Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyleIn the 1 days ending Jan 16, 2016:
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Saturday Jan 16, 2016 #
Event: Anza Borrego 2016
10 AM
Orienteering race 1:06:08 [4] *** 10.23 km (6:28 / km) +174m 5:57 / km
21c
Anza Borrego Day 1 - Classic course. My first taste of the desert! A decent if not particularly awe-inspiring race; a good-to-great time (for me) would have been near or under an hour. Ended up second, 2+ minutes behind Matej. Lost time at 8 and 11, then went to 14 before 13, and bled time at various places in the 15-20 Cliffs of Insanity section (but so did everyone). Second part of the course traversed one of those ruggedly unforgiving terrains where everything is magnified and seemingly innocuous route choice decisions and minor errors can cost minutes.
Good news - rumors of my knee's imminent demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated! I threw on my soft knee brace and did some warming up, without pain. So I started the race jogging - still no pain. So after the first control I gradually pushed to race pace without issues.
About the desert - it's similar to parts of Central Washington, but with more sand, more cacti, and less low brushy vegetation. Also, less rock. Also, more rock. I learned almost immediately that one cannot merely sashay past these cacti as with garden-variety inconsequential ground vegetation; indeed, they're deserving of a full-fledged detour. Luckily, the cacti are spaced almost uniformly - each plant seems to vigorously guard its territory such that any two are rarely less than 8-10 feet from each other.
Map stolen from Will's log:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1540/24056960599_1e4...
Good news - rumors of my knee's imminent demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated! I threw on my soft knee brace and did some warming up, without pain. So I started the race jogging - still no pain. So after the first control I gradually pushed to race pace without issues.
About the desert - it's similar to parts of Central Washington, but with more sand, more cacti, and less low brushy vegetation. Also, less rock. Also, more rock. I learned almost immediately that one cannot merely sashay past these cacti as with garden-variety inconsequential ground vegetation; indeed, they're deserving of a full-fledged detour. Luckily, the cacti are spaced almost uniformly - each plant seems to vigorously guard its territory such that any two are rarely less than 8-10 feet from each other.
Map stolen from Will's log:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1540/24056960599_1e4...
2 PM
Orienteering 56:02 [2] 2.17 mi (25:49 / mi) +125m 21:54 / mi
Maze-O in the ultra-detailed and convoluted slot canyon area. This stuff is seriously nuts. I was just walking to give my knee a rest, and even so I didn't know where I was half the damn time. God knows where I would've ended up if I tried to actually run. Super interesting and fun though!