Training Log Archive: Swampfox

Orienteering at Granite Planite, in two pieces, at race pace.

Lots of pre-training rain made everything damp and lush, for a vaguely Scandi feel. Despite that, upon finishing, I did not execute a Euro-flop. So far, as best I can recall, I've never seen an athlete taking a Euro-flop into a big pile of mud or really long grass that is sopping with ice cold rain water. I guess there are limitations. Nevertheless, I will try to do better next time.

C • Euro flop 3

Orienteering at The Toe (and adjoining big slopes), goal being to cross lots of those little bitty and quite skinny brown lines. As a practical matter, that also meant crossing innumerable downed beetle trees, maybe 30,000 - 40,000 or more. Probably more.

Avoided rain, but did get hit with several minutes of sleet. Funny weather--record highs most of last week, and very cool and overcast weather yesterday and today, with numerous intermittent Scottish rain. Perfect for running.

Biked in the morning and then worked around various rains to get some running in, done in two pieces. By late in the day no dragonflies were out but lots of mountain bikers were--an encouraging sign if you run a bike shop.

Up early and road biked, first with Cindy, and then with Scott, and because that apparently wasn't enough, ran some errands downtown on the bike as well, by which time my wimpy legs were pretty well biked out.

Ran late in the day and hung streamers at Pelican Bay. I had to drive through rain to get out there, but by the time I was on site and ready to go, it was cool, overcast, and no longer raining--unless you count the mosquitoes as rain.

Out during the middle of the day to finish picking up trail markers from last night's mtb race. Not sad to see no mosquitoes while I was out; for sure the future will offer new opportunities to do battle with those little vampires, enhanced by the fact the city is reportedly having problems hiring enough crew to keep the spray truck operating for all the night hours they plan for. And the county's crop duster has been broken, so the good times have been rolling for the mosquitoes. I bet if the B-52s were in charge none of this would be happening.

C • but then 2

Tisdags Traning, intervals 9 x 5 min (6 flattish, 2 uphill, 1 downhill, all on dirt road.) 1 too inquisitive deer fly silenced "with extreme prejudice." Warmish in the sun, but there was a pleasant breeze the whole time.

Right before I left home I got one of those junk phone calls with the unrecognizable number. For some reason, I decided to answer, and it was someone wanting to know if I would be running in a black fleece top. I said: "No, you idiot!", and hung up. What an idiot. It looked like they were calling from Phoenix--no wonder.

Following running, it was time for either real breakfast or else lunch, and I couldn't decide if I wanted hamburgers or fried cod, so I split the difference and made pizza.

The local motto: "Anyone can have lunch; it takes a Cowboy to have pizza."
Not sure where it came from, but I suspect it might have been the anti-beef crowd, who are needling the local ranchers just a tad.

I helped with a mountain bike race in the School Yard in the evening, and was doing so well until right after the race was done when, at about 7:55, the mosquitoes emerged and went from zero to innumerable in about 5 seconds. I would have much preferred to have faced an upset herd of charging golfers.

The plan for today was to take it easy, and I did, with some biking and running. The hardest part of the day was driving up to Happy Jack. I was pretty drowsy, and once I parked in the sun, I could have gone right to sleep.