Training Log Archive: expresso

Event: US Two-day Classic O Championships
 

US Champs 2010 - Day 1
Moreau Lake State Park, NY
There is nothing like the classic US Champs. I sooo enjoy the whole experience and this was one of the best. The terrain was fantastic and my runs through it were very memorable.
Right from the start my mind was wired by the dizzying contours and rock features. "What am I looking at?" was my first thought as I tried to unwind the whole thing.
1 - Stumbled along as I began to pick out features and made my way to the top of the nearby hill and attacked through the small marsh. "Not a bad start, but..."
2 - "What now?" Saw the catching features 2/3 of the way but considered it too far to go without knowledge of my whereabouts so I tried to keep solid map contact but lost it about 200m along. Bit rattled as I tried to keep moving and reestablish contact. No luck, just didn't have my brain into the map yet, so I decided to go NE until I hit the marsh or cliffs. Arrived at the plateau edge and felt a cool breeze chill me and told me I'd missed my catching feature. Knew I must head east and did so until I caught the cliffs and the path which wound me to my goal. Not good but not a disaster.
3-11 - "Oh yeah!! I've got this now."
12 - "Ugh." Plan was to descend to the flatter area and contour around to the hill just north of control. A perfect storm of things came together to cause me to ruin this leg. First, I didn't see that my chosen line would require a climb up from the flatter area to the hill. Second, like a rolling boulder, my momentum just kept pushing me down until I caught the trough containing the lower trail; thought it was my trail because I only saw one on the map. Third, a ton of people flocking about hither and yon, distracting me. Eventually put the pieces together but not until I had squandered over 7 minutes.
14-F Good.
Not so happy that I gave up over 10 minutes but as the results came in, I saw that many others had an even more difficult time out there than I. Also saw some amazing results from the top 5 on the course. Looking forward to another shot at the "plateau" tomorrow.
QuickRoute...

Good warmup.

Day 1 Red X - Splits

Event: ROC - Stop-By-Rochester-On-Your-Way
 

Event: Niagara Falls Sprints
 

Scenery-O around Goat Island between the Niagara Falls. Unsurpassed awesomeness surrounding a fun course. I made two errors that cost me competitively but not ones that I'm too worried about. Still need more analysis of Sunday's race before this Sat.

GLOF O-Cross
Great ending to super meet. I'm so glad I attended as I get to see another top-notch Canadian event. Terrain, courses, arena were great.
I ran hard but made two big mistakes on this race. Somehow it didn't really bother me as I really enjoyed myself out there. Just good to be out on a map at pace. Really looking forward to USC Albany !!

GLOF 2010 Long
Lots of long legs against the grain of the long spurs afforded good route choices. Brutal, muddy climbs and a bit more green than in the postcard pictures of the event. Tough but enjoyable.
I eventually put things together but it took me a while.
1 - super long leg off right away and I stopped to get my choice right. Going right saved climb, offered more paths and a safe attack but the guys who blasted straight through had more success. Too much thinking, I guess.
2 - straight
3 - another long leg that I think I made a good choice but slogged a bit through the green. Lots of effort expended.
4 - POd about this. Ran along stream as handrail and undermapped low area and second stream split and I followed it at good clip until I hit the bottom of the escarpment. Trouble finding my error due to the map so relocated poorly and lost a couple minutes.
5 - easy
6 - tired of running through "white" woods so Laslo and I took the trail left and he ran away from me like a gazelle. Bobble at the end but route was a good choice.
7 - dumb-dumb route lost a few mins.
8 - fine but getting tired and I haven't even got my second map.
9 - gratuitous climb back to arena had me loopy and unable to remember which tree the control was hidden behind. Got my new map and felt dead but had a decent second loop.
10 - windy trail the whole way, over the big spur, easy but climby.
11 - straight, easy.
12 - trail right to avoid climb and provide safe attack.
13 - spike.
14 - contour around, easy.
15 - climb to trail, road, down, right after steep part, over spur, clean.
16 - steep, slippery initial climb killed me but well ran the rest.
17 - same killer ravine as map exchange. The only good thing about this muddy mess was that I knew I wouldn't be doing it again.
Well behind winner & Eugene. Doesn't look good but there were a lot of bright spots in there as I was in touch with my map the whole time and generally making good plans. I will take the good from this race and let the bad motivate some improvement.

Ok warmup.

Long 7 - Splits