Training Log Archive: AliC

A really great training camp. This was everything I hoped it might be for WOC-prep, and Alex pretty much organized it single-handedly. So many, many thanks to her, and to EMPO for letting us use their awesome map, it's very much appreicated!

Train trip home was fairly uneventful, I slept a good 8h of the trip. Chatted a bit with my seatmate, a police officer from Indiana who had been on a service trip with a youth group to NYC. Also overheard the conversation around me, which was two bar managers talking shop - comparing different beers, mentioning the mark up on domestic bottles - they buy for $0.60-$0.80 and sell for $5 or so... fairly interesting talk. Ciders are apparently very in at the moment, at least in Cleveland.

Only an hour and a half late this time, perhaps because the police were called on in the middle of the night to figure out who was smoking pot - I totally slept through this, but my seatmate informed me in the morning...

C • "O" my...great adventures! 3

Over to and back from the gym, reading and planning on Juuanvaara, the M21 Swiss Middle team trials. One way long leg (#4) I'm not quite sure how to handle.

C • #4 7

And Zumba with Johanna! 3 other gals today. I'd say I was marginally better at Hips Don't Lie. Like I'm kinda doing the right motion at the right time, it's just not at all graceful. Ah well, more practice!

Group hike up to the plateau- the last time up, woo!

Run over to the start.

O-tervals: It was great to do these with Sergei and Ian. Ramped up the speed for sure!

1st o-terval: I led and started heading up the trail - I think better to just immmediately dive into woods and use stream bed? I was caught by Ian on the way to 1, then raced with him, not giving up to 2 and then over to 3, at some point in there Sergei had also caught, so were were all racing to 3.

2nd-oterval: Bearing and noting marshes on way to 5, bearing south and giant marsh to 6, then a bit right and up to marsh to 7, right on Ian's heals at the end.

3rd-oterval: Oof, not a good one. I entirely missed 9, just being a bit leazy, hoping to see it more or less just being on my bearing. But then I saw Ian, so I went to chase him, thinking he was still going to 9. Not so, realized at the stream. Stopped, decided I didn't want to make them wait for me, so continued on. But then I also couldn't find 10. Turns out it wasn't in the reentrant that appeared to be circled, instead in the N-S one. Finally mosied on from there too, found 11 and 12 ok, feeling more in touch with the map.

4th o-terval: Started out well to 14 and 15, I felt fast and wasn't caught. Then I started on a bearing at 16, but then diverged way right thinking I needed to be in a reentrant further to my right. Located on giant marsh, although it took me a bit to figure it out, then to 16 correctly.

5th o-terval: 18- a bit left of the line, especially towards the end, which was a nice way in, got there about the same time as Ian, so race on! to 19 also about the same time, and also, after the marsh crossing to 20, although we both thought it was on the wrong (facing E) cliff, before I saw the control across the way.

6th o-terval: 22- bearing, left of marsh, bearing, could see Ian ahead. 23- Uh, not in reentrant, puzzled, but Sergei was there, we told him we still had to go to 4, so a final race to that now well-known stony hill. They both beat me, but I did start a bit behind.

Great training, didn't always work 100%, but good to notch the speed up a level, really how I will have to be racing in Finland, if not even faster, some how...

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Quickroute thoughts: Garmin went flaky here and there, probably my fault for turning it off during our slow recovery walks. I see that I basically passed right over 9, but then diverted from my bearing distracted by some features on my way to 10. Too bad the signal was flaky for my big mistake to 16, I would have liked to see how I actually became so far off...

C • good weekend! Finland in 2... 1

And after a mild lunch, back out for the control pick. (Bonus pick-up-all-the-far-controls version.)

Tried to keep some of the feel of speed from the o-tervals. But I went over on my ankle kinda badly on my way to 6, bummer. Had a quick sit-down, tied my shoe tighter, and luckily it didn't keep going over. Messed up 8, to far south somehow. Then 11 I think I also messed up, despite being really well located only 150m away from the control. 12 was confusing since I didn't completely realize I wasn't in the right place at 11. I also had a hard time on the blanked-out window to 22, I drifted too far north, and took me a bit to relocate.

The line-o went fine, I tried to notice as much as I could about the contours. Only bummer was a face-plant on a rocky hill-top. My foot got totally caught by a log, and I couln't free it to catch myself, so belly-flop on small sticking-out rocks. Luckily no major body damage, but my magnifier got shattered off my compass. Boo.

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Quickroute thoughts: Bad to 8, really needed to reevaluate direction after going up cliff. I don't think I got to 11. Maybe it was hung in the right place (shame on me for not finding!). A lot of the random diversions in the far half were to get controls not actually on the control pick map. But I did poorly getting across the gulf of white to 22. Bearing was just never right! A good line for line-o.

Event: US Team training weekend
 

I woke up early, so was ready enough early to go up with Adrian and set some of the streamers. Pretty morning!

Setting the 8 streamers to the far north-west. Not entirely problem-free. I found the hill at 49 a bit tricky to ID, as with the boulder at 38, which I initially ran past. Then scamper back to be not-terribly late for the run-off of the two brown courses.

Brown X-
I started last, as I was still pulling myself together, attempting to chase down Ethan and Andrew. But I wasn't confident to 1, and then just totally lost it to 2.

Brown Y-
Better. I started in the middle of the group this time, so had some to chase and the Childs boys chasing me down. I just missed seeing the control at 2, and then tried to exit 4 as if I were exiting 5, but other than these two little blips, it went well and I had fun racing head-to-head, mostly with Adrian for a few controls in a row.

Down + back to the campsite with Will and Nathan.

Hike back up after a good hangout time at the very busy Moreau beach. Well, actually, we stayed in the shade int he parking lot, although we did a tour-de-beach once - one girl making awesome sand sculptures (one of an Egyptian pyramid, another one, in construction of an old-school car, I think).

Then, partner memory-o with Ian. This went maybe the best memory-o has ever gone for me, only one I really had to look at map and figure out what happened? A good challenge to come up with a way to simplify on Moreau - I used a lot of bearings, which I don't often do in memory-o.

Middle Brown X - Splits

Middle Brown Y - Splits

Alrighty, time to head East! Catching the 3am train from Toledo to Moreau. Well, Albany, I suppose... last leg aided by other giggle. Very psyched for the training weekend!

C • How was the train? 3

Train late, accidentally abandoned maps, but thank to the boyfriend crew of Ed + Ian, the map issue got worked out and we checked into the campsite (long line!) at something like 8pm. We quickly set up tents (one was slightly confusing!) and then ran over to the plateau via the isthmus.

Hike on up. Lost the trail once, took a wrong turn once.

And, given it was already totally dark, we scaled back our night-o plans. Alex, Will and I divided up the 7 nearest controls, went to go set them. I promptly ran into an uncrossable marsh, but thought it was where the crossable stream was on the map, so decided I had to cross it there or go way around. So plunged in the darkness into the murky mucky water. A bit tricky to set controls in the dark, but did mine and then decided I would just start from there and find the others, which went ok, and could go a bit more confidently knowing I was looking for a nice little reflecty guy.

Wow, heard I think my first tornado siren at about 12.15... they're now tracking spinning stuff just a bit south of Toledo, 45 min til all clear...

And Lesley (grad student) joined me for Zumba! So a jog over from the dept with her. This morning we had an awesome little talk from a guy who just finished undergrad at U of Arizona - looking in detail at exoplanet transit light curves, you can try to tell things about magnetic fields (ok, only in really particular situations) and exoplanet atmospheres...

Bunches more folks for this one, 7 of us by the end? More of the songs were ones I already knew, so I was less bewildered. Although, the hip swirl part of Hips Don't Lie still stymied me...

And I want my legs to remember they might have to go uphill at some point, so easyish stuff on ze treadmill at various inclines. Forgot to print a map, so tried to read a paper, but that was harder after I started sweating. So the news. Lots of Snowden.

C • Go tough girl, go! 2

Ug, a day of much dental work. Mouth still kinda numb from novocaine, but at least I don't think I was drooling...

Track workout in the hot, really should have motivated this morning, but Kevin canceled due to soccer soreness, so procrastinated.... Did 4 strides in the shade beforehand following Erin's recommendation. Short stuff, 4 x (400, 300, 200). 200m roll-on within sets, 400m between sets. Felt pretty good, but the last few were tough.

Times:
78, 57, 37
76, 58, 36
74, 57, 36
76, 59, 34