Training Log Archive: mintore

Day 6 The One Cowboy Relay
I thought the day started out fine, a strongish cup of coffee, a bit of stretching and short warmup jog. The change to 1:15,000 and melee at the start didn't help me get off to a smooth navigational day but after two controls, I started to settle. Tripped once and then, during the 3rd loop, I took a nice "shallow dive" through the sagebrush. It seemed higher today or maybe my feet only moved lower. But it was a good sprawl that was near the start, so I was up and running as soon a I had my wits. Run, run, run, look at map, look at the place the compass should be on my thumb, Rats!! I spent a long time looking for the compass with its green elastic among the sage, thinking about a poem on Attackpt not too long ago about the companionship of compass. One runner (from GAOC?) mentioned that I had helped her find her compass during a Flying Pig. I had forgotten this but said that I hoped my karma was still good. A while later, moving the search back still a bit further, standing on edge on a sage was my compass. The forest giveth back… It took a bit to get thinking again and the rest of the "run" was more of a map walk/jog/simul-run.

Did a nice hike around Turtle rock in the afternoon (lost and regained my hat, it was just one of those days.

In the evening, one of my neighbors was walking around the road and we talked for a bit. Yesterday, at about 3 pm, I was watching the clouds roll in and took a short walk west to get a better view. They were very black and I knew that I would be hunkering down soon. One or two drops fell, and I started quickly back along the road. A huge clap of thunder let go and my heart jumped clear out of me! I saw no lightning and that was all there was. I headed for my cozy tent at the highest point in the campground that was not a cliff and next to a good sized tree. It rained just a bit, there were some sirens, and I had a nap and read the Phys Org textbook. Apparently, there had been some faint calls for help audible to people a couple of rows closer to the beautiful offwidth that people had been climbing a few days earlier (300 m from my tent). One couple nearby turned out to include an EMT as well. As it happened, there was a group ascending the cliff and the leader was perched on top belaying. She was struck by lightning and sirens were the mountain rescue. Apparently her pant legs were burnt away but she miraculously was fine. I was surprised that she was not even close to the highest point on the crag but with cams, biners, and sweat, she will have been the most conductive. Maybe I might second guess running during thunderstorms??

6.3 km in 5 loops

Day 5
I awoke to some sprinkles on the tent and had to run the wipers on low as I bumped down the more washboardy Road 700 to Pelican Bay. The rain yesterday with traffic added quite a few more ruts. It was sun and clouds at the start; I wore the rain visor just in case. This start was more open and less congested and drinking some stronger coffee kept me smiling. Leg 1 was long and just trying to get my heart working and my breathing less ragged. Ended up in a pack with Angelica, Charlie S., and a teenager for the first 6 controls. We were slower than the leading pack but found C3 cleanly and moved ahead. The going was slower and time was easily lost. The path to C4 right of the line was rocky and slow. I tried to go it alone on the way to 6 and 7; the first had no effect but for C7, I seem to have missed the control passing through the W of the circle and then continued 150m SW. Ron Birks had missed as well and we both worked back up to the cliff (90 s lost). I saw him through the long leg to C9 but he was way too fast to follow through the open. Took the longer path out nearly to the fence and over the ridge end before cutting directly to the control. This looked like a rock more than a bare-rock hilltop. The last loop was riddled with errors. They all fit into a group of leaving a control carelessly and then running right of my compass bearing. This caused me to go to C11 before C10 and C41 before C13 (I saved dylpop from an mp at C11). Coming in to C12 form the N didn't help and feeling chased at C12, even those I saw no one other than Dylan should not have distracted me. I think that I will be able to avoid similar mistakes over the coming days. The lead that I had on Bill and Peggy was lost by C13 and I just tried to keep close to the end. Best finish of the week but a "rainy" end to the run.

BTW, the rest of the day was rainy, on and off. But there was a huge rainbow hovering over Laramie Daze!

Laramie Daze - Day 5 Pelican Bay East

Day 4 - Brown's Landing
This race was quite different than the preceding three days, a bit of a wakeup call. The start was on the side of a hill and made for an unpleasant few minutes until people started to spread out. Followed a direct path to the right of the first hill and left of the second to get to C1. There was less of a clear pack structure today. I saw Steve at C3. The exit from this control was a problem because I had no plan. There was a big hill to go around and I took a few steps to the SW before changing my mind and going for the trail around the E side. I think I chose wrong. My biggest error was C4 and it resulted from the lack of a good attackpoint. The other way around the hill would have helped with this. I ended up on the spur to the SW where the map switched to base map. This spur seemed to have a small knoll like the correct one so I was very disoriented and annoyed with myself. I didn't read the instructions closely enough to know about lower detail margin until I was tucked back in my tent in the evening. Anyhow, voices drew me back to C4. I didn't consider routes carefully enough to C5 and lost several minutes picking around the E side of the cliffs through the boulders and holes but hitting the control directly. At C5, I started to fight my way forward through the short course runners and walkers. A bit of bouldering sped me to C6 and I just worked my way up the line, C8 was tricky but fine, and I used my compass to C9. I probably lost track of which outcropping C10 would be under but lost little time. C11 apparently had many people go over the hilltop. From the saddle, I diagonaled straight to the rocks on the NW side of the circle and then picked my way to the bag. C12 was a straight shot following the yellow under the line and then the pace picked up. A faster pace at the very end made for some raggedy nav. C14 was hard with the steep downslope to the ravine and then the intermediate saddle made it a bit tricky. I made up time in here but then lost it again. After 15, I should have been very careful leaving the stream and alders but I ended up at the outcroppings W of the control and had to quickly decend to the control and raced with the others for C17. Missed SW of circle and lost 30 s. I liked the course a lot but it was a learning experience too!

After the race went with dersu to the Toe for a bit of training. The fact that the temperature dropped by nearly 25 degrees and a thunderstorm with very close thunder/lightning decided to pelt us made it amusing but chilly. Nice afternoon with Tom getting some real food, talking, and finding out if we will be dry for Day 5,6.

Laramie Daze - Day 4 Brown's Landing, 5.8 km

Training on the Toe in a thunderstorm with dersu; check, done it! (controls 1-6 less #2 from the map)

Day 3. The RM Goat at Remarkable Flats.

This was the long course for the week but the only thing goat-like about it was the chase. Of the courses through Day 5 (I am getting caught up), this one had the most coherent groupings of runners The first leg I just ran and looked around but was not navigating; I was counting on Nadim and Wyatt to do this and the strategy worked out. It was a long way to C1 and there were a number of bays and small outcroppings to try to get a feel for. The bays were dry but had different grasses in them. After C2 I was reading and running; it was very pleasant terrain that allowed both to happen while staying on your feet! Bill and I even had some time to talk early on. On the leg to C6, I wound around the edge of the alders, over the small ridge and across Frog Hole. There was a good bit of downed trees in this aspen grove but I think it was a wash on time versus those that pushed further S in the yellow. I had a nice run alone until meeting Bill and Angelica again at C6. C14 was probably the hardest control, tucked in the sheltered, rocky re-entrant after the aspens/creek. Felt good running to C20 until the spur just above the line junked out in rocks and small cliffs. Everyone else cut left, I went right, oops! It was a mess of tight tree, vegetation and water that required me assuming the marmot pose to escape (10 s lost on group). Cut N of the alders on C21, thinking this was my only chance to catch up (Steve G. made the same choice). It might have saved just a bit of time but the sage was slow picking, especially trudging up hill. Beat Sverre to the finish by a step on a hard sprint, even though the online results don't reflect this. This was a perfect end to the race, he went faster, I went faster, a second longer I could have been on the wrong side of the see-saw. No large errors, just never though that I could outrun everyone else and so I made conservative choices.

Laramie Daze - Day 3 RMGoat, 10.9 km

turned on Garmin after the first long leg, or second?

Day 2. Devil's Claw
This map is the most yellow map I have ever seen. Some patches of light green alder and open forest and the beaver meadow in green across the center of the map, but wow, yellow. And not many rocks either, this was close to a contour-O. The course was definitely a runner's course other than being really steep. Made one mistake on C6 that would be reprised twice on Day 5: going to the wrong control of two that differed only by a fairly small bearing. As I ran up the spur to C6 I saw runners and did not trust my head that the control with people was too far over (or that it seemed to be a big tree). I was winded going up the hill, so I am arguing lack of oxygen but with Day 5 there is a trend to be stopped. Beyond that, the run was pretty clean. Missed C13 by 50 m to the S but caught myself on C16 from dropping low too soon. Other than empty legs, this was ok. I could also breathe better!

Laramie Daze - Day 2 Devil's Claw, 7.1 km

Event: Laramie Daze
 

Day 1. Drove from Lincoln, NE to Vedauwoo, set up a tent in site 25, and then made my way to the start at Yellow Pine Campground. Talked with Ted Good and Steve Gregg while waiting to get underway. Then, took two laps of the campground loop to get the stiffness out (the second one with ever cheery Ali). The race was fairly straightforward but a good introduction to the terrain.

After the race, it was pretty hard to breathe. This just got worse and worse, with very liquidy lungs, and I barely able to talk to Brenda and Aidan at Summit Rest Area. Slowly, it improved over a few hours.

Laramie Days seems like it will be extremely fun and very laid back (as advertised).

Laramie Daze - Day 1 Yellow Pine, 6.4 km

I am working on descriptions, maybe I will have them by the time the meet finishes.