Training Log Archive: z-man

The Relay Champ. Really enjoyed this one, the spectating part was great the running part was even more interesting. Comming out on the last leg I already had a comfortable enough lead, thanks to my teamates, to simply go out, do nothing stupid, and cross the finish line ahead of others. But Wil Smith and I practically started togherther so I was motivated enough to race with him. After fist couple of easy bags in the open, we headed to the woods where we split on the way to #4, though we punched it together later on. We were alternating the lead to the #5, and #6 however, whether I managed to get ahead or because of the forking I didn't see him again till half of the way to the #12. Then I took the wrong spur to the next bag and managed to lose about 1.5 min and Wil in the process. Apparently, John T. passed me somewhere at that time too as he finished ahead of me but behind Wil. Still happy with my run thought it would be nicer to have a cleaner race. DVOA did it a gain, 3rd time in a row I think, what's becoming more of a dynasty now. We need revival of HVO and CSU teams to make things just a bit more interesting. Will they come?

Many thanks to the organizers, they did a superb job and the wether was really nice!

C • Great job! 7

Event: US Middle Distance and Relay Champs
 

US Champs Middle. After taking ibobruphen for the whole week following the Goat I really had no clue how my knees would respond, but they managed to hold up. I found the terrain to be just interesting enough, though I didn't like the course. A couple of steep straight-on uphills which required crawling on all four killed the joy of otherwise interesting orienteering that at a time required extra focus just to keep up with numerous features. To be fair, my lack of fitness certainly played a role, and it was evident by my split to the finish line where I couldn't make myself to run any faster even if I was chased by a swarm of hungry/angry bees. It was also very hot, 80's I think, and I easily hit 193 h/r when I was crawling up one of the uphills. I didn't have a great race, but it wasn't a bad one neither. I had one 30 sec mistake on #8, where the bag was kind of low enough that a number of people missed it, and another 20 sec on the last control, which was apparently hanged in a different spot from where it was printed on the map. Couple other little hesitations but nothing really to write about. I was surprised to see the results as I knew Will's time of 35min when I was heading out and thought that a lot more people would squeze in between. I guess I wasn't the only one having a tough time out there. It's my fist individual US Championship medal since '05, though surprisingly first in the Middle, definitely something to feel good about.

Blue Middle - Splits

Did some more strenght stuff than yesterday combined with clean-up of my living quarters. Knees still sore to attemt to run though.