Training Log Archive: PGIn the 7 days ending Sep 15, 2008:
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Monday Sep 15, 2008 #
Note
Heading home...
Note
Forgot to mention, several teams lost an e-punch. Someone said the cold weather made the bands more brittle. When we finished, they just took all the data from my e-punch, plus the paper punches from Barb's map, and said everything would be OK, and it was.
Finished 77th overall out of 336, 12 in mixed veterans (over 40) out of 46.
It seemed like the quality of competition was very high, dominated by teams from the region (Estonia, Latvia, and Russia). A lot of folks (men and women) who seemed very fit and moving very strongly at all times of day and night. A very different feeling from any rogaine I've been to in North America, and that includes the WRC that was in Arizona in 2004.
Finished 77th overall out of 336, 12 in mixed veterans (over 40) out of 46.
It seemed like the quality of competition was very high, dominated by teams from the region (Estonia, Latvia, and Russia). A lot of folks (men and women) who seemed very fit and moving very strongly at all times of day and night. A very different feeling from any rogaine I've been to in North America, and that includes the WRC that was in Arizona in 2004.
Note
Got as far as Cambridge, didn't think driving two more hours was real smart as I am very short of sleep (couldn't sleep on the plane). And things hurt all over. But still a great trip, glad I went.
Am thinking of doing the Highlander at a leisurely stroll (if at all)....
Am thinking of doing the Highlander at a leisurely stroll (if at all)....
Sunday Sep 14, 2008 #
rogaining 23:50:00 [2]
World Rogaine Champs in Estonia.
Absolutely as good as we could do for 22 and a half hours. Good planning, good route, good execution, good energy, good effort....
And then we got to #47 had Barb's e-punch was no longer attached to her wrist. So the air went out of the balloon. Debated a bit what to do. Went back and looked a little, decided that was fruitless. Headed in dejected, figuring we'd be DQ'd. Talked about our mental states. Went through the five stages of grief in about 30 minutes. And then decided, shit, it was the organizers fault for not making the wrist bands strong enough, so we'd protest. And then, re-energized, zipped off to get one more control, but still just walked it in after that.
Probably would have had 6 more points without that, moved up a dozen places. Would'a, could'a, should'a.... Need to HTFU.
But still, we did great! Seriously. :-)
More later, off to the sauna.
Map/results/splits are here.
We seemed to have covered 73.9 km as the crow flies, maybe 90 km actually?? Did a lot of running.
Absolutely as good as we could do for 22 and a half hours. Good planning, good route, good execution, good energy, good effort....
And then we got to #47 had Barb's e-punch was no longer attached to her wrist. So the air went out of the balloon. Debated a bit what to do. Went back and looked a little, decided that was fruitless. Headed in dejected, figuring we'd be DQ'd. Talked about our mental states. Went through the five stages of grief in about 30 minutes. And then decided, shit, it was the organizers fault for not making the wrist bands strong enough, so we'd protest. And then, re-energized, zipped off to get one more control, but still just walked it in after that.
Probably would have had 6 more points without that, moved up a dozen places. Would'a, could'a, should'a.... Need to HTFU.
But still, we did great! Seriously. :-)
More later, off to the sauna.
Map/results/splits are here.
We seemed to have covered 73.9 km as the crow flies, maybe 90 km actually?? Did a lot of running.
Note
So a bit about the hazards on the infamous waiver --
The highlights:
-- Not a viper in sight. It was way too cold for them.
-- The nettles were pretty tame. I probably got hit no more than 4 or 5 times, just glancing blows on the hands, almost no lasting effect. I did wear two pair of O' pants, which given the temperature, was actually just about right.
-- Electric fences. Well, there was at least one! Crossed a bunch of fences early on, carefully, but they didn't seem to have the power on because even when being careful I am still pretty clumsy and brushing a couple of wires elicited no reaction. Since there were no animals in most of the fields, there seemed little reason to have the power on. So I got a little complacent....
And got nailed once, I believe when I actually grabbed a wire with one hand to lift it up and it seemed to take about a second and then suddenly, oooh, that woke me up. I felt a little tingly for a couple of minutes.... :-)
-- Ditches. We didn't challenge the "wide ditches" though we did cross several on bridges of one sort or another and the ditches would have probably involved swimming. The regular ditches were mostly crossable without getting wet, well, at least they were for Barb who never went in. It helped that I tended to go first and then she would she where not to go. I went in waist-deep a couple of times, knee-deep a couple other times, not bad at all. Though one of the waist-deep ones was into a ditch right on the edge of a huge peat bog. The spot I jumped to that I thought was firm ground turned out to be liquid peat, and I was suddenly in to my waist in this really rather gross stuff, arching my feet as much as possible to keep my shoes from staying there permanently. Extracted myself, but not without difficultly.
And taking the rest in order:
We really never got lost.
We were never attacked by animals, though we were barked at by a lot of dogs and checked out pretty carefully by a herd of cows.
After my visit to the peat ditch I seemed to have a bunch of tick-like things crawling on me, which I slowly dispensed of. Did not share this info with Barb.... :-)
We were not shot by any hunters.
No trees fell on us.
No injuries from trash.
Electric fences, one but no apparent damage.
Never hit by a car, though there were some fast ones.
Sinking in ditches/bogs, etc. -- close.
Hypothermia from above. No, but got a little chilly until I dried out.
Inability to move in bog/ditch/marsh -- close.
No heart failure.
Overload injuries to muscles, joints, skin, bones -- of course, it's a rogaine!
No dehydration.
No carbo deficit.
No hypothermia.
No problem with sleep deprivation as we didn't have to drive home. :-)
Unforseen risks -- well, they might have listed loosing your e-punch. :-)
And as far as the above dangers being aggravated by darkness or bad weather, well, the weather was perfect, high maybe upper 40s, low probably low 30s, no rain except for a brief sprinkle early on, clearing up after dark, full moon. Had to dress right, but the weather was just right for a 24-hour effort, so much better than being hot.
The highlights:
-- Not a viper in sight. It was way too cold for them.
-- The nettles were pretty tame. I probably got hit no more than 4 or 5 times, just glancing blows on the hands, almost no lasting effect. I did wear two pair of O' pants, which given the temperature, was actually just about right.
-- Electric fences. Well, there was at least one! Crossed a bunch of fences early on, carefully, but they didn't seem to have the power on because even when being careful I am still pretty clumsy and brushing a couple of wires elicited no reaction. Since there were no animals in most of the fields, there seemed little reason to have the power on. So I got a little complacent....
And got nailed once, I believe when I actually grabbed a wire with one hand to lift it up and it seemed to take about a second and then suddenly, oooh, that woke me up. I felt a little tingly for a couple of minutes.... :-)
-- Ditches. We didn't challenge the "wide ditches" though we did cross several on bridges of one sort or another and the ditches would have probably involved swimming. The regular ditches were mostly crossable without getting wet, well, at least they were for Barb who never went in. It helped that I tended to go first and then she would she where not to go. I went in waist-deep a couple of times, knee-deep a couple other times, not bad at all. Though one of the waist-deep ones was into a ditch right on the edge of a huge peat bog. The spot I jumped to that I thought was firm ground turned out to be liquid peat, and I was suddenly in to my waist in this really rather gross stuff, arching my feet as much as possible to keep my shoes from staying there permanently. Extracted myself, but not without difficultly.
And taking the rest in order:
We really never got lost.
We were never attacked by animals, though we were barked at by a lot of dogs and checked out pretty carefully by a herd of cows.
After my visit to the peat ditch I seemed to have a bunch of tick-like things crawling on me, which I slowly dispensed of. Did not share this info with Barb.... :-)
We were not shot by any hunters.
No trees fell on us.
No injuries from trash.
Electric fences, one but no apparent damage.
Never hit by a car, though there were some fast ones.
Sinking in ditches/bogs, etc. -- close.
Hypothermia from above. No, but got a little chilly until I dried out.
Inability to move in bog/ditch/marsh -- close.
No heart failure.
Overload injuries to muscles, joints, skin, bones -- of course, it's a rogaine!
No dehydration.
No carbo deficit.
No hypothermia.
No problem with sleep deprivation as we didn't have to drive home. :-)
Unforseen risks -- well, they might have listed loosing your e-punch. :-)
And as far as the above dangers being aggravated by darkness or bad weather, well, the weather was perfect, high maybe upper 40s, low probably low 30s, no rain except for a brief sprinkle early on, clearing up after dark, full moon. Had to dress right, but the weather was just right for a 24-hour effort, so much better than being hot.
Friday Sep 12, 2008 #
Note
Made it to Tallinn yesterday evening without too much aggravation, just a little late, carrying everything with us so no lost bags. Walked partway into town from the airport to stretch the legs, then caught a bus, then walked some more. Pretty neat Old Town section, the rest of the city that I saw seems reasonably ugly. Will explore a bit in the morning before taking the train to Tartu.
Dinner and then out cold....
It's cold here, even the guy at the hotel said so. And friendly locals, at least the two times that I chatted up young girls for help in finding our way. Who says guys never stop to ask for directions? :-)
Dinner and then out cold....
It's cold here, even the guy at the hotel said so. And friendly locals, at least the two times that I chatted up young girls for help in finding our way. Who says guys never stop to ask for directions? :-)
Note
Lots of very low intensity exercise -- over to the train station to check on things and get tickets, a stroll around the Old Town, then a bike tour out to the northeast along the coast, not a day you would normally think of going to the beach, also stops at a couple of monuments and museums, plus the President's house, though he was not home....
Now on the train to Tartu, very civilized, has web access, though it (the train) is quite bouncy so typing is not easy.
Tomorrow is getting closer....
Now on the train to Tartu, very civilized, has web access, though it (the train) is quite bouncy so typing is not easy.
Tomorrow is getting closer....
Note
So Barb installs Skype on my laptop and I have a really nice long talk with Gail, and the connection is perfect, and all it costs is 36 cents (actually 36 of Barb's cents since I'm logged in on her account).... :-) :-)
Wednesday Sep 10, 2008 #
biking 48:36 [3] 13.6 mi (3:34 / mi)
weight:138lbs
Whately - South Deerfield, north breeze. Needed to get some exercise to calm the mind.
Off tonight.
Good article in the Times. I like the last paragraph --
"What can one do? Go home, love your children, try not to bicker, eat well, walk in the rain, feel the sun on your face and laugh loud and often, as much as possible, and especially at yourself. Because the only antidote to death is not poetry, or drama, or miracle drugs, or a roomful of technical expertise and good intentions. The antidote to death is life."
Got to remember to keep laughing....
Off tonight.
Good article in the Times. I like the last paragraph --
"What can one do? Go home, love your children, try not to bicker, eat well, walk in the rain, feel the sun on your face and laugh loud and often, as much as possible, and especially at yourself. Because the only antidote to death is not poetry, or drama, or miracle drugs, or a roomful of technical expertise and good intentions. The antidote to death is life."
Got to remember to keep laughing....
Tuesday Sep 9, 2008 #
Note
In a mild state of panic about Estonia. Leaving tomorrow evening. The plan is to pretend like I'm leaving tonight, get everything together today.
We're actually pretty well organized, I think, thanks to Barb. Places to stay, train and bus tickets all arranged, we even seem to have semi-booked a bike tour of the old town in Tallinn for Friday morning (one last workout?).
Now if I can just get my act together. And remember to bring some warm clothes.
As of right now, the plan does not include bringing nordic walking poles --
"Yes, you can use Nordic walking poles. In fact, these may proove quite useful (in particular, if you have telescope poles), for example, you can check how deep is a ditch ;-)"
We're actually pretty well organized, I think, thanks to Barb. Places to stay, train and bus tickets all arranged, we even seem to have semi-booked a bike tour of the old town in Tallinn for Friday morning (one last workout?).
Now if I can just get my act together. And remember to bring some warm clothes.
As of right now, the plan does not include bringing nordic walking poles --
"Yes, you can use Nordic walking poles. In fact, these may proove quite useful (in particular, if you have telescope poles), for example, you can check how deep is a ditch ;-)"
nautilus 40:00 [1]
The usual, with special emphasis on muscles needed for swimming across and then climbing out of bottomless ditches....
"Indeed, the forecast has improved a bit.
The current low pressure area should move further to east by tomorrow afternoon and from Thursday a high pressure area should settle in for the week-end. This means low probability of rain, but cold air moving in from the north. In turn, that implies ground temperatures dropping below zero during night (up to minus 3)."
-3? It's still early September.... Will we find ourselves just wanting to stay in the ditches because the water will be warmer than the air? Possible question for the organizers -- can we get to all the controls without leaving the ditches?
"Indeed, the forecast has improved a bit.
The current low pressure area should move further to east by tomorrow afternoon and from Thursday a high pressure area should settle in for the week-end. This means low probability of rain, but cold air moving in from the north. In turn, that implies ground temperatures dropping below zero during night (up to minus 3)."
-3? It's still early September.... Will we find ourselves just wanting to stay in the ditches because the water will be warmer than the air? Possible question for the organizers -- can we get to all the controls without leaving the ditches?