Training Log Archive: ebone

Not surprisingly, my L knee is stiff and sore today. Sleep time counts napping on the flight back from the BOK/Team meet. Weight was before breakfast with clothes but no shoes. I think I may be slightly dehydrated and am probably still low on stored carbs (which I think take some water with them), too.

C • glycogen obligated-water 21

Short warm-up before orienteering.

BOK/U.S. Team fundraiser day 3, long distance. I started strong but a bit technically shaky, before settling down to a smoother performance. I had a large error on control 12, losing about 2.5-3 minutes, then on the way to #13, I began to bonk, and I proceeded to bonk harder than I ever have before, being reduced to a walk from control 14 in. My arms and legs became tingly, and I got sleepy and a little dizzy. I didn't dare run, because I thought I might faint. Ross ran by and gave me the dregs of his caramel flavored gel. I don't think it helped much, but it tasted good. I kept thinking about how I was bonking hard and that brought to mind the adventure racing company named Bonk Hard Racing. I thought how unpleasant it was to bonk and what a profoundly unappealing name that was. I was pretty disappointed about how my run was ending and thus in a bit of a foul mood.

[Disclaimer: I have nothing against Bonk Hard Racing or their events, which I've never tried but look fun on the website.]

I'm guessing my bonk was caused by some combination of my injury-induced low training volume, few long runs this year, little sleep, a hard run yesterday, starting perhaps a bit too hard, and not eating enough carbs yesterday.

I'm logging this race at three intensity levels: 3, 2, and 1.

C • I wondered what might have hap... 4

C • I wondered what might have hap... 1

Moderate-intensity part of long distance race.

Walking after bonking toward the end of the course.

Sunday: Blue M21 - Splits

Warm-up run before orienteering.

BOK/U.S. Team fundraiser meet, day 2, middle distance WRE. I had a good, steady run, with only a little over 2 minutes of lost time among about 5 controls. I edged out Jon Torrance by one second for the win. I didn't feel like I was running very fast, but I was thinking for most of the time how it was more important to be clean and smooth.

C • Actual run distance 2

Easy warm-down jog, mostly in the forest next to the park entrance road.

Some jogging between controls during U.S. Trail O Champs.

U.S. Trail O Champs. As usual, trail O was fun and interesting on the one hand, and frustrating and bingo on the other. One of my wrong answers was on control 3, where there was a decoy unmapped rootstock a few meters from the mapped rootstock. There was really no robust way to determine which rootstock was mapped. One of the controls was correct relative to the unmapped rootstock, so I choose it, thinking that "none of the above" couldn't possibly be the correct choice in such an ambiguous situation. Boy was I wrong!

The second wrong answer was on control 8, where the location along the road of the viewing point depicted on the solution map differs substantially from the result of a pace count from well-defined points on either side along the road. The result was that I had to pick between a control that seemed correct in direction from what I had established as the viewing point to one that seemed correct relative to the contour feature but was way off in direction. Knowing my pace count couldn't be so far off, I picked direction and was wrong.

The third wrong answer on the third and final timed control was my map reading blunder and I deserved to get it wrong.

There were other controls that I was lucky enough to get correct, despite some sloppiness in the mapping or control placement, which might have shaken my confidence on another day.

Is trail O supposed to be bingo, or is it just that it's too labor intensive to actually put on a trail O without significant technical errors? I think the main problem this time was not the course per se--the course was fine--but that the map was lousy, with significant errors of omission, scale and shape. In my opinion, those errors ruined the integrity of the course. I heard that, on at least one of the distance estimation problem controls, the marker that was supposed to be correct was not placed using even pace counting, let alone a measuring tape. It seems to me that in a discipline such as trail O that is all about being rigorously anal, there is no room for imprecision in the mapping or control marker placement (or any other aspect, really).

M21 WRE Blue - Splits

Event: BOK/US Team Umstead 007
 

Running with a pack while setting controls for the sprint at Umstead. Total time out was a little over 1.5 hours, but lots of that time was spent stopped to place stands, controls, and SI boxes.

Miscellaneous running during the sprint: taking maps to start, checking on start, control pick-up with Bob Turbyfill.

Bits of running while mapping for the sprint at Umstead.

Ran back to the car after working on the sprint course/map at Umstead.

C • I am trying to send you an ema... 2

Ran along the grassy margin of the highway, NW from the Hampton Inn and back. My left knee felt absolutely fine, although it had hurt a bit from time to time throughout the day.

C • Knee 3

Body weight exercises. I think I did: 2x 30 crunches, 2x 30 back, 2x 20 push-ups.

Traveling to Raleigh.