Training Log Archive: maprunner

Travel day home. Slept late, nice breakfast at Wild Eggs in Lexington. Then drove to Cincinnati and walked slowly around Devou Park to stretch our legs. Too bad the museum was closed on Mondays, but the overlook had a great views of the city. Uneventful flights home, despite worries about turbulence. I listened to a podcast that had me literally LOL, wonder what others on the plane thought about that!

US Nationals, Middle, Brown B, Carter Cave
warm and sunny

Three days in a row was too much for my body, which led to major brain farts today. Interestingly, I was able to recover in between mistakes and move fairly well. If only we counted Winsplits "time without mistakes" I would have placed third today. If only.....

I was feeling too excited and nervous at the start and rushed through the first three controls. I stopped after 3 to look at the route to 4. My silly brain felt rushed and tired and somehow decided that climbing the hill to the south was too hard, and there was a big cliff in the way. (I never saw the trail on the map that went around the reentrant). So I made the decision to head up the hill to the north and add unnecessary distance and climb (which I hadn't really seen when I made my decision). My plan was to take the trail to the west of 6 and attack 4 from the trail bend. I thought I found the trail and was following it until it petered out. Then I wandered "towards" the control. I was confused when I saw a fence, which was "not on the map". Ha! I get sloppy in following rough compass when I get tired. I had gone way off, but I didn't know it at the time. I noticed lots of people streaming towards me, so I headed back where they were coming from. Stood in the open area for a while (it was really a trail) decided to just head south till things started making sense.

I saw Clare at 4. I knew I had already lost lots of time to her, so I guess that took some pressure off. It settled my mind and I did great on 5 and 6.

Then we were together on the trail to 7, and once again I messed up reading what was a trail and what was the open area. She ducked into the woods but I kept on going. Again, wandered a bit until I looked at my compass and forced myself to believe it. I climbed all the way back up to 7.

I was surprised to see Clare leaving 8. I kept her in sight, or was even slightly ahead of her, for the rest of the race (until the Go control). We often took different micro route choices. She was very steady and accurate, and I was slow on the uphills. I was also not having a lot of fun only because I was so tired. I stumbled over tiny logs, fell a few times, and just had to remind myself it would all be over soon.

Like O Maps, I almost climbed down to the wrong control at 14, but Clare's motions alerted me that I was wrong and THEN I read the control description. Top of cliff was a very different location.

AP says I lost time on leg 15, but that's because I walked and slowed down to rest before the finish chute :) I gave it all that I had left in me at that point, felt there was no reason not to try. I had fun but was too tired to be the fastest today.



Nice warm day to hang out and visit with friends. Then we drove to Lexington, checked into our hotel (which was about 1 month old, still smelled like fresh paint). Wonderful visit and dinner with Summer, Silas and Owen. Wish we could have stayed longer but I crashed around 8 pm and we left.

OCIN_FP2023_Sunday_Middle_5_BrownB - Splits

US Nationals, brown Long, Carter Caves
Warm sunny day, very windy

My legs were so tired last night, I had a hard time sleeping. So I was worried about today. I was a little bit unfocused to start. Did fine to 1 but had a bad plan to 2 and wasn’t paying attention. I saw a bunch of people climbing the hill and blindly followed. Never looked at my map to guess that they were heading to 3. Only figured it out when I saw control code. Wow, brain was not yet turned on. Lost about 4 min here.

The mistake sharpened my attention and I did well the rest of the course. Slight miss on 6 but I stopped right away and figured out where to go.

Leaving 6 was such a slog and I was exhausted. Twice I got wraped up in branches because I was looking down. At one point, I was taking steps but not making any forward progress. I stopped then to rest and eat some raisins.

I was spooked by that uphill, so I changed my plan for the rest of 7, and stayed high on main road instead of taking the minor trail. I also went around from 8 to 9 because I had seen the finish chute and knew what was coming.

Overall pleased today. Legs are now shredded and complaining a lot. Tomorrow will be interesting.



We got to our cabin that we are sharing with Pat and Matthew, and I took the first shower. When Mike tried to shower, we found that the power was out. A tree fell in the park and took down a power line. So weird to lose housing power at two o trips in a row!

Mike and I went to Grayson for dinner (park banquet was canceled). We had to wait for one tree to be cleared on the way out; and drove single lane past a newly downed tree on the way back. Hope the wind dies down and things go smoothly for the organizers tomorrow.

C • Only you know, but.. 2

OCIN_FP2023_Saturday_Long_5 Brown B - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XXV - 2023 OUSA Nationals
 

US Nationals, Brown sprint, Morehead College. Warm and raining.

I had fun. My foot didn’t hurt. I ran harder than my body was prepared for, so my brain got tired and I made several silly mistakes.

Did try pretty hard in the finish chute and did well. That was fun, my first sprint with SI Air.



Nice breakfast with Fred, Anna and Per from GAOC.
Nice dinner at Carter Caves, enjoyed meeting Annie Almstedt from COO and learning that she and Mike overlapped at Stockholm U!

OCIN_FP2023_Friday_Sprint_4 Brown A 5 Brown B - Splits

Travel day. We arrived early to check out the new KC airport. Very nice upgrade from the old one.
Looking forward to a great weekend with friends in the woods!

Hike with Sandy and Kiri. It had been too long since we last talked, I was glad to catch up.