Training Log Archive: jjcoteIn the 7 days ending May 3, 2008:
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Saturday May 3, 2008 #
Event: West Point A-Meet
Orienteering race 44:34 [3] *** 4.23 km (10:32 / km) +170m 8:46 / km
spiked:11/14c shoes: VJ Integrators #2
Red M45 middle distance, Black Cap Mountain (West Point). After my lackluster performance at Rochester two weeks ago, I was just figuring I was pretty out of shape, which is why I decided to run Red again. I didn't feel very fast out there, but my few mistakes were quite small. Quite surprised to find that I had the second-best time on Red. I suppose my fairly extensive experience in this terrain helps.
Orienteering race 24:10 [4] *** 3.13 km (7:43 / km) +80m 6:51 / km
spiked:19/20c shoes: VJ Integrators #2
Sprint at Camp Natural Bridge (West Point). Quite clean, the only error was when I first went to a control that I had seen while on an earlier leg that I was expecting to my mine (mine was actually 30 m further on). Beyond that, it's just a matter of running speed. I think I may have been 14th on the Blue/Red course, which isn't so bad.
Sunday Apr 27, 2008 #
Canoeing 16:20 [3]
Warming up.
Canoeing race 51:28 [4] 5.0 mi (10:18 / mi)
Run of the Charles relay, leg 1, with the Quinobequin Canoe Club, lineup:
1) J-J and Don
2) Murray and Wes
3) Julie and Rob
4) Derek and Gus
5) Don (redux) and Wes (redux)
It was a wave start with a bunch of groups two minutes apart, and we were in at least the fourth wave, so there were a few boats that we weren't able to overtake. It was a real demolition derby at times; we had four or five collisions (sideswipes) or near-misses. One was an aluminum boat that did a 90 degree turn right in front of us, and we just managed to put on the brakes enough to avoid T-boning it. The river was low, but we got through pretty well, just hitting one bad stretch of suckwater on the inside of a curve (our second leg ran aground three times, and Wes had to get out of the boat once).
Our nemeses are the Snoopers and the Biolabs Mutants, who are both in a different division (corporate), but still in the same race. They started in waves after us, but the Snoopers had strong paddlers on leg 1 and made up four minutes on us. We gained some back on the second leg, then they passed us on the third, and our fourth leg team couldn't quite catch them. Our anchor legs guys caught up to them before they even hit the water, on the portage around the Moody St. dam, and had gained back 90 seconds of the 4-minute deficit by the Bleachery. In the end, I guess I wasn't too much of a handicap to the team, because things turned out okay.
1) J-J and Don
2) Murray and Wes
3) Julie and Rob
4) Derek and Gus
5) Don (redux) and Wes (redux)
It was a wave start with a bunch of groups two minutes apart, and we were in at least the fourth wave, so there were a few boats that we weren't able to overtake. It was a real demolition derby at times; we had four or five collisions (sideswipes) or near-misses. One was an aluminum boat that did a 90 degree turn right in front of us, and we just managed to put on the brakes enough to avoid T-boning it. The river was low, but we got through pretty well, just hitting one bad stretch of suckwater on the inside of a curve (our second leg ran aground three times, and Wes had to get out of the boat once).
Our nemeses are the Snoopers and the Biolabs Mutants, who are both in a different division (corporate), but still in the same race. They started in waves after us, but the Snoopers had strong paddlers on leg 1 and made up four minutes on us. We gained some back on the second leg, then they passed us on the third, and our fourth leg team couldn't quite catch them. Our anchor legs guys caught up to them before they even hit the water, on the portage around the Moody St. dam, and had gained back 90 seconds of the 4-minute deficit by the Bleachery. In the end, I guess I wasn't too much of a handicap to the team, because things turned out okay.
Road running 14:45
Jogging from some parking lot down to the Bleachery to watch my team shoot the rapids, and back to the car.
Note
Two amusing anedotes:
- As I was registering, I heard a familiar name, and I looked up and repeated it. The woman to whom it belonged looked up, and I introduced myself to Margo Webber, who is something of a legend to me, but whom I had never met. Back when she was Margo Thornton, she was arguably the best female orienteer in the US, and my first Billygoat was her third consecutive win (she was long gone by the time I got to the finish line). At around that time she got married and switched to triathlons, never to orienteer again as far as I know. She and her husband Todd were in one of the few boats that we did not overtake, and it turns out that some of my teammates know the Webbers.
- Waiting in Waltham to cheer my team on at the last relay exchange, I got to see Andy Hall and Aims Coney come through on the 19-mile race (which is not a relay). I shouted encouragement, and as they pulled the boat out of the water, Aims asked Andy if he wanted to get rid of the water. This is normal: due to wet shoes, some splashing from the bow paddler, and dripping from the stern paddler when switching sides, some water will accumulate in the boat, and you might as well dump it out rather than carry extra weight on a portage. But rather than tip the boat upside-down, Andy reached in and pulled out a sealed gallon bottle of spring water labeled "HARVEY", which he handed to me, saying, "Here's a gift". I was mildly flummoxed, though I got the explanation from Aims later on (if you want to know, ask when you see me sometime, I'm not going to type it up here).
- As I was registering, I heard a familiar name, and I looked up and repeated it. The woman to whom it belonged looked up, and I introduced myself to Margo Webber, who is something of a legend to me, but whom I had never met. Back when she was Margo Thornton, she was arguably the best female orienteer in the US, and my first Billygoat was her third consecutive win (she was long gone by the time I got to the finish line). At around that time she got married and switched to triathlons, never to orienteer again as far as I know. She and her husband Todd were in one of the few boats that we did not overtake, and it turns out that some of my teammates know the Webbers.
- Waiting in Waltham to cheer my team on at the last relay exchange, I got to see Andy Hall and Aims Coney come through on the 19-mile race (which is not a relay). I shouted encouragement, and as they pulled the boat out of the water, Aims asked Andy if he wanted to get rid of the water. This is normal: due to wet shoes, some splashing from the bow paddler, and dripping from the stern paddler when switching sides, some water will accumulate in the boat, and you might as well dump it out rather than carry extra weight on a portage. But rather than tip the boat upside-down, Andy reached in and pulled out a sealed gallon bottle of spring water labeled "HARVEY", which he handed to me, saying, "Here's a gift". I was mildly flummoxed, though I got the explanation from Aims later on (if you want to know, ask when you see me sometime, I'm not going to type it up here).