Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Team Trials, Interstate State Park, WI. Blue M21 middle distance, 24th. SA has me as 10:25 in errors, but nearly 7 minutes of that was a clerical error on on control #9. Started out okay for the first four controls, then on #5 I mistook the light yellow for medium green and thought I was looking for a thicket, but it was actually a clearing. On #7 I went kind of wide left and ran right past #9 (checked the code to be sure). Fishhooked #8, then I was most of the way to #10 when it occurred to me that I needed to go to #9 (despite having already been there, I didn't see it on the map in the rock clutter, and it was on the straight line from #8 to #10). Easy time finding it the second time. Slight fishhooks on #10 and #11, and I could have taken a more direct route to #13. I did something weird to my left foot going to #14, maybe stepped in a crack or something, because I kind of scrunched it, somewhat painful. Overshot #15 a bit, but there was another runner there and seeing him at the control when I glanced back helped. #16 was in a complicated area and we overshot to the right, and while we were scratching our heads a third runner showed up; I found it first. Therewere surely more efficient ways to get to #17, but I found it no problem. Nice view from the hilltop on the next leg, and the rest was fine. Not very clean, that's for sure, but if you overlook the time lost on a very easy leg due to just not seeing it, it doesn't look quite so bad. But that mistake cost me only one place.

course map
results

Jogging out on the jetty to Wisconsin Point Lighthouse and back. The jetty is mostly tumbled rocks (though not as bad as some), making for relatively slow going.

Jogging to the three lighthouses on the breakwaters on Duluth (all smooth paved surfaces). Started the watch a little late, but stopped it a little late as well, and some of this was standing still to take pictures.

I have to say, I'm not very impressed with Spirit Airlines. I don't mind the $3 soft drinks, I can just skip that. I did like getting a special seat in the front that was 50% wider that the normal seats, though it was so worn out that it was quite uncomfortable. But charging $57 for a carry-on bag? Or $100 if you don't pay until the gate? Very glad that I had packed light enough to jam my weekend supplies into the purse-size category.

C • Spirit 2

Late enough (and overcast) that I brought a headlamp and ran it in strobe mode to make myself more visible to cars (of which there were very few). Near the end it got dim enough that I could see the flashing, and it was mildly annoying, so I switched to steady mode, which was starting to be useful at the very end. My initial mount attempt worked, but lasted only a couple of pedal strokes. My second one was good, I made the U-turn ineptly but successfully, and made it all the way back, and even pulled off a rear dismount this time. The pavement up in the northern part is pretty bad. This was a nice way to get a little exercise and fresh air with no strain on the back or shoulder, though the back is pretty much all fine at this point anyway.

Jackie Jones, Red M35, near the bottom, anyway. After application of heat last night, on Lex's recommendation, my back was distinctly improved, though certain motions still brought on crippling pain, and I was mostly walking the course, with some halfhearted jogging thrown in. Navigationally I had periods of brilliance interspersed with episodes of haplessness. SA says I lost less time than yesterday, but I felt stupider.

1-5 went great, not moving very fast, but navigating well. On #6 I got myself to within the circle, but when I looked up where I thought the control might be, I saw a woman looking around confusedly, so I figured it mustn't be there. After ruling out other possibilities, I went up to at least get a better vantage point, and there was the control. The woman was still there, and she had seen the control, but it wasn't hers. She was pretty lost, so I told here where she was, maybe 200-300 meters from where she intended to be. And she seemed to think that was a lot. (Note, this is foreshadowing.) #7 was a long leg, and I took the low road, and got stupid. Most of the way there, I went by a good sized marsh. Now, it should have been obvious that it was the indistinct marsh in the white, but maybe I was just eager to be there already, and my brain decided it was the crossable marsh in the green further on. I artificially made the features match up, and headed up the hill toward the control, and actually just went into a big patch of laurel. It took quite a long while to wade through that, and when I finally emerged, I knew where I was and went to the control with no further trouble. The next leg was relatively short, and I went high to avoid the steep, rocky hillside, but overshot, and spent a while fumbling around trying to decide what feature was what. And then on #9, I made a clerical error and my eye followed the wrong line to the (closer) #11. I got to #11 okay, but just before going around the boulder, I realized my error and headed for #9 instead. #11 wasn't far off the straight line to #9, but it sure wasn't a good way to get there. Boris and Wyatt flew by at #9, and I had no trouble with #10 and #11, but I was sure getting sick of blueberry and laurel.

#12 was the longest leg, mostly a trail run, and at the end I picked a route that went through some mature laurel (not too bad to get under) and then picked my way through a maze of other laurel. Daniel Schaublin appeared near the end of this leg and was close behind me for a few controls, eventually getting away but then getting reeled in again, so we were in the chute together. All the rest of the controls went fine except for #15, when I spotted a different cliff higher up that had a control, and also had Daniel at it. But the wrong code. We both punched, but as we were heading out, we realized out error and went to the correct control.

Pretty pathetic showing, due largely to sloppiness rather than infirmity. Magnus trounced me today. And we'll see how well I recover, no way of knowing if the exercise helped or hurt my back or neither.

splits

So, with Nancy having finshed well ahead of me, and my back needing a rest, she took the wheel for the drive home. I provided directions, and had her turn right on Lake Welch Drive and head for the Palisades, though I wasn't sure if you could only get on southbound from there, whch turned out to be the case. No matter, just get off at the next exit and loop around. As we were approaching the onramp to get back on, we saw a guy walking on the shoulder of the road, carrying a stick for a walking staff. What was interesting was that his shirt had a design on it that looked kind of like the O-suits that some of the people at the meet were wearing, a compass rose design. He was even carrying something that looked vaguely like a map, so it made him look like an orienteer. As we made the left onto the onramp, we glanced back and saw that he was wearing a bib number! Nancy stopped the car, and I asked if she could back up. That didn't look like it would work, so she expertly executed a highly questionable and most likely illegal U-turn, we got back up to the road, and pulled up behind him. I rolled down the window and just said "Get in".

Yup, he was lost. Not just lost, this is some kind of minor record. He was on the wrong side of the Palisades Parkway, heading toward Stony Point. That's about 3.5 km from the meet site as the crow flies, and 200 meters lower. There's enough stuff between where he was supposed to be and where he was, that I can't figure out how he managed to get there. I later wondered if we had managed to thwart an escape attempt from the group he came to the meet with. But he graciously accepted our offer, and we drove him back up Rte. 106 and deposited him by the penultimate control, explaining that it was on his map, and pointing him up the hill to the finish. Then we turned the car around, and as soon as we were out of earshot burst out laughing.

C • Wrong way orienteers 2