Training Log Archive: JanetT

Event: Anza Borrego Desert O-Fest
 

Event: Georgia Navigator Cup
 

Green day 1 at Buttes Pass in Anza-Borrego S.P., east of the camping area. Thanks to Bill Gookin this park is VERY well mapped and if you took your time you could navigate well. Spur areas covered with small rocks were more stable than the reentrants between them where the rocks loosened from the soil and slipped out from under you -- I quickly learned to stay on top of the spurs. Oh, and I quickly learned to watch carefully for the teddy-bear cholla, too, which was ubiquitous, but scattered so you could pick your way around it. Beware if you look down at your map, however!

I was off about 50 meters to the right to the first control (I was busy getting used to the map and crossed the proper spur at a slightly wrong angle, but saw someone punching the flag to my left). As I was a later starter, I also had help along the way seeing people going into the control area, from a good distance, despite not being able to see the control. The second half of the course got into more hilly badlands (steep spurs/reentrants) requiring more leg strength and attention to avoid parallel errors. On leg 9-10, rather than taking the obvious safe route to the road and then along a spur to the control, I chose a different reentrant route which required more effort and a difficult descent, so it was much slower; I probably lost 5-7 minutes on that leg (if not more).

Technical and physical sprint course in the closer-in badlands around the campsite/base area. Fine through the first two controls but then bobbled the third after a climb, and parallel error on number 4 (the eastern-most of 4 deep erosion gullies on the side of a hill; I didn't want to go too far down and have to climb back up so kept checking them out from the top; it turned out I didn't check the eastern-most one so missed the flag until other sprinters arrived). Other than those two bobbles I had a good (for me) run and really enjoyed the terrain.

Sprint - Splits

Green Day 1 - Splits

Stopped at the Oasis of Mara in Twentynine Palms and walked around the palms. Not much water left in this oasis, though apparently it was quite the watering hole a hundred or more years ago.

On the way to Anza Borrego, stopped at the cholla cactus garden and strolled around.

Our motel in Borrego Springs was just across the street from a little mall with several restaurants and a coffee shop, so we didn't even have to drive to dinner or breakfast. It's a nice place to stay if you go to a future AB meet and don't want to camp. A portable radiant heater was necessary, however, to heat the room in mid-January. :-)

Time estimated; includes short hikes near Barker Dam (Yes! water in the desert!) and Hidden Valley at Joshua Tree National Park. JTNP is fascinating scenery; high elevation desert contributes to this unique life form (JT is a kind of yucca that grows into a tree shape. We didn't see any in bloom (that occurs in March and April) but saw some spent seed pods from previous years' blooms. The trees are widely spaced in flat plain-type areas and interspersed with other growing things (some cactus; some creosote bushes; little grass) and boulders.

Some granite areas remind me a lot of Vedauwoo in Wyoming and we saw a number of rock-climbers.

The overlook at Keys View (at about 5000' elevation) was just abover freezing and the wind so strong that we had to lean into it, so we didn't stay there long, but you can see where the San Andreas fault goes through the Coachella Valley which contains Palm Springs south of the viewpoint, and the Salton Sea to the southeast. A couple of 10,000'+ mountain peaks around the valley had some snow on them.

Flew to San Diego for the Anza Borrego A meet over MLK weekend.

Small amount of walking at Point Loma near San Diego, both around the lighthouse, and down by the tidepools. Learned that the tide will be optimal for tidepool viewing on Monday afternoon (21st) because of full moon on Tuesday, and plan to be there since we'll be back in S.D. on Monday.

Preparing for and cooling down after intervals on the indoor track at the Y. The track had more runners (at times) than typical when I'm there and often the only runner (the others walk, at various speeds). Had to change lanes a few times (to get out of their way, not to pass any of them!).

5 x 230m intervals with 230m rest --
1:26 / 1:40
1:23 / 1:42
1:23 / 1:42
1:22 / 1:44
1:22 / 1:38
(the last cool-down may be shorter than 230m because I had to change lanes)

Walking at the Y. 0.2 on the track (more cool-down) and then 1 mi on the treadmill set at 4 mph/flat.

Followed by complete (8 machines) Fitlinxx strength circuit, and 10 pull-downs at 62.5 lbs.

Ex. class in Chatham. Nothing too special about today's class, although Jennifer was concerned about the Spears sisters plights....

Ran trails at Albany Pine Bush Preserve, from the Discovery Center. Finally found the trail that takes you under the adjacent road (Rt. 155/New Karner Road) where it crosses over the Thruway. Rt 155 is heavily traveled and hard to cross (I managed to do it last time we were here since I couldn't find the trail under the bridge). Did some loops on other trails and explored most of the ones on the map; no off-trail exploring. Saw Glen a couple of times; the second time when he was looking for his clip-on sunglasses which had been knocked off.

Trails were largely clear (and sandy -- because this area used to be dunes under Lake Albany back in glacial times(?)) except in the deeper woods or on the north side of hills (so maybe 1/3rd snowy), and the snow was squishy because it was in the 30's. I walked most of the hills, and some of the snowy areas.

AOWN: Lots and lots and lots of crows in these woods. Perhaps it's because the Albany landfill is adjacent to this Nature Conservancy property? Later on, while still in Albany but a few miles away from the preserve, we saw maybe 5-10x more crows getting ready to roost for the night... almost reminiscent of Hitchcock's The Birds.