Training Log Archive: KFish

New paddle came in. Motivation to paddle this weekend? Hopefully

Left calf and right hip both a little bothersome.

Leisurely afternoon bike ride. Sometimes its kind of nice to take it easy.

sunset paddle. Into the wind headed north, mostly died down for the trip back south.

Amazing bike ride. Flatter than I expected besides the initial up to get on to the ridge between the lakes, and then back down near the end. Wind must have been helping because we maintained an awesome pace on the North part. Took 2 eletrolytes at half way.

Into the wind at the start headed south, with the wind on the way back north.

Tried to keep the pace up around 4 mph for the last 2/3. Very calm waters

Out with W4J and Syd. Not sure what we did to offend W4J, but I think she was trying to kill us :-). I brought up the rear for the vast majority.

Great ride, we need to enlist partners for motivation more often.

New shoes were good, but I think they changed geometry a tad so i need to raise the seat and maybe adjust cleat position.

13 lbs pack.

C • Climb 3

100 warm up
250
12x50 @1:10
250
500: 9:51
250
50 warm down

Went surprisingly well considering residual calf muscle pain the last 2 days + swim this morning. Tired legs, not the fastest run, but kept it under a 10 min/mile pace :)

Epic North Map 4, 1, 2, 5, 8 (reverse order from yesterday). No running left in me today. 4 was much easier from this direction.

Event: Michigan Adventure Race: Epic Edition
 

MI Adventure Race: Epic Edition, Ludington, MI

I was so excited for this race, and it didn't disappoint. Catered to our abilities with 3 big trekking sections and mostly road biking, so we set out with the goal of doing some damage.

Trek 1: 5.67 miles, 1:37
Syd was on nav and did an awesome job. Unfortunately we picked the more popular CCW loop which meant going at everyone elses pace for the boardwalk to the first 2 points. Not a big deal as I probably would have gone out too fast otherwise. Took a shotcut to 2 around the W end of the pond, and from there only saw scattered teams. 1 We interpreted as a hill not a valley, so added an extra hill climb there, then 4 we second guessed our distance doubled back, and did circles for a few minutes. Oops. The rest we finished pretty cleanly and on the run back to TA1 saw MRA biking out, 2 Flew a bit behind them, and WAR just behind us, so we figured we were still near the top.

Bike 1: 13.7 mi, 0:58
Made a strategic choice to skip 11 and 14 optional bike points for 2 reasons: 1) If clearing wasn't going to happen go for the higher density foot points and leave the decision for after the paddle, and 2) get the ferry to avoid a potential bottle neck. Worked pretty well, we pushed on this bike harder than we normally do biking, with Syd staying tucked in behind me for most of it. +1 person reeled in. Second ferry across (2 flew was first we think).

Trek 2: 7.8 mi, 1:59
Loved this section, as it was new to us. Never done long distance point to point on foot. Syd nailed the nav. When we had long distances we popped out to the road and jogged, seemed like the faster option despite the very open woods. Got a little confused when we headed NE from 17 and hit a road labeled 5540 – confirmed during flag pickup that this road is mapped incorrectly (also wrong on google maps). Took a sloppy bearing from the road to 18, but hit it right on so it worked out ok. Saw 2 flew ahead of us on the way to 17 and 19, but they were struggling to keep pace.

Paddle 1: 7.9 mi, 2:14
Oh paddling. Maybe some day we’ll do a race where the paddling goes ok. We were first to the put in (:o) since we skipped the 2 bike points. About 10 minutes in my paddle got stuck between a bush and me, and we continued moving with the current so it bent to about a 30 degree angle. Tried to bend it back and fatigue cracked in half. Awesome. We were just far enough down stream that trying to get back to get a rental wasn't an option. Great, 7.5 miles to go… Had experience trying the canoe/kayak paddle combo at Epic ’15, and already knew it didn't work very well… Also considered duct tape (didn't have any) or trying to jam a stick in each side, but the hole wasn't very deep. The current carried us down stream to the lake, so the first half wasn't so bad. When we got to the lake we spent a few minutes trying to figure out which of the two islands we needed to get to, then tried a few bad left turns that took us back too far north. Eventually decided to get all the way to the lake then look for a channel from the south. Found one very hidden by reeds that took us right to the island. Grabbed the point and booked it out as fast as we could to avoid giving it away to anyone, which I think was successful. Passed 2 guys in a kayak between 21 and 22, not realizing they were racing (what!? Passed 2 dudes, with 2 paddles?!), but they pulled into 22, so they must have gotten past us while we went for 21. Switched the real paddle and the broken half every 10 minutes for the lake.

Bike 2: 10 mi, 1:31
Gloriously out of the water! And we had maintained our “lead”, first out of the paddle. We were doing well on time so we hit 14 and 11. Saw three bikers that looked suspiciously like MRA going S on Jebavy as we were coming down Angling rd, so we knew our lead was lost because they had already gotten 11. Kept up as good a pace as possible, but I was having intermitten leg cramping, and Syd was fading mentally and physically. The wind off the lake was pretty brutal, and the sand on the road up to 11 didn't do us any favors. Still, pretty happy with our speed on this section.

Trek 3: 5.5 mi, 1:45
Syd needed a brief break, so we stopped to plan. I filled up the water (why did I fill 100 oz bladder to the brim for the last 2 hours?) and consolidated to 1 pack. Figured this was going to be close, but planned to hit all of them. After about the hike up the first big dune Syd had come back mentally, and I tanked mentally and physically. Went clockwise jogging on trails when we could, but I cant imagine our jogging pace was very fast. Traded off the backpack every now and then. Things were going pretty smooth until 32, where we just couldn't find the matching water or the flag. After back and forth for about 10 minutes we decided we were running out of time and just had to skip, looking like we weren’t going to clear it. Finished up 27 and 31, where Mr. W confirmed they had hit 32. OK, gotta try again. Had 20 minutes to get back to 32 and the finish, so we set a time limit of 5 minutes to find 32. Luckily we hit it right on, and had to have come within 50 ft on our first attempt, just didn't see the flag. Booked it back to the finish as fast as my severely cramping legs could manage and had a whopping 6 minutes to spare.

Body management was terrible. Over 10 hours I ate 2 packs of shot blocks, 2 gu, and half a bagel. Ummm… not enough. I think the heat compared to recent training made eating even less appealing than normal. Also didn't take any electrolytes besides 2/3 a bottle of Gatorade on the bikes. Felt absolutely terrible after, and I have no doubts about why. I NEED to get better about this.

On the plus side, we learned how hard we can push, and that's pretty hard. I’d love to get our bike speed up above 15 mph, and we aren’t that far. Jogging trails I think gives us an advantage on foot that makes up for our nav mistakes. Paddling… maybe some day. Guess its time to buy a CF paddle…

3/74 overall, 1/17 2 coed, 3/3 to clear the course.
Total Milage: 19 by foot, 32 by bike, 8 by paddle

C • fantastic 4

Tapering for race and building distance for other race

100 warm up
250: 4:55
750: 14:53
100 cool down

100 ez
250
6 x 100 @ 2:30 (1:40 - 1:43)
500 (9:24) NEW PR!!!

had to skip out early to get to an appointment at work.

Test run on the new kenda small block 8. Like them, which is good, because I really didnt want to have to change them out again after the fight getting the tire to set properly.

Similar dirt loop as 3/15/16, at 1.4 mph faster. Not the best study cuz of all the changes:
tires
clipped in
solo
quite a bit of biking since then

but, definitely faster, so thats a plus. Think im going back to the cages for EPIC in order to carry only a small camelback. Anyone convince me otherwise?

C • It's been a lot of years 7

training course by igor. Big thanks!

Cant say my nav went especially well today, theme of the day seemed to be overshooting.

1-3 went well

4 I ended up too far east, and was convinced I was in the right spot, so I started after 5. Quickly discovered I must have not been in the right spot, so I went back to the trail and started over. Lapped at each streamer (plus 1 extra at 4), but it also lapped the miles I think, so its kind of awkward on the tracks.

5 and 6 were ok, but I got pushed over towards the road more than I wanted to be. Absolutely LOVED the area 7 and 8 were in, so much good stuff there. split to 7 is pretty slow trying to find a safe way down the near cliff, then ended up a little too far N.

Took a hard fall on the way to 9, hitting my chin and wrist. Spur was very subtle so it took a little to find it even though I was right at it. 10-12 was ok but not that fast. 13 I was aiming for the swamp E, but ended up farther W than I thought, but ended up right at 13 so it worked out ok.

14 I way overshot N and ended up at the big clearing before correcting.

Fun course, minus the snow... its MAY! Took the opportunity to cross a couple swamps, and it really wasnt bad. Should definitely consider it more. Mountain bike trails over by 3/4 look like a lot of fun, will need to check them out sometime.

Love the new compass!

C • Bike trail -- not sure it i... 2

warmed up on some simple bouldering routes V0-V2.

Swtiched to autobelay and did a 5.10+ and 5.10 both first try.

switched back to bouldering. Was able to finished two V3's, but also couldnt finish a few V2s.

100 warm up
250
10x50 @1:00 (0:47 - 0:51)
250
50 breast
500: 9:43 PR!!!
50 cool down

Met up with W4J for a little hookie paddling. Started at Dixboro dam with me sterning and her in the front. Windy on the lakes and pretty good current near the Arb.

Awesome day for paddling! Had a lot of fun even if I was the last resort ;)

W4J wanted to get some hills in. Sure, why not?

Much faster return trip due to W4J superior sterning technique. (and maybe alittle help from the wind and current...)

Moscompass arrived. Now maybe I'll stop getting lost ;)

C • Which one did you get? 13

Dropped about 3 pounds from waking up to after this run, with 2 meals in between. Pretty sure that means I sweated out half a gallon. Welcome to summer. Outran the thunderstorms.

Ankles were bleeding by the end from rubbing on my shoes, must have been the first time with this shoe/sock combo. Will have to remember that for next time.

100 warm up
250
5x100 @2:30
250
500: 9:54
50 cool down

I think I'm finally over my mental hurtles. Halfway through the 500 I actually considered staying for another one...

Got roped into TNT with the girls. Mostly along for the ride, Syd did most of the Nav. Practice on USGS 1:25k map of Brighton Rec. Cooper had put up 4 streamers and told us to go in a very inefficient order, and then hit 1 more unstreamered point. Not sure if we were in the right spot for that one, as we didn't quite meet up with Michelle and Cris and I was on Nav for that one.

C • now go back 1

Tried out my new shoes acquired at REI garage sale. Much more aggressive. Painful, but could definitely tell a difference in using tiny holds.

Story of the day was get half to 2/3 up no problem, then not make any more progress. This happened on a 5.11- and several 5.10+. Maybe next time.

Event: SMOC Island Lake Recreation Area Regular Meet
 

To SMOC island lake meet. Took it pretty easy to save our legs for O.

SMOC Island lake meet - Red.

First half went really well. stayed too low on the hill to 1, but doubled back higher and found it. 2- 8 went really smoothly, and I really enjoyed a lot of the placements and legs.

The trip to 9 is where i started to have problems. Just a really long leg so I got pretty fatigued. Ended up slightly too far W cutting in to 9 and got a very angry homeowner yelling at me. Apologized and quickly went back down the hill and came farther E before coming back up. Shook me mentally a little. Thought I found a spur to 10 so headed back up, but it was not the right one. Ran into several other people looking here, which I think slowed me down because I figured with so many people I must be in the right spot. WRONG!

11-14 went smoothly, but I was dragging. Didnt eat anything, and went sans camelback. Probably would have been fine except for the bike before, and I didnt notice the water at 11 until I had already left.

15 I found fine, but I didnt find any good way to geth there or back, so the bush bashing was rather frusterating. Considered the swamp but it looked just as thick. Passed Al on the way to 16 and then brought it in strong.

Overall pretty happy, just a few big slowdowns in the middle. Definitely needed water and food.

http://imgur.com/zvY0qej

Back from Island Lake SMOC meet. Faster than to without really trying! Some headwind too!

Event: Get Your Bearings Adventure Race
 

Pickup after GYB

Tri season has begun

50 warmup
2x50
1x100
1x200
2x400: 8:03, 8:24
1x200
1x100
2x50: 46, 47
50 cool down

Bandamere white tees: +2

Best round in awhile

Take 2... Thought I had to run home for water heater emergency.. Didnt. Beautiful day for a midday ride :)

got it in between rain drops.

Sometimes I forget how much I love being on my road bike. Had to stop and rest my butt once, man that seat is hard! Chasing sunlight on the way back

C • wow nice ride 3

5.9
5.10-
5.10+
5.11- couldnt finish
5.10+ couldnt finish

Event: SMOC Peach Mountain
 

Great Score-O meet by Steve. I had a blast.

I am really happy with my navigation this week. Compass and pacing were right on. Went counter clockwise because I thought it gave better bail opportunities. Only 3 really bobbles and they were mostly minor. On the way out I missed a trail turn and accidently ended up at 31 and punched, good kind of mistake. 61 I followed the rentrant down but underestimated how far further west it was, so wandered in a featureless area for a few minutes, not too bad. 49 I missed a trail junction and corrected off the large depression, but was second guessing myself. Then i twisted (thought broke at the time) my ankle so that was just a bad control in general. 44 I came from the N, and the control was hidden behind the knoll. Passed it and backtracked seeing it.

The thing I am not happy with is my route choice. Made some critical and large errors stemming from not believing the course was clearable. Decided to book it to 65 from the start, skipping 3 easy 30 pointers on the way, figuring they'd be the ones I skipped at the end. Then I also skipped a 70 pointer bonus because it was far out of the way of my planned route. When I got all the way to the west end with over an hour to go I knew I had made a mistake. Hit the three 30s on the way up to the 70 (which the mark had smudged off on, so i was guessing where it actually was). Then got to book it all the way back on the trails i had started on. I traveled 2 miles more than syd, and almost 3 more than guskov did on a very similar route. Stupid. On the plus side, I did it in not *that* much more time than them (+4.5, +12), so I was moving pretty good.




Lessons:
- plan to clear!
- sharpie does not write well on wet contact paper - keep it in the ziploc

7th/48 overall, 6th male. Top 9 cleared it in time. Syd beat me by 4.5 minutes.

C • I didn't think it was so easily clearable 5

flag pickup