Training Log Archive: CleanIn the 7 days ending Sep 29, 2013:
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Saturday Sep 28, 2013 #
11 AM
Rogaine race (Ellicottville 6hr) 5:40:00 [3] 22.0 km (15:27 / km) +975m 12:39 / km
slept:5.0 (injured) shoes: Inov8 Oroc 280
Saw DD11 and Chief's photos from last year and had to attend. A bit worried about the distance and climb, but I set out not to push myself physically, just mentally. I wanted to continue this slow, precise orienteering thing. So glad I came. The venue is beautiful, especially this time of year.
Gear/food: dressed in my O-gear for maximum bramble protection; control descriptions on my forearm - aces! Nathan pack with a few snacks and gels up front, and 2L water to start. Pretty minimal.
15mins for map prep, so I marked a route on the east side of map 1 down to the south edge. Decided I'd get down there and decide what to do based on my timing. It's amazing how much the highlighter route helps - I followed it almost exactly the whole time. Can't get used to that though! No map prep in orienteering!
Here I decided on routes that combine minimizing climb and being pretty direct through the bush rather than round-about. I really needed to save my poor leg. Also, given all the plain light green everywhere, I told myself I have to really use solid attack points to pinball my way into these controls.
1 was a slog up the grassy ski hill. I took it easy. 12 was easy, other than the fact that I forgot that a green x is a root stock. For 5, I traveled along a road with a gentleman from Ithaca named Paul. He was walking briskly while I hobble-jogged. (:
Some of the people who'd gotten away from me up the hill got a little bunched up looking for 22. I took a series of trails down to hit the stream it was hiding in. 22 to 16 looked pretty hairy. I started out trying to go for precision, but then just shot straight south to my catching feature - the small creek I would then follow straight in to 16. By this time I was completely alone.
Used an open xc ski track to get part of the way across to 18, then pinballed off some streams and a clearing to hit it. Then followed a 95m climb up to a ridge running across the map. I was right on the edge of the map in solid light green, so to be safe I veered towards a clearing along the main road and re-orienteering down to 19 from there. Better a couple of minutes' jog west than circling for the next hour having gone off the map.
When I got back out onto the road, I finally checked the time (left my Garmin charging at home, oops, so I just had my clunky phone in the back of my pack.) It was only 1:45 into the race! Munched on a sandwich and decided to clamber back down to 24, a juicy 60-pointer. Not for the first time that day, I applied MJ's spring bushwhack training of diligently leap-frogging from tree to distant tree on a single bearing. This technique really saved my butt out there. I hit the patch of white forest at the northern stream, and then jumped over to the stream with the control. So happy to see DD11 and JH going in the opposite direction. I'd been all alone forever.
I used a deep stream bed to climb another 19 contours out, and the beautiful rocky, mossy forest was worth every step. I was almost sorry to get back up onto the ridge, where I could hear "normal" people enjoying the day in the civilized part of the map. 10 and 6 were on MTB trails, and I even managed a crummy jog up here. Confidence got the better of me at 6, and overshot it, so lost a few minutes here.
Only 10K in, and my untrained muscles were screaming. I kept eating and hoping I was getting enough electrolytes to prevent cramping (thankfully yes!) Another descent into a beautiful creek valley for 17, then another long 21-contour climb out onto the road (where I got funny looks from MTB-ers, as I emerged from the bush, crossed the road, and disappeared back in, haha).
I was headed for the map exchange with only 8 left on the way (bungled my exit back to the road by veering NE a bit, so small mistake number 2). Then I saw that 23 was another juicy 60-pointer and only 1km away on FLAT road. I hate out-and-backs, but had to take it. Hobble-jogged over, grabbed it, and headed for map #2.
I had 520 points in the bank at this point. Having slowed down significantly, I only had 2hrs for the second map, so I played it conservatively and marked a circular route in the NW corner. Refilled another 1L, munched on my sandwich and grabbed an apple for the road.
2 was on a little trail, while 13 was another thick bushwhack, but I'd gotten so confident with these, I didn't mind. Hit 13 by following a stream. Got back out to the road, which took me a long way down a hill. My knees and toes were killing me from these descents just as my ass was on fire from the climbs. Ducked in along another stream to hit 9, then clambered up to a trail which took me to the next stream valley for 18.
Meant to be conservative going across featureless flat light green to 10, which I was gonna take by pinballing off another stream valley - but veered SE a bit on the way down. By this point, I'd become very disciplined about checking trail and stream directions no matter what, so I realized I'd walked right out to the exact stream I needed. Another control (one of many) on a root stock, but man the size of this thing! Control description actually says 3.0.
Took another other other stream bed up to the road again, then went by this weird high-altitude pond (again disappointed to be in civilization with humans and dogs and fishing rods!) The loop to 10 only took me 45mins, so I wasn't worried. Jogged over to 6 and then decided to go out to 4 instead of straight home.
Jogging down the grassy ski hill was not easy. It really brought out all the aches. I might have even had time to go up a bit to 7, but I couldn't bear to climb anymore, or to have myself descend an even bigger mountain. So back home it was. I even went straight across the hill to 1 on a bearing rather than on the trails that cut across the ski hills - yes, I needed to prevent those 2 contours of climb and descent! :)
What a fantastic course. I'm so amazed that clubs put these on, with so many controls in such inaccessible areas. And the food - the FOOD! I had 3 different kinds of soups, a hot dog, and all the chips I could handle. Buffalo OC rules. :)
And what do you know? My 750 points was good enough for 1st place for 6hr solo women! Slow and steady DOES win the race.
Good stuff:
- leap-frog bushwhacking on a bearing
- checking directions of streams and trails. every. time.
- noting every single feature I passed to stay in touch with the map
- pacing myself (walking uphills, jogging only the flats)
- pinballing off attack points in otherwise featureless areas
- taking all the available controls in an area (learned that at the Great Toronto Rogaine!! Thanks, Bender!)
- enjoying the scenery!
Gmap close approximation of actual route:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com?r=6099997
Bucket map with approximate route in blue (maps 1 and 2 mash-up):
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww296/aggosst/e...
Climb estimated the old-fashioned way, by counting contours: 195 x 5m = 975m
oh, P.S.! Oroc 280s are gonna be the death of my poor ankles. Rolled the right one 3 times out there. They're kinda falling apart too.
Gear/food: dressed in my O-gear for maximum bramble protection; control descriptions on my forearm - aces! Nathan pack with a few snacks and gels up front, and 2L water to start. Pretty minimal.
15mins for map prep, so I marked a route on the east side of map 1 down to the south edge. Decided I'd get down there and decide what to do based on my timing. It's amazing how much the highlighter route helps - I followed it almost exactly the whole time. Can't get used to that though! No map prep in orienteering!
Here I decided on routes that combine minimizing climb and being pretty direct through the bush rather than round-about. I really needed to save my poor leg. Also, given all the plain light green everywhere, I told myself I have to really use solid attack points to pinball my way into these controls.
1 was a slog up the grassy ski hill. I took it easy. 12 was easy, other than the fact that I forgot that a green x is a root stock. For 5, I traveled along a road with a gentleman from Ithaca named Paul. He was walking briskly while I hobble-jogged. (:
Some of the people who'd gotten away from me up the hill got a little bunched up looking for 22. I took a series of trails down to hit the stream it was hiding in. 22 to 16 looked pretty hairy. I started out trying to go for precision, but then just shot straight south to my catching feature - the small creek I would then follow straight in to 16. By this time I was completely alone.
Used an open xc ski track to get part of the way across to 18, then pinballed off some streams and a clearing to hit it. Then followed a 95m climb up to a ridge running across the map. I was right on the edge of the map in solid light green, so to be safe I veered towards a clearing along the main road and re-orienteering down to 19 from there. Better a couple of minutes' jog west than circling for the next hour having gone off the map.
When I got back out onto the road, I finally checked the time (left my Garmin charging at home, oops, so I just had my clunky phone in the back of my pack.) It was only 1:45 into the race! Munched on a sandwich and decided to clamber back down to 24, a juicy 60-pointer. Not for the first time that day, I applied MJ's spring bushwhack training of diligently leap-frogging from tree to distant tree on a single bearing. This technique really saved my butt out there. I hit the patch of white forest at the northern stream, and then jumped over to the stream with the control. So happy to see DD11 and JH going in the opposite direction. I'd been all alone forever.
I used a deep stream bed to climb another 19 contours out, and the beautiful rocky, mossy forest was worth every step. I was almost sorry to get back up onto the ridge, where I could hear "normal" people enjoying the day in the civilized part of the map. 10 and 6 were on MTB trails, and I even managed a crummy jog up here. Confidence got the better of me at 6, and overshot it, so lost a few minutes here.
Only 10K in, and my untrained muscles were screaming. I kept eating and hoping I was getting enough electrolytes to prevent cramping (thankfully yes!) Another descent into a beautiful creek valley for 17, then another long 21-contour climb out onto the road (where I got funny looks from MTB-ers, as I emerged from the bush, crossed the road, and disappeared back in, haha).
I was headed for the map exchange with only 8 left on the way (bungled my exit back to the road by veering NE a bit, so small mistake number 2). Then I saw that 23 was another juicy 60-pointer and only 1km away on FLAT road. I hate out-and-backs, but had to take it. Hobble-jogged over, grabbed it, and headed for map #2.
I had 520 points in the bank at this point. Having slowed down significantly, I only had 2hrs for the second map, so I played it conservatively and marked a circular route in the NW corner. Refilled another 1L, munched on my sandwich and grabbed an apple for the road.
2 was on a little trail, while 13 was another thick bushwhack, but I'd gotten so confident with these, I didn't mind. Hit 13 by following a stream. Got back out to the road, which took me a long way down a hill. My knees and toes were killing me from these descents just as my ass was on fire from the climbs. Ducked in along another stream to hit 9, then clambered up to a trail which took me to the next stream valley for 18.
Meant to be conservative going across featureless flat light green to 10, which I was gonna take by pinballing off another stream valley - but veered SE a bit on the way down. By this point, I'd become very disciplined about checking trail and stream directions no matter what, so I realized I'd walked right out to the exact stream I needed. Another control (one of many) on a root stock, but man the size of this thing! Control description actually says 3.0.
Took another other other stream bed up to the road again, then went by this weird high-altitude pond (again disappointed to be in civilization with humans and dogs and fishing rods!) The loop to 10 only took me 45mins, so I wasn't worried. Jogged over to 6 and then decided to go out to 4 instead of straight home.
Jogging down the grassy ski hill was not easy. It really brought out all the aches. I might have even had time to go up a bit to 7, but I couldn't bear to climb anymore, or to have myself descend an even bigger mountain. So back home it was. I even went straight across the hill to 1 on a bearing rather than on the trails that cut across the ski hills - yes, I needed to prevent those 2 contours of climb and descent! :)
What a fantastic course. I'm so amazed that clubs put these on, with so many controls in such inaccessible areas. And the food - the FOOD! I had 3 different kinds of soups, a hot dog, and all the chips I could handle. Buffalo OC rules. :)
And what do you know? My 750 points was good enough for 1st place for 6hr solo women! Slow and steady DOES win the race.
Good stuff:
- leap-frog bushwhacking on a bearing
- checking directions of streams and trails. every. time.
- noting every single feature I passed to stay in touch with the map
- pacing myself (walking uphills, jogging only the flats)
- pinballing off attack points in otherwise featureless areas
- taking all the available controls in an area (learned that at the Great Toronto Rogaine!! Thanks, Bender!)
- enjoying the scenery!
Gmap close approximation of actual route:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com?r=6099997
Bucket map with approximate route in blue (maps 1 and 2 mash-up):
http://i729.photobucket.com/albums/ww296/aggosst/e...
Climb estimated the old-fashioned way, by counting contours: 195 x 5m = 975m
oh, P.S.! Oroc 280s are gonna be the death of my poor ankles. Rolled the right one 3 times out there. They're kinda falling apart too.
Friday Sep 27, 2013 #
Note
slept:5.5
Whoa I did it, I changed my name already. Time for a clean shuffle through Ellicottville!
Wednesday Sep 25, 2013 #
Note
slept:5.5
Hear ye, hear ye. I am declaring my intention to change my AP name again. The name may take effect after Ellicottville, maybe before.
I think I've finally got it: Clean.
Having a clean run is something everyone aspires to. I've had more opportunity to slow down my orienteering in the past year due to injury, and I've really refocused to getting better technically. A long way to go to consistent clean legs, but I seem to have greatly improved my ability to reorient after screw-ups by reading the terrain, so that's something.
Is it hubris to take a name like Clean? Nope, just aspirational. As my jiu-jitsu Sensei always said, "If you look like a martial artist, you become a martial artist." Maybe it applies to "becoming a clean orienteer." :)
And I do intend to stay as filthy and smelly as ever in the physical sense.
I think I've finally got it: Clean.
Having a clean run is something everyone aspires to. I've had more opportunity to slow down my orienteering in the past year due to injury, and I've really refocused to getting better technically. A long way to go to consistent clean legs, but I seem to have greatly improved my ability to reorient after screw-ups by reading the terrain, so that's something.
Is it hubris to take a name like Clean? Nope, just aspirational. As my jiu-jitsu Sensei always said, "If you look like a martial artist, you become a martial artist." Maybe it applies to "becoming a clean orienteer." :)
And I do intend to stay as filthy and smelly as ever in the physical sense.
C • lol 4