Training Log Archive: Sandy

I was really struggling to be up for this race which really surprised me because I had been looking forward to orienteering in this terrain again for a while. I made the decision to drop down to Brown and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed myself but another 2.5k probably would have pushed me over into the "survived" instead of "enjoyed" column.

The course had a lot of trail running as is not inappropriate for a long course. I'm not sure how much route choice there was but there was some.

I flubbed #5 pretty badly losing much more than the 2 minutes AP says I lost - I'm sure it was closer to 5 or even 8 or 9. I went straight and thought I was being careful but apparently not. I kept drifting left and while I recognized that I was I must not have corrected enough given where I was when I knew I was screwed and had to find something I could use to relocate. Luckily the veg boundary of pine trees was visible from quite a ways away and that eventually confirmed that I was as far off as I was beginning to suspect.

I don't think I messed anything else up although I may not have taken the best routes. I just wasn't doing much running, not even on the trails.

Brown - Splits

Big blunder at 4 and some confusion out of the start. Probably should have taken the around route to 6; spiked the control but it was slow going in the muck. Had trouble staying positive as the rocks were hard to clamber up and down in places but it was a fun course.

Am having second thoughts about running green tomorrow.

Green - Splits

Event: USA & Canada - WOC/JWOC Team Trials OUSA National 3 day meet
 

Really enjoyed this despite not really loving sprints. Almost messed up 1 but figured it just in time and only lost 10 seconds or so. While that may be a lot for a sprint it's nothing compared to what I give up by not being able to run (well jog really) for more than a minute at a time. Fun course and read ahead pretty well.

Short - Splits

training session - got there early and intended to do some stretching but after putting out a map and doing a few I relaxed and almost fell asleep. Luckily Kelly showed up right about then and got me moving.

hard holding the planks at the end - my forearms were sweaty and kept slipping on the mat.

I did do some stretching afterwards.

A nice hike around the meadow with Sandy.

Jog 120 paces/walk 80 around the meadow loop.

A great training session; worked me hard but I can feel the improvement.

Didn't stretch and will pay for it later I'm sure. But I'm so sleepy. Drank too much coffee yesterday in order to have an uneventful drive home and then couldn't get to sleep last night. So only got about 4 hours instead of my normal 8.

Very happy with how not sore I am today after the weekend. Knee very stiff both nights but fine the morning after.

Another really fun Brown course at WP. Kudos to the cadets for getting it so right this weekend for the older categories. The 1:7500 maps were a delight and the courses were a blast.

Again, pretty sloppy with a couple "hooks" and one bad error near the end when I wanted to get away from the crowd of old ladies that had coalesced. I didn't stick with my plan and it cost me 2 minutes. Ah well.

Sunday - Brown - Splits

Event: West Point National Meet
 

Really nice Brown course at WP. They hiked us up the hill to the start and then we got to play around on the top of the hill for a bit before threading our way back down. I was very sloppy to almost every control having to correct on the fly but I almost always knew about where I was and what I should be seeing so was able to avoid any large time losses. Was very surprised when I finished to see how high I placed.

Saturday - Brown - Splits

Another good training session. My legs were still sore from all the squats on Tuesday but after the first of many squats and lunges today they warmed up and were okay.

And the pulled muscle in my leg is better enough that stretching is straightforward again.

Lots of baby bunnies in the yard this evening. They were really cute but I wasn't fast enough to get pictures.

Came really, really close to being hit by a car today crossing City Ave from one side of campus to the other. I am always very careful as I've seen many near accidents there and cars always run the red light so I wait until I see the cars stopping before stepping into the road even after the crosswalk sign says to cross. The light turned and true to form, one car went through the red light but the next car was slowing down so I started across. When I got to the next lane though (it's 4 lanes with a turn lane in the middle so 5 altogether) a car came barreling up the hill and must not have been paying attention because she didn't slow down. I jumped sideways away from the car and by the time she stopped I could still touch the front of her car with my arm. Half her car was into the crosswalk. If I hadn't jumped I'd have been smushed on the road or at least knocked over. It took me a good hour to calm down.

C • So glad 5

C • Yikes! 1

Trainer session. Lots of squats. Could tell I haven't done those for a bit - between skipping a session and having the pulled muscle it's been a while.

The pulled muscle isn't quite 100% but nearly. I still can't do the stretches I'm used to doing - it just pulls funny on that joint - but it's getting better.

Meadow Loop with Sandy - good to catch up.

Did not make it outside yesterday - just got caught up on all sorts of school work and other things. And was almost going to repeat that today, but finally went for a short hike. I bought new hiking boots last week and wore them today - they were really comfortable and I'm glad I got them. They're supposed to be waterproof - we'll see.

Event: DVOA Batsto
 

I saw a baby (well at least a very small) squirrel today! I've always marveled that I can see squirrels all the time in my yard but I never see evidence of nests or babies. Very cute.

Really messed up today in several places. Very annoyed as I just could not seem to hold a compass bearing when that is usually one of my strengths. Lost time on 1, 2, 7 and 11. Will post map later.

I saw a chiropractor yesterday and he did a bunch of work on me. Can't tell yet how much it will help but it seems like my hips weren't complaining quite as much as usual when I would stand up from sitting at the computer all morning. I didn't sleep well at all last night - don't know if that's related to the session or not. Don't think either of these was the culprit for orienteering; just think I was being a bit cavalier and not really focusing.

Jogged just a little bit and stiffened up badly when I finished.

C • Batsto 1

Green - Splits

Same walk/jog routine. Felt awful and my throat is raw; some of this is definitely allergy related but too much is out-of-shape and over-eating related. Ah well - I'm trying.

Tripped a couple of times but didn't go down and didn't re-injure the butt muscle. It's still sore but improving and this didn't seem to aggravate it. The one thing that really hurts is trying to stretch the area.

training session

Something not quite right in the joint where my left femur meets the pelvis. Not sure what I did but it hurts to stretch it at all. Can walk up stairs fine and bear weight but can't bend over. It's always something.

Anyway, we did more arms and abs and very little legs today. And I only stretched out my arms and shoulders.

Event: DVOA Governor Dick
 

Was not expecting to go out, but everything was so under control that at about 12:30 Sam convinced me I should. Decided to do green in order to somewhat prepare for the team trials where I signed up for green. But I didn't bring my garmin since I was not planning to run. At least I had brought my gear bag figuring I'd be helping with control pickup so had o-shoes and clothes.

It was a great course and I had a lot of fun and nailed most controls except 11 when I started looking too early and lost a bunch of time due to hesitations. I couldn't really read any of the detail on the map without standing still and didn't trust that the control would be right on the trail. Also started down the wrong trail right after 11 but corrected quickly.

Unfortunately, right out of the start, I tripped and pulled something in my left glute. It hurt when I did it, but then didn't bother me for the rest of the time I was out.

I walked almost the entire course just because the footing was pretty tough in many places and my quads are still sore from Wednesday so I figured I didn't need to overdo it. Tried to jog on the long trail at the end, but I could tell my knees would be really sore if I did so just jogged maybe 50 steps total.

Butt really hurt after I finished though and sore after the long car ride home.

Green - Splits

A good outing but annoyed with myself. Forgot to put on sunscreen and forgot to bring water and chapstick. At about 90 minutes I really regretted the latter two.

Used my new hiking poles; I really like them.

Once again impressed with AP's ability to determine what I was doing. We'll see if I pay for it tomorrow.

training session; was late for a meeting afterwards so didn't stretch. Should have just been later to the meeting.

A former student let me know that he frequently thinks of me since every time he needs a security question and answer for something, he looks for "your favorite teacher" as one of the choices. Has had me smiling all day!

C • That must feel great! 2

A nice wander through the Wissahickon on an absolutely gorgeous day. Thirsty by the end - will have to start bringing water on longer hikes as the weather warms up.

personal training session

Wasn't too bad - only had to modify one thing that was bothering my shoulder. I think all the paddling took it's toll but I was able to do most of what she came up with until near the end I could feel something just not quite right deep in the joint so we changed it.

Feeling surprisingly good today. My knee was *really* sore after the race and my back was starting to cramp. I think the biking was just a little too much given that I haven't been training for it. But the long car ride home with heated seats seems to have fixed my back and my knee is pretty normal toady. Sore in the shoulders from paddling and biking but I expected that.

Event: Brake the Habit 8 Hour Adventure Race
 

Got there early (6am) and got the race maps and had a plan pretty quickly about what we would try and what we would definitely skip and what we might try if we had enough time. In the end, we did pretty much what we originally thought we could with a few less controls on the paddle section (the wind on the lake was brutal and we are by no means experienced paddlers) and a few more on the second bike section since we had time. The race was divided into 4 sections: a short orienteering section, a bike section that was mostly on roads, a paddling section on the lake where there were a lot of orienteering-like controls to go get inland around the controls on the lake, and a final bike section. You had to check in and out of the transition areas between each section, but the controls in each section were all optional.

The "prologue" had us heading to a few places in the park before we were given our official control cards ("passports" in AR speak) for the first two sections. The first section was a short orienteering section. We originally had planned to get all three of these controls but we were told during the race briefing that there was no way to cross the creek without two significant get-very-wet creek crossings unless you wanted to go way around. We decided we didn't want to get wet (or at least I didn't want to get wet and Valerie didn't want to deal with me having to get wet) and that the around option was just too far for us since we weren't running. So we got 2 out of the three and went into the bike transition.

We had decided to skip the two far away bike controls and just do an out and back to get the first three and then go get the last one if we were feeling up to it. We did well on this section and nailed all 4.

Then into the canoe. As I said, we're not expert paddlers and we've never paddled together but we did reasonably well getting coordinated. But once out of the protection of the cove we were hit with a horrible headwind and it was really hard work to keep the canoe headed forward. We finally made it out of the finger where the put-in was and out onto the main section of the lake and it was even worse there. It took us several attempts to get under the bridge as the wind through the uprights was twice as strong and we got pushed back out a few times (2 or was it 3 or maybe even 4?) before finally hugging the shore line and giving it everything we had and finally making it around the corner. Somewhere in there we tried switching up places (I had started in the back) but it didn't make a whole lot of difference. Since we had been pushed into the relatively calm cove just around the bend from the bridge we decided to get the lake control that was in there. And then we actually thought about just heading back in. But, we decided to give it one more try to get across the lake to the other side where there were a whole bunch of orienteering-like controls.

So back out into the wind we went and by just paddling and not giving up we eventually made it across. We ended up pulling up an inlet before the cove where the lake control was that we wanted, but we figured we could there and back by foot a lot faster than we could by canoe. So we found a great place to beach the canoe and headed out for some orienteering.

This section was relatively straightforward. We had been given two maps at check-in, one map having the controls and trails needed for the first orienteering section and the first bike section. The bike route actually got changed because of all the rain on Friday and they didn't want us on all the single track that wound it's way up the side of the lake wiggling around all the inlets. The other map had the lake controls and orienteering controls for that section plus the bike controls for the last section. I spent some time (apparently not enough - see below) copying later controls from the second to the first and trails from the 1st to the 2nd. This gave both me and Valerie a map to use for this orienteering section and so we just made our way through the 5 controls we had decided to do plus the lake control where we hadn't landed. We briefly discussed trying to go for two other controls but then we remembered that we regretted getting ambitious like that at the Crooked Compass two weeks ago. So better sense prevailed and we stuck to the plan. We were feeling pretty good - a little too cocky it turns out - when we got back to the canoe.

I was in the canoe and Valerie was getting into it when we flipped it. Me and all our gear went into the water. We were right by the shore so it wasn't deep and I didn't get submerged but I was soaked through up to my armpits. I decided that trying to get dry was a losing proposition so I just wanted to get back to the transition as soon as we could. Valerie had lost her waterproof camera in the dunking but luckily she was able to feel around in the muck and find it. Would have been very disappointing to lose the pictures of the race so far.

So sopping wet, we made our way back across the lake and under the bridge and up the finger to the canoe transition. It was a much faster trip back because the wind had died down but what there was was mostly at our backs. I was getting tired but just kept paddling - one, it would get us back faster and two, it was keeping me warm. When we got to the take-out, both my legs cramped and it was all I could do to crawl out of the canoe and onto the dock while Valerie held the canoe for me. Portaging that sucker back up the ramp and the 20 or 30 feet up the road was tough - maybe the toughest part physically of the whole race!

Anyway, we got back to our gear bins by the bikes and luckily we both had dry clothes and shoes stashed there - I had even thrown in my second jacket since I wasn't sure when I packed which one I would want to wear. Very happy to get out the wet shirt and jacket and into dry shoes and socks! Didn't have dry pants though. At that point I was pretty tired and just wanted to finish so we got on our bikes for the last section.

This was mostly single track. The first control we goofed on. I went right to the control circle on my map - but unfortunately I circled one bend too far when I had copied the controls. When looking at Valerie's map it was easy to spot the mistake but backtracking was really hard to do when all I wanted was to be done. We made our way back and got the control (it was under the bridge we had crossed so we hadn't noticed when we rode across the first time). Then we hiked our bikes through the woods to another trail. We got the last four bike controls without too much trouble. We overshot another one, saved by someone coming back to it. I had been looking for it right around there, but it was tucked behind a tree so not visible from the direction we were riding. I fell a few times on this section - a combination of just being tired and not having ridden single track in a long time. I was reasonably happy with what I did though.

And then finally down the road and into the finish. Very tired and very happy to be done but very glad to have done it. We were second out of two in our category, but we had done pretty much what we thought we could do so very satisfied with our performance.

The actual time is more like 7:15 but my watch once again died before we finished. Will add more details soon but another race with Valerie that I'm glad I did. We make a good team.

C • Adventure Race 10