Training Log Archive: AliC

Busy day, snuck in hammies and 3 x 10 pushups, go arms go!

Warm up with Sergio, only noon runner around, and he's injured, some ab muscle that connects to leg, doesn't sound fun...

Yee-ha! Some fast Orchard hills, 3.54, 3.58, 4.03, 4.06! So definitely fading, but I think my previous best was 3.59 and I definitely skipped straight to 4.10 or something after that. These were way more consistent.

So that's nice, shows I'm recovered from epic WOC week, and seem to be in good shape. Bring on next week's 5k, will now be shooting for the 27-year-old record (yep, records kept at this race for every, single year), which is 17.59- gotta break the 18!

C • 5k 2

Morningski with Alex on River Rd. Connecticut River pretty flooded, apparently things have been rough up in VT and in the Berkshires.

Just a simple ski again, to get the ski legs back, 2 x 10 min no poles and I did a 5 min stint of double-pole, trying to keep the elbow from freaking out with too much too soon! Alex coulda used a smidge of breakfast before...

C • breakfast 55

Event: Mt. Toby Trail Run
 

So a hurricane-safe workout indoors while waiting for Alex-made mousse to set, but Irene seems to have mostly gone W of us, I think...

10 min circuits, 10 min abs + 2 min back, 10 min circuits. Arms and arm-connecting muscles still well sore from my 3 x 7 min of pushups two days ago... We did lots of exercise ball stuff, kinda fun!

Trail run was postponed a few days ago, hope it happens on a day I can make it, but fall schedule seems to be filling on up with o-stuff!

Drive up, sign says Mt. Tom closing at noon b/c of hurricane. Right, so we'll have more speedy orienteering then! Little warm up prancing around the field and then to the start.

Oh yeah, forgot Garmin, but luckily could steal Phil's normal watch for splits!

And first orienteering of the new WOC-year! Training a Mt. Tom Red course Phil planned and PG streamered the first half of. Have to admit, a bit refreshing to not be in the crazy woods- I could see soooo far, and only infrequently deal with downed or dense trees, much less rocky too, well, at least the first half, Mt. Tom does have a few rocks...

Went pretty well, problems to 2 and 6, but not huge, and then unoptimal route to 11, turns out, didn't even see the road option, sigh.

1- left of line to trail, along trail til bend, picked out distinct cliff with corner, and in
2- wanted to just go on a bearing, notice when it got really rocky up to my right, but went far too low, don't remember dropping so much, should have been more aware of height change. saved by distinct features SE of control
3- uphill, spiked
4-more or less online, fun one, picking off cliffs etc!
5- E over knobs to trail, then on edge of little marsh, below cliffs, did read in the circle wrong though, was expecting an nose not a reentrant!
6- mmm, so PG had just left 5, and Alex was just behind me there went on a bearing to 6, saw PG ahead, felt like he was heading to far left but was dragged that ways anyways... bah
7- raced PG, starting a bit after, he was moving pretty well, good to have a bit of pressure!
8, 9- fly downhill, run uphill
10- went right: bit of steep climb, then more or less contouring right around to the nose with a trail, hit it perfectly
11- went for the trail, but road would have been better though!!
12- went left, looks now like right is better, nicer approach into the control and less rock along the way
13- whee downhill!
14- and back up, hit the boulder on the line than contoured
15- left of line through saddles then trail
16- stream to trail to uphill
17- blah, totally messed up, must have headed too far north and hit big trail? reading contours in addition to the trails would have helped... was sprinting to try to make it under 66 = 10 min/k

So starting: 17/2000

C • I scanned the map, so you c... 1

Woo, Team Amherst group cycle! From the Gagarin's, with PG, Phil, Alex. Longest I've been on a bike since moving back to this country, legs felt ok, hurt on hills. Biking is soooo strange, HR just does not go up, even when you're working kinda hard! (Or maybe I'm just a lactic acid wimp or maybe would need to train more on a bike to make that happen).

Nice route, enjoyed the mostly smooth pavement, some of it should be rollerskiable when we get bored out of our minds on River Rd. Buggy towards the end, had a juicy one in my eye til I got home after dinner, blech.

On the moss accompanied by other giggle
10 min abs
2 min back
2 min side plank
2 min of attempting to do push-ups: 3 sets of 7-8, blah blah blah, they just aren't fun!

And then, amazing dinner! Gail cooked up a storm. A chicken storm- braised in brandy, bourbon and port along with creme... apparently there was a step that involved burning the alcohol off the top, too bad I missed that. Delicious! Peaches almost-melba were also yummy yummy...

C • I'm getting hungry! 3

Signed up for Night and Relay Champs, sounds like a blast: sprint, night-o, middle, Corn maze-o, relay. RT tickets currently $245 from Bradley, not so bad!

Noon Puffers without any other noonies, =(, but no one was up for it today. Rained on me a bit, but was refreshing, otherwise a very sticky day... Think I did the loop correctly on my lonesome, did cheat and look at an old GPS track beforehand though.

5 min abs, 1 min back, 3 min hammies - just 8s again
Kinda wimpy, but hey, this is my recovery week!

And rollerski times! Little evening ski with Alex, chit-chattering away, and trying out fabric that might become CSU o-tops in the future. Alex got the running top advertising a midwest brewery, I got a bike top with lots of flowers and polka dots, awesome =) Fabric seemed to work, at least!

Things of note: we were passed by a tractor, twice, and ran into my friend Nick from Oxford who was on a 12 mi run from his Mom's house here in Amherst (lives in NYC now). Cool to see him, last time I saw him was in Minneapolis when he was all dressed up and getting married!

Felt bum and triceps by the end, need to ease into this...

C • Fabric? 10

Just a jog around Emily Dickinson loop counter-clockwise. Legs felt fine, lovely temp eve to be out running after the heat in France! Although, fall seems to be creeping up, was getting darkish towards the end...

3 x 8 reps of each exercise, going to keep these up, still don't want hamstring probs of last fall to return!

Poughkeepsie -> Amherst. Then acquired a new phone. It's not smart, kinda just a replacement for the one I accidentally demised at US Champs...

C • Still the same number I ass... 2

Travel Day: Aix-les-Bains -> Geneva -> Amsterdam -> JFK -> Grand Central -> Croton-Harmon -> Poughkeepsie. Whew.

Warm up in the arena, listening to how the race was progressing for the first leg. They kept mentioning Sam which was a good sign!

Relay:

Sam rocked it and came back only a few minutes back and in 12th place, sweet! Not in a pack, just with Team Hungary 9 seconds behind. Figured I just had to have a nice solid run, not rushing, not trying to run beyond my abilities given not-awesomeness of the middle. Plan kinda worked to 1, 2, 3, I wasn't at all fast, but I was careful and found the controls.

Then I made a similar-feature error to 4 that cost me 15 minutes. Such a bummer! Disappointed I made the mistake in the first place and then more disappointed I just couldn't figure it out for sooo long. My plan was to run straight south to the little trail, then run along that for a bit and then pop over a little hill and end up in the nice bright yellow depression, and continue on from there. Plan was derailed at the 'popping over the little hill' bit- I tried that too early and fell into the dull yellow depression to the east. So many things should have told me that was wrong- maybe my brain was just too fried from so much orienteering in the crazy woods, I don't know...!

Didn't relocate well either, had to go way out, hence the major time loss. Rest of the course was ok, didn't get lost again, but not speedy. Was upset at the finish- it's not nice to mess up a relay when your teammates are involved, and it was my 3rd quite bad race in a row, particularly humbling after such a good start to the week. Sandra and Beatrice were awesome though and I got the glum out after a bit. The Canadian gals had super races to come in 12th, so cool, next year will have to try to give them a closer race! =)

C • Mostly good 11

Bah, not so good. Don't completely know why. Legs were pretty recovered, felt focused at the start, went over how I wanted to approach controls with Sandra right beforehand, but still, just didn't go well. Probably too excited to go fast...

1- Decided to go direct on line picking things off, but then veered off. Got a warning bell of not connecting map and terrain (at 2nd trail by cliffs), but I didn't listen, really wish I did!! Didn't figure things out that quickly either, already caught by my +2 back, bummer start.
2-7- In crazy woods, but I did ok with most of it. Rachel Rothman came by at one point, together for a few of them, but always navigating on my own, splits of ~30th for most. Cliffs were bigger than on other maps, kinda like Blue Mountain on a slope.
8- Rachel headed off one way, I stopped at 7, made a plan and went for it, and it worked pretty much exactly how I wanted, hit a bend in a little trail, then contour then up at the cliff and into the little dot knoll in the green from the cliff corner.
9- Was slightly low, but thought I was high, so went the wrong way from the clearing on the trail.
10- Headed off in not-right direction, still caught by trail, but went the wrong way after popping over the hill to find cliff, really should have gone on the fact that it was just off the side of the highest point of the hill!
11- Straight, many cameras at that control.
12- Woo, I win a split!! Doesn't say much about my orienteering skills though, as it was the taped loop through the stadium, with just a pit in a bit of yellow to find at the end, but I did pretty much spike that little bit, at least.
13- Again, went straight, when now it's pretty clear the trail on right would be way faster. Got stuck and had to go around downed trees.
14- Terrible terrible. Totally made a plan: go straight until a distinct reentrant goes off to your left, then go down it until the hillside on the right starts to flatten and head along that edge to form line reentrant. But my straight got thrown off by wanting a totally different reentrant to be the reentrant I was looking for, ignoring my bearing, then trying to find the edge of the steep and going way too far, running into indistinct fence... from there took many ages to finally figure things out. Became a battle to just find the darn control, at some point, really did not feel in the race anymore, which is pretty much true.
15-16-end- Racing Judith Wyder of Switzerland who ended up coming in 3rd, do have to report she got me into the chute...

So seems like I was just a bit rushed through the race, especially 2nd half. I do want to race faster, but I can't rush to do that because disaster ensues. Have to keep figuring out the line of orienteering fast but not loosing sense!

C • Thanks for the write-up 2

Made sure to get a better warm up in for the legs, they felt way better than the long day.

Whew, and rest day. Biked over to McDonald's to finally get on the internet, and that'll be all my activity for today. Hamstring muscle feels a bit better, but a muscle I must have been using to compensate for it is now pretty sore (either groin or inner hamstring, unsure which). Still, think the rest day should do lots of good, and got a massage from Sandra last night and Alex this morning and keeping hydrated and now it''s in compression too, because that feels good... trying to do just everything so that it feels good enough to give a good effort for tomorrow's middle final!

Bit nervous about tomorrow's race since the one control in the crazy woods went so disastrously yesterday, but I feel like with a fresh mind and at least fresher body, things should work better tomorrow! The list of things I was thinking of for the middle qual is below, pretty much will be thinking of the same things tomorrow:
-Options: straight on compass, following obvious features (depressions), out to trail and back, contouring
-Use compass/distance sense more than yesterday (long qual)
-Ignore everybody!!!
-Try to have good attackpoints

C • Middle final 9

C • middle 1

Unhappy warm up with hamstring tweaking out, and jog up to the start which was a good deal of climb.

Long Final

Well, some days are not your day. Overnight, I felt my right hamstring becoming more and more sore, but I didn't actually think it was going to be a problem until I started warming up. Then the legs felt generally really tired, but my right hamstring hurt pretty intensely with every stride. Onset of a mini-panic: should I even race on it like that? Found Sandra, who was amazingly helpful, both calming me down and massaging out some of the knots in my hamstring. It definitely improved from that- small strides no longer hurt, just if I strode out further, so plan was to just think about smaller strides and to go orienteer.

Not the best mindframe to start with, but I told myself I just had to be good at finding controls. This approach worked to most of the first set of controls, even if I felt really slow. Worst was 2, where I was dragged high by a similar feature that was far too early. Then there was the massive long leg to 6. I again probably didn't take the best choice (I went right). How are the course designers so good at fooling me? To be honest, I was having problems telling what was down and up, and that's kinda an important part of the planning... a bit more time and probably could have figured out that the ski lift had its top at the top of the hill...

Then one control that was part of the butterfly loop (#8) I had major problems finding. I think I came quite close more than once, but it was well hidden behind a tree. Not a good excuse, because I should have been sure of the feature and just exhaustively searched it. Actually, looking at it now, the contours are saying something slightly different than what I was thinking then, probably explains a good deal of my confusion. First went back and attacked from the way I came in, then from the big trail nearby. I had the long loop of the butterfly first, which mostly went ok if not amazing. Felt like I was flagging at one point, so took one of the energy tabs Sandra had thankfully made me take with! Messed up 13 though, my plan was to find the lower yellow depression just before the green one I was looking for, and I went right to it, but then decided that it was actually the upper yellow depression because it had a nice string of what looked like yellow extending out of it (actually, lower one also had semi-open spotty yellow), and so attacked like I was at the upper one, ended up on the trail and had to hike back up to it. Boo, the Bulgarian (Nataliya) I had just caught got a bunch in front and I also saw the Chinese girl for the first time who had started 9 minutes ahead.

Heading to the smaller butterfly loop, I almost missed the control hidden in the green reentrant again (now #15), but saw Nataliya emerging from it which totally helped me not go past. A bit disappointed at that point, wasn't feeling like I was orienteering that well at all. And then the biggest mistake, since it's what meant I didn't actually finish, the last control of the butterfly, I took water, read my map, and left. Never punched. Argh!!!! Yes, I've heard you should punch first and then do whatever else, but wasn't super ingrained. Now it will be. Not that this was a good race, but it's even more annoying to fully survive it and not get the affirmation of a result.

After that, had a trail run for a bit before heading into crazy-forest. I was catching Nataliya, but only gradually. And then, I couldn't find #18 for quite awhile. Came in off the trail on the S side, along yellow, turned off at depression. The Chinese girl was also there looking, and she and Nataliya must have found it and moved on. Instead, I found the guy watching the control, but could not find the control for the life of me. Went out to the little depression again, no luck. Out to the bigger trail on the N side, no luck. Then a French and Czech gal came through and I heard a beep just W of where I was. So I'd say I pretty much failed at that one completely, although was mostly in the circle... brain perhaps a bit fried. Raced Czech girl to 19, but then took a different perhaps worse way down to 20 before sprinting in. Tired tired, took almost 2h, and then of course got the news that I didn't punch the control.

Lessons learned:
Punch first, drink second!!
Probably need to think more about calorie intake on a race that's going to be this long. The sports drink was really weak at the feed stations and just had one of those tabs that Sandra gave me.
Back-to-back racing might also require more attention to recovery than I have given. Should test out recovery drink type stuff, and maybe pre-emptive massage.

Warm up in little streets and warm down after *finally* downloading...

Sprint Qual, Aix-les-Bains

6th in heat A! But still quite a bit back from winner Linnea in 15.28, fast gal. Generally a good sprint, one mistake, some other hesitations but only slight. Even had the fastest split of my heat in two legs at the end.

Start went straight uphill to the tippy-top of the hilly park, wowzer, burn in the legs! I pieced together a good route, using big paths, little paths and yellow to plop myself right at the control. A few easy park controls before control #4 that almost tripped me up because it was right below a cliff. But a thick black line cliff, so uncrossable, had to go to the edge of it and come back.

From 4, we had a route choice either up and around or down and around. Initially tempted by up, looked like fewer contours, but it had a bit of extra fence that looked like it made it longer, so went down. Had second fastest split to that one, so good. Was hesitant into 6, couldn't make the fences act like I wanted, probably because the lower one was a wall and not a fence... tags mean something!

Then a tumble down the hill through some parking lots then a staircase, had to vault over a banister cause I chose the wrong side at the top, whoopsie, but hard to know... Urban, but not too tricky orienteering to 7 and 8, then 9 almost caught me out because I thought I was further than I was on the road and started looking for the control a block to early.

Worst mistake to 10, caught by a dead end wall just north of #9. Major boo for not having fully read ahead. Realized when I got to the corner, so turned around and went the south route (at that point, north route probably equal, but saw the southern, so went for it). Ran hard to 11, was starting to feel the running that leg, but then just had a sprint in (avoiding the DQ olive green!) to 12 and in.

Initially had no clue about how it went because the whole SI system crashed as I came in, which also meant I couldn't download for 15 minutes as they scrambled to get that together. While waiting got a thumbs up from PG though, saying I was currently in 5th which looked probably good, phew! Also got thrown a granola bar from Sandra, nice. =)

I think the SI hiccup is forgivable, although not awesome, stuff just happens wrong sometimes. But two things were not awesome about this sprint: 1) the organizers recommended shorts, not at all cool when going through nettles and briars is even a remote possibility. As was, fair bit of blood was shed. 2) the olive green at the end of the course DQ'ed 29 men and 11 women (ok, a few must have been other places, but most were this). When such a significant number of folks DQ you have not given enough warning....

Warm up, trying to stay in the shade, few pick ups. Warm down in the super-small area, we were quarantined on that side too...

Sprint Final, Chambéry

Ooooo, mostly really really good, but then also a terrible one that took a minute out. Hmph. So I'm very pleased with still placing top 30, but of course I know where I would have placed without that minute of silly (12th), and am so frustrated by that....

This time knew to expect the huge crowd at the start so wasn't as phased by everybody all of the sudden eyes-on-me when I got onto the start platform. Few smiles, then game face and concentrating. Countdown, grab map and off!

The orienteering in all the city stuff actually went really well. Maybe ski-o is relevant for this stuff? I don't know, but I think I was mostly choosing good routes and executing them well. Maybe should have gone right rather than left to 6 and 12 and then did a little extra to 14.

But then, there was my big mistake. So from 9 I saw that 10 was on the wall on the outside of the chateau that I was currently in. Ok, so which side? Outer side and I need to go all the way around to the bottom; inner side and it's just 200m away, tucked in a little passage behind the church. So first, I swing in the magnifier, still can't figure out what side of wall it's marked. So look at control descriptions, it says it's on outside north east corner. Great, so it's all the way down, I need to get out of the chateau! Except, it's not, which I realize when I head that way and the ladies try to grab my map... sinking feeling. Why did my control descriptions lie? All the way back around I go...

Anyways, after this, my minute-back Ida Bobach caught me, so a bit of running around her, but then was able to make up a bit of time through the final set of tricky controls, so pleased with that and in general how I handled the intricate city-o.

At finish, had time to figure out what went on with 10- I didn't look at the object column of the control descriptions. Instead of outer corner of wall, it was outer corner of building, which totally meant it was up high actually in the chateau. So completely my mistake. For future: on narrow passageways, a control could be on a feature on either side, must check which object as well as location column!

Sprint Model around La Calamine

Tired legs, left quad and right calf even a bit sore, so took it way easy. Poked around the urban controls first, at a jog, made sense of all passageways and such. Then a bit in the hilly park, muddy and hilly but not really tricky.

Psyched to run tomorrow, hoping the legs feel a bit more recovered!

C • Good Luck 4

C • Final Fabulous!! 5

C • Long Final 8

Wahoo! 7th qualifier, only 3.20 back from Minna Kaupi and Annika Billstram, way psyched! Every control was pretty much exactly where I wanted it to show up. And I dealt way better with people than yesterday, saw some other gals out there, but never got distracted when they diverged off my way or stopped puzzled looking at their maps, no running with others at all. I'm a little unsure if my second route choice leg actually was the best way, lots of picking back and forth on little trails, but direct with a good attackpoint. The other way was more around on a big trail, and without a good attackpoint... splits will probably tell later, and will write a bit more too, now for dinner!

Alrighty, and a bit of analysis:
1- To the start triangle and immediately green-bash out to the big trail, I had a bit more direct line than the Estonian. Trail junction came quick, whoa, this is 1:10, good reminder! Then up into the woods between the big cliffs into the right reentrant, vegetation was pretty dense and control scarily invisible, but had confidence and found.
2- Out to trail, then turned right up before the big cliff popped into the white depression and turned up before the two cliffs around the corner of the hill. Was a bit high, realized it, found control lower. The Estonian and Polish women I started with where somewhere around on this control, one ahead, one behind?
3- Out to big trail, left on next big trail, and in on bearing from the corner, noted cliff on my right at the edge of the circle.
4- Out to trail, sailed through in reentrant, on a bearing from the top of it into the next reentrant.
5- Route choice #1: Out to E-Wish big trail on little trails, maybe hadn't fully decided on route, but thought the left on the road looked really nice- was flatter and knew it would be fast, little trails were often slower. Wasn't terrible, but 1:10 lost to the top slit and all three of the leaders of the heats (maps are up) went on the little trails.
6- A little off line to the right, in the field, then up up hill, reading ahead while going up a bit.
7- Turned up after big cliff, trying to decide next route choice...
8- Route choice #2: Saw a little trail route, more straight although finicky but had a good approach to the control, and then a route to the left on the big trail, but I didn't have a good way to find the control from it, so opted for little trails. I lost 1:34 to the top split on this one, but Lena E. was able to put a little-trail direct route together for the fastest time on a very similar leg for heat B, so maybe not totally a bad choice. Might just be I don't have quite the skill to do the little trails as a high enough speed.
9- Down hill to pre-warning control. Some slight hesitation with a nose on the left on the way.
10- Over a cliff? Mmmm, seriously not best approach, should have just trailed it out, some rushing because I knew I was pretty much home-free! Raced the Finnish gal Merja Rantanen into the finish, fun to have company!

C • congrats and good luck as y... 11

Warm up, now on the 1:10 warm up map, still did not go well, had to hurry it back to be sure to be there on time (need a watch that isn't my Garmin!)

Warm down, around the finish area, smiling happy!

Event: WOC 2011 + O'Festival Savoie Grand Revard
 

Warm up from quarantine on little warm-up map, got horribly caught up in green and only possibly got to the depression I was trying to get to, didn't inspire super confidence in upcoming race, but tried not to let it psych me out. Also a wee warm down afterwards, basically jogging along the finish chute a few times.

Woo! And made it to the finals! Super happy.

I felt like I did well through the open meadows at the beginning, then maybe had a bit of a suspect route choice on the long leg (still mostly in meadows), and made a mistake in the crazy woods (~3 min, partly b/c distracted by other gals, bad!). After losing that time, was caught up by heat winner Dana B. and being around her and Amelie C. definitely helped for the remaining controls.

Also, my micro-routes into controls might not be ideal, almost landed on top of the 'control-watchers' twice, once at the water control, coming over the cliff and 2nd into the pre-warning control, was just a bit high...

Meadow part:
1- Cautious off the start, wanted to know where I was going and have a plan, so was slower to start than the other 2 girls. Followed plan, but cautious just into circle, wanted to be 100% sure for the first!
2- Easyish control, but realized I wasn't super sure about the veg heading in and slowed a bit because of that.
3- Good leg, used fence, straight in, moved me up to 8th which was my highest placing in the race.
4- Mmmm... didn't even see the route choice to the right, which was pretty much a lot better.... Gr!! I don't know why I just assumed it was more hill, it wasn't and it didn't go over cliffs in a ravine or up a crazy wall of contours either. Lost 2 min just in route choice?

Crazy woods part:
5- Was straight on, distracted by a girl who asked me if I was going to 41, which I was, but gr, don't ask!!!!
6- Um, again distracted by the others doing different things was not adding things up and didn't for awhile, thought something was for sure a cliff, and was just rocky ground/boulders on a hillside...
7- Out to the road on a little path, along it, back in, easy, here starts where things were sped up with Dana and Amelie.
8- Down to big road, along and in, again easy, yay for road/path routes...
9- Almost landed on camera crew lady coming from above...!
10- Sprint basically started to this one
Finish- And in!!! Won the finish split of my heat, decided I didn't want to miss the finals by a second or something!

Woo, now to rest for tomorrow!

C • So proud! 11

C • LONG QUALI 11

Wanted to get out on both model maps today, this was the first one, Lachat, major hike into it, but was nice to play on. I found the woods lots opener, still some brashings that required doing, went pretty smoothly. Using bearings to features I felt capable of actually ID'ing. So I felt like I wasn't moving fast, but not as slow as through the greener woods, and wasn't having major issues finding the controls, which was nice.

1- Didn't have a good plan from the start, but stayed on the trail until I did, was able to pick of a helpful dot knoll on the way.
2- Across hill on a bearing, knew when I crossed trail, then picked out the shape of a reentrant or two, and straight in. Probs in circle cause the control description wasn't on arm, was actually on back side of hill, not the cliff.
3- Brashingist leg, a bit high, almost went past, but realized I had to be on the hilltop the cliff was on the S side of
4- Came into reentrant lower than I thought, but just had to go up it and keep looking
5- Up to big trail, along for a smidge, continuing up, straight to it.
6- Hill tops, indistinct trail, over the spur, little crasy spur then control.

And headed over with Wyatt to Chalets de Crolles, most people went to this yesterday, but I was on what looks like the most middle-quali relevant area instead.

Just did the meadow section to see what those are like. Not anything too unexpected. Cow-grazed meadow, trees tend to hang out in steep reentrants, ditches might not be visible and can hide controls. Walked up the hills, need the legs for tomorrow!!

C • Race well! 10

Le Revard II at 1:10,000

Made myself up a little course out of the training controls that were out there, focusing on an area that looks relevant for the middle- flattish with lots of contour detail. 12 controls in all. Went pretty well, except for one which I think I basically went by the first time.

1- Through yellow open area, except I think I actually was always a bit higher, tried to run past, but caught myself
2- Yellow to path to a stripe of yellow and in
3- Out to path, somehow got too far west, was trying to avoid some slash, but realized.
4- Out to path on the rightin from the indistinct path, hard because there were new cuttings.
5- Left of the line through depressions
6- Whoops, tried to go to 7, but ended up on big trail way confused, then I realized I had just been at 5 not 6... ok in from there
7- Used green rocky hills and the depression to their left to guide me in, then had issues jus in the circle, control a bit tucked away.
8- Not good, was not adding things up well along the way, ended up at control regardless, but still not good.
9- Big trail to indistinct trail to rough open depression and in
10- The bad one. Had a nice chain of depressions to follow, but think I basically ran past the control the first time, cliff is much smaller than most others mapped and the control was tucked at the bottom of it... flustered around for quite awhile, think I basically kept coming back to the same place and the 3rd or 4th time actually found the control
11- Bonus slash, bah. Ran too far up the hill to start with, boo.
12- Led most of the way in by indistinct trail, then veered a bit too far left, should have been more careful.

Training #1 at Prepoulain

Heard so so much about this terrain, finally got out on it! Had a mini-course from Sam printed on 1:8,000 with 9 controls. Was in just walking-jogging-checking things out mode and mostly went well. Woods is for sure dense and hard to get through in places, super-detailed and not good but not absolutely terrible visibility. I wanted to just get a sense of what was what and think I got that:

Cliffs are big. Indistinct trails are indistinct, followable but not easily noticable while crossing. White is pretty variable, opener woods, but sometimes a thick patch or tree down and speed highly dependent on the rockyness underfoot. Light green still passable, but thicker woods, stuff more likely to stab you in the eye and just slower going. Hashing is recent felling and is super junky, worse speed-wise than light green. Generally found the yellow made sense, little clearings of knee-ish high grass, often linear along the way a trail just was, or in depressions. Rockier ground was rockier, but wouldn't use it for navigation unless coupled with something other feature like a hill top.

Start- Off the bat, tried to go up wrong little trail from the big one, noticed compass was not going the right way.
1- Looking to go behind spur with first cliff, mistook that for a dot knoll and had to go further, this one actually had a control, so had confirmation.
2- Good on bearing
3- Longer leg, followed some indistinct trail, then a bearing to a distinct reentrant with cliffs, then not super in from there, went in slightly lower reentrant, took a bit to figure out, but would have done so quickly if a control was there.
4- Spot on!
5- Longer again, not great out to trail, but then had nice features to lead me in.
6- Alright, but didn't want to go the way my compass pointed for some reason... did listen to it and it worked in the end....
7- Up up hill, low confidence, wanted the cliff earlier, but kept going, straight to it.
8- Boo, didn't see better route on trails to the right...
9- Short leg, executed poorly, went to high. Brashings do not equal a clearing.

Training #2 at Prepoulin
And... stepping it up to 1:15, eep! Much more crowded on the map, magnifier a must and still have to slow down to read. Had made a little course for myself of most of just the very nearest controls, still just wanting to get into the scheme of things here.

Again, went ok, found all but the first one, but I kinda gave up on that since Emily K had just gone there and said she didn't think it was flagged. I got to a boulder I thought was in the right place and moved on, others said the controled boulder was a bit lower, could easily be, suppose. This loop really taught me that the brashings could be quite nasty. As in, you have to be running on top of dense, sticking-all-over-the-place pine boughs and simultaneously going up and over or scurrying underneath the tree trunks with killer points sticking out all over... To be avoided if ever possible!!

Hiking up Le Col de Chardonnet with Frédéric. Beautiful, but cold and windy, was in 3 layers + buff by the top! Ran only the very flatest bits, and otherwise was trying to keep HR under 160.

From the top, amazing views of les Ecrins, a mountain range with the highest peak outside of the Mont Blanc range in France. Also could see down the other side into la Vallée de la Clarée- where the ski marathon I did last winter was. Neat!

C • un grillon 2

And back down, ran most except the top bit where it was really rocky!

Now to prepare Tartiflette for dinner... mmmmm

Today's vocab:
puddle - un flaque d'eau
cricket - un grillon
stream - un ruisseau

And registered for SML champs, early deadline in 1 week for interested folks! Website Should be fun times and the middle is a WRE that we really should be able to get enough gals at!

And out the door and up the mountain! Gorgeousness! Sun and blue skies and mountains and glaciers!

This was running, or well, mostly hiking with Frédéric. Tried to keep it relatively nice and calm, but was 700m of climb or something, so HR is not really low... (Garmin died partway up, hence only 416m above.)

At the top of the télésiège, met up with Séverine and little Emilie. From there on was a super-duper slow hike (Frédéric carried Emilie and Séverine is carrying her soon-to-be little sis) to the top of the first mountain. Great views all around, and sunny but crisp so by the top I was well layered up.

New French vocab:
calf - le mollet
steep - raide
eggshells - les coquilles
larch - le mélèze

C • French vocab 5

And in Europe! Met up perfectly as planned with Ross and Sam at the Hertz rental, and there seemed to be just enough time to go to Annency and do a little sprint training...

C • good luck Ali I am glad to... 2

Annecy DE sprint, 2.2k

Ok, that kinda kicked my butt. Dense little-passaged Euro cities = harder than UMass Amherst! Left 1 down the wrong staircase, tried to cut through a park to 3, but there wasn't actually a way through... once or twice wasn't even where I thought I was but relocated while on the run... hm, this sprint business maybe needs a smidge more respect than I was giving it! Weaving through and getting thwarted by the crowds was also a new touch, but guessing that will somehow not be as much of an issue for race day?

C • Annecy 2

And now with astronomer/skier friends near Briancon for the next ~2 days (2h south of Chambery, about). Good to see them, their daughter Emilie is becoming less tiny, speaking bunches of French now and the next daughter is expected any day...

Drove here over a sweet alpine pass to get here- the Col de Galibier. The Tour de France went over it his year, very impressed, it was super steep and long! And it was pouring out today and there were still hearty souls heading up and over, looked way miserable to me...

Also: Calf seems fine!!! Super-psyched, felt fine during and after the little sprint session. Now the mission is to remain calm and not run allover these gorgeous mountains I'm in over the next two days (very very tempting) so I still can go into WOC well-rested...

Same loop as yesterday, was going to try something different/slightly longer, but time crept up on me- couldn't miss the defense of the PhD student (now Dr) in my group!

Felt a bit more comfy on the bike, worked on keeping cadence up and not just beasting it. Loop is better with the East Pleasant hill to start, I tried to add a smidge at the top, but turned out to be a dirt road.

Now off traveling to France, hope I've done ok packing...

Whoa, biking! Noonday ride out north of campus. Happy with the loop, although probably is better to go immediately up the hill to E Pleasant, Pine was bumpy.

Lovely to be out on the bike, calf made no complaints. *And* it isn't cramping every time I stand up today, so progress! It's also lots less sore when I massage it, so good stuff!

Calf still super-weird. Feels fine sitting, feels fine biking, feels fine once I'm walking after a bit, but the 2-5th step after I get up from sitting, it tries to spasm into a cramp. Really don't understand, haven't had anything like this ever.

Soooo. Rest day numero 2 coming up. Maybe will do abs later. Am dedicated to being good to let whatever this is clear up, but I would really like if it could do that sooner rather than later.

C • Calf 3

10 min abs, 1 min back, maybe just maybe a smidge of improvement with calf, but not much.

C • Patience, patience 2

Left calf really unhappy, kinda wants to go into spasm every time I get up from my desk... what??? Calves felt tight but not terrible yesterday training, nothing traumatic happened, then this started yesterday afternoon... guess no 5k today, hope it clears up pronto, won't run til it does, not time to play with injuryfire.

C • booo calf 9

PG's Norwottuck NE course

Had arranged to meet up with Aaron, a runner who's interested in trying orienteering at 7am out there, so gave him a brief run down on the symbols and such and sent him out, right after me. He did pretty well for being new, getting to 6 controls, number 5 was tough because I hadn't explained how tag lines indicate downhill, he was looking for a hill top... whoops.

My training went fine, focused on bearings on recommendation from PG. Still had issues to 3/11 the first time, that control and I just have issues. But went back, did it again, stayed on the bearing for longer than I wanted and it worked. Finally! From 8 to 7 I was a bit confused because I started on a bearing, than ran straight into the trail again. Probably should have repeated, because I'm not sure if I was pushed or what.

Pretty good, almost entirely on bearings to 13, 15, 13 seemed close to the rock pile on the way to me, but maybe downhill was faster than I thought, 16 there is a bunch of extra rock, sailed straight into 17, but 18 is a bit strange, maybe is lower on E spur? Was good about bearing from 18 and ended up too far N on hill top. 21 my bearing from trail bend somehow took me too far W, then rest were fine.

Different, much more hilly than weekend!

2072/2000

QuickRoute

From QR, looks like was doing a pretty good job of going straight, maybe least good in the control pick. Also just added US Champs QRs below, some non-excellent orienteering on my part. Ug.

C • Remember that there are map... 8