Training Log Archive: Mona

Cupa CLUJ-WEST Open http://www.csodudu.ro/

Splits:
38:09 2:07 3:52 3:13 2:18 3:37 4:59 4:34 4:38 2:13 1:54 2:05 2:14 0:25

At the end of race bought new O shoes! more TBC

not too much energy, but still happy i went out.

!!!considering:
Cupa CLUJ-WEST Open
25-26 septembrie 2010
http://www.csodudu.ro/

C • Cluj 2

men falls w/mel, my fav trainer

ok, I just gotta stop this, it;s so silly!

John Muir, Blue - our "weekly" MTB ride, w/ Scott S, Tony R. and Mark.

It was very fun, but now I really want to investigate some other trails. maybe this weekend.

Got back around 7:15 and it was already pretty dark -ish in the woods. got to start earlier.

Laramie, WY - the "long" goat at Pelican Bay

First goat, ever. Brace for non-O style write-up.

The day before, I was talking to Jan, and with a combo of our accents, I understood we needed to be there at 8:15, race starts at 9am. I even questioned, what is Mikell gonna talk for 45 min ("Go, get the controls, come back"... I mean how much poetry can you put around that!!). Anyway, got up bright an early, packed, ate, and .... then read the info in tyhe packet: 8:50!! Ohhhhh, so, I relaxed a bit, read a chapter in my book, took a nice shower and lost track of time, so I ended up getting there at 9:30. Oh, well. Got my map, got my very quick personalized "Go, get the controls, come back". I wasn't sure if I could get all the controls, cause my watch was on Central Zone, so for couple controls I actually thought it was 10:30 and just did not make sense:)

(see bbrooke log for map, I don't know yet how to do that)
http://www.attackpoint.org/log.jsp/user_1679

Finally I take off (it was cold!! and I was only wearing a tech short sleeve, but by 2nd control I warmed up). I didn't even get the start out of my sight, and fell on my face, as I was busy checking out the map, and less the sage bushes.... grrrr.... they do smell good, now that I think about it.

1, 2, 3 controls went just fine.
On the way to 4 I caught up w/ couple ladies doing the short goat. So, I figured things are not going too shabby.
4,5,6 were in the open, so the only challenge was the wind... xcept on the way to 6 it was wind at my back, up the hill, that was nice.

On the way to 7 passed through start and had a cookie.... and managed to confuse myself on the map. I ended up at the fance, and don;t ak me how, I actually moved in the right direction to get exactly where 7 was. To me it was a miracle, cause I didn;t relocate or nothing.
8 was fine.

On the way to 9 crossed a meadow with a bunch of cows. Found a elk foreleg or somthin at 9. Betcha Mikell put it there, even if he didn;t admit to it.

10 was fine, it was actually so fine, I visited it twice... see further down.

Found 11 np, and then looked at 12 on the map, and said "whow" I mean, "why in the world?" Ok, this was at the peak of this crescent hill/... a lot of climbin. So I braced, and headed up. The view was simply amazing, so that was my reward.... Never mind later on I found out I didn;t quite have to stop at that control, but I'm glad I did.

13,14,15 np. pretty views. Oh, and then I look on the map top go to 16 and thinking how much do i have to go out of my way (cause there was this humougous rockage...) Well, sure enough there was a passage, which I saw in terrain as well (the advantage of admiring the views all the time), actually it was not that hard to find :)

16, 17, 18np. Caught up with 2 ladies on the way to 17, 18. They seemed a bit tired and not exactly enjoying this. (?) you gotta stay positive, and enjoy it, otherwise why do it? well, I guess the fact I had 2 gels by now probably helped w/ attitude.

Well, that's how much brain power I had, cause from here on, it's was mostly like "who knows where I am, I really wish I knew...and I don't quite care either". On the way to 19 made an "accidental" stop at 10, so now I knew where i was, but even then I had to relocate one more time to make it to 19.

20: conquered fear and decided to cross the marshes, which ended up being moslty dry :) Then got in the control circle, and was too tired to even try to relocate, and as I was telling myself "I just can't spend half hour looking around each bolder" I saw the control. I'd say little miracle again!

On the way to 21 I caught up with a gentleman, and we "raced" friendly the last 100 yards (he won:)

And that's all folks. Very nice. Might consider doing this again. maybe 3 gels next time...how do you keep focused for more than 3 hours???

C • Looks like fun!! 2

Hiked to Medicine Bow Peak from the Mirror Lake, by myself. Yep, got that right, all by myself! Ok, this was out of my comfort zone, even for me. It was lovely, the lakes were beautiful, the weather held up real good, even if I did start my hike around 3pm. I was not planning to summit, so did not take enough water, but the closer I was geting it seemed quite do-able, no lightning...so I said, hey I'll do it. The fact that there were other people on trail helped (very friendly, wow!), just in case :) I only got dizzy close to the top, and my fingers swelled like little sausages cause of the dehidration. But very beautiful, I'm so glad I went!

Laramie, WY - plutonic pleasures (who knows who and how came up with that...)

Green course. a bit short, but enjoyed every minute, including:
1) the compass thumb plate broke again, right before the race. Duct tape came in handy.
2) the left O -shoe came unglued half way through, (you can see the toes:), so now they're in a garbage bin
3) saw some elk or mousse or anyway some big animal, went back to check it out when I conquered my fear, but was gone

C • pale ale for me please 2

As "specified", the dinner training with Jen, Ian and Orlyn has been very successfull, topped with the altitude brew sampler, in order of preference:

amber ale
solar weizen
pumpkin love ale
brown ale
tumble wheat
expedition porter
7200 stout
high plains pale ale

just a good laugh :)