Training Log Archive: Lori

4h Nav-X Score-O at Dinkey Creek in the Sierras! 3rd overall and 1st woman! Super fun and super tough!

We were super excited to find out about some orienteering that wasn't going to have any poison oak, so we decided to check it out! Sam and I were signed up separately, but we decided to mainly run together because we thought it would be more fun. We made a (fantastically over-optimistic) plan and set off into the forest.

The map was sort of a USGS++ map that looked like an orienteering map but was clearly not an orienteering map with 10m contours and 1:20000 scale. It took a bit of getting used to and we did some pretty major bobbling on the first 3 controls. The southern part of the map was all granite slabs that were apparently super cool, so we decided to get a few controls in that area. It was indeed super cool with what would have been extremely awesome views across Shaver Lake. Unfortunately there was a huge fire nearby, so it was pretty smokey off in that direction (although we REALLY lucked out this weekend and there wasn't really any smoke where we were at all).

We'd been out an hour at this point and realized we'd better start modifying our plan. We hit the next few pretty well, and then had the most awesome leg on our course running downhill across the granite slabs. Amazing!

We were down to our last hour at this point, and we were kind of far away from the finish, but I guess neither of us was dealing well with the scale, so we thought we were fine on time. We got another couple of controls and then suddenly there were only 20 minutes left. I was about set to go trotting off down the hill we were on at the time when Sam declared that he was worried he was getting heat stroke and really couldn't run anymore. Presto also appeared to be dying a horrible death, but I was still feeling more or less ok (growing up in the South has it's advantages!) so I left the two of them behind (after some assurances that they were going to be ok) and set off to get the last couple of controls. I somehow missed one of them completely, despite following the stream I was sure it was on for its entire length (I think maybe there were some unmapped streams out there?), but didn't have time to investigate. I managed to find the next one, but by now it was quite clear that I was not going to make it in on time. I sadly decided to forgo the 60 pointer right by the finish, and struggled in to an 80 point overtime deduction. The day and the course were tough on everyone, though, so it was all good :-). (Oh, and Sam and Presto made it in, safe and sound.) Fun, fun!

As much of my normal stretching as possible at the campsite after a jump in the lake and before heading back to the meet site for yummy dinner!

Running with Sam and Presto after lab! Normal run up and down the hill.

Normal abs.

Normal stretching.

Running after lab with Sam and Presto! Just the normal run up the hill. All my parts are feeling good (yay!), and I didn't even feel abnormally tired today (which may have been helped by the fact that Sam was feeling abnormally tired, so we were running a bit slower than usual).

We saw a raccoon towards the end that ran along the road with us for a while before scurrying up a tree. Presto was VERY EXCITED!

Normal abs + stretchy band glutes.

Normal stretching.

BAOC Summer Series 2 at Bedwell Bayfront park with Presto! Ok, today was really, really hot. Not just oh-I-am-a-wimpy-Bay-Area-person hot. Like mid-90s hot. Presto and I were dying...

This race was really not my best. They took all the trails off the map, which makes the park a lot more interesting, but the vegetation isn't mapped all that well here, and the vegetation is kind of the main feature, so it was a challenge. I started off with a couple of pretty big mistakes right off the bat where I wasn't keeping a close eye on my compass. Then things were mainly fine with some slop in the circle for about 40 minutes and then the last 20 minutes or so were just a slog. In my heat-induced delirium I even went to control 21 before control 20, which was especially frustrating because I saw control 20 on the way into 21, thought, ok, that's my next control, remember where it is so you can get to it, checked the code as I was punching 21, and then was like, wait a minute...I never punched 20. Sigh. So that was another couple of minutes lots.

Anyway, as much trouble as I was having was nothing on Presto. At one point we passed under a clump of trees and Presto was like, you know what, I'll just wait here for you while you finish up...so I had to go back for him and put him on a leash. Then every time we got into the shade if I even slowed a tiny bit (which I sort of inevitably did since most of the controls were next to a bush and I was inevitably sloppy in the circle), Presto just flopped down to pant. I was giving him water throughout, but I guess he wasn't drinking enough because I think his legs were cramping at the end. Or at least he was having trouble walking back to the download from the finish. I gave him about a liter of water and left him to hang out in the download tent while I did the telephone-O, where he apparently flopped around for 30 minutes and then ate a pinecone (?!?!?!), which apparently made him feel better enough that he was up to begging for sandwiches. Dogs are weird.

Regardless, Presto continues his perfect string of 1000 points in the quadruped category for the BAOC summer series!

Telephone-O at Bedwell Bayfront park with my parents on the phone! Wow was this hard! Also, hilarious. I got some good insight into how differently my parents think about navigation than I do. They kept telling me to go in a particular direction for a particular distance. This is just really not how I ever think about navigating, which made for a lot of me being like,
"ok, should there be a bush to my right?"
"Do you mean your southwest?"
"Um...maybe?"

The most hilarious moments were when we were trying to relocate. There was much arguing. Anyway, we won the Beginner/Telephone 1 course, so woohoo!

Presto basically recovered after an hour of the AC blowing full blast in the car on the drive home, which was a relief. He flopped on the couch while I stretched. Then we both flopped on the couch.