Training Log Archive: PG

Upper road /Lower Road in Deerfield. Perfect day, legs felt ok.

C • Nice roads 1

Tired, real tired. Time to taper. Drove home at a leisurely pace.

Event: UNO Annual Camping Weekend
 

The original plan was to go to the camping weekend at Pawtuckaway if the weather forecast was ok. Do the orienteering, hang out with friends, and maybe even do the third edition of JJ's wicked hard night-O.

A couple of things messed with that plan. Tropical storm Hanna materialized, with an arrival schedule coinciding with, or just prior to, the start of the night-O. And, as my insecurity mounted about a long and wet night next weekend in Estonia, I quite convinced myself that I really had to do the night-O, partly for training, partly just for morale building.

So I headed off Saturday morning, solo, Gail not interested in prolonged battles with the elements. Got there, no rain, but there had been a lot of rain in the wee hours, so the forest was very wet and the humidity was insufferable. "Ran" the Red course, actually walked at least half the time or so it seemed. Navigation was ok, just one mistake, maybe a minute or two.

Then off for a swim to cool off and rinse out the clothes. And hung out for a while. And got some dinner.

And then it started to rain. Seriously. And I was thinking, Is this night-O' really a good idea. But mentally I was already committed. I think mostly because this waiver for next weekend scared the crap out of me, even though I was laughing about it....

JJ's Night-O', for those who think Pawtuckaway in the daytime is too easy.... :-)

So I did his first one in 2006, got through #5 at a good pace by hanging with the crowd, and then walked the rest, very carefully. A feeling of great satisfaction.

And I did the one last year, again got through several controls at a good pace, then walked the rest, still screwed up a couple of controls really badly, one of which I was starting to wonder if I would ever find, but eventually did.

But for both of those the weather was good....

So we lined up, 13 of us, dark, raining hard, well, here we go. I am solidly in the slower pack (Ross, Brendon, Emily, and Erik are moving way faster), in the company off and on for the first few controls of Charlie, Andrew Childs, Randy Kemp, Jim Arsenault, maybe one or two others.

And even in a group it isn't easy. The visibility is terrible, the rain, the fog, all the hemlock branches are hanging low, it seems like 10-20 meters is how far you can see, at the best.

Up the hill to 5 I'm with Randy and Andrew, but they are moving much faster and not far on the way to 6 I am alone, and it is very dark. 6 is a real confidence booster, not a hard control, but my navigation is solid. For the rest of the way I'm by myself maybe half the time, and with Andrew and Randy the other half -- they seem to keep getting ahead, and then I catch back up somehow, who knows where they have been. But when I am by myself, there are a few weird moments....

Like at some point is raining so hard, and I don't have a cap on, and it's like I'm taking a shower and looking right into the showerhead with my eyes wide open, and it feels like the water is getting in my eyes, well, more precisely, in my eye sockets, around the sides of my eyes, inside, very very weird.

And a couple times there were big crashing noises very close, deer, I assumed (and hoped).

But the one I definitely won't forget is my testing of item 1.4.3. Halfway to 8, thrashing my way down a slope in dense vegetation (visibility less than 1 meter), I popped out in a grassy marsh. Not so bad, went a little distance along the edge, water maybe knee deep. And then there was a boulder in the way, so I headed out a little towards the center of the marsh to get around it, and there was less grass and more open water and then suddenly I was in waist deep, and then another step and I suddenly got quite scared because the foot I was about to pick up seemed quite stuck in the mud, and then one I had just planted seemed quite stuck too. And right away, immediately, 1.4.3 popped into my mind. Along with that, a vision of me slowly sinking into the marsh over the next few hours, blowing my whistle in vain until just my mouth and the whistle were above water, and then....

But I rallied (mentally), managed to extricate first one foot and then the other without leaving either shoe behind, and got myself out of that marsh as quickly as possible.

Isn't night-O fun!

I caught up to Andrew and Randy again just before 8, needed their help to find 10, and then on my own the rest of the way. At some point it occurred to me I was really going to finish/survive. Such a nice feeling.

Still pouring rain, no need for a shower, just stripped down in the parking and and stood there for a couple minutes. Crawled into the back of car to sleep, but I don't think anyone slept well because it was raining so hard and making so much noise.

Thanks, JJ! And hopefully Estonia won't be any worse. Plus I won't be alone, so maybe when I'm having one of my panic attacks, Barb will be cool and collected. At least, that's the plan.

C • And a couple times there we... 8

Interesting how perceptions vary.

I was under instructions from Barb not to fall down at all so I didn't hurt myself, and when I finished I thought I'd done quite well, falling only maybe 10 or 20 times. I mentioned this to Charlie, he laughed, he claimed he saw me go down at least 10 times just on the way to #1. So maybe I'll revise my count, maybe 100?

I know at least 5 or 10 times I came uncomfortably close to smashing my compass (and I had no spare), falling, putting my left hand down to break the fall, and just missing a rock. Getting out of the woods without a compass would not have been easy.

And my light kept working. That better than Ross managed, his light croaked by #1 and he headed with just his little back-up. And better than Erik, who had a good Swedish light, but that didn't stop him from running into a tree a little after leaving #5 and crunching the light....





Now, despite JJ's "rules," Erik had no backup light. So here he is, an 18-year-old from Sweden, exchange student living with Charlie and Rhonda, middle of Pawtuckaway, dark, pouring rain, no light. Think what the placement agency would say if they knew this!

But Erik is a bright kid (as well as a chick magnet, or so I hear), he was in the lead, so he just waited until another light showed up, in this case Brendan and Emily, borrowed one of their backup lights, and got on with the race.

Ah, to be young and talented....

C • Erik 12

Red Day 1 - Splits

Wicked Hard Night O - short version - Splits

Conway/Whately loop, SSE breeze. Getting pretty warm, didn't push the pace, and probably wouldn't have been able to if I had wanted to. Still worked up a good sweat.

And more from Estonia --

"And yes, nettles, stinging nettles. All Estonian rogainers and orienteers 'love' this plant, which grows in marshy forest and near ditches, and gives you a long-lasting itch when touched. If you do not like this itchy feeling, you should look for nettle-proof trousers. Two layers of orienteering trousers also provide good protection."

And among the recommended gear -

"nettle-proof long pants and/or gaiters (some nettles are 2m high!)"

Hmm, 2m high? I need to worry about more than my legs.

Anyone got any advice? Other than grin and bear it?

C • nettles 11

Hard to decide decide which of these is the least pleasant, though I think I'd give my vote to section 1.4, and especially 1.4.3.

C • Adding to the list 1

C • fave waive 3

C • Combinations? 4

Choices, choices, choices....

It looks like if we want to be able to have a "curd snack," we're going to have to scratch our plan to stay out the full 24 hours.

C • Curd snack... 2

Leverett loop clockwise. Went in the morning for once before it got too hot. Legs felt ok, bike seat is getting a little less uncomfortable.

Trying to get myself back into a regular schedule of going to the gym. Although perhaps not Thursday late afternoon again -- there was a very large guy on a stationary bike with some music playing and every once in a while he would start "singing" (really awful) or moaning or grunting, seemingly unaware that others might not enjoy the show. Really wanted to clock him.

In a generally gloomy day, made even more gloomy by the farce going on in the Twin Cities -- I would definitely be happier if I read stuff like this all the time instead of stuff like this -- the bright spot was heading off to the camera store in Hadley to retrieve my camera.

Which once again works!! :-)

It's probably my favorite present ever. Not that I get many presents because Gail and I ditched the idea of exchanging presents many decades ago, but this one was really fine. She got it for my birthday last October, and I loved it from day 1.

Despite my general clumsiness and specifically my habit of dropping most anything remotely fragile, it was still working fine earlier this month. But then in Colorado the viewing screen was suddenly marred by a bunch of lines, though they didn't show up on the photos. And then about 10 days ago it just stopped working, the lens wouldn't open up.

Off to the camera store to see what could be done. Hmmm, the guy said, signs of wear and tear but nothing unusual like if you'd dropped it (little did he know). Hmmm, seems like it's less than a year old. Let's send if off to Cannon and see (1) if they can fix it, and (2) if they'll cover it under the warranty.

And today the guy called with the answers, Yes and Yes, no charge at all.

-----------------------------

Interesting article/opinion.

C • Canon 2

Sent in entry for NA Champs, last day before the price goes up.

And also sent in an entry for Gail. Even if she does just walk one day, that's progress.... :-) :-)

The word for the outing, or at least the last part of the outing, might be "wasted" or "depleted" or "bonked" -- though I believe that last term has quite a different meaning in some other places....

Tuesday evening group run on Mt. Toby. Donna, Dave, Rob, Sarah, Todd. Unpleasantly warm and muggy, enough so that I planned to short-cut the route, knock off about 25 minutes, one long downhill and one long up. But I was chatting with Todd as we passed the turn-off spot and it was several minutes down the hill before it suddenly dawned on me that I was going to have to do the whole loop. Shit.

Made it up the long climb on South Mountain Road (15 minutes) without walking, but then walked a little more than usual in the vicinity of the S curves. By the end I was really struggling, plus it was getting quite dark. Very glad the be done, wrung the sweat out of my soaking shirt, and headed home without much delay to get some food and drink, all the while thoughts of a chocolate milkshake at Sugarloaf Frostee were floating through my mind.

The scale says I sweated off 6 pounds. Should have taken something to drink.

Leave for Estonia in 8 days. Plans are getting made, conditioning is OK. Getting nervous, the nights are getting longer.

Earlier in the day, after the usual 3 hour early morning walk.