Training Log Archive: elavallee

Event: NEOC: Houghton's Pond
 

I made a few mistakes out there, but my main problem occurred after control 9. My right calf started to lock up in what I thought to be more cramps. After 10 it felt really bad. I had actually considered not continuing and bailing out of the course. I stubbornly pressed on. The thought of a second consecutive DNF was weighing on me. The problem expanded to the left calf. It seemed strange to me that it was actually more tolerable when I ran then if I walked. So I took every chance on trail to lightly jog. I was glad that I finished, but then subsequently quite depressed that I could no longer fulfill my responsibilities for the day. I also started to question the hypothesis that it was due to a lack of electrolytes as I had consumed quite a bit before the start.

Green - Splits

Foggy. Had a good session. Even though it appeared that the cloud cover was more dense, the distance seems more accurate today. I don't think my pace varied that much from Tuesday. This is good to know, I've never monitored my GPS this closely before. The orienteering really helps too. There was an occasion recently where while using GPS with a topo map I was able to discern that the map grid appeared to be slightly off from the contours and basemap. The reason I say that is because it was consistently off in the same direction from multiple different samples/locations. Of course, I now realize that the GPS could be off, but I would expect the GPS error to be more random. For that matter, I am not even sure that at a 1:24000 scale I could even note on the map the error of the GPS.

I almost didn't make it out as I woke up late and sleepy. But I was very glad I did. This morning was perfect for running.

On another note, I am not sure how much I can trust my handheld GPS. I am pretty sure that I ran further today than last week for the same time, but my GPS shows less. I note that it was partly cloudy, I am not sure if that is a factor.

C • Hmm 4