Training Log Archive: Spike

I ran at Rockcrusher, carrying the map and looking at it a fair amount.

I saw a lot of turkeys. That was fun. I saw a few deer. I saw two trail runners. I saw one trail runner yesterday.

Trail runners are rare on the south shore of Clinton. Maybe it is becoming more popular. Matt Q lead a Trailhawks run out there a month or so ago. Maybe that inspired some more use of the south shore trails. Compared to the north shore trails, the south shore are rougher but more interesting.

My legs felt off the first 15-20 minutes, then felt good. I stuck with my plan to stop at one hour.

My throat feels a little scratchy. I'm going to be extra careful for a few days - nothing physically demanding, get plenty of rest, etc.

Oh, and a highlight of the day was hearing from Cristina-bot. It had been a while.

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Easy running on the trails at Rockcrusher. I did 4x HU/ML.

I think this was my first run at Rockcrusher this season. Bowhunting season ends in a couple of days. I didn't see any hunters (or their vehicles). I also didn't see any deer.

Fun.

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After a couple of days off I wanted to move around a bit. But it was also my night to cook dinner - stracciatella alla romana. It was good.

The jog was nice. Moving around felt good. It was a bit cold and windy. I was slightly under-dressed for the weather.

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Running at the RIverfront Park with the rough-ish map. My plan was to head out to the sand bar and search for bones. But the water was too high. The sand bar is entirely underwater. Part of the forest are also underwater (and filled with ducks!). Stream crossing was either by a crossing point or by getting quite wet and muddy. I took the crossing point, Mary got wet and muddy.

Felt normal running...that's the first time in a few days and that was nice.

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After not feeling good running the last two days I decided to do something a little different today. I biked to/from the Baker Wetlands and walked for a bit over an hour. I saw a lot of birds...well, not the 1000s and1000s you see during migration, but still a lot of birds. I saw a few people.

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I drew a course on the current version of the Slough Creek map. I ran the course, including a few detours or strange routes to check out some parts of the map I hadn't visited. I stopped in a few places to look at something on the map. I didn't take notes because the pen I carried ran out of ink after I wrote one small note to add a couple of ditches.

Like yesterday, my legs felt strange. Not tired, not sore, just no push. Weird.

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We went to see Kathleen at the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and stopped at Wyandotte Lake for a run on the way home.

I shuffled around with the map in hand. The map was a couple of years old. I'm not sure who made it, but there were some strange things. Some of the trails didn't fit the contours (e.g. a trail running straight down a long spur, but shown on the map as having a couple of bends and not going down the top of the spur). I also found a missing contour. I guess that was just missed when the map was drawn.

On the way back to meet Mary I found some new MTB trails. That was fun.

When we lived in KC, I ran at Wyandotte a lot. The woods have gotten noticeably worse in the last 10-12 years due to spreading bush honeysuckle. I hate that stuff.

I didn't feel good running. I felt no energy - not really tired, just not push.

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I managed to get in a short jog this evening. That was nice. I shuffled around on West Campus. I left work a little early and I was able to run without a headlamp, though it would have been useful the last 5 minutes.

I saw 3 deer in the parking lot.

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Headlamp jog on West Campus. The temp was around 40F, but it felt colder.

I saw a lot of deer.

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The improved version (i.e. it doesn't stop at the 12 minute mark) mapflixer video of Saturday's Burr Oak Woods orienteering. The video is set to start at the 29:04 mark so you can see me catch up to Mary.

Another highlight is the forest that I enter at the 00:16 mark - there really is a small stretch of nice forest on this map.

And at the 31:00 mark you see me walking slowly through some vegetation that doesn't look too terrible but was actually quite thorny.

A headlamp run on West Campus. It was warmer than it should be for this time of year. Home in time to watch KU basketball. Not a very beautiful game tonight.

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Checking control locations for the January 1 event at Rockhaven. I wanted to check all of the tapes that I'd put out earlier. I decided to move two control locations to make them a little more pleasant. I also found one location where the tape disappeared. That surprised me given where it was. Maybe some wind blew it away?

C • Deer eat them 1

Some easy jogging on the trails to extend the training a little bit.

It was warm out and I was a bit overdressed.

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Orienteering at Burr Oak Woods. Dick L set the course.

I was satisfied with my run. I worked pretty hard and wasn't lazy. Except I was lazy about warming up and did that on the way to the first control. I was a little suprised to beat Tom H. Not shocked, but pleased.

I've got maflixer running. I'm guessing it will take all night to run. If it works, I'll post the video tomorrow.

I didn't do a first dinner to prep for a second dinner. So I got really hungry before dinner. There are some lessons to learn from Tom C.

Update...mapflixer video. I was curious how long it would take to create the video. I guess I spent maybe 10-15 minutes downloading the video files, georeferencing the map, adjusting the GPS track, and editing the mapflixer configuration file. I started mapflixer about 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The final video file was finished at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday (roughly 11 hours to generate the video for a race of about an hour). That's good to know.



Ack...I made a small typing error in the configuration file (not noticing that the files names used a 0 rather than an O). The result is that the final video gets hung up at the 12 minute mark. I'll see if I can fix that.


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C • Camera makes 12 min chunks?... 5

C • First dinner 1

Jogging on West Campus. The temp seemed to be falling.

A very short mini-night-sprint. Mostly this was to get a GPS track and chest-mount video to do another mapflixer video. I wanted to test adjusting the GPS track at map.routegadget.net so that it doesn't go through buildings. I also want to see if it works to start the video but not start the map immediately. I don't think the video will be great because I was running with a headlamp and I think the camera likes a lot more light.

The mapflixer is running. When it is done, I'll upload the video and post it here. It might be later tonight or it might be tomorrow.....and now it is ready.




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I jogged on West Campus tonight. As I was heading out, Mary was returning...and her lamp was out. I hope the problem was that I unplugged her charger when the battery wasn't fully charged. That would be better than the time I set her jacket on fire with a headlamp.

I went slowly. I always run slowly, but tonight was even slower than usual.

Warm out there tonight.

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I biked on the paths out to Clinton. The temp fell during the ride and my toes got cold on the last ten minutes.

The stretch from the arboretum to the dam road was really nice - very quiet and nice sky.

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Another mapflixer video. This is the first 12 minutes of the Park University sprint. The course went underground at about the 3:30 mark. In the race, you turned the map over and used a second map. In the video, I keep showing the above ground map and it gets a bit screwy becuase the GPS track doesn't work underground and you can't see the actual map. I should have turned the map off in the video when I went underground.

https://youtu.be/EYuTHITGKF0

The stabilization doesn't seem to work as well underground. Maybe I was running less smooth or maybe the lower light levels have something to do with it. I ran with the GoPro on a chest mount.

The GPS track doesn't fit very well on the first leg. I think that's because I didn't give my watch much time once it got the satellite signals and the high buildings might cause some trouble. I remember reading (maybe on WorldofO?) that to get the best GPS track, you should give the watch a few minutes sitting still to acquire the satellite signals before you start moving. I don't know if that's true, but it seems like an easy thing to do.

C • GPS track/video 2

Mary and I went to Woodridge. She put out mini markers for a training course that will be out for a month or so. I checked some of the permanent markers and ran a mini-course using three of the controls Mary put out.

The mapflixer video of my little run:

https://youtu.be/tzCDGgoPcJw

Fun, but my legs were feeling a little tired.

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Mary and I went out to Clinton State Park for a run/orienteering. I drew a course and ran it, but I also did a bunch of exploring in the "ski trails" area. The area is a bit of a maze of open areas and dark green on the KP map. It was fun to read all of the little vegetation details and keep track of things. Time flew...in fact, I didn't realize how long I'd been out and had to push the pace to get back to meet Mary and only be 7 minutes late.

I spent some time before we went out playing around with the mapflixer program from Routegadget. I got it working with a little help. I'm not sure if this will inspire me to do more headcam/chestcam videos, but it might.

Here is the test: https://youtu.be/_TbAfcrhLgQ?t=21

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C • hope so. the format is very... 2

I put my reflective vest on and a couple of lights on my bike and went for a short ride on the bike paths. It felt good to get outside and move around. My feet didn't get warm and that wasn't so nice.

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I spent the day at KU Edwards for the MAMIAF meeting. I got home a little later than normal, but managed to get myself out the door for a short run. That was a good decision and it was a nice evening for a jog.

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I put on a headlamp and went jogging on West Campus. I was a little under-dressed and felt a little cold.

With tonight's basketball game, there was more traffic than usual on West Campus.

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Easy bike ride on the bike paths. I went out/back to Clinton. There was a little bit of a cold headwind for the trips out. Having the tailwind pushing me home felt good.

Snow - very light - fell throughout the ride. Nothing was sticking.

I felt ok, but I can tell my body is a bit tired.

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Event: 2018 Castlewood Adventure Race
 

Castlewood 8-hour Adventure Race. I ran/biked/canoed as part of a 4-man team with John, Johnny and Nate. It was fun. For me the event was physically tough - mainly because I'm not as strong at my teammates (all a good bit younger: 35, 42 and 43). I'm also not in shape for paddling a canoe.

We got the maps on Friday night. So we had time to plot the points. They give you coordinates instead of marked maps. That seems silly, but I guess it is normal for adventure races. It also meant we had plenty of time to decide on the routes. For each section (foot, bike, bike, foot) you could take a group of controls in whatever order you wanted. The canoe section had only one control at the pull out point.

Without trying, I memorized the course except for one small section in a little state park next to the canoe. When we started, John asked if I wanted to navigate. I told him he should, but I'd memorized the course, so I'd point out if he started going off track. I also said I'd like to navigate the final section.

The map was USGS with a few features added. The additions were a few new roads, paved bike paths, and the paths around the ski area. That's the background...now on to the race:

We started on foot. It was a mass start with 100 teams and roughly 300 people. We started at the base of a ski hill and the first control was the top of the ski hill. We had a course of about 6 controls. The climb spread out the group into a long-ish line by about the 2nd control. There were a few route options and that spread things out a little bit. But there wasn't really much navigating if you weren't in the front (as we weren't).

Next up was biking. The bike leg started out with a tough climb. The pavement was still wet from the rain overnight. The navigation was simple. The bike section ended at the Route 66 State Park (formerly known as Times Beach, MO, and well known for dioxin contamination). That was the one section I hadn't memorized. But, the navigation was straightforward and John got us through reasonably cleanly.

We then got on the Meramec River for a couple of miles of paddling. But, first we had to haul the canoes and strap our bikes on. It is actually a bit hard to get two 29er MTBs on a canoe and have enough room for both paddlers to be comfortable. I'm not strong but did my best to paddle steadily. I think we probably passed a few teams. And then we had another chore of hauling canoes and unloading bikes.

The race was designed to include some MTB single track after the canoe leg. But the rain made the trails too soft to ride without causing lots of damage. The organizers eliminated that section.

Another bike leg with simple navigation but a long climb (a good steady mile). Nate had one of those A.R. tow straps and we hooked it up to my bike. It helped, but wasn't really necessary. The biking ended with a bit of downhill back to the ski area. I'm a wimp and not very competent on a bike, but I was passing people on the downhill. That surprised me.

Finally, a last loop on foot. This time I navigated (John carried the other map, which included the same area and would keep an eye out for any times I was going off). That navigation was easy, but we were all getting tired. The first two legs involved a climb about 2/3rds of the way up a ski hill, then dropping back down, then climbing another ski hill. To add some perspective, the 2nd ski hill was about 70 meters of climb over a distance of about 270 meters. We made it around without any problems other than moving slowly.

We finished 30th which seems reasonable. All in all, it was a lot of fun.

A few notes:

I didn't really know my teammates beforehand (John was the only one I'd met and I wouldn't say I knew him). So I was a bit apprehensive about how it would all work out. It worked out fine. I still prefer solo racing.

Adventure races should drop the control plotting.

We weren't allowed to carry GPS watches. Banning GPS watches seems unnecessary.

The navigation was easy. That's probably the right thing for the organizers, but I'd have liked a bit more navigation.

I would have preferred pre-printed maps handed out just before the start (or maybe give the teams 30 minutes or something to plan).

Adventure racing would be more fun with better maps. This morning I spend less than 50 minutes seeing what I could come up with. I found lidar data and recent air photos. I ran KP (the processing time isn't included in the less than 50 minutes). I added a few features from the photo. Here's a comparison of the race map and my less-than-an-hour map:

Comparing adventure race map with map I made this morning (less than an hour of work). pic.twitter.com/scXmqnoNmF

— okansas (@okansas) December 2, 2018

I chatted with Space Monkey at the finish. He'd done some of the organizing (which is why he missed the sprint race the day before the Possum Trot).

I chatted with Dave Frei, too. That was fun. I hadn't seen him in years. It was fun to reminisce about the Possum Trot at Weston Bend where we ran head to head at the very end. He said he misses orienteering.

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C • thank you! 5