Training Log Archive: Wyatt

Event: DVOA French Creek East
 

Didn't help much, as physically I couldn't push myself much at all - HR zone 4 is my goal for O', but this race was only 20% that high, with even more time spent in zone 2 than 4..

Not a fun run a French Creek East. Nothing really terrible, but the repeated nav. failures, plus the vegetation being (a) seriously out of date and (b) much greener than mapped, wasn't pleasant. A map revision would be worthwhile here.

Lost 4 minutes on number 2 - GPS shows I went really close to each of the 5 platforms I was planning to attack my way in - but I only saw 1st one in the terrain. Not sure why I couldn't find platforms with 100m attacks... Felt worse than 4 minutes - route shows 6 separate zigs to look then hestitate (from a wrong nearby platform I hit first) before I saw the bag. Apparently I was on the line in, but was pushed around unmapped veg. just before the bag, which kicked off the whole missed-the-bag thing.

Lost 3 minutes enroute to 4, again pushed around unmapped vegetation that I didn't fight through enough to hold my line. Then lost another minute on the attack on an awful green-ish hillside with several cliffs (that was also originally mapped as mostly white)

Lost 2 minutes on 5, aiming for the left side of a hilltop, but apparently that rough direction was too vague, and trying to read rocks along the way worked for Corrine.

Lost 1 minute going through awful vegetation out of 5 (didn't trust the veg. at all, but apparently here, going around the veg. was worth it), then nailed a hunters stand, but missed a platform 120m away, and attacked from a bit too far along that pre-attack, missing the bag about 50m high (according to GPS) where the visibility was much worse than that from up high - and much better from below apparently. Amazingly losing only 2.5 more minutes here.

Lost 0.5 minutes enroute to 7 drifting off my bearing more than needed, but finally nailed a bag (sighting trees from a trail bend.)

Another 0.5 min. hesitation near 8, but not too bad considering how the day was going. Plus another few seconds near 9 which appeared to be too high/too-the-right compared to the attack (map?), plus the circle was definitely on the wrong boulder (description said 'northern' boulder, which is plausible - but map circle was centered the southern of 3 nearby boulders).

14 minutes or so lost here. Yuck.

Event: SVO Susquehanna Stumble XI
 

Event: DVOA Myrick
 

Poor warmup topped off a morning where I didn't prep. well. Race started at noon and pre-race nutrition consisted of a McDonald's Big Breakfast (complete with Eggs and Sausage patty), plus one soda and one OJ (as I sat in back with the kids for the whole drive, I was distracted from hydrating too.)

Had a good 1st loop, then hit a wall physically and mentally. In the first loop I had 2-minute error - still not sure what's up with the trail bend I saw there, and one iffy choice in a window, but otherwise ran solidly finish 3rd (on the 1st loop) with 1-3 minutes of Eddie & Jon T., and pulling away from Greg B., Ken W., and Andis(?).

But then I started feeling my breakfast come back, and took a poor window-route to which I added 5 minutes of mistakes on 2 controls. I had apparently dropped back to 6th at that point. On the 2nd looop I was alone ex. for one loop-sighting of Jon T.. After that window, the rest of course had okay nav, but was very slow - stayed 6th.

Gotta eat & drink better, esp. when running something this long, and get my nav. focus on better (e.g. intermediate AP's and sighting trees) in the long-attacks in vague terrain.

Long - Splits

Loop SE, then W, then NE, extending 'coverage'. Full is up to ~1.5k now.

4x1200, 400 jogging rest

4:25?, 4:17, 4:21, 4:13 Hard work. A new guy named Scott was there and was pushing me harder than Steve and the other fast guy usually do. Led the 1st, 2nd, and 4th. Behind Scott on the 3rd (Max HR was only 177 vs. 181 on the 2nd and 4th - mental...)

Wimpy run in pretty bad weather. Rain, 36, windy. Dressed okay with gloves, 2 thin layers on top (one short, one long), ear-band and... shorts, in WillH style. Quads were a bit cold, but tolerable. Hands and even forearms were darn cold by the end.

A lot less than the 90 minutes planned.

Very happy this weather was today, not last weekend.

WNW and back.