Training Log Archive: KFish

competition routes.

Easy spin

Raccoongaine Analytics!!

	2016	2017	2018
Place	7	3	1
Controls	30	31	32
Mother/Daughter	3	2	2*
Points	990	880	1010
Distance (mi)	19.7	19.7	21.4
Climb (m)	1160	1200	1060
% of winners score	71	80	100
Pace (min/mi)	17:41	18:03	16:27
Ticks	0	~20	0

*upon closer inspection we punched a daughter thinking it was the mother, and never actually punched the mother! So 2.5

Event: Raccoongaine
 

Raccoongaine 2018 w/ Syd as Topo the Mountain. (distance adjusted to syd's watch)


2 6 hr Rogaines on 2 consecutive Sundays! Pittsburgh got 8 in of snow last tuesday, so this one had the potential to be slippery, but a few sunny 40's days melted a vast majority of it, leaving N facing hills with a few inches. Race day started at a chilly 28F, but warmed up to about 40 and was sunny all day. We decided to do this one together, because tradition dictated it, having raced together the last two years. We arrived early to help with Check-in, which meant we got to scope out the competition (and say hi to all of our MI buddies :) ). A surprising number of people recognized us (mostly Sydney...).

After helping to hand out maps we had a frantic 40 minutes to plan. We've been spoiled by hours of planning for recent races. Quickly split the map in 2 to tally points, and the N section came out slightly ahead of the East section. That, coupled with the fact that we did almost identical loops around the lake on the East map the last two years helped us decide to try out North this year. Overall, we planned an ambitious route based on 18 mile scalex distance that would clear the N except for a few 10 and 20 pointers, and most of the East section S of the lake. Our end game strategy wasn't very formulated, but we figured we could fix it on the fly. We did a really good job planning to maximize points, trying really hard to hit 40s and 50's and dropping 10's and 20's. Since we know this race is not clearable this turned out to be a really good strategy.

At 10AM we were off to 144, which required a stream crossing no matter what. First we skated down a very steep, snow covered hill, and spotted a log to make the crossing. 2 guys ahead of us got across the log (Mark and Thomas?). The log was rather slick with some snow still on it, and once I got about halfway across I lost my balance and teetered over. As I was falling I looked down to discover this was not going to be a simple get my shoes wet - I was falling into an 5 foot deep eddie pool... In 28F March weather... Before we had even punched a single flag... There was nothing for it - I plunged in, completely submerged, and was out of that water before Sydney could even blink. Somehow, my map stayed dry (as did my cell phone in a ziploc, and my bagel in another ziploc). Syd followed across the log (with no problems, obviously) and was quite frantic about what to do ("Are you all right!?, we need to go back up and change!".). I took off running towards the flag, much to her chagrin, and spent most of the next 2 hours convincing her I was 1) fine, 2) not cold, and 3) not hypothermic. (okay, my hands were pretty cold, but the other points were actually true). What a way to start a race! At least it made it easy to not worry about wet feet for the next 5:50.

Comparitively, the rest of the race was rather uneventful. Our second flag, 134 was a mother with the daughter nearby. Then we had a long road run to pick up a lot of points at 128, 138, 147. I think this road run is the only way I warmed up from my swim. Hit 147 an hour in, and we were already 1 control behind our plan. On the plus side, an hour in and we hadn't even climbed a hill!

The second hour was also pretty slow, being almost entirely off trail, and after picking up 150, 145, 139, 140 and 129 with no trouble we were 2 flags behind our plan and glanced ahead to determine we had plenty of options at the end, and we should continue our plan and maximize the 40's and 50's.

Got to 143 at 4 hours, which was almost a full hour behind our plan. This was also our first bobble of the day, but it was a pretty minor overshoot. Once we punched the flag we stopped to evaluate our plan and decided to continue on to 131 and 141 before turning back, again trying to maximize points. At 146 we had just under 90 minutes, and we set the goal of being at 106 with 45 min left, which would leave 45 min for a mostly road run back up to the finish. With that in mind we picked off 123, and then I convinced Sydney we had to go down anyway so we might as well pick up 122 (this is the first race I was the one advocating for more, somewhat risky points, instead of the other way around!). Started the trail run back and Syd decided we were skipping the down and back up to 116, which I conceded. Then once we got close and the hill didn't look that bad, she decided we should just go for it. Our perspective on hills has definitely changed now that we live here!

Continued the trail run to 106, which we hit right at 45 min left, and discovered it was our second mother control. This worried syd because it wasnt in the plan, but we couldn't say no to a free 20 points, and it was even in the right direction back. (here we saw richard, continuing the wrong direction from the finish, but looking strong). Bobbled the child control, getting sloppy and following footprints in the snow way to far up the hill, before syd spotted the flag back farther below. Had a quick pep talk about not getting sloppy and started the jog back out the trail to the road. This whole run syd was waffling on if we had time for 132, and we decided if we had 25 min we would go for it. Had closer to 35 min so it was a no brainer, and again the hill didnt seem that bad.

Then we were on the home stretch, with a couple optional 10 pointers on the way back. Syd was also waffling on these, but when we saw the powerlines were mowed 103 become obvious, and then when we had to climb the hill either way 101 was also obvious. I asked jokingly if there was anything else we could get, and we discovered 102, which was never even in the plan, was practically visible from the finish. Grabbed that and ran to the finish, with 10 min to spare!

It was weird being the one giving the pep talk, but I think we were both really good physically, just a little mentally drained after 2 races in a row. But when I feel that physically good, my mental follows :). Got more points, more flags, and more miles than the previous two years at Raccoongaine, and felt better doing it! Hill training has paid off!

Wore the same outfit as last week with a few, probably ill advised, changes. 1) what better way to break in a new pair of speedcrosses than a 20 mile race?. Had some knee problems after Nain Rouge and decided my warn out shoes were probably to blame. Seems reasonable because no knee pain this week! 2) What better way to try out a new pack for the first time than a 6 hr race? Decided MS1 was a little too much for these short races, so used my REI dividend to get a 2L Nathan and it was AWESOME! 3) Just ankle tape since the brace seemed to be more of a bother than a help - and no twisted ankles! 4) also wore my bike jacket as it was a little colder, and two pairs of light gloves, which were rendered useless immediately upon aforementioned swim.

Can't be happier with this result. We both felt actually great, ran all roads and trails, and almost spotless navigation. We actually didn't even feel like we were completely dialed in, probably because of last weeks race, but that didn't seem to be a detriment.

1st overall/53. 1010 points. 32 flags. (2/4 mother/daughter controls).

Final order: 144, 134, 128 (M), 114(D), 138, 147, 150, 145, 139, 140, 129, 127, 120, 130, 141, 126, 125, 121, 104, 105, 143, 131, 146, 123, 122, 116, 106(M), 113(D), 132, 103, 101, 102. Only ended up dropping 135, 136, 115 from our original plan.

C • you made her run up all the hills to punch in ? 9

C • script of a movie 1

C • you found a THIRD mother control 2

Legs felt ok except going uphill...

Ab torture

Event: Nain Rouge Gaine
 

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.

C • Congrats on 1st Solo M!!! 6

noticed NEOOC was hosting an event a 12 min detour from our route to AA, so how could we not stop?

Course was called a long sprint, but it was quite long, id call it more like a brown classic. Anyhoo, super embarrassing result i'd rather put behind me. But it served as a great rust buster for day 2!

Will definitely make the drive to NEOCC events in the future. Super easy drive and some much more interesting terrain.

Long Sprint - Splits

Finished a v2-4 that i have been putting a lot of effort into. probably the most effort ive ever put into a single route.

Also did the route of the week, which required climbing a v2ish route with a basketball and dunking it at the top. suprisingly difficult.

Lost steam after that.

re-twisted my right ankle HARD. on a trail run. so frustrating, i'm going to go look for some brace alternatives because this is getting ridiculous.

Registered for Letchworth one-day Western NY Champs and westchester county challenge (Team trials for syd!)

First AR of the year June 2nd? yikes.

HRM not working again...

registered for Flying Pig

5x buffalo hill

nice to stretch the legs after a day in the car. And see my wife for the first time in a week...

forgot to start my watch