Training Log Archive: JanetT

Success! A much cleaner run than yesterday, albeit on a much easier course. Lost a couple minutes leaving 8 where I got caught in more green than expected and had to fight to reach the trail.

A simplified advanced course with only 7 advanced controls; 4 were on trails, for some reason (I understand 2, which was to guide us across a road bridge; but the other 2 were unnecessary because there were other features in the area that could have been used). Course did not go back to the area we were in on Saturday and stayed in simpler terrain and ended in the area we used for the sprint on Friday so I took a route from 9 to 10 that was based on previous knowledge.

3rd in F55, less than a minute behind Ulla Engelby (from Sweden) and Debbie Newell. Fastest time on the course was around 46 minutes.

On the drive back to Boise to catch our flight tomorrow, we stopped over in Richland (near the Hanford site) and drove to the Sacajawea State Park at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers. From the point we saw a cormorant fishing in the Columbia (I saw it catch/consume two fish while we were out on the point). And we saw a pelican fly over, possibly an American white pelican because it didn't have the gray/brown look of the brown pelicans we've seen before. The park would make a nice park-o map, we thought. :-)

Long Brown - Splits

Walk to start of middle course at Cle Elum/Salmon La Sac, advertised as 1.1 km, 140 m climb. Went early because I wasn't sure how far it was or how long it would take, so we had about 30 min wait. Temp in upper 60s (got up to 80 by the time I finished).

Time is NOT my total on the course, just the good part.

First part of the middle/brown course. I did FINE up through control 10, then blew up. Good routes through the not-so-great woods, concentrating on reading the terrain. Didn't use my compass as much as I should have but did use it to leave the controls in the right direction.

The rest of the course. I never found # 11.

Part of my problem was that I don't pace count and hadn't checked my time/distance from # 10. I actually thought I'd gone too far when I turned down a likely spur.

I checked just about every other piece of rock in the general area north of my control, but (based on my Forerunner track and OGPS, to be loaded later... maybe...) I never did go far enough, or actually high enough.

After not finding 11 for the longest time I decided to have my first Ameet dnf and bailed to the trail to finish. Didn't find 12 and 13 along the way, either.

Tomorrow is another day. :-)

[I think was actually on a pretty good pace to place pretty high on brown if I'd done the course correctly.]

Matt & Brittany's wedding

Sprint 2 (F50) near Sno Park in Cle Elum. On the walk to the start we had to cross a stream, but before getting to the stream crossing I managed to fall over some downed log/sticks and arrived at the start with scraped knees and hands -- silly me.

Not all times were posted before we left (we started at 6:40 and hadn't checked in or eaten yet!), but I was about 1 minutes ahead of Clare; 3 min. behind Tatyana; the 2 F20s whose times were up were faster. No F50s posted at that time.

Did a 180 out of # 5 (45 sec), poor route to # 10 with no attack point (2-3 min?), and overran # 11 (45 sec), not reading the vegetation very well. It was a woods sprint, and I think one of the keys on sprint 2 was to use the trails as much as possible, which I did for many of them, but didn't go far enough on # 10 to have a safe attack off a fence corner. Sprint 3 (Red/Blue) apparently stayed farther away from the trails.

Now that we have internet service (well, slightly; it doesn't quite reach our room at the moment, so I may have to move my computer to the lobby) I might post more about what we did Wed through today, and upload more photos. It was nice that the skies cleared up enough today that we could see the mountains (tops were shrouded yesterday and it was rainy the day before) including Mt. Olympus. :-)

Salmon Run Sprint 2 - Splits

Got up early to get to Second Beach near La Push at low tide (actually, a super low tide at 2.8' below mean). Saw tons of orange and purple sea stars, and whelks, anemones, barnacles, mussels, and a few limpets, in and around the tide pools there. The driftwood on the beach is something to behold, with bleached logs up to 5' in diameter in places. We have a photo of an extra-large 'rootstock' that I'll get posted eventually. :-)

Went to Rialto Beach to walk to the Hole in the Wall, a natural arch in a seastack near the beach. Because the tide was near high, we had to climb over the headland for a better view of the arch. Saw cormorants, but no seals or eagles or whales. :-)

From Vancouver we headed towards the ocean and stopped at Ruby Beach, and the Hoh River valley and rainforest trails. Though it showered a little on the drive, it was dry in the temperate rainforest, May-July being the low-rainfall months there. :-)

Strolled on beach and trails, 1.5 mi or so at Ruby Beach, and 3.5 mi at Hoh River valley.