Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyleIn the 7 days ending Jun 29, 2015:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | ||||||||||
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
| Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | |||||||
Sunday Jun 28, 2015 #
10 AM
Orienteering race 50:53 [4] *** 3.45 mi (14:45 / mi) +240m 12:08 / mi
23c
4.33 km listed; 11:39/km
Just another underwhelming middle performance; I'm beginning to build a considerable pile of these. I made plenty of mistakes but had some strong legs as well. I notice that some of my best splits were not ones where I pushed any harder than usual, but ones where I had a plan and followed it carefully and successfully. Weird how that works.
But the terrain though - so awesome. Extremely technical and physical yet also fast and runnable, if only one has the fitness and skill to take advantage (I do not). I'd love to see what world-class orienteers could do here.
The heat was far more vicious Sunday than Saturday - a little higher temp, no clouds overhead, and less cover. Going up hills, there'd be sweat just constantly dripping off my nose, drip drip drip. Only other time I've noticed this was that one time I did hot yoga.
Just another underwhelming middle performance; I'm beginning to build a considerable pile of these. I made plenty of mistakes but had some strong legs as well. I notice that some of my best splits were not ones where I pushed any harder than usual, but ones where I had a plan and followed it carefully and successfully. Weird how that works.
But the terrain though - so awesome. Extremely technical and physical yet also fast and runnable, if only one has the fitness and skill to take advantage (I do not). I'd love to see what world-class orienteers could do here.
The heat was far more vicious Sunday than Saturday - a little higher temp, no clouds overhead, and less cover. Going up hills, there'd be sweat just constantly dripping off my nose, drip drip drip. Only other time I've noticed this was that one time I did hot yoga.
Saturday Jun 27, 2015 #
9 AM
Orienteering race 2:15:20 [4] *** 11.69 mi (11:35 / mi) +750m 9:39 / mi
26c
15.39 km listed; 8:48/km
Ultralong recap time.
S-1: Still fiddling with my watch at the rather abrupt start, so basically ran in the herd without looking at my map till halfway to the first control. Leader made a slight mistake so Peteris and I actually got there first.
1-2: Is dis de leed?
2-3-4: In the front group with Kerrin Rattray, Eric, and Peteris. Relatively simple legs.
4-5: Maybe my best leg of the course. Left 4 at the same time as Eric, took a different route, got to 5 a few seconds before. A novel experience. In the lead again!
5-6: Rattray came screaming in to punch just ahead of us. He was moving noticeably faster than everyone early on but was making some small errors here and there.
6-7: Didn't drink at the first water control cuz I wanted to be in the lead :) Got passed by Rattray just before the control.
7-8: Longish gentle uphill road run. Trying to keep pace. First nav error here; I made the classic mistake of paying too much attention to others and not enough to my attack point. Ended up too high in the reentrant and was caught again by Eric.
8-9: Felt tired for the first time; decided not to try and hang with Eric for fear of dying 2/3 through the race. Peteris just behind.
9-10: Road run, then made a small error in the circle. Peteris punched first.
10-11: I went low, Peteris went high, we met again and bobbled 11. Many of the hillsides in the northern area were far greener than mapped, which caused problems at times.
11-12: Straight at it. Leaving 12, dismayed to see a group of three coming in.
12-13: I went left, everyone else evidently went right. I made up a few seconds on the pack behind, either by speed or route choice.
13-14: Long leg, but one clear route. I got real clever/lazy on the climb at the end and actually arrived at a spot not one but two spurs away from the correct one. Saw a big boulder - can that be the boulder that 15 is located on? Yes it can.
14-15: Retracing my steps, having now been caught by Peteris & co.
15-16: Another long leg; the group went their separate ways here. I could not see a viable route, so ended up bumbling along for a while with hesitance, which is more or less the worst thing to do. Finally came to a road well south of the line and was with Mikell Platt for a bit, then got away only to randomly bump into Mikkel Conradi.
16-17: Mmm, delicious manned control.
17-18: We caught back up to Peteris on the way out of 17.
18-19: Road run, but treacherous getting down to the road through a patch of very nasty Northwest-style green (without the blackberry bushes). Peteris got stuck worse than me, and I didn't see him again. Met back up with Mikkel.
19-20: I think everyone other than Kerrin and Eric is behind the two of us now...
20-21: Content to be right behind Mikkel on the way, then he made a minor mistake which gave me a small lead.
21-22: Not sure what happened, but never saw Mikkel after leaving 21.
22-23: Trickiest leg on the course, in the hydro-mining area. Super paranoid and careful here, because I was pretty sure I was in third overall and second American. Spiked it, but quite slowly.
23-24: Last leg of consequence. Again, being deliberate and just trying to avoid blowing it with some bonehead mistake.
24-25-26-F: Huzzah! Still plenty left, but happy to not go the extra couple km.
Having never won an individual medal at a US champs race before, I'm thrilled with the result (silver), and pleased with my own physical race as well, regardless of the outcome. I had a strong beginning (1-7) and end (18-F), while leaving something to be desired in the middle portion.
It felt more like a Euro long; I never reached that particular level of suffering unique to the Ultralong, where most of your leg muscles are cramping, the fastest you can go is a hobbling limp, and you vow to never do this again.
Surprisingly, heat wasn't much of a factor for me, with the 9 AM start time combined with water stops every 2-3 Blue controls, and not in small quantity. Each time I'd start feeling hot, I'd get to a water stop, dump some on my head, pound two or three cups, and be good to go till the next one. If you could win awards for the most jugs of potable water anyone has put into a forest, these organizers would win all of those awards.
Ultralong recap time.
S-1: Still fiddling with my watch at the rather abrupt start, so basically ran in the herd without looking at my map till halfway to the first control. Leader made a slight mistake so Peteris and I actually got there first.
1-2: Is dis de leed?
2-3-4: In the front group with Kerrin Rattray, Eric, and Peteris. Relatively simple legs.
4-5: Maybe my best leg of the course. Left 4 at the same time as Eric, took a different route, got to 5 a few seconds before. A novel experience. In the lead again!
5-6: Rattray came screaming in to punch just ahead of us. He was moving noticeably faster than everyone early on but was making some small errors here and there.
6-7: Didn't drink at the first water control cuz I wanted to be in the lead :) Got passed by Rattray just before the control.
7-8: Longish gentle uphill road run. Trying to keep pace. First nav error here; I made the classic mistake of paying too much attention to others and not enough to my attack point. Ended up too high in the reentrant and was caught again by Eric.
8-9: Felt tired for the first time; decided not to try and hang with Eric for fear of dying 2/3 through the race. Peteris just behind.
9-10: Road run, then made a small error in the circle. Peteris punched first.
10-11: I went low, Peteris went high, we met again and bobbled 11. Many of the hillsides in the northern area were far greener than mapped, which caused problems at times.
11-12: Straight at it. Leaving 12, dismayed to see a group of three coming in.
12-13: I went left, everyone else evidently went right. I made up a few seconds on the pack behind, either by speed or route choice.
13-14: Long leg, but one clear route. I got real clever/lazy on the climb at the end and actually arrived at a spot not one but two spurs away from the correct one. Saw a big boulder - can that be the boulder that 15 is located on? Yes it can.
14-15: Retracing my steps, having now been caught by Peteris & co.
15-16: Another long leg; the group went their separate ways here. I could not see a viable route, so ended up bumbling along for a while with hesitance, which is more or less the worst thing to do. Finally came to a road well south of the line and was with Mikell Platt for a bit, then got away only to randomly bump into Mikkel Conradi.
16-17: Mmm, delicious manned control.
17-18: We caught back up to Peteris on the way out of 17.
18-19: Road run, but treacherous getting down to the road through a patch of very nasty Northwest-style green (without the blackberry bushes). Peteris got stuck worse than me, and I didn't see him again. Met back up with Mikkel.
19-20: I think everyone other than Kerrin and Eric is behind the two of us now...
20-21: Content to be right behind Mikkel on the way, then he made a minor mistake which gave me a small lead.
21-22: Not sure what happened, but never saw Mikkel after leaving 21.
22-23: Trickiest leg on the course, in the hydro-mining area. Super paranoid and careful here, because I was pretty sure I was in third overall and second American. Spiked it, but quite slowly.
23-24: Last leg of consequence. Again, being deliberate and just trying to avoid blowing it with some bonehead mistake.
24-25-26-F: Huzzah! Still plenty left, but happy to not go the extra couple km.
Having never won an individual medal at a US champs race before, I'm thrilled with the result (silver), and pleased with my own physical race as well, regardless of the outcome. I had a strong beginning (1-7) and end (18-F), while leaving something to be desired in the middle portion.
It felt more like a Euro long; I never reached that particular level of suffering unique to the Ultralong, where most of your leg muscles are cramping, the fastest you can go is a hobbling limp, and you vow to never do this again.
Surprisingly, heat wasn't much of a factor for me, with the 9 AM start time combined with water stops every 2-3 Blue controls, and not in small quantity. Each time I'd start feeling hot, I'd get to a water stop, dump some on my head, pound two or three cups, and be good to go till the next one. If you could win awards for the most jugs of potable water anyone has put into a forest, these organizers would win all of those awards.
Friday Jun 26, 2015 #
Note
In the boarding area they were offering $600 to take a later (noon) flight to Boise. I was super tempted. By the circuitous logic in my head it will now be costing me 40 bucks a minute to run a 15-minute sprint this morning. Shoulda taken the $...
12 PM
Orienteering race 15:50 [5] ** 2.61 km (6:04 / km) +10m 5:57 / km
16c
Boise sprint. Came second behind an Aussie guy. So many of the heats. Lost ~40s mainly due to an unfortunate episode of brainfry (opposite of brainfreeze) plus a couple small mistakes. Heat was getting to me physically by the halfway point.
Wednesday Jun 24, 2015 #
Note
When I google "WOC 2015" my first hit is this. When I google "WOC 2014" my first hit is this.
Also, check out the leaderboard of the 2015 Global Peace Index. With a couple notable exceptions either way, it correlates strongly with the results of your average international orienteering event. Maybe we Americans need to become more peaceful to become better at orienteering! Although it hasn't worked for Canada...heyyyy
Also, check out the leaderboard of the 2015 Global Peace Index. With a couple notable exceptions either way, it correlates strongly with the results of your average international orienteering event. Maybe we Americans need to become more peaceful to become better at orienteering! Although it hasn't worked for Canada...heyyyy
C • Sigh 1
Tuesday Jun 23, 2015 #
7 PM
Cycling 35:49 [3] 8.86 mi (14.8 mph) +150m
Somewhat easy ride along the waterfront to the library and back up. Still resting my foot but optimistic about its progress.
I investigated Bellevue College for sprint-mapping potential the other day. It's got a somewhat complex network of buildings with above-average occurrence of canopies and pass-throughs. A handful of funky monuments/artworks which would make for fun CPs. Lots of scattered trees but few woods, and those little runnable. PLP (parking lot percentage) is high, but mainly concentrated separately from the worthwhile parts. Total area is not large. Would be cool if there were a race-fair way to traverse 148th to Robinswood. Petition the city to build an overpass, everyone.
Grade: 3/5. Not destined to be a great sprint venue, but certainly worth mapping. A prospective early-round SART 2017 (Eastside edition) venue???
I investigated Bellevue College for sprint-mapping potential the other day. It's got a somewhat complex network of buildings with above-average occurrence of canopies and pass-throughs. A handful of funky monuments/artworks which would make for fun CPs. Lots of scattered trees but few woods, and those little runnable. PLP (parking lot percentage) is high, but mainly concentrated separately from the worthwhile parts. Total area is not large. Would be cool if there were a race-fair way to traverse 148th to Robinswood. Petition the city to build an overpass, everyone.
Grade: 3/5. Not destined to be a great sprint venue, but certainly worth mapping. A prospective early-round SART 2017 (Eastside edition) venue???