Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Oh, orienteering.

Should I have run this race? Probably not. IT band wasn't up for it.

Did I want to miss the Traverse? Certainly not! So I showed up (30 minutes to the start, door to door), got ready, and ran.

First control following was rough going through some greenbriar, but the second and third were better. The third Violeta and I overran; the vegetation on these maps is useless. Then it was off to Control 4. I had a route and was determined to race it well: it's a small race this year and I had a chance to finish well. I knew the downhill well, too, and was ready to move on it, hoping my leg would allow it. First couple miles had been nicely near threshold, and I was feeling good.

So up to the pass, down the trail, left off a bend to the right, contour to the control. But, no control. And no other people. Looked around, tried to make the map make sense, and I had taken the wrong trail and gone fast enough I hadn't noticed what didn't make sense.

There went 10 minutes. And my IT band hurt.

So the rest was mostly walking, some running, and mostly good navigating. I thought about just walking it in a couple times but after a frontal passage and temperature dropping 10˚ it was much more pleasant. I passed some folks, walked down a lot of hills, and then had to sprint for the finish. Less than an hour behind Vilpuu, which was not bad given my mistakes and my not being able to run.

One day I'll figure this sport out and not be broken.

Traverse - Splits

The boys have been skiing something for a while called "The Boys Loop" which, it turns out, is just heading down to Vaughn Hill, which is great. The boys needed a little guidance on which side of the road to be on but got better after being gently reminded that it was the right side. Came up with a couple of new rhymes:

"wheels on the grass, you've saved your ass"
"wheels where you'd put a ferrule, smushed like a squirrel" (we saw a recently-smushed squirrel)

Anyway, someone lost a tip along 110, and was able to shove a new one on (New invention Ed: handwarmers which you can crack and use to warm up poles/glue for tips mid-ski). There's an extension in to a cemetery with decent pavement, the boys played tag while I ate shit on the warm up (fell on my bottom, which is fine but will have a nice bruise).

Then the rest of the roll across Vaughn Hill and out the rest of the loop, including Depot Extension. I got a little bonky near the end.

Here's the 100k potential loop (I'd have to scout about 15 of it). This could happen!

No time today (and a little too hungover to roll this morning) so with a little more than an hour free I went down to ski along the river. It's not bad! The path is repaved and with a headwind I can get V2 intervals "uphill" in to the wind. And it's a 7 minute ski from my house, I could do this again …

Nice roll out along the bike path again before class. Leg feeling much better. Lots of calf stretching.

Oh I remembered that stretching the eff out of my calf helps the ITB issue. Will continue doing that, and try to rollerski some this week in lieu of any running with the hope of running the Highlander on Sunday successfully.