Training Log Archive: vmeyer

Rest day in Rotorua.

Updated
April 7-9 - added travel part of things
April 10 - added rest day
April 9 - fleshed out the race report
April 11 - added horse ride report
April 11 - added afternoon note
April 12 - finished Te Mata "race" report and trip to the Peak

Lazy morning
Pie shop - yum!
Some minimal sightseeing
Grocery store - trip 1
Log updating
Grocery store - trip 2
Tea
Redwood tree night walk

First stop of the day was to a pie shop. I love homemade hot pockets!!

Then, it was off to see the event center for tomorrow. Redwood trees galore.



The Finish, Download, and Results area will be here. Plenty of room for everyone and power...





and Artistic bathrooms close by, in addition to the portables brought in for the day. Even with 1200+, there never seemed to be a line.





Control stands for tomorrow.

Then Tim, Jane, Phillip and I went to check out Lake Rotorua. There was a fence around the touristy area preventing people from walking on the sidewalk there because of the high water levels.

Spent a few minutes watching the helicopter take off, and just enjoying the beautiful day.

The last stop of the day was to visit a Maori settlement.


There we saw some hot springs, some likely presently used for cooking.







Saint Faith's Anglican Church - hard to tell from the picture, but the cross hatched roof was very pretty.







Not to scale...this was on the fence posts and was only about 18" tall.

Miscellaneous...





ISOTD

While we were at the event site earlier today, we decided to go on the Redwoods Treewalk, but during the night time. Tim stayed back sick, so it was Jane, Phillip, and me...

The tracks are a hoot - all wiggly and squiggly, when we were walking in straight lines, maybe bouncing a bit on the bridges.





Tried to get the lights and the changing colors on the ferns, but these pics don't really do them justice. Fun to try through.

C • tree walk 3

Ha! AP thought this was Peppering, and since I miss her (and Roger, too!), I will leave it as is.

Long trip from Middle site to Rotorua (almost like Roto-Rooter - can't get jingle out of my head. Arrived around 8.
Grocery store for breakfast supplies
Dominoes for pizza - don't tell Roger.

Middle - Course 14 - Splits

FR = 2.63 miles

Placed 9/17 for Leg 3 runners.



Joined up with Beverly and Carol from New Zealand on Team Just for Fun. Class was 55-64, so we were a legal but non-official team, i.e., we couldn't take home the "trophy" even if we were having more fun than Just for Fun. All of the legs were essentially equal in length and were forked somewhere in there.

Turned out to be a good pairing with Beverly handing off in 1:02, and Carol coming through her leg in 55:44. I was off to the races, and had a good run except for coming through the Finish/Spectator area, where I headed to 18 instead of 15. Checked the code and knew 100 was the last control, so came back down the hill, but see what to do next, so I went back up to 18, , and then I finally saw 15. At that point, I headed through the woods to the control.

When I finished, Carol was waiting for me to let me know that she had mispunched. Hey, no worries! We all had fun!

C • Thank you 4

C • Map 3

Long - Course Course 14 - Splits

Event: Oceania Championships 2017
 

Sprint - Course - 9 - Splits

Drive to Auckland - lots of low clouds and rain and traffic going through the city. Likely exacerbated by the threat of heavy rains and winds...people were using the forecast as an opportunity to start the holiday weekend early.

We stopped in several small towns along the one, including one with yummy pies. I ate two of them. Oink!



On the way back from the walk, we stopped at the grocery store to stock up for the next few days when services would be limited due to the Easter holidays. I bought this Rhubarb yoghurt. It was heavenly.

Phillip, Jane and I walked to the Oceania Sprint venue and back. Was spitting a bit at times.

Another early wake up...at least the sun rise was pretty...one was taken with my Fuji camera and the other with the iphone.





Hawkes Bay Orienteering Club has permanent courses at the same park where I orienteered on Sunday, so I decided to give it another go.
My hostess, Jane, printed me a map, while I download the iOrienteering app, and off I went, again driving myself, which, btw, was one of my goals for this trip.

I made to the park safely, and after checking this wonderful the map to make sure I was in the correct location, I got geared up to go.



When I was ready, and after scanning the QR code on the map to pick a course, I also scanned the one to start...


off I went across the road to the trail. Oops.


Back on track, I headed to #1, scanned the code, and continued on.


At that point I realized that I hadn’t even stopped to look at the view, so I turned around and went back to the scenic view for a look at the scenic view...




I carefully made my way around the course, learning from Sunday and taking tracks (trails) whenever possible.

On the way to 2




The 3rd control was in the pretty area of redwoods, where we started on Sunday.






Today, I was able to find the pond I had been looking for on Sunday once I had drifted that way anyway that day...



Anyway, I was moving along, happily finding controls, scanning them with my phone and taking pictures along the way…









Control #6


Then the messiness started…



I punched/scanned #7, but the phone was freezing up, and it was a struggle to get the scan. I thought it and gone through, but when I got to #8, I got the message that it was the incorrect control.


Not wanting to DNF a second time on this map, I decided to go back to #7 and scan again. However, I got confused in the maze of tracks coming from the other direction, and it took a while to sort myself back out. Finally, I got back to #7, scanned again, and then it was back to #8, having no problems getting there the second time. In all, the mis-scan cost me 22 minutes.
I was feeling good though, so I soldiered on, enjoying the scenery along the way. Until, that is, I got to #9, where I stubbornly looked for the single tree NE at the end of the one track, when it was actually up on the next track, where the circle was situated, but not the tree.

View out of #9.


Control #10 and surrounding area




I carried on, with just one more little hiccup back through the area of #7 when going to #10, passing that way for the third time, and then I was done.

C • Tracks 3

Then I drove to Te Mata Peak...I didn't quite get the review which stated something about it was great once you got to the top. It seemed like the road took you right to the top, and so it wasn't anything strenuous after that...turns out that the reviewer was talking about the drive up, on the one way road with hairpin turns...no drive to Pike's Peak, but a little hairy. Luckily, only one car came down while I was going up, and then there was none when I drove back down.













You can see the top part of the road in the picture...

C • launch ramp 3

After tea this evening, I was introduced to feijoa. I didn't really like them, but I did have fun playing with my food.