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Saturday Oct 11, 2008 #
Adventure Racing race 18:00:00 [3] 100.0 mi (10:48 / mi)
shoes: Nort face
SKMC FALL RACE - 18h - WISCONSIN
Team Huckleberrys - Greg and I
This was an epic adventure. Therefore I should start by thanking Andy and the gang that made it possible, and obviosuly to Greg, my awesome partner, who helped me keep it together, especially during last few hours when I was loosing it.
The race started 11pm with one of Andy's typical silly challenges that brought a good smile to everyone's faces. One team member from each team was blindfolded (that was Greg for us), and all blindfolded guys went one corner of the clearing, whereas the rest of us were spread out 100 yards+ away. The goal was for your blindfolded guy to find you, they could move we couldn't. As soon as the start signal was given it was a RIOT!! Everyone, including myself, were screaming from the top of their lungs for their team mate. Needless to say it took 10 full minutes of yelling laughing till Greg popped out of the dark just a few yards away "I'm here, I can hear you, Ioana". That was my cue to stop screaming which I was getting pretty good at :) Good laugh!!
With that big accomplishment in hand, we head out to our first navigation (my very first in the dark). We decided to take the wimpy light for this one, and it was not great, but not too bad either, given that I was extra cautios with my routes, as this was the one and big advise I got from everyone with some experince in night navigation. We found them all 3 controls, and I was just having ablast discovering the fun of night navigation. I would still not do it by myself (yes, I am a scaredy cat!)
Now, a bit past midnight, we head out on our bikes, with all the gear and food on our backs as we would not come back to the cars till the end. We biked to Emma Carlin parking lot, which was the main TA for the next sections. A bit past 1am, we start the MTB at Emma, with my new awesome bike light, and it was really not that challenging, given that we practiced on John Muir which I find quite a bit more challenging. At least at night. This is another thing (MTB at night) which I'm not planning to do again unless forced to, in a race.
About 2am, we head out to our second, REAL, navigation, across the street from Emma. This time I took my helmet with the awesome light on it, so I could see the reflectors on the controls 50 yards away. By now I got the idea that you need to move your head like a ceiling fan as soon as you get in the control circle. After a few controls, I got confident and started to cut through the woods, with a surprising acuracy (to me that is).
As the weather was nice and warm, I was only wearing a short sleeve shirt (you can't wear the PJ orienteering stuff during the AR, or they'll spit on you!). So, as fashionable as I was, bushwhacking at my best, through some thorns like I never seen before. Plus that during the night you can't see if 50' away there's a spot you can go through. So, 20 min in, my arms were so scratched and bloody, that it looked more like I was fighting the woods instead of navigating, so I decided to put on my fashionable jacket, now I'm hot, not getting scratched, but still fashionable. All worked out pretty well, till we had to go from last control to the road/finish. I relaxed (=focus = 0) and my direction was so vague, as I knew the road was there, that we ended up in an unmapped swamp, for a good 10+ min. After my experince in Syracuse, this 2-3" swamp, was nothing so I was trotting happily in it. But Greg suddenly started to question my navigation skills, as, you know, for normal people, running in a swamp in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night, is not exactly the most desirable thing to do. So, I started doubting my compass a bit, and just about when I was gonna start looking for Polaris, we finally saw some lights and the road. Our time was actually pretty good, even with my last meandering experince.
Now, it's about 5am (still pitch dark), we head out for the long road biking, me in Greg's tow. This was so amazing!! To bike in pitch dark, in the middle of the fields, stars so clear above. One time I got so lost in this, that I rammed into Greg's tire. So, he brought me back to reality "Ioana! Less start gazing, more biking!" Then, I saw the sunrise! Oh, my goodness. This was so beautiful, I had to stop, take pictures and just simply admire it. Note I'm a night owl and almost never see a sunrise. By now, Greg was plenty tired, so I fed him a bunch of expresso gels and caffeinated granola bars. He recovered an hour or so later. I was just dandy, like I just had a full night of sleep. Probably the extra nap in the afternoon did help :) We find our two check points and got back to Emma.
Around 9am we start MTB Emma again, now, during the day, which was a breeze, except I walked every single hill, as I simply didn't have it anymore to bike up. No major events that i remember here. Then we had this riddle thing, which I'm absolutely useless on normal basis. This time I was suprised to get them all right the first shot. Maybe the third neuron (the smart one) that is usually hybernating, woke up.
About 10am we start 3rd navigation, again across the screet from Emma, on map with no trails, my favourite. Actually, whenever I saw a trail, it confused me. By now, noone was running or jogging anymore, not even power walking. We pretty much strolled to get the controls. My legs were showing some sign of tiredness as I was moving with not much control, so I am quite thankfull that I didn't take a spill during this. All worked fine till the last one, when i saw Matt (can I blame it on him?? yes!!) and I figured, "he looks awake, he'll take us to the last one". And he did, in the neighbourhood of it, when he didn't know anymore what was going on. Well, given that I paid very-very minimal attention during this leg, we had to almost back track all the way to the previous control, relocate and find it on the second attempt. Matt was long gone by now. I do have to make a
note he was doing this race all by himself, which to me is just unbelievable crazy.
Returned to Emma and started biking to the Paddling section (Rome Pond).
About 1pm we start paddling (or squirming in this mud pond!). By now, we really thought were way far behind, as we saw teams passing us like crazy. So we took it extremely easy. There was some challenging sections, as we had a "rowing" canoe, and we were going down AND UP a river, with some fast tight sections. Well, we made it somehow. One checkpoint was a store, where we both got icecream (I had pumpkin, yum!, very importnat detail:). So, we just hung out...with other teams as well, to finish our icecreams. Finally decided maybe it's time to go back.
About 4pm we got back from paddling and started biking back to the finish. By now the sleep deprivation had caught up plenty with me, so, as we're biking, I'm noticing that my breathing rithm has exactly the sleep rithm (deep and long), just like I was asleep. Next stage was that I was dreaming, with my eyes open, which is not completely foreign feeling to me, only this time, I was really out of it. Next and last stage was eyes closing, where things got scary, as we were now biking in the afternoon on the roads. So, I asked Greg (now all recovered) to watch over me, in case I fall or start riding in the middle of the road.
The last few miles were the worst ever, as ALL I WANTED was get off the bike and fall asleep at the side of the road, right then and there. I don't recall ever having such a strong sleep desire. But finally, the last road turn was in sight and we bike over the hill into the finish, where some nice people were cheering for us, so that just woke me up and I suddlenly felt happy to be done and ...refreshed...
Just as soon as we got into the finish, we found out we were past 5pm (the cut off time), and that if we made it before 5pm we could have won our co-ed category. Well that was a nice feeling, and we were both quite happy, but I did learned that in a race, never hang out, unless for resting, no matter how many teams are passing you. It turns out a lot of those teams did not get all the navigation points. I'm still not sure about the time spent picture taking ....:)
In summary, loved it! will I do it again? I don't know. Maybe. Not anytime soon. For now, I think 12h- is plenty challenge for me. Will I recomend it to anyone? Definetely, one piece of advice is choose carefully your partner, as 18h can be a long and challenging time. I got lucky, I guess!
http://wisadventureracingsociety.com/2008%20SKMC%2...
Team Huckleberrys - Greg and I
This was an epic adventure. Therefore I should start by thanking Andy and the gang that made it possible, and obviosuly to Greg, my awesome partner, who helped me keep it together, especially during last few hours when I was loosing it.
The race started 11pm with one of Andy's typical silly challenges that brought a good smile to everyone's faces. One team member from each team was blindfolded (that was Greg for us), and all blindfolded guys went one corner of the clearing, whereas the rest of us were spread out 100 yards+ away. The goal was for your blindfolded guy to find you, they could move we couldn't. As soon as the start signal was given it was a RIOT!! Everyone, including myself, were screaming from the top of their lungs for their team mate. Needless to say it took 10 full minutes of yelling laughing till Greg popped out of the dark just a few yards away "I'm here, I can hear you, Ioana". That was my cue to stop screaming which I was getting pretty good at :) Good laugh!!
With that big accomplishment in hand, we head out to our first navigation (my very first in the dark). We decided to take the wimpy light for this one, and it was not great, but not too bad either, given that I was extra cautios with my routes, as this was the one and big advise I got from everyone with some experince in night navigation. We found them all 3 controls, and I was just having ablast discovering the fun of night navigation. I would still not do it by myself (yes, I am a scaredy cat!)
Now, a bit past midnight, we head out on our bikes, with all the gear and food on our backs as we would not come back to the cars till the end. We biked to Emma Carlin parking lot, which was the main TA for the next sections. A bit past 1am, we start the MTB at Emma, with my new awesome bike light, and it was really not that challenging, given that we practiced on John Muir which I find quite a bit more challenging. At least at night. This is another thing (MTB at night) which I'm not planning to do again unless forced to, in a race.
About 2am, we head out to our second, REAL, navigation, across the street from Emma. This time I took my helmet with the awesome light on it, so I could see the reflectors on the controls 50 yards away. By now I got the idea that you need to move your head like a ceiling fan as soon as you get in the control circle. After a few controls, I got confident and started to cut through the woods, with a surprising acuracy (to me that is).
As the weather was nice and warm, I was only wearing a short sleeve shirt (you can't wear the PJ orienteering stuff during the AR, or they'll spit on you!). So, as fashionable as I was, bushwhacking at my best, through some thorns like I never seen before. Plus that during the night you can't see if 50' away there's a spot you can go through. So, 20 min in, my arms were so scratched and bloody, that it looked more like I was fighting the woods instead of navigating, so I decided to put on my fashionable jacket, now I'm hot, not getting scratched, but still fashionable. All worked out pretty well, till we had to go from last control to the road/finish. I relaxed (=focus = 0) and my direction was so vague, as I knew the road was there, that we ended up in an unmapped swamp, for a good 10+ min. After my experince in Syracuse, this 2-3" swamp, was nothing so I was trotting happily in it. But Greg suddenly started to question my navigation skills, as, you know, for normal people, running in a swamp in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night, is not exactly the most desirable thing to do. So, I started doubting my compass a bit, and just about when I was gonna start looking for Polaris, we finally saw some lights and the road. Our time was actually pretty good, even with my last meandering experince.
Now, it's about 5am (still pitch dark), we head out for the long road biking, me in Greg's tow. This was so amazing!! To bike in pitch dark, in the middle of the fields, stars so clear above. One time I got so lost in this, that I rammed into Greg's tire. So, he brought me back to reality "Ioana! Less start gazing, more biking!" Then, I saw the sunrise! Oh, my goodness. This was so beautiful, I had to stop, take pictures and just simply admire it. Note I'm a night owl and almost never see a sunrise. By now, Greg was plenty tired, so I fed him a bunch of expresso gels and caffeinated granola bars. He recovered an hour or so later. I was just dandy, like I just had a full night of sleep. Probably the extra nap in the afternoon did help :) We find our two check points and got back to Emma.
Around 9am we start MTB Emma again, now, during the day, which was a breeze, except I walked every single hill, as I simply didn't have it anymore to bike up. No major events that i remember here. Then we had this riddle thing, which I'm absolutely useless on normal basis. This time I was suprised to get them all right the first shot. Maybe the third neuron (the smart one) that is usually hybernating, woke up.
About 10am we start 3rd navigation, again across the screet from Emma, on map with no trails, my favourite. Actually, whenever I saw a trail, it confused me. By now, noone was running or jogging anymore, not even power walking. We pretty much strolled to get the controls. My legs were showing some sign of tiredness as I was moving with not much control, so I am quite thankfull that I didn't take a spill during this. All worked fine till the last one, when i saw Matt (can I blame it on him?? yes!!) and I figured, "he looks awake, he'll take us to the last one". And he did, in the neighbourhood of it, when he didn't know anymore what was going on. Well, given that I paid very-very minimal attention during this leg, we had to almost back track all the way to the previous control, relocate and find it on the second attempt. Matt was long gone by now. I do have to make a
note he was doing this race all by himself, which to me is just unbelievable crazy.
Returned to Emma and started biking to the Paddling section (Rome Pond).
About 1pm we start paddling (or squirming in this mud pond!). By now, we really thought were way far behind, as we saw teams passing us like crazy. So we took it extremely easy. There was some challenging sections, as we had a "rowing" canoe, and we were going down AND UP a river, with some fast tight sections. Well, we made it somehow. One checkpoint was a store, where we both got icecream (I had pumpkin, yum!, very importnat detail:). So, we just hung out...with other teams as well, to finish our icecreams. Finally decided maybe it's time to go back.
About 4pm we got back from paddling and started biking back to the finish. By now the sleep deprivation had caught up plenty with me, so, as we're biking, I'm noticing that my breathing rithm has exactly the sleep rithm (deep and long), just like I was asleep. Next stage was that I was dreaming, with my eyes open, which is not completely foreign feeling to me, only this time, I was really out of it. Next and last stage was eyes closing, where things got scary, as we were now biking in the afternoon on the roads. So, I asked Greg (now all recovered) to watch over me, in case I fall or start riding in the middle of the road.
The last few miles were the worst ever, as ALL I WANTED was get off the bike and fall asleep at the side of the road, right then and there. I don't recall ever having such a strong sleep desire. But finally, the last road turn was in sight and we bike over the hill into the finish, where some nice people were cheering for us, so that just woke me up and I suddlenly felt happy to be done and ...refreshed...
Just as soon as we got into the finish, we found out we were past 5pm (the cut off time), and that if we made it before 5pm we could have won our co-ed category. Well that was a nice feeling, and we were both quite happy, but I did learned that in a race, never hang out, unless for resting, no matter how many teams are passing you. It turns out a lot of those teams did not get all the navigation points. I'm still not sure about the time spent picture taking ....:)
In summary, loved it! will I do it again? I don't know. Maybe. Not anytime soon. For now, I think 12h- is plenty challenge for me. Will I recomend it to anyone? Definetely, one piece of advice is choose carefully your partner, as 18h can be a long and challenging time. I got lucky, I guess!
http://wisadventureracingsociety.com/2008%20SKMC%2...
Friday Oct 10, 2008 #
Note
SKMC FALL RACE - 18h
Made it back in one piece. A nice long write up coming up.
Made it back in one piece. A nice long write up coming up.
Thursday Oct 9, 2008 #
Note
slept:8.0 (rest day)
"Tapering"
Restless last night, but can't risk any new sore muscles so close to the race.
Got funky Puma shoes for BP.
Installed Chin Up Bar. We'll log progress till I'll be able to do one. I can do like a -5% now!
Restless last night, but can't risk any new sore muscles so close to the race.
Got funky Puma shoes for BP.
Installed Chin Up Bar. We'll log progress till I'll be able to do one. I can do like a -5% now!
Tuesday Oct 7, 2008 #
train pretend (Ridding) 30:00 [2]
Trot, post, 2 point - this was actually quite a workout.
Great weather looking ahead for the 18h AR craze.
Great weather looking ahead for the 18h AR craze.
Monday Oct 6, 2008 #
Stretch/Strength (Body Pump) 1:00:00 [3]
shoes: NB 1060
Men Falls - usual weights
I'm feeling quite healthy! But, wow, was it hard after 2 weeks break!
1) NEED NEW SHOES - for weight training. I've been doing this for couple years in my running shoes and I finally got sick of my feet flopping around in my running shoes.
2) Need to take this new (and expensive!) Body Glow with me, to see if it really works to reduce after workout pain
3) Casual note that BP is coming from NZ.
I'm feeling quite healthy! But, wow, was it hard after 2 weeks break!
1) NEED NEW SHOES - for weight training. I've been doing this for couple years in my running shoes and I finally got sick of my feet flopping around in my running shoes.
2) Need to take this new (and expensive!) Body Glow with me, to see if it really works to reduce after workout pain
3) Casual note that BP is coming from NZ.