Training Log Archive: mayer22

USARA Nats
Raced with Earl and KMama. Great to be back to see everyone after missing last year. Competition also brought out the best in us. We had a strong race with a strong start but faded on the last trek a bit but held on for third. Weather was wet but not too cold. And we finished much faster than the estimated time.

Terrain was similar to 4 years ago (lots of cliffs) with bigger hills/mountains.

Prologue
Ran alongside GOALS and Tecnu at the start until GOALS took a wrong turn. Earl and Kristin ran without packs, only mandatory gear. Arrived at the paddle put in with Tecnu. While we were getting ready I accidentally tripped Garret with my paddle and it smacked Earl in the eye.

Shwacked to a put in just down river and paddled behind Tecnu. Had to do some extra spotting for Earl who couldn't see clearly out of his eye. At CP2 Tecnu overshot the CP. This allowed us to pass them and pull up the creek to the TA ahead of them UNTIL we hit a rock 50 ft before we were going to get out of the boat. Since we were going up river the boat swamped immediately. We ended up having to dump the boat and push up to the shore. When we got there we realized we were missing Earl's pack. Immediately I thought our race might be over as the pack was way down stream. Passed Rock Creek and Alpine Shop and asked them if they saw the pack but no luck. Then I looked over at shore where we dumped the boat and the pack was sitting upside down there. Phewwww! Ran the pack back and pulled the boat up to TA just behind Tecnu. Had we not swamped and finished ahead of Tecnu we would have had the Blazing paddles but it wasn't to be.

Able to leave TA just ahead of Tecnu and run up the road to our bikes. Earl's back was tweaked on the prologue so I grabbed his pack.

This was the KOM climb. It was a long, slow and steady climb. We started 2 minutes ahead of Tecnu and they caught us at the top. Kristin worked super hard to keep us close as she was really in the pain corner. We pulled into TA right behind Tecnu.

O course
We started right behind Tecnu and caught them on the descent to the first saddle. At the second saddle we split and went different directions. Searched a bit for the ruin as it was plotted funny. Passed Tecnu going the other direction in the valley and then missed our spur as the reentrants were hard to count. Hit our backstop and lost not even 5 mins. Saw GOALS going the other way as well coming down the spur. Saw many other teams going the other way. When we got back to the second saddle we saw GOALS finishing their loop but no Tecnu. Assumed they were ahead of us. As we climbed back to TA GOALS was no longer behind us. This was very confusing. When we got to TA we found out we were back in first place.

Got to descend the KOM down to Pineville and road Rt 119 (with cars whizzing by us) to CP 9. Tecnu caught up by CP9 but we took the paved road around to CP10 instead of the gravel road and were able to mostly maintain our position with Tecnu. They pulled ahead a few other times on the bike but we pulled them back. They pulled away for good toward the end and got to TA 8 min ahead.

The bike was through a large ATV park. It was muddy and slick. We all were experiencing some pretty intense chain suck. Most of the trails weren't mapped and the area reminded me a lot of ACE as I figured it would. Was able to make it through with only one missed turn which only cost us 2 min.

We were running low on water as we left the park so we stopped some people driving for a bottle to ensure we'd make it to TA. Once we left the park we took a road that I didn't see on the map. We stopped for a minute to find the road and then moved on.

Took advantage of the chuckwagon at the TA to get some warm food and drink. Enjoyed it on the walk up to the boat. Didn't bother changing our shoes. Saw Tecnu paddling on the reservoir when we got up there probably 15-20 min ahead.

Paddle on the reservoir. Luckily got to do this in the daylight. Had trouble finding one CP hidden behind a tree. Saw GOALS and Bushwhacker on the lake as well. NYARA also put in before we took out.

Run back down to the TA with a brief stop again at the chuckwagon before heading out. Started getting cold as we got some pretty steady rain during TA.

Final ride back to the Lodge. After a short section of highway we were able to warmup on a big climb. Had to walk a bit up the mud. After finding the 2 CPs at the top we had a steep descent down a rocky rutty powerline trail. Once we ducked into the woods we needed our lights and had to start walking. Tried riding again at one point and I caught a rock and launched off the side of the trail 10ft down the hill. Covered my bleeding nose with my buff (perfect). We were able to ride a bit more then walked down to the bottom. Then road the rest of the way back to the lodge.

Started the final trek a bit farther behind Tecnu. Knew it would take some mistakes on their part and a perfect run on ours. GOALS also pulled in just as we left which meant we needed to stay perfect not to let them pass us.

Left the lodge downhill to minimize climbing and went clockwise around the loop. We started with the harder points. Knocked off the first couple and as we got to CP24 we realized the shwack up to CP23 was going to be thick. We tried to consider other route options but weren't crazy about any so we ventured on.

Shwack wasn't too bad and we were able to follow along on the map. As we traveled along the ridge we hit our elevation (or so we thought) and started looking for our reentrant. Found one and searched it several times looking for the CP. After prob 20-30 mins we had no luck and really weren't sure where we were anymore. Getting cold we put more clothes on and then decided to reattack from the top. Luckily NYARA was coming down and informed us that the point was still ahead of us and that our altimeter (which we reset at the bottom) was already 100ft off. So we continued up and found the CP in the next reentrant.

Tried to schwack to CP 30 and got cliffed out. Had to double back and take the trail which we had considered anyway and given the rhodo we had just gone through should have been what we chose in the first place. Lost another 15 min or so.

Took the accurately mapped but slower trail down to Chained Rock and then had a clean, fast run to the finish.

Felt good about our effort on the trek but obviously disappointed with the loss of time. CP 23 and 24 were hard and I think everyone lost at least a little bit of time on them.

Event: USARA Nationals
 

Massage. Calves, shins, and feet.

Quick run to test out DT socks with new shoes. Ran the walking loop (Hazelnut, RR, Homeplace). They worked well.

Felt some soreness on outside of my left ankle again just barely when running along hillside on left.