Training Log Archive: expresso

Lewis & Clark 12 hour Rogaine
Bernheim Forest, KY

Charlie and I were all-around more prepared for this race than the one two years prior. We packed and set out all of our gear the night before, planned our hydration, food and looked at topo maps of the terrain to get an idea what we would see. We arose early, had coffee & light breakfast & drove to the park.
Teams were allotted 90 minutes to plan & prepare their maps and we used every one of these minutes. An easy glance showed that the point values were almost directly proportional to the control's distance from the start/finish. This simplified things because we knew to bag the biggies out there and then pick the lower ones with remaining time. Additionally, there were more trails closer to the finish so this would be a good place to spend the night hours. The long tall spurs, around which the high-value controls were placed, made course planning tricky because we needed to balance distance with climb. So, instead of a U-shaped (out & back) course, ours looked more like a "drunken W." This planning time was well spent and paid off for us later.
After all of the preparation & planning the start was anti-climactic as the teams scattered in all directions, clearly with different plans. Good things started to happen for us right away as we got into the large-scale, highly-abstract USGS map. Note that this has been my problem before but I reset my expectations immediately from the scale & hyper-accuracy of most orienteering maps and navigated via only reliable features & handrails. We moved very fast and navigated clean for hour after hour. I felt great and knew that we were having a great race but also that there were many possible occurrences which could ruin it all.
Prior to starting, my biggest concern was the heat and my hydration. I drank about 1 liter/hour of Hydralyte (electrolyte drink) from before the start until about 1 p.m. While the fluid & electrolytes prevented dehydration, clearly this was too much as my hands became swollen from my fluid retention. The heat still had its way with me though. At a humid 86F, it sapped my energy whenever I was in the sun and even the shade of individual trees made a positive difference as we walked through the open areas. After almost six hours of the best rogaining I could expect from myself, we broke out into an open valley with a water stop. This was located at the bottom of the second W point so (looking at the map) we were starting a long sweeping, jagged turn for home while less than half the time had elapsed. With our incredible race, even a sweep seemed possible to me. As they say, "Pride goeth before a fall." I soon felt the weight of this as a confluence of things happened to my body. I had exhausted all of my available glycogen stores and my body was tapping the copious reserves in my "spare tire" but this would take some time. Also, we had almost 3K exposed to the sun as we moved through the valley. I can't really explain how/why this direct heat drained me, I will have to study this more. Needless to say, the 1K long 500 foot climb that followed was hell and I was a zombie. Losing the physical strength upon which I rely made me aware of another incredible asset... Charlie. Wow, did he shine in this dark hour. Physically, he carried my pack for a stint, but most importantly he kept a positive, outward perspective as I was beginning to retreat inward. Thanks man !!
As expected, my energy slowly returned and the heat abated as we returned to the woods and the sun stared to slide. Other physical infirmities made themselves apparent but my head was in the race. I knew that we had a great race behind us and that we just needed to move well and navigate cleanly because all teams would feel similar physical strains at this point. Our initial planning continued to pay-off as the rest of the controls came with (relative to the first half) little climb and we continued to spike them. I was reenergized once the cool afternoon arrived and we alternated setting the pace to the controls. But, as the afternoon waned my feet had had it (bruised). I remember this from my past 12 hour event and there was nothing I could do about it as it progressively degraded my pace. Relative to me, Charlie was a "Tolkein" elf as he lightly and deftly moved along the rocky ground and through the pervasive greenbriar undergrowth.
As darkness arrived, we were positioned perfectly with our safely-planned controls and distance to the finish. Our only error of the race came along a completely mismapped road, but we recovered with minimal time loss. The last technical section of the race is unforgettable and a bit humorous now but was a major concern at the time. It looks simple on a map, a 1K winding trail climbing 200 feet followed by bushwhacking down to a road on the other side. Our reality was a lot different as this trail was nearly indistinct with our small lights and we had to stop at every little turn to make sure we didn't lose it as the consequence would be lot more bushwhacking at a speed reduced greatly by the rough terrain, meager lighting and my feet. After what seemed like an eternity the first glimpse of the road was heavenly. Although we still had a few K to the finish, I knew that we could make it at a walk (and we did).
Our score was 257 of 280 possible points. It was a very enjoyable and satisfying race. A sweep was certainly possible, but not for this "tenderfoot." Second place was 222 points.
The epilogue of this story has to be about my great partner Charlie. Our strengths truly complement each other with the many facets that make a team successful. Our collective strength lies in our differences and I am lucky to be racing with him. You rock Charlie !!

C • Congratulation 2

Easy ride to 120 & back. Weather perfect, if breezy.

C • good luck to you guys!! 2

to/from Adler Park. Decided I wanted to run the soft path today but not the pavement in between.

Adler Park -> IG Lap. Did two brief cruise intervals to get the blood flowing near the end.

Had planned an easy swim & jaccuz but I decided to go Howard Hughes for the week and avoid germy places. Weather looks awesome (if warm) for the weekend...