Training Log Archive: KFish

Event: WPOC - Boyce Park
 

USARA 2017

More race report to come!

67/78 checkpoints. Unfortunately one teammate had to drop so we were an unnofficial team, but we stacked up as 24/64 total teams, which I am incredibly impressed with. I felt GREAT the whole time, the best I have ever felt in a race, and really didnt have a single low point. I felt I finally earned a place on my team because I was finally able to contribute (pushing bikes, towing, taking weight) instead of just keeping up.

The course was incredibly difficult in places, but I had a blast and really enjoyed every minute of it.

AR firsts for the books:
Bike 'swim'
Gratuitous bike-whacking

I think feeling good came down to switching up my nutrition strategy to include more foods I could look forward to eating, and less focused on energy foods. Also more emphasis on salt. I added slim jims, PB crackers, Thats it bars, and also added salt to my gatorade. I stayed on top of eating really well. I know its key, but I still fail to do it too often.

It was really fun constantly being surrounded by so many teams, i dont think there was a single leg or CP that we saw less than 3 or 4 teams during. The race emphasized that our strength is in our nav and not our fitness, as we make quick choices passing people in transition and at CPs and route choice poitns, and then getting passed in between. Well have to work more on the fitness ;).

The race was really tough, but I can honestly say I had fun the whole time. This came down to feeling good, and some unique challenges that were presented to us. And seeing so many other people.

Trek 1 - O Team Time Trials

Upon reaching TA 2 there were two foot options - a 20 point course on an actual orienteering map, and a 12 point foot course on the USGS that we had plotted before the race. The O course would be timed for an "O team" winner. We had measured the USGS course to be about 15 miles straight line, so the choice seemed obvious to us, get more points in *probably* less distance, and then get some closer points on the USGS depending on time.

We set off on the O course in full dark. I took a turn navigating to teh first 3 points which were all easy, and then handed the map back to syd for 4 cuz it looked hard. It was that time in the early morning hours we always tend to make really bad choices, and we decided to plunge into the trail and even said to each other "lets just wing it", even though it looked tough with no good attack point, lots of green woods, etc. The green was rohdodendrons, which are incredibly thick and slow to get through, and eventually really start to hurt the ankles. We wandered for a while before finding a boulder field that was mapped and able to correct from that. Should have been much more careful from the start, but all in all only lost 20 minutes. It got easier, and we got smarter about avoiding green, after that and syd put together some really solid nav. It got light around point 7. We walked, even trails, cuz our legs and feet didnt have jogging in them, but we made steady progress. Even the trails, and lots of off trail, were boulder fields that would have been treacherous running any way. No major problems for the rest of the O course and ended with 3 easy poitns along the road. About 2 hours off the pace of the winners of the fastest O course, but pretty happy we were able to clear it since its our strength. Saw a lot of top teams out in the woods (that had presumable cleared the USGS first), but came to realize nobody had run away with the win in <20 hours, which was surprising to us.

Trek 3 - Foot

We decided we had time for 3 of the USGS points, and syd handed me the map. I bobbled the first point, not realizing I was making decisions based on a trail I had very roughly sketched in... ooops. Found it eventually, and then I took us bushwhacking up a hill to save distance compared to road around, which prompted syd to revoke my map privileged (it WAS faster tho...). After finding the second one we headed all the way to the attack for the third before chickening out starting to feel pressed for time for the bike back (they had cautioned no less than 1:30, should leave 2 hours). So we turned around and hiked the road back to the TA. In retrospect we had the time to get the CP and should have just gone for it.

Bike 3

We werent sure what our bike legs had left in them, so we wanted to leave 2.5 hours (as opposed to the 1.5 they had told us to budget). Turns out my legs still had some steam, and I was able to tow syd up the first hill (it was slow, but so much shorter than the hills earlier!). Unfortunately some miscommunication on the downhill caused her to drop the tow, which became very tangled in my brakes and cassette, so we had to stop and dig that out. (Time for a new tow system, as this has also happened to us before...). Even with that problem and another couple small hills, we made great time back. Syd was quite decisive finding a trail and plunging down it while at least 3 other teams were standing around staring at there maps (We saw a lot of this at almost every decision point.. MOVE people, come on, its a RACE!).

A steep uphill to the last CP and then A nice fast downhill to the finish line!

Longest race to date in the books!

Event: USARA Nationals
 

Paddle 1

Got maps at 5 am and had a few hours to plot and plan before hopping on a bus for the 9 am start. We thought it would seem hectic with 40 points to plot, but it actually went pretty smoothly and we had plenty of time for planning. The speaker system at the start wasnt working, so the teams started up an a capella version of the national anthem, which was pretty horrendous sounding, but also pretty cool. SO many people! Really fun to be part of such a big race.

The paddle points were any order, but there was a pretty obvious first point for anyone planning on clearing the course, so I think 60/64 teams headed the same direction upon hitting the water. We started pretty mid pack, and felt like we were moving pretty smoothly, but continued to be passed literally the entire paddle. More evidence that we really need to work on arm and core strength, technique, etc. But also figure overall we dont lose THAT much time over lead teams. Nav went smoothly and this first section of paddle went by pretty quickly.

Foot 1 - Split Up

About halfway through the paddle we got the chance to get out of our boat for a 9 point foot section with a twist - Each team would get 2 passports and 2 maps, and have the chance to split up to get them however they wished. We had seen some boats headed out to pick up foot people, but quickly decided an all foot strategy would be better for us. I went out for 4 points that was easy nav and mostly a trail run. I still managed to get on an unmapped trail going the wrong direction that took me out to a road, but once i realized it I was able to take a straight line through the woods to hit the correct trail. After that bobble I was determined to make it back such that andy and syd wouldnt have to wait for me. Made it back and had time to eat a snack before they showed up, about 4 min after me. This was the first time ive been a part of splitting up during a race and it was really interesting. Our speed was good so we passed a number of the teams that had paddled by us earlier.

Paddle with hike to TA

Paddled back towards the start picking up a few more points. Was again passed by a number of faster paddling teams, but teams really started to spread out some by this point. Had to pass the TA to get the last cp and then headed back to the take out and a mile hike up to our bikes.

Bike 1 - King of the Mountain

After a monster, hilly bike leg at NYARA's Longest Day 3 weeks ago that I struggled mightily at, this bike leg really scared me. I tried not to let it get to me before it even started though.

This leg was termed King of the Mountain, and the fastest team from CP 10 to CP 21 would win the title. We obviously had no illusions of winning, but I thought the idea was pretty cool. Had a little ways to go before CP 10 along a road and then a rail trail. I started to struggle keeping up with Andy on the rail trail and I thought I was in for a long day, until I realized i was riding on a flat tire - doh. Stopped to switch it out, only to find the replacement also had a flat (WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO US!?!?!?), so had to swap in a second spare tube. After that was a river crossing with our bikes, which was a first for me. The water was about chest hieght and moving pretty good, with a very rocky bottom. They had a rope strung up across and one saftey person upstream. I hit my ankle on rock that hurt quite a lot for not a very hard hit, but luckily I didnt twist it. (upon inspection at the end of the race it was both scraped and bruised, but its healing well). It was tough to carry a bike that was trying to float with unsure footing and cold rushing water, what an experience! I realized right as I was getting to chest level that the clue sheet was in an unsealed map case around my neck, so I stuck it in my mouth in the nick of time. Andy was first across and went back out to help syd, who is in up to her neck!

KOM officially started right after the river crossing, and started with a several mile (road) climb up to a great view. It was slow going, but we all made it without stopping, which felt pretty good and made me feel better about the section even knowing three more similar climbs were coming. Then we rode a trail along the top that was ridable to a steep rocky decent. We all started out riding, but I took a pretty hard (stupid) fall and needed a breather. (Knee is pretty banged up with scrapes and bruises, and was rather stiff after the race, but its also healing nicely). After that we all spent a lot more time walking, probably for the better to avoid serious injury.

The next section was either a long (4ish miles) steady trail climb, or the same on a road and then a steep but short climb. We opted for the second option, and further opted to leave our bikes at the bottom and come back for them instead of pushing them to the top and risk not being able to ride the trail back down. The hike actually went pretty quick and a number of teams behind us said they wished they had chosen the same as us instead of pushing thier bikes.

It was a short ride around to a small park, and then another single track trail around a large spur. It was ridable for a while, but unfortunately got quite rocky and wasn't going to happen for us, or the several teams we kept going back and forth with (I imagine the top teams mostly rode this section). It made it slow and kind of frustrating, but we were still all moving pretty well. We gave up on the trail right near the end and bushwhacked out to a road (the road was off limits further up the trail, so it hadn't been an option), only to find we had been really close to the end and mostly just added a short but steep road climb for ourselves, oh well. We made a quick stop at a gas station with at least 10 other teams, and refilled up on water, gatorade, and a few snacks. This was the first time Andy told us he wasn't feeling well, and also just about the start of dusk.

After leaving the gas station it was another long road climb up to the end of the KOM section. We again opted to leave our bikes when we got to a trail section and hike up to the CP, but in this case it was probably the wrong choice because it could have been a much more direct ride to the last cp, instead of hiking back down and continuing the road climb. Oh well, we werent alone in this decision. Needed lights by the end of the hike.

Overall the KOM section went much better than expected. It was rather slow at times but I was still feeling good and made it up the three hills without incident.

Bike 2 - Bike-whack-athon

The race started to go downhill for us as the long bike leg continued. It started off with a long search for a CP that ended up with us convinced it was missing (N of creek on ruin - lots of ruins in the area, thought we thoroughly searched all of them anyway, to no avail). Other teams here at the same time as us also gave up, which gave us some confidence, but might have also convinced us to give up too soon. This was followed by a demoralzing bike push up and extremely steep trail, (another CP that gave us too much trouble, but we found and continued on without alerting all the other teams searching) followed but a bushwhack bike up a rocky, bushy hill for what felt like several miles (probably not that far, but it was incredibly slow going). We got passed by a lot of teams on the bike whack during our frequent breaks, but nobody was moving all that fast. Andy really started to feel bad. I just kept trucking and was the first to make it to the trail, so I went back and grabbed andy's bike for the last bit. Once we finally made it up it was a decent bit of trail riding to pick up some points along the spur, and the trail was loose large gravel that was ridable but really bounced us around.

After finding the CPs we were headed down to a rail trail but made a wrong turn that started taking us down the wrong side of the spur. We should have questioned it a number of times sooner than we did (when we first crossed an intersection, when we saw other teams hiking back up the hill we were going down), but we made it all the way to private property before we realized our error. Felt really bad for andy especially. I pushed both our bikes back up while he zombie walked. After we got on the right trail it was a smooth decent down to 27. Andy wanted to drop at this point, but we were told there were no options for pick up except to make it to 29. We made a wrong turn headed to the rail trail up an unnecessary hill that I towed Andy up. He took a nap while syd and I searched (again, for too long before finding it) for 28, and then on to 29, where we were told we were in the middle of no where and he'd have ot make it out to the next town. There was no way he was going to make the second water crossing (not as deep, but now the middle of the night, and he was already quite cold), so we continued on the rail trail. He was tough as nails in keeping it going on the flats, props to him. Eventually we made it to a small town and called the RD for a ride. Another team had also made the call to drop out, so after confirming with the RD we said our good byes and continued on as an unofficial 2some. Was waiting there for half an hour or so, enough to get chilled.

Getting out to the town had been a less direct detour on our way to TA 2, but we were still dry and it was all roads around instead of a trail. Even with the detour and the wait, we met back up at the trail near TA2 with teams that had started the water crossing at 29 at the same time we were there, so it actually may have been faster (and was DEFINITELY less cold). There were several short climbs on the road route that warmed me back up. Legs were definitely starting to get tired, but continued moving. Syd and I both took caffiene pills to perk us up, which definitely worked, but THEY TASTED TERRIBLE - need to find a swallowable alternative.

last shake down before USARAs!!