Training Log Archive: KFishIn the 1 days ending Mar 18, 2018:
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Sunday Mar 18, 2018 #
Event: Nain Rouge Gaine
9 AM
Rogaine race 5:54:38 [4] **** 23.2 mi (15:17 / mi) +474m 14:22 / mi
34c shoes: Salomon Speed Cross 4
Nain Rouge Gaine by Lost Arrow Sports
6 hr rogaine
Fantastic first event by Steve and Angel. The organization was flawless, the venue and food were great, and the weather was perfect for a day out in the woods.
Got maps and had about an hour and a half to plan. Had basic instructions, but a few unknown curve balls such as "beads". This particular unknown led me to plan a counterclockwise route to hit 34 relatively easy, because that's where I thought the beads were supposed to be (#34 on the control list - NOT flag 34... oops - more on that later). Planned to clear and when I map wheeled it I came up with 18 miles without considering mother controls (combo of straight line and going around obvious stuff like lakes and roads). Seemed doable.
Race briefing at 9:45 gave us the info on the final curve balls. Beads would save you from the Nain Rouge (only thing that would make it better was if Todd had been wearing devils ears). If you encountered him without beads you had to serve a 2 min time out or do 20 pushups. Steve said something along the lines of "If you noticed, there is a 6th bonus control - the beads." Along with my previous wrong assumption I thought this meant that control 34 was a mother, and it would lead you to the beads... More later.
Took off at exactly 10:00 with a group of UM students who sprinted down the trail only to come to a dead halt at the first intersection to figure out where to go to 33. By my second control, 35, I was already pretty much on my own, which suited me just fine. No trouble through the first several. After 71 I decided to jog the road to the camp road back around even though it was twice the length in order to avoid getting turned around in the MTB trails. 73 was a mother, took the bearing and drew it on my map. Halfway there I realized I had drawn west but was headed south, but figured out I was going the right way and had just drawn it completely wrong. First (and really only major) mistake was at 50. I must have walked right by it, but failed to ID the forest corner. Arrived at water and knew I was off. Scott D. was nice enough to point me back in the right general direction and I found it without too much trouble after relocating from the MTB trail.
Next up was 34 where I was looking forward to picking up my beads. When I got there - no beads, no mother daughter instructions, what the heck?!. Examined the map a little more closely and here realized it was #34 not flag 34... Great, where would those beads be?
Long slog to the west map gave me some time to reexamine my plan, and I decided that it made a lot more sense to do get everything on the westward trip and pound it back on the road instead of doing a terrain filled loop, so I hastily drew in some new lines on the run. Hit the west map just shy of 2 hours, which was exactly on my time target. At 47 I took a seat on a log because my foot was killing me - had to take off the 2 braces that were supposed to be keeping me from destroying my ankle - fingers crossed I don't bust it again. Foot immediately felt better. Also got the location of NR5, which would be easy to incorporate into my westward plan.
Saw Tom and Tim at 55 and figured they were slightly ahead if they had gone CW (no surprises there). Picked up another mother/daughter pair at 76, not too bad since you had to climb the hill out of the depression either way. picked up 63, 64, and NR5 before arriving at 56 the mother of all mothers. Almost looked at the distance and decided not to bother plotting it, but decided I'd better. It's very hard to plot something longer than the 3cm on a thumb compass, a ruler would have been appreciated. Quickly became clear it was going to be way out of the way of my intended route. I also first didn't realize we had a clue for the feature, and when I did failed to find any stony ground in the vicinity of my line and distance. Decided here I would probably skip it (sad face) but would reevaluate during my road slog back east. Almost took the wrong isthmus across to 65, but quickly realized my error. The right isthmus was 75% frozen, but the last 25% was not crossable without wet feet, oh well, pretty wet from snow anyway. Almost got to private after 77 but turned around to give it a wide berth.
Once I started the road slog east I decided not to go for the 125 pt bonus based on my time estimates and the long distance necessary, coupled with my lack of confidence in where to actually look for it. In hind sight, I probably could have gotten it and dropped others to get more points, but possibly only 5 more points (drop the last 60-30-30), but I think I made the right decision. Only complaint is that it definitely favored people that happened to pick a CW route. Ironically if I had kept my original plan I would have been much closer to it, but I think it would have been much slower too.
Arrived back on the E map at exactly 4 hrs, right on my time estimate (after throwing down 2 sub 10 min miles 16 miles in, what?!). Executed the S part without any big problems. Had to backtrack from 41 to NR2 but it wasn't too far. I cut the corner through the water even tho the detour to the dry crossing was barely farther. Jen T. was there and commented 'you know there is a drier way...". I was starting to panic about the beads (100 pts!) but also expected them to be a 6th daughter, not at one of the existing daughters, so I never even looked up. Ran into a bird watcher on my way to 42 who commented "are you, like, running?", Provided a brief explanation and apologized for scaring away all the birds.
Took it slow through 51 and 61 (still drifted a little but quickly corrected). It was tough because I was starting to cut my time really close, but also know its easy to get lost in there. On the road up to 60 I saw a red coat at the corner of Tehan and thought it was the Nain Rouge, so I skirted around on the trail... Turns out it wasn't him. Did stop for a few swigs at the water since I had run out at hour 5, but no time to fill. Hill after 60 was rough, but forced myself to jog the power line to 31. Seriously debating to go for 32, but when 31 didn't have beads I decided I had to go to 32 because it would actually be worth 130... Also had Syd's voice in the back of my mind saying "go for it". Had about 20 min to make it there and then back to the finish, which was a little less direct that it appeared when I planned. Went for it any way and was quite disappointed to not find beads there, how did I miss them/!?!?! Pushed with everything I had back up the trail and road to the finish and had 5 min to spare.
Gracious hosts gave me beads credit since I had visited the control. Luckily never had to take the Nain Rouge penalty.
Finished 4/64 OA, 1/27 solo male (WHAT?!). 34/35 CPs, 1875/2000 pts
Beautiful sunny, mid-50s day. Long sleeve, pants, and half gloves were perfect all day. A little snow on the ground, ankle deep in spots, but it didn't slow me down too much, just a little slick on the downhills. Ate 2 gu, 1 waffle, and 1/2 bagel. Ate 5 electolytes, but did have some calf cramps so should probably do more.
Almost forgot - sweet swag and prizes! Shower at the end was also a huge bonus.
6 hr rogaine
Fantastic first event by Steve and Angel. The organization was flawless, the venue and food were great, and the weather was perfect for a day out in the woods.
Got maps and had about an hour and a half to plan. Had basic instructions, but a few unknown curve balls such as "beads". This particular unknown led me to plan a counterclockwise route to hit 34 relatively easy, because that's where I thought the beads were supposed to be (#34 on the control list - NOT flag 34... oops - more on that later). Planned to clear and when I map wheeled it I came up with 18 miles without considering mother controls (combo of straight line and going around obvious stuff like lakes and roads). Seemed doable.
Race briefing at 9:45 gave us the info on the final curve balls. Beads would save you from the Nain Rouge (only thing that would make it better was if Todd had been wearing devils ears). If you encountered him without beads you had to serve a 2 min time out or do 20 pushups. Steve said something along the lines of "If you noticed, there is a 6th bonus control - the beads." Along with my previous wrong assumption I thought this meant that control 34 was a mother, and it would lead you to the beads... More later.
Took off at exactly 10:00 with a group of UM students who sprinted down the trail only to come to a dead halt at the first intersection to figure out where to go to 33. By my second control, 35, I was already pretty much on my own, which suited me just fine. No trouble through the first several. After 71 I decided to jog the road to the camp road back around even though it was twice the length in order to avoid getting turned around in the MTB trails. 73 was a mother, took the bearing and drew it on my map. Halfway there I realized I had drawn west but was headed south, but figured out I was going the right way and had just drawn it completely wrong. First (and really only major) mistake was at 50. I must have walked right by it, but failed to ID the forest corner. Arrived at water and knew I was off. Scott D. was nice enough to point me back in the right general direction and I found it without too much trouble after relocating from the MTB trail.
Next up was 34 where I was looking forward to picking up my beads. When I got there - no beads, no mother daughter instructions, what the heck?!. Examined the map a little more closely and here realized it was #34 not flag 34... Great, where would those beads be?
Long slog to the west map gave me some time to reexamine my plan, and I decided that it made a lot more sense to do get everything on the westward trip and pound it back on the road instead of doing a terrain filled loop, so I hastily drew in some new lines on the run. Hit the west map just shy of 2 hours, which was exactly on my time target. At 47 I took a seat on a log because my foot was killing me - had to take off the 2 braces that were supposed to be keeping me from destroying my ankle - fingers crossed I don't bust it again. Foot immediately felt better. Also got the location of NR5, which would be easy to incorporate into my westward plan.
Saw Tom and Tim at 55 and figured they were slightly ahead if they had gone CW (no surprises there). Picked up another mother/daughter pair at 76, not too bad since you had to climb the hill out of the depression either way. picked up 63, 64, and NR5 before arriving at 56 the mother of all mothers. Almost looked at the distance and decided not to bother plotting it, but decided I'd better. It's very hard to plot something longer than the 3cm on a thumb compass, a ruler would have been appreciated. Quickly became clear it was going to be way out of the way of my intended route. I also first didn't realize we had a clue for the feature, and when I did failed to find any stony ground in the vicinity of my line and distance. Decided here I would probably skip it (sad face) but would reevaluate during my road slog back east. Almost took the wrong isthmus across to 65, but quickly realized my error. The right isthmus was 75% frozen, but the last 25% was not crossable without wet feet, oh well, pretty wet from snow anyway. Almost got to private after 77 but turned around to give it a wide berth.
Once I started the road slog east I decided not to go for the 125 pt bonus based on my time estimates and the long distance necessary, coupled with my lack of confidence in where to actually look for it. In hind sight, I probably could have gotten it and dropped others to get more points, but possibly only 5 more points (drop the last 60-30-30), but I think I made the right decision. Only complaint is that it definitely favored people that happened to pick a CW route. Ironically if I had kept my original plan I would have been much closer to it, but I think it would have been much slower too.
Arrived back on the E map at exactly 4 hrs, right on my time estimate (after throwing down 2 sub 10 min miles 16 miles in, what?!). Executed the S part without any big problems. Had to backtrack from 41 to NR2 but it wasn't too far. I cut the corner through the water even tho the detour to the dry crossing was barely farther. Jen T. was there and commented 'you know there is a drier way...". I was starting to panic about the beads (100 pts!) but also expected them to be a 6th daughter, not at one of the existing daughters, so I never even looked up. Ran into a bird watcher on my way to 42 who commented "are you, like, running?", Provided a brief explanation and apologized for scaring away all the birds.
Took it slow through 51 and 61 (still drifted a little but quickly corrected). It was tough because I was starting to cut my time really close, but also know its easy to get lost in there. On the road up to 60 I saw a red coat at the corner of Tehan and thought it was the Nain Rouge, so I skirted around on the trail... Turns out it wasn't him. Did stop for a few swigs at the water since I had run out at hour 5, but no time to fill. Hill after 60 was rough, but forced myself to jog the power line to 31. Seriously debating to go for 32, but when 31 didn't have beads I decided I had to go to 32 because it would actually be worth 130... Also had Syd's voice in the back of my mind saying "go for it". Had about 20 min to make it there and then back to the finish, which was a little less direct that it appeared when I planned. Went for it any way and was quite disappointed to not find beads there, how did I miss them/!?!?! Pushed with everything I had back up the trail and road to the finish and had 5 min to spare.
Gracious hosts gave me beads credit since I had visited the control. Luckily never had to take the Nain Rouge penalty.
Finished 4/64 OA, 1/27 solo male (WHAT?!). 34/35 CPs, 1875/2000 pts
Beautiful sunny, mid-50s day. Long sleeve, pants, and half gloves were perfect all day. A little snow on the ground, ankle deep in spots, but it didn't slow me down too much, just a little slick on the downhills. Ate 2 gu, 1 waffle, and 1/2 bagel. Ate 5 electolytes, but did have some calf cramps so should probably do more.
Almost forgot - sweet swag and prizes! Shower at the end was also a huge bonus.