Training Log Archive: bbrooke

I had a horrible night of sleep -- still tossing and turning at 3am (too hot? too noisy? too much caffeine? hotel pillow too large?).

I slept kinda late to compensate and then I also wanted to check out the Donut Mill, which had a long line (and which, over ~17 years of visiting Woodland Park for orienteering, I had never been to before; I blame the a-hole I used to travel with...). ;-) So I got started on the course even later than usual this morning (afternoon).

Blue Mountain Loop #1. I'm pretty sure the last time I was here was for Neal's Scapegoat in 2011. (That's the most recent log mention I can find, anyway.) I had some HUGE errors that day, but today was pretty solid!

* #1 to #2 -- I'm not sure why I swung out so wide as I was leaving #1. Heading more SSE, staying to my right of the line, would have been better.

* #3 to #4 -- I used the road / marsh as my attackpoint, and also to stay high at the top of the reentrants.

* #6 to #7 -- I intended to contour around, but not nearly as far around as I ended up going. My mind was wandering and I totally spaced out that I was supposed to look for the indistinct trail and hang a left after ~100m.

Today's track:



2011 track for comparison. Note #1, #3 & #12 -- DOH! LOL! OMG!

I had some snacks at my car and then headed out again for Blue Mountain Loop #2.

* #8 to #9 -- I didn't intend to swing out so wide to contour around...but that's what I did.

* #11 -- I can honestly say that if this course had real flags instead of tiny, faded streamers laying on the ground, I would have found this one without all the dumb checking-of-every-reentrant.

Since the streamers were very small and I was just walking, I took lots of time on both courses to match up map features on each leg, which was great training. I also made an effort to go straight through, rather than using the dirt roads and trails.

Despite my late start, I got lucky with the weather -- it clouded up and I heard some thunder near the end of Loop #2, but I only felt light rain and some tiny hail. On the drive back to Woodland Park, however, it poured. Close call...

This is such a beautiful area -- open pine forest, very runnable (for someone who's in better shape than I am right now...). Can't wait to go back sometime soon to do Loop #3.

Track (something went awry with my Garmin from Start to #3...):

I took two days off from work for an orienteering mini-vacation in Woodland Park & Lake George.

By the time I got all my work-work wrapped up last night, it was about 1am -- so I slept in this morning.

And then by the time I got my housework done today and all my food, clothes & gear packed...I didn't get on the road until 4:15 pm. Oops.

So I wasn't sure I'd have time to do the Rainbow Falls course, but I took the Sedalia / Deckers backroads route anyway.

I parked at 6:30 pm, knowing I'd probably have about two hours of daylight left. The course took me 1:59:16, with enough daylight to *barely* read the map for the last control (I had a headlamp in my pack but didn't want to take time to get it out).

I walked the whole course (UsynligO).

* #1 to #2 -- probably should have gone straight through instead of using the trail.

* #2 to #3 -- I intended to leave the fence line *before* the hill but missed it somehow.

* #8 to #9 -- I intentionally went wide around the hill. Going up the reentrant at #2 and then over the saddle would have made more sense.

This is a nice area, and I enjoyed Jim Baker's course. It had rained earlier and there was cloud cover, so the temperature was pleasant.

Event: 18th World Rogaining Championships
 

Neighborhood walk.

Easy MTB ride. Pleasant weather (70s) but an unsettled stomach.

Time to get back on the wagon...

- Ran one mile to warm up.

- Ins & outs x 3 at the arboretum.

- Ran one mile to cool down.

Heat + late lunch + horrible lack of fitness = this felt awful.

C • Membership 1

MTB ride on the Dirty Bismark loop (#7 for this year).

The forecast -- and the ominous black clouds to the west -- predicted rain, but I went anyway.

I was hungry almost immediately after I started so I planned to eat my granola bar at the top of the Coalton Trail climb at ~8.5 miles. But when I got there, the weather was in full blustery windstorm mode, so I kept going.

The next segment, High Plains Trail, is my favorite since it's swoopy, downhill singletrack. But the headwind was so strong I was barely moving downhill and it wasn't quite as fun.

The rain started coming down at mile 10 and continued for the rest of the ride. But it was light rain in warm weather, so it wasn't unpleasant. And, since other people were apparently smart enough not to head out in this weather, I had the trail almost entirely to myself for the last 12 miles -- I passed one hiker, one runner, and zero bikers.

* Good News: I rode down the log stairs (balked on the first attempt; did it the second time).

* Bad News: Somehow, one of the spring-driven gates closed really hard on my back wheel as I was pushing off, knocking me over and adding to my knee-scrape collection. Good grief...at least no one was there to see it happen.