Training Log Archive: bbrooke

I had lots of RMOC crapola to catch up on...so I skipped my usual Monday night yoga class.

Cherry Creek meet:
- Posted overall results.
- Uploaded XML splits to Attackpoint.
- Uploaded photos from Gøril.
- Data entry for volunteer list.

Bear Creek Lake Park meet:
- Posted Sverre's course details; adjusted pre-reg deadline.
- Created volunteer sign-up sheet.
- Located adult & minor release forms for City of Lakewood; updated them with 2019 meet details.
- Responded to Galen's questions about meet logistics.
- Added WOD link & info to meet details page.

Manitou meet:
- Created volunteer sign-up sheet.
- Added WOD link & info to meet details page.

General:
- Drafted an HTML email with links and photos for the RMOC list.
- Located and uploaded photos to go with "member news" features.
- Email follow-ups (Parker permanent course, Laramie 2019?, 2020 national event?).
- RouteGadget file coordination with JP, Sverre & Galen, for upcoming meets.

So. Many. Rocks.

And cliffs.

I was slow to #1, but found it OK. And then I took ~45 minutes to find #2. :-\

I had a plan to get to #2, but I totally lost contact with the map after about 500m and had no idea whatsoever where I was for most of the rest of leg. My extra-slow forward progress (due to veg & rockiness) affected my estimation of how far I had traveled. But apparently I at least stayed more-or-less on my bearing, because I finally matched up some long, large cliffs northwest of the control and I found it -- but I had a definite defeated feeling.

Most of the remaining controls went OK, except for running back to #3 to relocate (I was terrified of getting lost again!), even though my tracks show that I was pretty close to #4.

Corinne punched #5 just ahead of me, and thank goodness she yelled out a warning that the leg-line to #6 went right through #9 -- easy to confuse. I'm not sure I would have realized that if she hadn't pointed it out, and I would have wasted a ton of time fighting through nasty vegetation. Svetlana said she got tripped up there.

The rest of the course went OK -- just slow and somewhat bumbling. Thank you to the helpful (Ukrainian?) guy who pointed me towards #10 (I was close but could have easily missed it). And to the CSU guy who seemed concerned for me near #4 (I must have really looked confused, even though I was walking right to the control; maybe he had seen me back-track toward #3 to relocate...or maybe he noticed my slumped shoulders and defeated trudge).

I was slow at Quantico, but I mostly always knew where I was. Today was the kind of day where I'm very close to crying (on the leg to #2), and I spend the whole course questioning if I even really know how to orienteer. It didn't help that there were long stretches where my fingers were so cold & numb I could barely turn my compass, and my swollen shin-bruise ached the whole time. Poor me. ;-)

THANK YOU to vmeyer for letting me do an ad hoc switch to Green this morning. I would have taken at least four hours on Red... And, it turns out I wasn't even DFL on Green-X -- I finished 15th out of 25 who started, and 2nd out of 4 in F45+. "Yay."

This weekend's courses were humbling, but I hope to go back next year to try again.

C • Rocks 6

Long - GreenX - Splits

Event: RMOC Cherry Creek State Park
 

Event: 40th Annual West Point National Meet
 

The first two controls went OK, but throughout the course I was (again) moving very slowly on the rocky ground.

I wasted a bunch of time getting to #3, picking my way across a really steep & rocky slope about halfway through the leg (yeah, the V-shaped cliff area), and then walking back and forth along the wrong level of cliffs before I spotted the flag below me.

I also bashed my shins on rocks and logs and stepped into leaf-covered, ankle-twisting holes multiple times. The worst encounter yielded what I've done often enough to make up my own word for it: an "abrusion" (bruise + abrasion), swollen into a painful lump on the front of my shin. :-\

A fun outing with Kris in between events: a trip to the West Point Visitor Center, and then quiche and a mini-whoopie pie at Bear Mountain Bakery. :-)

The Sprint was a blast -- except that I mispunched at #2. Sigh...I *never* mispunch! But, I misread the tiny details of the building / outer wall and did not think to look or go UP to the balcony level. ARGH! I don't do enough Sprints to think about the potential multi-level aspect of the map & course; next time I'll know to look up and down... I moved on after a few other people in the area speculated that the control was missing -- but they must have eventually figured it out.

Otherwise, just a few small miscalculations at #8 & #9, and one big time-wasting mistake at #11.

It was great to have the field house to hang out in after finishing -- especially after standing around in the cold rain while waiting to start.

Had a nice dinner with Kris afterwards, and then a visit with vmeyer, Pepper & Dee Dee. :-)

C • MP 2

Middle - Red - Splits

Sprint - Red - Splits

Woke up at 3:45 am.

Left home at 4:45 am.

Caught the airport bus from Flatirons Park-n-Ride at 5:10 am.

The airport was surprisingly packed at 6:00 am. My flight left out of Terminal A where, sadly, there aren't any cinnamon-sugar soft pretzels to be had. (Terminals B & C have Wetzel's Pretzels and Auntie Anne's).

It was pouring rain as I left the airport, and it continued to rain intermittently on my drive to Harriman. I came really close to flaking out (was not excited to orienteer in the cold rain), but I compromised with myself by doing Brown instead of the slightly-longer one-man relay I had signed up for.

I walked the whole course. I overshot #2 (figured out where I was when I found #6 instead) and got totally off-track on my way to #9, but otherwise I mostly found the controls without too much wandering -- although not as cleanly as I would have hoped for at walking speed. (Later, when I took a snapshot of my map for QuickRoute, I noticed that it was 1:7500. Oh! ;-)

I was concerned about getting to packet pickup before 7pm, so I didn't spend time changing clothes after I finished at Harriman. I headed to packet pickup at West Point, drove back to Spring Valley, dropped off Kris's packet at her hotel, and went to Target to find some warmer clothes than what I had packed. (I'm actively trying to purge clothes at home, so buying new stuff is the *last* thing I want to be doing right now...but I packed like an idiot for this trip, even after looking at the forecast several times. I guess I had Quantico's warm t-shirt weather in mind from two weekends ago -- my "aspirational" forecast.)

After Target (still in my wet & stinky O-clothes), I grabbed a Mysore masala dosa to go, and a single beer (which required two stops and some googling...), checked in at my slightly-sketchy hotel, ate, and finally got in the shower -- where I found a tick latched onto the back of my neck. SO GROSS.

LoCO FIT workout @ Founders Park / West Coal Creek:

- Ran ~one mile to warm up.

- 5 x (4 minutes @ 5K race pace + 2 minutes recovery).

- Ran ~one mile to cool down.

I was feeling heavy and slow at first, even during the warm-up. I also felt like maybe I should hold back effort-wise, since I have three days of orienteering starting tomorrow. But, I felt slightly less ponderous after the first set, so I made a moderate effort. Avg pace: 8:48, 8:20, 8:26, 8:34, 7:58.

I think my plan for this weekend will be the same as for the QOC Classic meet: mostly walking but aiming for clean navigation.

C • West Point 9

Final prep work for Saturday's RMOC local meet at Cherry Creek -- OE2010 files, start cards, summary email to organizers, etc.

For RMOC's upcoming Cherry Creek meet --

- Created a post on RMOC's Facebook page.
- Registration clarification emails.
- Composed & sent out HTML update email with photo & links.
- Miscellaneous email follow-ups.

LoCO FIT workout:

- Ran a bit to warm up.

- Tyler Ave hill loop x 5.

- Ran for a while to cool down.

New shirts!