Training Log Archive: fletchIn the 1 days ending Oct 10, 2010:
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Sunday Oct 10, 2010 #
6 AM
Adventure Race (Metro Orienteer) 1:56:56 [3] 15.0 km (7:48 / km)
shoes: Salamon XT Wings
After our support crew got some timing issues from the previous day sorted, we were surprised to find that we were in front by half an hour. It didn't change the fact that getting race maps for the whole day at 5:30am for a 6am start makes for a mad rush, but did get us thinking that the prime focus for the day should be consistency.
A metro Orienteering leg was a good way to start from our point of view, with the best part of 30 controls to collect, many worth 10-15 minute time bonuses. Seeing as there was no stress in making the paddle cutoff time later, and no point in getting to the paddle before the window opened, we opted to collect all but one of the controls. Had one little miss and one route choice change where we decided to go around the river and over the bridge rather than a swim option.
It took a little while for my legs to get going, with Saz initally runnig stronger than me, so tRicky navved throughout. My legs came good again after about 20 minutes, and we saved Sarah a little with some towing in the second hald of the leg, as she was doing the first 3 legs straight.
Seemed to come back in about the same time as many other teams. With so many optionals out there it was hard to know how we'd done, but figured it was pretty well, seeing as we'd only left 15 minutes bonus out there. Saw RobbieJ leading his team at a fair clip a few times, but were happy that we seemed to go a different way to most from the start, so didn't end up giving anyone else a tow around the course.
A metro Orienteering leg was a good way to start from our point of view, with the best part of 30 controls to collect, many worth 10-15 minute time bonuses. Seeing as there was no stress in making the paddle cutoff time later, and no point in getting to the paddle before the window opened, we opted to collect all but one of the controls. Had one little miss and one route choice change where we decided to go around the river and over the bridge rather than a swim option.
It took a little while for my legs to get going, with Saz initally runnig stronger than me, so tRicky navved throughout. My legs came good again after about 20 minutes, and we saved Sarah a little with some towing in the second hald of the leg, as she was doing the first 3 legs straight.
Seemed to come back in about the same time as many other teams. With so many optionals out there it was hard to know how we'd done, but figured it was pretty well, seeing as we'd only left 15 minutes bonus out there. Saw RobbieJ leading his team at a fair clip a few times, but were happy that we seemed to go a different way to most from the start, so didn't end up giving anyone else a tow around the course.
8 AM
Adventure Race (MTB) 1:23:25 [0]
Another short MTB leg = my turn to sit out again. Felt much healthier than after the first run yesterday. Don't know much of hte details, but Captain Tooms came in pretty happy with the world having passed a bunch of teams near the end. Had made a bit of a charge on this leg and were (I think) second into transition. Hooray for navigation.
9 AM
Adventure Race (Coasteer) 2:32:15 [3]
shoes: x-talon 212
Out of transition and down to the beach for Tooms to swim to the checkpoint in the middle of Green's Pool. Most teams had the person who sat out the MTB suited up in full wetsuit, but I had no desire to get in the water, and Tooms was prett sure he wouldn't freeze in a 100m'ish swim, so jumped in in his knicks before doing a strip on the rocks next to the official photographer.
All done very efficiently, especially the missing Jo Fisher by millimetres during the swim, and we were off on a coasteer.
We were at the head of quite a pack of teams to the first checkpoint, and as we descended to where I thought it was marked, I tossed up whether the circle was out by a bit or whether JJ really wanted us to wade knee deep so early in the leg. After checking a different buch of rocks, I headed back to where it was mapped and went wading with Woop Woop to find the control. After this one, Tooms took the map and I took the punch card...
A bit annoying to lead so many teams in, as it was pretty well hidden, but not a big time loss.
Similar story at the second one. A small islet. Got to the vicinity and decided it must be on the island on the other side if a 20m channel. Oh well, more wading, so in I went - up to my neck at the time Tooms yelled out that it was on a much smaller piece of rock that I could have gotten to without getting wet. Bugger.
Had one more minor time loss when Tooms stuck his thumb over a checkpoint and we went straight past it. Quickest I moved the whole leg was going back to get it.
The rest of the leg was pretty straight forward, but some of the rock clambering was a bit dicey at times, and got wet plenty, even without the rain squalls that started coming through in the second half of the leg. Gradually pulled away from the pack behind, and were gradually left behind by ?the Mongrel Madmen?.
We left the last optional as we thought we couldn't gain much, but could lose significant time if we weren't clean on it and headed in to the start of the paddle.
The rock scrambling felt slow and hard at times, but it probably helped keep the intensity down a bit, which was a good thing by this stage of the race. Very glad to have switched into the light shoes for this leg, as they were wet throughout.
All done very efficiently, especially the missing Jo Fisher by millimetres during the swim, and we were off on a coasteer.
We were at the head of quite a pack of teams to the first checkpoint, and as we descended to where I thought it was marked, I tossed up whether the circle was out by a bit or whether JJ really wanted us to wade knee deep so early in the leg. After checking a different buch of rocks, I headed back to where it was mapped and went wading with Woop Woop to find the control. After this one, Tooms took the map and I took the punch card...
A bit annoying to lead so many teams in, as it was pretty well hidden, but not a big time loss.
Similar story at the second one. A small islet. Got to the vicinity and decided it must be on the island on the other side if a 20m channel. Oh well, more wading, so in I went - up to my neck at the time Tooms yelled out that it was on a much smaller piece of rock that I could have gotten to without getting wet. Bugger.
Had one more minor time loss when Tooms stuck his thumb over a checkpoint and we went straight past it. Quickest I moved the whole leg was going back to get it.
The rest of the leg was pretty straight forward, but some of the rock clambering was a bit dicey at times, and got wet plenty, even without the rain squalls that started coming through in the second half of the leg. Gradually pulled away from the pack behind, and were gradually left behind by ?the Mongrel Madmen?.
We left the last optional as we thought we couldn't gain much, but could lose significant time if we weren't clean on it and headed in to the start of the paddle.
The rock scrambling felt slow and hard at times, but it probably helped keep the intensity down a bit, which was a good thing by this stage of the race. Very glad to have switched into the light shoes for this leg, as they were wet throughout.
12 PM
Adventure Race (Inlet Paddle) 2:42:00 [3] 20.0 km (8:06 / km)
Well, I'd been hoping to miss this one, but as there was no ocean, Saz got her way :) Started by dragging the boats 300m or so to the mouth of the inlet and began. There was a nice tailwind, but I was more fatigued than I realised and was pretty quickly falling off the back. As the wind picked up and some squalls came through we angled across the inlet. Happy not to be going straight across it this time :) even if it wasn't so big. No hassles staying on, but hassles staying on AND going anywhere at a decent speed.
Once we were lined up a bit better with hte wind and chop and into a more sheltered part, we grabbed tRicky's paddle leash as I had been getting left behind pretty badly and tied me on to the back of Tooms' ski. This worked a treat early, but got harder as we had to change direction across the chop a bit more, and I spent much of my time alternating between trying not to surf a wave into the middle of John's back and then trying to give him a little slack in the tow rope so that he could turn himself back in the right direction after I had pulled him side on to the waves.
I think he'd had enough by the time we beached to look for the stolen control with a few other teams and we unhitched. Spent a little while here running up and down the beach to warm up as I had fallen in a couple of times in quick succession not long previously.
It may well have been easier to stay in if I wasn't attached, but it's not easy to tell. There's a very big difference between what I can hadle comfortably for a one hour ocean paddle and what I can handle at the back end of an adventure race.
When we left the beach I made it around the headland on my own in one piece, and then we could turn to have a pretty clean run with the wind to the river mouth. Had a bit of a second wind here and was moving at a decent clip, but by the time we hit the river mouth for the last couple of km I was shattered again and desperately trying to stay in Tooms wash.
I knew we'd lose time here, particularly with me needing the tow, but given our lead from the fist day, our pretty clean efforts to this point and the fact that the paddle wasn't the total disaster of the previous couple of years, I was confident that we were still in a strong position.
Once we were lined up a bit better with hte wind and chop and into a more sheltered part, we grabbed tRicky's paddle leash as I had been getting left behind pretty badly and tied me on to the back of Tooms' ski. This worked a treat early, but got harder as we had to change direction across the chop a bit more, and I spent much of my time alternating between trying not to surf a wave into the middle of John's back and then trying to give him a little slack in the tow rope so that he could turn himself back in the right direction after I had pulled him side on to the waves.
I think he'd had enough by the time we beached to look for the stolen control with a few other teams and we unhitched. Spent a little while here running up and down the beach to warm up as I had fallen in a couple of times in quick succession not long previously.
It may well have been easier to stay in if I wasn't attached, but it's not easy to tell. There's a very big difference between what I can hadle comfortably for a one hour ocean paddle and what I can handle at the back end of an adventure race.
When we left the beach I made it around the headland on my own in one piece, and then we could turn to have a pretty clean run with the wind to the river mouth. Had a bit of a second wind here and was moving at a decent clip, but by the time we hit the river mouth for the last couple of km I was shattered again and desperately trying to stay in Tooms wash.
I knew we'd lose time here, particularly with me needing the tow, but given our lead from the fist day, our pretty clean efforts to this point and the fact that the paddle wasn't the total disaster of the previous couple of years, I was confident that we were still in a strong position.
2 PM
Adventure Race (MTB) 1:05:51 [0]
As floated earlier with Tooms, he was fresher than me after the long paddle, even after falling in under the bridge with about a km to go in the paddle, so I took the soft (or best for the team) option of sitting out the last leg, the first change to our planned team line-up for the whole race. He didn't make much sense in transition, but his brain came back quickly.
I got to help with one final pack-up, then drive back to the middle of town to wait. No team run finish this year, so my race was done. And I wasn't hypothermic. Hooray!
Waiting at the finish line was a little nreve-racking. I was expecting to see teams finish, then wait and count the minutes to try to figure out where we sat. Was stoked to see Saz and the lads flying into the finish first! Given that we had only missed half an hour of time credits on the day and had started with a lead, we figured this had pretty much guaranteed us the win, but it was only a few minutes before a few more teams rolled in, so we weren't entirely confident until the presentations later that evening.
I got to help with one final pack-up, then drive back to the middle of town to wait. No team run finish this year, so my race was done. And I wasn't hypothermic. Hooray!
Waiting at the finish line was a little nreve-racking. I was expecting to see teams finish, then wait and count the minutes to try to figure out where we sat. Was stoked to see Saz and the lads flying into the finish first! Given that we had only missed half an hour of time credits on the day and had started with a lead, we figured this had pretty much guaranteed us the win, but it was only a few minutes before a few more teams rolled in, so we weren't entirely confident until the presentations later that evening.