Training Log Archive: Swampfox

After getting the last piece of the Granite Planite basemap on my mapboard, I had envisioned a productive weekend, but it was not meant to be. Yesterday was cool, gray, windy, and some rain, while today was rain preceded and followed by numerous sprinkles, windier, and quite cool. Maybe it made it to the mid 50s in someone's oven turned on high, but otherwise a jacket felt nice. However, the wind, rain, and cool temps were a real downer for the mosquitoes, so all in all in worked out pretty well except for the mapping bit.

Ran trails and by the time my legs got warmed up good, it was already past the 2 hour mark.

I think summer is supposed to resume mildly tomorrow, but we shall see.

There's an article in the WSJ today that states the CDC has found that Lyme disease is severely unreported. A CDC spokesperson commented: "We have found that most orienteers with inexplicably slow minutes per kilometer times are probably suffering from Lyme disease rather than general ineptitude as previously thought. Though it is a fact that some orienteers are just not very good."

The article also reports that a research group operating out of Baileytown, NY, has been accumulating data which suggests that some Lyme disease could possibly be linked to bites from the deer tick. However, most health authorities continue to believe the vast majority of Lyme disease cases can be traced to close contact with compass bubbles and discarded mylar balloons.

The most severe cases of Lyme disease are thought to be untreatable, and should be avoided.

C • I was bit by a tick... 1

Not sure why the Rocky Mountain O' Festival web site still shows the overview map[ from last year's Laramie Daze, utterly fascinating as that map is. For those who are more interested in seeing where *this* year's O' Fest races will take place, a copy of the current overview map has been up for a while here:
https://sites.google.com/site/laramierangeorientee...

C • Map 6

O' at East Pelican, ran Neal's Blue course. One bull moose, one yearling cow moose, elk, many deer, and even some cheat grass spotted.

Cheat grass is pretty much my favorite. When I first moved here, there were only relatively small amounts out on any of our mapped areas. Today? It's rampant. It's amazing how much it has spread. But it's only really bad for about 6-8 weeks and you can reduce it to only a mild nuisance with proper O' shoes, the right kinds of socks, and some gaitors. Still, if I could snap my fingers and make an entire plant species around here disappear, cheat grass would be the first to go.

Started mapping, and within about 15 minutes, the first raindrops of an encroaching thunderstorm arrived. Went back to my truck to wait out the storm and eyed the skies, which contained a second storm lined up to complete the devastation begun by the first storm, so I decided to follow the standard advice to "go west, young man" and headed for Happy Jack to run there. The second storm just skirted by up there so this revision of plans worked out well.

It was also good to see that the mosquitoes were back out. Apparently they had just been laying low during the unseasonably cool weather of the past few days. There's nothing like some voracious mosquitoes to help inject a little zip into the running stride. Though it's still far from a bad season. If you stop, there are usually no more than a dozen or so mosquitoes right there in that instant, and not entire clouds that blacken the sky, as happens in the truly bad years.

Planned to run easy today, which is what I did. Even cooler today than yesterday, despite mostly sunny conditions, with a persistent chilly breeze out of the north. It was borderline chilly for mapping, and a light jacket was not enough. Very glad the smoke from the fire is all gone! I took a glimpse behind me as I was driving out to map, and couldn't see the slightest sign of even any small tendrils of smoke from the fire area.

Very oddly, it seems the mosquitoes have already peaked this year and that it is going to be a very light season. This is usually about when mosquitoes are at their peak, and yet now it's been 3 days since I last saw a mosquito. Granted, it's been quite cool the past three days, but even so... Just compare with 2 years ago, when during the O' Fest then mosquitoes were able to drive even the most stalwart campers out of Yellow Pine.

O' at Diamond Bay, where I took on lush and deep grasses, profusions of blooming Golden Banner, incredibly fast moving herds of cattle, endless abatis fashioned naturally by and of fallen beetle kill trees, and even a few meters worth of sage. In other words, it could have hardly been better. Plus, I even found all the controls! I was so happy.

I wasn't sure what to wear; it was kind of cool, and there was enough of a breeze that a knit cap and jacket seemed like the perfect thing. But I had neither with me, so I had to steel myself and sing my "Warrior Warming Up" song, and then head out. At one point I thought I was finally starting to sweat, but it proved to be only a situation of a few fat falling raindrops from a passing cloud. Next time out I will do a half hour or so of vigorous calisthenics in an attempt to raise my core temperature somewhat before beginning running, and maybe that will lead to some intermittent light sweating.

C • Cadence 14