Race Evaluation
US Short and Long Championships: Blue 2 (Long-O)
Tundra/Desert
| 1. | I had a perfectly clean run and lost no time of significance. The split to the start triangle is estimated from the alititude record. | ||||||
| 2. | Went low. This may not have been the best route for the leg, but it helped me a great deal with the subsequent leg to Control 5. The second time around, I just ran by the same trees I remembered from the first time. | ||||||
| 3. | This was a control of type "bag in the woods". I found the woods and found the bag. | ||||||
| 4. | I went along the property boundary, which was clear to me. It was curious that the no-trespassing signs were pointing outwards, so as to keep the private owners out of the state woods. | ||||||
| 5. | Got some encouragement from The President. | ||||||
| 6. | Ran through the camping area, then the start, then repeated my trip to Control 1. BL led me into the control. | ||||||
| 7. | |||||||
| 8. | I first followed Charile Shahbazian, then saw Mikkel as he went to the wrong control. Then he recovered and moved quicky to the correct one. Actually I first thought it was Sergey, not Mikkel. | ||||||
| 9. | Ran hard to catch with "Sergey", but it was not too difficult, so I thought "Sergey" was taking it easy... but then the identity was revealed. The attack angle from the trail to the control was exactly parallel to the direction of the limestone crevasses, which was good. Good because it made the navigation easy, and also because I didn't break my leg when I did fall into a crevasse. Had I been going perpendicular, the knee could have snapped. I did not have this split, and estimated it from the altitude record and from Mikkel's split. I think Mikkel was punching the watch after the control, whereas I usually do the reverse. | ||||||
| 10. | It was a fun trail run during which Mikkel told me about his and Jon Torrance's adventures in the "Area Not Field Checked". At the end, Mikkel insisted on punching a wrong control again. | ||||||
| 11. | Ran downhill ahead of Mikkel. | ||||||
| 12. | Ran after Mikkel. | ||||||
| 13. | We got up the hill but then I read the second-green area (or "Settlement", as it was printed) correctly. I also took time to read the mapped features, to make sure they were indeed rocks and not buildings, as on my map both were rectangular. Mikkel somehow went more right and ended up 50 m to the north. | ||||||
| 14. | I didn't see Mikkel much anymore. I passed Barb Bryant on the trail run, and she was moving very well. I guess Barb is slower in the forest. | ||||||
| 15. | As I was leaving, I saw a Canadian all the way up the hill. | ||||||
| 16. | At the map exchange I identified the Canadian as Jon. | ||||||
| 17. | I could see Jon, so found the control easily. | ||||||
| 18. | Jon went downhill. I followed him but as the indistinct trail entered the marsh, I had a rapid change of heart. I turned back, up the hill, and took the route through the fields. I had been clean so far, and was willing to take a bet that the fields would be good running. Also, I had found this control already on the downhill run to Control 13. I took care to not enter the reasonable limits of the private house, and nobody apparently was home. The first field was very good running. The medium green ("Settlement") between the two fields was actually dark green (so should have been printed as "Pond", in accordance with the printer's logic). The second field was overgrown, but nothing worse than someone who spent 8 years running in Indiana/Ohio could handle. I heard Eddie got stuck in this field on the way to Control 13, which sounds curious because a week ago Eddie had no problem with mt. laurel. As I got to the corner of the field, Rosstopher emerged from the "Settlement". I told him his most likely wasn't the best route to Control 13. | ||||||
| 19. | Jogged halfheartedly, taking the trail in the woods for a much longer route. Needed a break. | ||||||
| 20. | As I got to the control, I saw Jon. He was behind me. | ||||||
| 21. | After the aid station (Chateau Dominie), I took the direct route through the woods whereas Jon took some trails below. I ran hard and the navigation was easy, but the woods were slow. As I got to the area of Control 9, I identified the shelves and the cliffs and the stone walls, and found Control 20 without issues. | ||||||
| 22. | Same trail as to #9. Samantha was running hard. I had already found the control feature ("the chimney") the day before, Control 6, so knew exactly which way to go around which trees. Rick DeWitt was approaching the control, but not going around the trees the right way. | ||||||
| 23. | I could feel some cramps approaching on the trail run to Control 21, and as I was jumping over trees through the green, they hit hard. Both legs, the inside of the upper leg. I guess those are just overuse cramps, not electrolyte-related, and they must have ultimately resulted from not training those muscles enough. The Bay Area in-the-woods training helps develop strong quads and hamstrings, and the intervals we do, lower legs, but those muscles that cramped are junk forest-specific. I get overuse cramps in my quads doing ultras, but they typically occur well over 3 hours into a run; my quads are much better trained. So, I walked gently over the dead trees, giving me some rest, and then noticed that the fringe of the swamp was excellent running, and not too wet, and went there. Found the control without problems. | ||||||
| 24. | On the trail run, I stretched a bit; no cramps. Was going well (third time on the same trail), aiming for that 2:30 time, until the small uphill next to yesterday's Control 15. That's when the cramps hit hard. As I got up to the plateau on which Control 23 was, I could only walk, and slowly. Walked to the control. | ||||||
| 25. | Tried jogging, and it was OK. | ||||||
| 26. | So, I jogged more on the paved road, and then walked through the shooting range directly up to the control. This was the least-junky way. On a normal day I would not have taken it, but this kept my cramps to a minimum. | ||||||
| 27. | Took a high route through the start. It wasn't bad, and only a contour more climb than the popular route. Walking, I don't think this made a difference. | ||||||
| F. |
Total Time Lost - 00:00:00