Training Log Archive: mayer22

Event: Raccoongaine
 

Raccoongaine w/Nut racing as "Two Nuts"
Backpack weighed in at 50# at the start. Weather was good. I figured we'd be out for about 4 hours due to Nut's interest and my desire to get home not long after her bedtime.

Broke from tradition and started clockwise this year. There was a lot more area to the north open to the event this year which meant a lot more opportunities for high point value controls. There was also the opportunity for a lot of road/trail on the back half of the loop which I knew would be better for our situation. I figured we might still get a chance to see some of the points on the E map depending on our speed and how long we were out. In retrospect, I think in general there is less green on the E side of Rt 18.

Nut was not a fan of the thick woods at all. Lots of branches poking inside the backpack as well as scraping her legs. We therefore went pretty slow and deliberate through the thicker areas. I tried to plan routes around marked green areas but not all green areas are marked.

We ran into Julia as we made our first minor mistake (which she coincidentally also made). Shortly after that Nut took a stick to the nose so we stopped to regroup. Nut was on a mission to find Julia again so we picked the pace back up and eventually found her. Unfortunately shortly after I passed by a CP because of a fold on my map and Julia left us again. Probably for the better as the CP was right inside a large green area.

About 4 hours in as I was trying to plan the rest of our route Nut convincingly said she was ready to go back to the car and the swings so we changed course. I was about ready as well. Unfortunately, this was bad timing as there really wasn't a good route and very few CPs along the way. It took us 50 min to get back and we collected 3 controls for only 30 points. Got some rain as we were finishing but didn't seem to bother Nut at all even without the rain gear I had packed.

Had only the 2 errors mentioned above and 2 small minor attack errors on 2 of the last 3 CPs.

Overall a great time despite all the green bushwhacking. Nut's favorite parts in order:
1. Snacks
2. Seeing Julia, twice (still not enough)
3. Finding orange flags and booping the Epunch
4. Swings at the S/F
5. Singing "Seize the Day"
6. Seeing other teams and saying "Hi"
7. Going fast and "beating" other teams.

Campus run. HW, Huck, and Airport. Felt good. Major issues with GPS which was kind of annoying. My pace kept going between 3:00 and 10:00. Neither being right. So I stopped looking at it when I got to HW. Looking at the log, shortly after that is when it started working. My start location was over 2 miles off and it took 3.5 miles to fix. Looks like some of the distance calc after that is still inaccurate but the track is right. Fortunately, I ran an identical route a few weeks ago.
http://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_10132/p...

Homeplace w/Zitch/Skip
Climbing hills definitely easier with 40lbs less. Quick run before the family came home from their first day in Floyd.

Pandapas w/Zitch/Skip/Nut. 40# pack. Hailed for a minute. Trekking poles again. Trails were slick.

Farm/Fields/Forest loop. A little windy. Almost nailed the Warm Hearth loop but had my head down too much. Trails were a bit slick.

Pandapas w/Zitch/Skip/Nut
Took some trekking poles to test out. They were nice to have at times but not super necessary. Not sure if they are worth carrying especially with a map.

Ride home. Heavy pack. 15HW

Ride in from Toyota. Light pack.

Ride back to the car. Light pack. Finished into a good headwind.

Ride in. Heavy pack. Finally replaced my front tire. The rubber was shedding.

Ride to meet KT

Pushing E around in the stroller while KT was at the Dr. Bothered by some wobble in the front wheel. 15mph winds turned the stroller into a sail.

Running at Heritage with Nut on my shoulders and then in the stroller after our family walk.

Homeplace w/Zitch/Skip/E
First solo hike with E. We did lots of exploring on the southern portion. Places I hadn't been in over a year.

Drove out for a run with Nut. It started drizzling as we arrived and when I got out of the car I heard the tire hissing so I quickly drove home to avoid having to change a tire in the rain. Rain picked up and didn't get to take her out.

Pandapas w/Zitch/Skip/Nut. 40# pack. A little chilly but we warmed up. Nut was sleepy.
Dogs ran off just before we got back to the car. Nut was very active in recalling the dogs.

Campus