Training Log Archive: mayer22

Event: 12th World Rogaining Championships
 

Lionheart
Pretty strong race with KE and JP. Fun and different ropes section. Paddle was a little tougher in low water but I've done it in lower. The rail trail riding was a bit rough but it made for a strong effort on the bike.

I was disappointed with the route choice and the time it took to make it. Luckily it seemed the other teams made worse route choices and/or made errors. The flats also caused several unnecessary delays. Otherwise everything went well. I tried to get JP to nav a little for practice too.

Weather was cool but not as cold as I was expecting forcing me to skip the tights. I paid for it in the nettle and also picked up some PI. Earl says mud works well as protection from nettle as well.

Started at the Warming Hut. First CP was a shwack to Lytle Rd. Then the overlook on McCune Trail. There were 3 options to the next CP at Ramcat. We had taken the gas line down the steep slope in a previous race so we decided to try the ridgeline down to the rail trail. The slope was gentler at times and a more direct route but not as clear as the gas line. We ended up probably about 3 or 4 minutes behind GOALS who was 2 min behind us b/c they took the gas line. When we got to Ramcat we saw TOG running down the Fireroad which didn't seem like a comparable option but they had probably gained a good 5 min on us as well. It added a bit of distance but was a road the entire way. I think that may have been the best option. Finished at the camground. Put in alongside GOALS.

Paddled Middle Yough from campground. We had a brief stop at an island to search for a CP. Julia and Kristin paddled the double and I was in tow in a single. Water level was low due to a controlled "release" (or maybe more appropriately hold) of the water for the falls race in town.

Portaged the boats to WWA. After we dropped the boats we ran through town and on trails to Cucumber Falls. Town was packed with people for the race. Great weather for it too.

Mountaineering
Slackline across Cucumber Run and then rappel down Cucumber Falls. Fun and good setup.

After the rappel we had to get one CP on Meadow Run. The point was at another waterfall but was misplotted by about 400m. Luckily there were plenty of signs leading you to the falls. I couldn't confirm the mistake until we found the CP but that helped our exit strategy back to the Sugarloaf warming hut.

40 mins for transition/plotting/planning (prob too long)
Settled on 2 routes and chose on the way out of TA base on what I thought would be the shorter of the two and also allowed us to climb the road back to the warming hut at the end instead of the trail. I should have gone with my first option which would have gotten us to the tough points in daylight and after measuring post race was just as short as the option we ended up taking. It also would have saved us a bit of climbing but that I knew.

I got a flat in Hopi Camp and had 2 bad tubes in my pack that wasted our CO2's and we forgot to bring a pump. Biked to the north CPs just off the rail trail. When I got back to my bike after that found another flat. So on our way back through town we stopped in to fill my tire and get some more CO2s. Made it to town just after WV closed at 9pm. Luckily still got what we needed but wasted prob 15 min.

Then finished the ride to the tough CPs again off the rail trail. Put in a total of 22mi on the rail trail stopping for 3 CPs along the way.

Had trouble on the cliff CPs I wanted to do during daylight. Not sure I wouldn't have made the same mistake with light but it definitely would have been easier traveling. This meant spending more time in chest high nettle. There was nothing but nettle in this huge steep reentrant. I never thought I would be grabbing nettle just to walk.

I wasn't really aware of the side reentrant we needed to spot and found an entire other set of cliffs (probably bigger) on the other side that we searched before being sure we were in the wrong spot. Wasted maybe 20 mins. No other nav problems on this loop.

Finished with a climb up Firetower with drops of rain right before the last CP and downhill to the finish (Sugarloaf Warming Hut).

Distance and elevation necessary to gather a few CPs on foot.

Commute In
GPS horribly wrong.

Family hike on the freshly cleared trail.
AP elevation off by a factor of 10.

Commute In
Found out the bridge work down the street won't shut down the road at all.

Ride back to PT.

PT
Pulled hip, rolled calf and foot exercises.

Ride back to work.

Commute home.
Adjusted my cleats. MUCH better. Still think my L knee wanders in a bit from either a tight adductor/psoas or weak arch/foot.