Evaluated field sites with karen goodell at the wilds - hiking and sampling from 9-3 on a gorgeous day. Personal record for tick harvest - probably plucked over 100 from my clothes today, sometimes more than 20 at a time. They were all over the place, but liked me better than anyone else! Luckily none attached to me.
Orienteering-City race 4:00:00*** 22.0 km (10:55 / km) 49c slept:6.5 shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS9-2
Fallsquest from the natatorium. 60 controls, start at 11AM, back by 3. !~90F, sunny, humid - the conditions that are hardest for me! Planned to stop or at least walk slowly about every hour, which worked well (it became stopping, which was appreciated). Started out thinking i might be able to clear the course, but a few minutes trotting in the sun quickly dissolved that idea. Adjusted plans accordingly, mostly in the last half.
After the first hour, there were some climbs and started to walk (the long trip along the western margin from overview trailhead past lakes) up most of those, and over time aimed at running about half the time. That was hard to keep up - gradually became a shuffle by 3 hrs in. Shade was welcome when I had it.
FIlled hydropack at about 1.5hr (was < half full, and never found a good spot to refill after that - ran out just as i finished). and at 2 hr (nw corner) reevaluated plan for a few minutes in the shade, decided to sweep to the east but only hit the high pointers and adjust my itinerary based on recent paces and time left. That worked well, though at the time it was a gamble (the high pointers out there were pretty isolated without a good bailout until the last 45minutes or so).
At 3hr, crossed the cuyahoga at waterworks park and oh did that water feel good. Took shoes off so i didn't have to deal with them heavy and wet for the final hour. managed to pick up a couple of extra controls in the last 5 minutes, though I was seriously dragging by then. This one took a lot of willpower - first, to not just drop out (felt really bad around 2.5hr), second to keep running/shuffling in the mix and not just trudge.
Navigation was almost all easy and spot on - only lost perhaps a minute total to head scratching.
Alexis apparently got cramps after drinking cold water at a faucet about 2.5hrs in, so he didn't hit a cluster of high pointers late on. If that hadn't happened he would have given me a run for high score.
I thought i had a little more stamina than this, but in retrospect I haven't done many long runs lately. Sounds like a plan.
Actual travelled distance is 30.5km. Point to point distance about 22k?
Woke this morning with more of the discomfort between the shoulderblades. Probably from lifting weights yesterday. Vitamin I to the rescue
Despite the weathermap, which showed that a band of storms had just passed, within 4 minutes of leaving the house got caught in a real toadstrangler. Could not have been wetter upon arrival.
Everett bridge to Wetmore trailhead on horse trail. Warm but ok (had hydropack), didn't feel very vigorous. I'd hate to think that the low level I'm at now is still overtraining! I'm taking a fair few days off...
Catching Features30:00 [0] *** 30c
had to try the NAOC model event before it went off, did a warmup ahead of that
Hot day. Planned to try the klett race today, but family stuff, including helping with the firestone band's performance at the LeBron appreciation day at UA. Lots of yardwork, thought of not running at all, but eventually decided to man up. Market-castle-monmouth. Pushed 30s, 60, 120, 240, and back down. I was weaker than I'd like, but at least I did it.
Started to prep for a road bike, but a flat tire (not patchable) led to some sort of looseness in the rear deraileur that I didn't want to fix right then. So, used commuting bike to take TP from merriman to school, get the backpack and book i forgot there, returned via north, all with good effort.
Strength10:00 [1]
using the father's day weight bench. very light weights for now
Running10:00 shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS9-1
JCKC. she showed off for the mailman, and in the process ran right under my foot, which I managed not to weight on, but nearly did a header to avoid it. I would have landed on a stone wall at shin height, probably with bad consequences. Luckily, no damage except my pride
Checking potential control sites for the reentrant rampage at Brecksville. Did most of the far south controls, a few adjustments. Although the woods were thick, and the slopes muddy and slippery, I was really happy with my navigation.
Kendall event. Dropped off water to yellow/orange, then set white (total around 45min). When Fred arrived, set yellow epunch (45min) course, only using the wrong punch box once. Then water for white course (10min). Easier morning than I expected.
After the event (rain arrived around 2:30), picked up the se control set in a driving storm (48min - v. slow because of wet glasses).
Courses went over well - several people had trouble with 8 yellow, and the red and green courwses had more DNFs than usual (partly poor visibility with so much veg, partly because I seem to have set a fairly technical course given that visibility). Still, I think all or almost all were properly set, and I'm happy with the event, especially given that it would have been canceled without me
Set deep woods controls (2 sets) at Kendall, including 1 water control. Apparently dropped one control (furthest out), and didn't realize until there. Then in 2nd set did the same, but found it within 10min of backtracking. Had enough time, so retraced steps of first set and found the control (only 1/2 site back from where I realized it. Just not gripping the thick wads of controls fully I guess. Rained last night but not too wet at 10-12AM. Locations work well from alternative approaches. All seems to be in place. Just white and yellow to do tomorrow
Orienteering1:53:00*** 7.1 km (15:55 / km) +250m13:32 / km 18c slept:6.5 shoes: Inov8 Rocklite 315
Trial run of red course (1:34), then to the new controls for yellow. Rained lots last night, which didn't hurt footing much, but the wet veg soaked me, and coated my glasses so that around midway I really couldn't see (lost 13 minutes on that control!). A bit slow for 6.1k, but there's a lot of thick veg and i didn't have the racing edge to keep me pushing and trotting instead of walking through the thick spots. After doing this, decided to drop the first contol (confirmed today that there is really no way to run up that ridge to the saddle, so red, orange, and green will share that, which should be no big problem at our meets)
2 deer seen