. I am saying "it looked like" because there is a bridge from the first parking lot inside the park. I noticed the bridge where the park road goes along the lake and I even remembered having seen it when entering the park, but by then I felt it was a wash to return or continue on around the lake. In hindsight, I should have checked the map again and returned, I think I cut have cut a couple hundred meters from my first leg. Other than that, CP 1, 2, 3 and 4 did not present any challenge.

Andrei, who had started behind me caught up at CP4 and went straight up the hill where I decided to follow the trail, making a hairpin turn and climbing more gradually. I followed the left fork of the trail till where it exited the dark green on the map. here, I followed the vegetation boundary and got to CP5 without too much delay. I rejoined the trail, missing the remnants of another trail heading straight for CP6. I eventually found the trail and went straight for the CP, passing it a couple of times without seeing it. This is probably the one place where I lost most time. Instead of looking for the overgrown trail, I might have been better off to follow the contours N from the open area. but who knows, the woods were pretty thick here, too.

I also wasted some time at CP7, but not too much. CP 8, 9 and 10 weren't too difficult either. It was exhausting but also pretty cool to run through the prairie, with grasses higher by a few inches than my 6 ft towards CP9, a very obvious single tree. I might have been better off following the trail closing in and coming back out. Again, hard to tell. CP11 did not present any navigational challenges either but again, the last stretch through "open" terrain was the hardest. Here, very tall yellow flowers probably Jerusalem artichokes grew even taller than 2 m grasses I had encountered earlier. The understory was formed by some kind of golden rod, in keeping with the theme of yellow and green. More striking even than the the yellow were a few blotches of blue, soapwort or closed gentian. The air was filled by the buzzing of many bees and other insects and butterflies were lazily fluttering through the sun-heated air. All of this impeded my progress but delighted my senses.

CP12 and 13 were easy, this time I DID take the foot bridge. CP14 and15 weren't that difficult either, but I was slowing down. I had not worn my Inov-8 Mudclaws since the spring and, together with the thick socks I was wearing they started two nasty heel blisters.

All in all, I am glad that I did not completely mess up any of the CPs. One of the advantages taking it a little easier on tempo, but probably also a testament to the somewhat easier course.

Orienteering at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park (Red Course)

2011 MNOC spring orienteering meets seem to be marked by water. It rained yesterday during the day, at night, overnight and this morning. It rained hard during the drive to Northfield and more rain from Northfield to the Big Woods. I hurried putting my O-gear on in the parking lot, unsuccessfully trying to dodge raindrops. I hurried to the shelter for registration and to the tent where I waited for my start. As I started the clock at 11:18 the rain stopped but I knew full well that this would be a wet one anyway.

The short jog across the parking lot should be one of the few dry areas I would encounter during this meet. As I dropped into the first valley, the runoff from the from the parking lot stayed with me. In spite of the steep grade there was standing water everywhere. Game trails and later park paths were worse, typically sporting ankle-deep water. I jumped the creek, from a high bank to a sandy area, delaying fording for a while. I hit CP1 square on the nose. Following the lead of an ROTC kid, I used a downed tree to delay fording some more. CP2 was not difficult either and CP3 didn't seem difficult either. Boy, was I wrong.

I had promised myself after the last meet that I would take the initial controls easy, but I must have thrown caution to the wind after success at the the easy CP1 and 2. Somehow I veered too far to the east and got completely turned around. I finally found my bearings again near the falls/dam on the creek. I made 2 extra kilometers and lost about 25 minutes. Major bummer, but as usually in orienteering I had only myself to blame.

Fortunately and as usual, things were looking up from here. I have a sense that the more out of breath I am the better my brain works, I have to put this to a test sometime, maybe by running a Yellow before my main event. The route I plotted to CP4 worked beautifully, following one of the submerged trails. I was on the right track to CP5 as well, aiming for the corner of a rectangular open area. I was looking for the ruined fence and thought I had to move a little further east when the fence told me by way of a deep gash that I had arrived. No further issues with CP5, CP6 through 11 were easy, too.The constant sloshing through water and muck were starting to take their toll on me, though. I made one odd observation at CP9, which was a fork in a stream: one of the arms of the stream had a completely dry albeit soft sandy bottom.

I think that going from CP11 to 12 I made the wrong route choice by returning to the trail and bridge instead of wading across and taking the direct route, using the edge of the plateau to move towards CP12. I did find it without difficulties and had except for starting to feel quite exhausted no trouble with CP13 and the finish either.

Running the course in 2:03:41, I finished 11th out of 25. My one major screw up on CP3 cost me at least 25 minutes and 3-5 places . Learn to live another day ... See results here.



Spent, at the finish. Photo courtesy of Andrei Karpoff

My Inov8 Mudclaw 330 did not give me any trouble this time in spite of constant immersion in water, mud and several waded stream crossings. They collected quite a bit of silt and sand on the way, which did not bother me. The deepest stretch of wading was from CP5 to 6, where the water reached up to my waist.  Despite the wetness and my poor performance from CP2 to 3, I liked the the course a lot.

Orienteering at Lake Elmo Park Reserve

Great day for the meet at Lake Elmo: steady driving rain and fortunately not too cold. It seemed like getting into a cold pool or lake before a swim workout: the initial moments were chill but when the blood started pumping through my veins it felt not bad at all.

Tom and I left at around the same time, Tom doing orange and I did the red. As usual, I needed to warm up my brain rather than my body: I overshot CP1 in spite of some clear vegetation boundaries that should have been easy to pick up and follow. I muddled around, backtracked and need 8+ minutes for a distance that should have taken me no more than 2-3'. The split analysis confirms it: finishing 15th overall, my split for the first control was second to last. Reminder to self: WALK to the first couple of CPs (or to more technical CPs) after getting to the attack point. I hit the attack point right on and did not take the time to move to fine orienteering. I am making this mistake all the time, especially early on a course.

I think I made the wrong choice at CP3, going  the long way around the pond. But I am not sure, since I would have had to go through a rough area the shorter way.

CP4 to CP9 were easy. There are not many places with this type of open land. I appreciated the fact that the flags were not visible from afar, but picking a beacon in the distance for a bearing was never difficult and the grass had not yet grown to be a hindrance.

CP9 required a weighty decision: "dry" (by now there wasn't a dry spot left on my body) detour around the north end of Eagle Point Lake or wading through a "Crossable: deepest point 2.5 ft" strait, promising a slightly more direct route. I think I made the correct decision by picking the northern route, which seemed just barely longer. Gregg, a much stronger runner and orienteerer (he passed me at CP12) than me asked me after the race if I had swum.  I didn't get it right away, I thought he was making a joke on the weather but he meant the strait, which he had crossed wading with water up to his waist. His split for the leg was 7:23 (12th) to my 8:35 (14th). Not sure how much of this can be attributed to his overall higher speed or the wet shortcut.

On the leg between CP9 and and CP10 I ran into Tom, who had overshot one of his CPs. It does not happen very often to meet a friend who is doing a different course, though I had met my colleague Bryan  at Lake Elmo a couple years back. Maybe due to the open terrain?

CP11 was less than good, I should have done a better job taking a bearing instead of using the wetland to my NE as a handrail. I was too far E from the pond and consequently had to make a short correction W to get to the CP. CP12 was OK, but I second-guessed myself on the footpath I took from the roundabout parking area, losing a minute or two. My problem was again the transition from rough to fine orienteering. The short loop sequence of CP12 to CP16 was straightforward, helped by the contours an open terrain. I could have probably done better from CP17 to the finish, remaining on the trail instead of bushwhacking it.

In the end, I finished 15th out of 39 starters, see results here.

Some gear notes:

• I continue to be impressed with the responsiveness of my Sportident SI-9 e-punch stick. Much faster then the loaners from the club. Ian programmed it after today's meet. 
• On this wet day my Inov-8 Mudclaw 330 gave me a blister on the left heel, after a few races without any trouble, including the snowy Arctic Commando Trail Run last fall and the Tamarack Nature Center O-meet this spring. 

Orienteering at Tamarack Nature Center, White Bear Township, MN

My first orienteering event this year. I am feeling a little rusty, but then, making a lot of avoidable mistakes, last season was definitely not very productive for me. Tamarack Nature Center is a small park in White Bear Township (~169 ha or 417 acres) sporting a few ponds, some wetlands and open and wooded hilly terrain. It should be quite difficult to not go straight for the controls in such an environment. Well let’s see. My first error was on CP3, a combination of underestimating the distance and not reading the contours. I started looking for the CP too early and lost about 3 minutes. Approaching CP10, I veered off too far to the east and ended up on a trail that led almost knee-deep through ice water. I am putting this down for another 3 minutes. My worst mistake was getting to CP12. I ran along the path following the edge of the park. Easy running and definitely an area where I should have made up some time. When approaching the control, instead of relying on the clearly defined small pond near the CP, I took off too early and started looking for the CP BEFORE the pond. That cost me probably 6 minutes. In the Results, not making these three mistakes would have brought me down to about 1 hour and up from 13th (out of 26) to 7th place.

Lessons:

• I must work on counting steps
• Take time to read map in confusing areas, especially when relying on trails
• Trust the map when obvious features are in play

Other than that it was a beautiful afternoon out, with the signs of early spring all around: spring peepers, receding snow pack, even some open water and lots of mucky places. I was certainly glad for the delay in the arrival of bad weather.

Orienteering at de Lietteberg, Zutendaal, BE

As I was preparing for this falls trip to Belgium, I had to check on an opportunity for participation in an orienteering event. I checked both the Vlaams Verbond voor Oriënteringsport (VVO, the Flemish orienteering federation) and the Fédération Régionale des Sports d'Orientation (FRSO, the Walloon orienteering federation). I was in luck, not in as much as there was an event, but rather because it was so close to my home town of Eupen. With 21 clubs in Belgium (14 in Wallonia, including my old club Orientierungslaufverein Eifel, OLVE and 7 in Flanders), there is an event almost every weekend of the year. The event in question was near Genk, only about 60 km from Eupen. I enjoyed driving past many familiar sites passing Liege on my way to Zutendaal and de Lietteberg map on this beautiful early winter day.

I found the location without any trouble and was immediately impressed by all the hubbub. I could not use my e-punch stick because unlike the SportIdent system adopted within the US Orienteering Federation, the VVO uses the EMIT e-card system instead. Fortunately they had some for rent. Participation fee was an affordable 4 Euro, like in the US a bargain compared to many other sports. It was a remote start and I used the 2 km there as a warm-up. BORASCA, the organizing club had laid nine courses, including three puzzle-Os with a map that was part oro-hydro, plus a kid’s course.

My first challenge was to figure out the e-card system. It was intuitive but I wasn’t sure about whether the card worked. There was no feedback from the CP, like a flashing light or a beep which left me disconcerted. When at CP 7 there was indeed a flashing light, I knew I was in trouble. I am certain that I had correctly laid the card on the device before, it must have been an error.

I did not let this deter me from enjoying the well laid course. I could not get over how different this very domesticated the environment was compared to the wilds of the Upper Midwest in and around Minnesota. Fences were a major feature and vegetation boundaries were often those between different plantings on forest parcels. Tree roots were a common feature for CPs, as were man-made objects. CPs were placed accurately and generally much more visible than those I am used to at MNOC events.

When I returned, my fears that the start and the initial 6 controls had not been recorded on the e-card were confirmed, but the time keepers kindly took the time from my Garmin Forerunner 305 and recorded it for full credit when I explained my predicament. When I e-mailed the BORASCA club contact about the card, I also found out that the competition equipment is provided by VVO and that she would forward my concerns about the e-card not working properly. I am pretty sure I did nothing wron while inserting the card into the initial six controls but in hindsight, I should have familiarized myself with the EMIT e-card before taking off.

I finished dead last in the long event of 8500 m, see Results. I was impressed by the number of participants, in all there were 237 from 15 clubs, plus 8 children. There is something to be said for a small, densely populated country to further sports without mass-market appeal!

Veteran's Day Night O at Hyland Park Reserve, Bloomington, MN

This year's edition of the Veteran's Day night event was at Hyland Lake Park Reserve. Registration was at Jan's Place, which I promptly misunderstood to mean one of the MNOC members' home. It turned out to be one of the park facilities and fortunately, I found it right away, unlike Ian's home, which served as departure point for last year's night O at Katherine Abbot Park.

This years event was laid out as a butterfly course, with 3 km, 5 km and 8km distances I picked the middle distance, worrying about screwing up like during the past few events and returning late in the night.

I hit the initial six controls right on. CP 7, however, was a different story, as is immediately evident from the map and my track above, and the satellite image, below. Screwing up on this CP was a mix of outdated map (pond missing), darkness (I would have seen the bigger lake if there had been any light), failure to estimate distance and count steps and my pigheadedness about sticking to a couple of obvious attack points trying each several times without trying a third alternative.

In the end, it's all about thinking. But in spite of my troubles with CP 7 I did manage to pull off a victory in the medium length category: Hyland Park Reserve Night O Results.

Orienteering at Willow River State Park

I am fond of Willow River and I like the orienteering map for this park. I did, however, not have a good orienteering experience, due to a number of stupid mistakes I made. As usual, I did the red course.

I made a minor mistake approaching C1. I was passing a group and one of the guys challenged me that he'd make it to the control before me. Coming from W along a trail, I needed to pass between two small wetlands and then turn S to move to the E side of the southern wetland and to the control. In the heat of the pursuit, I turned S on the W side of the wetland and ended up sloshing through some water. Oh well, I did not have to worry about keeping my feet dry any longer.

C2 looked very straightforward, A depression in the middle of an embankment. I used followed the road and took a bearing form the turn-off at the first campground. It should have been a straight shot and it was. I ended up at most 20 m to the E of C2, at the beginning of another shallow depression. Thinking this was the one and followed it to the E end. No control. Instead of backtracking I searched for another depression E of the one I entered, no luck. I finally returned , I could have kicked myself it was so obvious. I think I would have seen it when I got to the first depression and looked over my shoulder.
C3 posed no problem but C4 was my worst. 24+ minutes for less than 400 m. Instead I decided to follow a bearing, which was next to impossible in this mess of ravines heavily overgrown with buckthorn. After erring through this maze for a while I decided to do what I should have done leaving C3: I headed for the trail along the meadow on top of the plateau and followed it to the corner in the vegetation border. Bingo, no problem!
I then progressed fairly well, even making some good time through the grassy expanse along the eastern edge of the park. My last mistake was C13, where I was too tentative rounding (or crossing) the ridge to find the reentrant with the control. I felt pretty dejected and humbled with my worst performance since the time I actually gave up at Sand Dunes State Forest. (Results for Willow River Meet at MNOC web page)

On the upside, the deer were thick, I saw probably seven or eight, some from just a few steps away. I also saw a pair of pileated woodpeckers. All in all a nice afternoon in the woods, but poor orineteering performance. Also, after three O-events my Inov-8 Mudclaws are getting used to my feet, or is it the other way around? No more heel blisters after 11 km in the woods.

Orienteering at Lebanon Hills Regional Park, Eagan

Finally another orienteering event. This spring, I had a dearth of races even though or maybe rather because orienteering kept me quite busy with setting the May Afton SP event.

I had family visiting from Belgium, my uncle Tony, his grandson Yannick and Yannick's cousin Laeticia. It was their last day in the States and I was glad when they agreed to come along. They even agreed to participate in the event, picking the orange course, while I did red.

I felt a little rusty ad a little rushed, though I am in pretty decent physical shape. After giving Tony et al. a quick intro into the art of orienteering and seeing them off, I started. As usual I did not take enough time to read the map, hustling instead from control to control, making a number of minor mistakes. E.g. I overshot C2, even though it was right on a stream which I crossed on a small bridge. After I corrected and knocked off C2, I followed the creek and various wetlands towards C3 almost stumbling over a monstrous snapping turtle. I literally vaulted over the beast, hoping it would decide to take a bite out of me. Fortunately it mad its long neck short, letting me pass unscathed.

Until C7, I was always very close to the control. C4 was a little tricky because of a little peninsula jutting out into Holland lake that looked just like the one on the map. I should have paid attention to the contour and counted reentrants instead. I damned the overgrow white areas, especially the brambles.

I made my firs major mistake heading for C8. All of a sudden I found myself on the wrong side of a narrow strait between two lakes, the little like just to the east of Jensen Lake and whatever is east of it.  After probing the ground with a stick, I decided to try my luck wading across. I was lucky, no bottomless muck or quicksand, but it is the wettest I've gotten during any O-meet, except maybe from sweat or from rain. To balance out this bad mistake, I followed it up with another one, while heading to C9. Must be that the dead fall, blackberry brambles, swamps and steep hills weren't enough of a challenge. From here on my mistakes, if any, were fortunately minor and I made it back in 1:49. Not a good time but at least I found all controls ... (Lebanon Hills Results at MNOC site)

As I was catching my breath I noticed the absence of my Belgian visitors. So I waited, chatting with club mates, always keeping a furtive eye on the direction from where I was expecting them. At long last I couldn't stand it any longer and started to do Orange backwards. at C8, I asked a pair of woman orienteerers whether they had seen an older man in the company of two youngsters. they had, just a couple of controls back, and to my big relief they also said that they looked like they knew what they were doing.  I decided to head back, picking up C7 on the way. Sure enough enough, there were Laeticia and Yannick, sitting at a picnic table reviewing their route. They had decided to call it a day after they could not find C8. Yannick trial and tribulation had been seeing a garter snake.

I wore my Inov-8 Mudclaws after taping my heels with hockey tape to prevent blisters from forming. It worked, and they did rather well at shedding the water from my wading adventure. 

Setting Courses for May 16, 2010 Orienteering Meet at Afton SP 2

The following table shows the setter-vetter interaction after course design and placement of tape at the controls. 

Contr. #	Initial Check by Vetter	Response/Action Setter	After field review, Setter and Vetter	Final
120	The tape is slightly east, at stream junction	Yes, it is intersection of ditch and stream, not stream junction	I see what you mean, it's at the stream junction, moving circle to junction
126	The tape is at the bend of the ditch. Circle should be moved east	I think the circle should be movedwest, to the bend.	Corrected on map, moved circle to bend	Agreed, it is to west.
203	I did not find the tape. I placed a tape at the boulder right at the re-entrant. The clue would be NE boulder or maybe more correct NE small rock face. The fence is mostly gone. It is not really a boulder field . On the map it drawn as boulders, but it is more like small rock face. We could also use the reentrant. That might be more "clean".	Missed this comment and agreed to proposed change.	On day before event, I could not find Vetter’s tape Felt that I had placed control too low in reentrant and alerted vetter	Vetter, on day of event: moved control higher in reentrant
204	The tape was sitting in a re-entrant SE of the correct. The re entrant where you place the tape should have been on the map more clear. I put a tape in the re-entrant where I think it should be. An alternative to this control location could be the re-entrant just N of 204. A side re entrant to the big re entrant with the gully I put a tape there also. I think that could work for red also? Then there would be no problem with the map.	Agreed to use the reentrant N of original location. Did not understand which of one of two side reentrants was used and needed to send Purple Pen file to printer. Of course I picked the wrong one.	Fortunately, the reentrant I had picked was self-explanatory. Placed control
209	The tape is located slightly further down in the reentrant, outside the open. So maybe move the circle slightly west	Moved circle to W	Confirmed
213	Tape is on the boulder field  just North of the circle	Moved circle to N boulder field	Confirmed
214	Could not find tape. I hung a tape where I think it should be.	OK, I'll check	Tape found, also original tape, in wrong reentrant
224	Clue North East side	Moved circle slightly NE and added clue	Confirmed
226	I did not find tape. Also it is not well defined where control should be. I would move the control to the Hill top North east of there. I put a tape there.	Moved circle to hilltop NE	Confirmed
232	I have problems with this control. If you take it from the road south of there is seems to be right, but when you take a compass reading going north it is not right. I think the tape is on the wrong spur, it is too close to the ditch. Also think the map is wrong. I would suggest not to use this control.  Maybe use 214 as the third on Brown	Agreed, I'll use 214 but: Problem: if we switch #232 to #214, Brown #3 to #4 goes through the camp sites, which is off limits. Any thoughts?	Not good Here is a suggestion #1 221,#2 202 #3 203 #4 204 #5 225 #6 226 #7 227 #8 231  That is about 4 Km Which should be enough for Brown in Afton?	Changed course in accordance with vetter's suggestion.
234	Maybe clue should be manmade feature	Moved circle to man-made feature and changed spur to secondary in clue	Confirmed

Some other observations:

• I am glad my first event was a spring event. When I was flagging the course on April 14, the undergrowth was still without leaves. It would have been more difficult to set in a late spring or summer forest. I would suggest to pay a visit for a fall event in early spring
• In case of doubt, ask. The Afton site is odd in that it resembles a huge slice of bread with a big bite taken out the left (or W) side. That bite is of course Afton Alps Ski Area and Golf Course. MNOC is working with the State Park and has to get separate permissions from the ski area. To the best of my knowledge, none of the controls were on ski area property. However, the road connecting the different parking lot provided a natural shortcut between several of the controls. Thus, we should have gotten permission to at least skirt that portion of ski area property.

Minnesota Orienteering Club 2010 Adventure Race Tune-Up

or The Lost Boys found.

We did it and we did it at an extremely short notice: Bryan and I entered MNOC's annual AR tune-up, starting at Riverbend Nature Center in Faribault, MN.

Neither of us knew quite what to expect, neither the sequence of legs nor had we ever done anything like it. All we knew was that we would be running/orienteering, kayaking and bicycling.

When we needed a team name, Jen at work came up with a good one without delay: "The Lost Boys." I was just hoping that this would not prove to be a premonition ...

I picked up Bryan at 6:15 and we were on the road. Warnings about traffic delays due to the Ironman Bike Ride proved to be unwarranted. We moved at a good clip and were soon in Faribault. We had a quick pit stop at Hardee's and then dropped off our bikes at the appointed location in Two Rivers Park near downtown Faribault. Like at the bike drop, the parking lot of Riverbend Nature Center, participants were busy readying their gear.

The sky was leaden, the temps anything but mild, with a brisk northerly wind. Thus, after signing the waiver, the next order of business was deciding what to wear. I wore shorts, my orienteering gaiters and a rain jacket. I warned Bryan not to overdress, but the cold got the better of him.

At the pre-race meeting we were told that for the first leg we needed to carry all of our gear. That meant that those of us who insisted on using their own paddles would carry them through the woods. The sequence of events was orienteering, kayaking, cycling with a short orienteering (i.e. UTM location followed by compass bearing) interlude, a score-o and another bike leg.

On the Straight River, in my mind the most difficult leg

It didn't take long before we got going, a little after 9:00 AM. The Orienteering was rather simple and my experience helped us quite a bit.



We arrived at the start of the kayak portion within the first quarter of racers. Here, the decision was whether to install a seat. I decided against it, which may have been a mistake. I should have either invested that time or knelt in the inflatable craft. Quite a few parties passed us, our rhythm was off and I had a hard time sitting up straight. Furthermore, my rear end received a good soaking from a puddle of water that formed in the hollow I created in the back of the rubber boat. We made it without serious hangups but fell back by probably 10 places or so.



At the take-out I let Bryan clean the canoe while I plotted the UTM coordinate of the orienteering interlude of the first bicycle leg. A volunteer checked the plot for accuracy and off we went. One more control point within Faribault followed by a steep climb, then the country roads were ours.

The climb revealed what would turn out to be a major draw-back: Bryan’s studded tires were slow on smooth surfaces and his soft fork made climbing difficult. We plodded along and eventually made it to Caron Park, to the UTM coordinate at the picnic shelter. From there, we took an 11° bearing to a large boulder. We found it without problem. Back onto the bike, to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, familiar to me from previous orienteering meets.



I do like Nerstrand Big Woods, it's one of my favorite parks. Here, we had to run a score-O, i.e. to tick off as many controls as possible in the allotted time. The control placements were generally simple and we hit all but the last one right on.

Ticking off the control points at Nerstrand Big Woods SP

They were placed more as during a regular O-event, it was easily possible to create a route not requiring any detours. As I said, I made a mistake at the last control. Since we only had about five minutes left, I had already resigned to dropping this one. However, it was so close to the check-out point that I decided to go for it. Fortes fortuna adiuvat, we got that last control and made it back with a minute to spare!



Back on the bikes and a tactical decision that would help us quite a bit: we switched bikes. I am a little fitter than Bryan and my smoother rolling Gary Fisher helped him a lot. Three controls on the road and three in Riverbend Nature Center, all by bike. The first one was not a problem. South, with a brisk back wind, that made even steep hills seem easier.

Easy ridin' downhill and with a back wind

The second control was where the road intersects with a drainage ditch. A strong, fast-riding team overshot this control and was out of sight by the time we had punched our card. I wonder how long it took for them to notice. The way back to Riverbend was a little more difficult because the NNW wind and a rather soft gravel road surface. The occasional farm dog would jump out at us but never persist. Just doing their job, keeping the riff-raff and varmint (like us) away.



The short bike-O in Riverbend was a fun piece of single track, nothing technical. Again, my orienteering helped except that I turned the wrong direction (left instead of right on the road back to the finish. This probably cost us a minute.

All in all, what a great experience for participating in an adventure race. It also boosts the ego to finish 8th out of 38 teams, for the results, see AR Tune-Up Finishers. For Mike Carlson, the meet director's thoughts, a description of all the work that went into preparing this and how the final scoring worked, see AR Tune-up review.Garmin Connect (click next to move to the next leg, they are in sequence, 1 to 5)