Training Log Archive: JanetT

US Champs Day 2 at Little Truckee Summit, Brown X. SL 4.2 km, 75 m climb. Temp near 60 at start and well into 70s later, still sunny.

Added FR track, which is missing about 250 m between 1 and 2 because I pushed off instead of lap...still getting used to the buttons on my 220. Time is from my splits printout from download.

No stupid-steep climbs to start today, and only one other steep climb up to the to control, but both were only 3 contours, not 6 or more. I might have climbed too high from the trivial-1 (up a trail to a bend) across a hillside to 2, but I picked out all the rock shortly before the control to fine tune the approach. Stuck pretty close to the straight line for most of the rest except to 7 where I took the jeep road about halfway which provided a good attackpoint and angle of approach and wasn't that far out of the way. Woods were more open and less trashy than yesterday and I was able to jog a lot more than yesterday, so I'm very happy with my time.

Natalia must have enjoyed the woods better today too as she smoked the course (a good 6 minutes ahead of second place on Brown X, I think), at 40 minutes.

8th in Brown X on the day, 2nd F60 for the champs, and 2nd in the "best two of three races" so I got a nice tile with the meet logo printed on it.

Time and distance estimated. Climb was from finish back up to jeep road to assembly area.

Brown X Classic Day 2 - Splits

Brown X on Winsplits. Natalia had trouble only on our #6.

What's amazing, though, is how many people withdrew from the course. Out of 30 competitors on the course, only 18 finished; 2 mp'ed, and 10 dnf'ed.

I ended up 6th on the course, 2nd F60.

US Champs, Little Truckee Summit Brown X, 4.3 km / 105m climb. Temps were already into the 60s by the time we arrived; mid 70s when we left; full sun.

Strange call-up system, but hey, whatever works. The second line was also control description and map pickup (and start triangle), where we had three minutes to write number on back of map, pick up "clues", and wait...until it was time to punch the start box. First control today was again trivial, run down the road to a white-level control; but then we headed up the hill (6 contours in about 200m). I then climbed an extra contour or two before dropping back down to pick up the trail west of a green-woods area. Leg 4-5 was another short, 4-contour climb, then the rest of the course was relatively flat, though not wide open runnable woods until a little bit near the end. I count about 110m climb if you contoured all the longer legs rather than going up and down; Garmin/AP put it around 170m, some of which could be noise, I suppose.

I mostly took it slow and steady, and it paid off with no real mistakes. I'm counting #6 as a non-spike even though I did go right to it, because there was a time when I wasn't sure where I was, and if there hadn't been two people standing next to the boulder I might have checked out several others first. Fortunately the wide spur that the boulder was on was relatively readable in the terrains, with a drop off not far beyond the control to use as a catching feature. #9 should also be a non-spike as I reached the reentrant the tree was near but didn't pick up which tree was one of the distinct ones until someone else when towards it.

I was in 2nd place when we left; not all that far behind Natalia who must have had some difficulties. Janet P. missed on 4, going to 5 first; then did a 180 out of 7 (trying to take a different route out of the control around the hill but misreading the 6 as a 9).

Quick Route:

From Track jpg files

Brown X Classic Day 1 - Splits

Event: BAOC: Truckee A-meet
 

WinSplits for the Brown course

My Quick route (on a cropped photo of the Brown sprint map)

From Track jpg files

Sierra Classic 2015 sprint at Northstar near Truckee and Lake Tahoe. Brown Course, nominally 1.7 km / 35 m climb. Gorgeous day; blue sky and low to mid 70s at start. Nice to chat a bit with folks we see all over (including some who we last saw in Scotland). :-)

I think the FR/AP calculated climb is way wrong; I counted about 25 m climb on optimal route and though I went a little high on one control I didn't miss it by that much.

First control was a giveaway as I think all the courses went there; I started the same time as Glen and followed him. Slightly confused by the description and trying to read what was in the circle*. [looked like a partial ruin with a stone wall running into it from the north; described as stony ground | stone wall, south end]

No problems to 2 and 3 which were short legs near some mountain bike trails; went too much west instead of southwest to 4 and ended up near other dot knolls instead of the one I wanted. Then I took too high of a route to 5; I think crossing near the groups of boulders south of the control and had to correct when I hit the bike trail. Okay to 6 though saw John Crowther approach it along the adjacent bike trail whereas I was coming in perpendicular to the bike trail. Good routes to 7 and 8 (down trail to bend then straight through woods; west around tennis courts) but then went too far north to 9 instead of due west, and hit the trail near the weird purple blobs (construction?) between parking lots and trail. To 10 I didn't see the west-around-the-building route until I was too far east but it was straightforward. The last few controls were in the Northstar village area where I wish a bit more of the course could have been--there was too much forest "running" imho.

*Problem reading map was due to not having the correct compass with me, but fortunately I had my backup baseplate compass in my kit (it has a tiny circular magnifier area). I'll definitely remember my thumb compass with magnifier tomorrow...it took me several controls to figure out the best way to hold the baseplate (in my left hand, under my thumb, on top of the map; simulating the thumb compass technique).

I think I was about 11th out of 25 or so on the course when we left; 8 minutes behind Natalia.

C • Thanks for the description! 2

Back to the parking area/download, without a map but with an idea of which direction (west) to go, though I went up the wrong staircase at first.

I think in situations where they take your map and have a remote finish they should either streamer the route to download/parking or give you a mini map (like a model map) showing how to go. A similar situation happened in KY in March though the download was near finish and we just had to find our way back to the cars.

Brown Sprint - Splits

Lassen Volcanic National Park. Drove up the road from the Visitors Center to Sulphur Works, then walked from that parking lot to see the mudpot next to the roadway. I can't imagine working in these conditions to extract sulphur from the ground/sediments.

Hiked from Lassen Visitors Center to Mill Creek waterfall overlook, and a bit beyond to the bridges crossing the creeks nearby. Pushed the wrong buttons on my FR 220 for part of the hike near creeks, so I added in a few minutes and meters.

Nice hike, a bit hard on the knees but not too bad.

It had snowed yesterday in the park (while it rained in central CA...light to medium rain between Sacramento where we flew to and Red Bluff where we stayed overnight) and they didn't have the roadway cleared/plowed until around noon so we planned this hike first. The second hike we considered was ruled out when there was an inch or so of snow on the trail and all I had were trail shoes that I plan to use in the sprint tomorrow. Didn't bring my waterproof hiking shoes.

A little walk around Summit Lake (started watch late).

Saw three ducks on the lake, and a flicker nearby. We saw some deer later (at Manzanita Lake) but no other large or medium-sized wildlife. Chipmunk at the Visitors Center was about it for smaller animals.

And somewhere or another I had to avoid a peacock while driving. I figure it was someone's pet, wandering along the road (probably outside the park).

Ate at Woody's Brewpub in Redding... beer wasn't bad (esp. the double IPA), --we had a flight to taste the varieties available--and it was Mac and Cheese night, so that's what I had.

The reverse bridges we did on Tuesday were hard on my wrists; the left wrist hurt while we were traveling, making it hard to grasp things. Note to self: modify reverse bridges in Pilates class.

As I suspected, though, by evening I wasn't having any problem with the wrist, and it was fine the next day.

Big bouncy balls for extra leg torture today. Right knee threatened to cramp on the bridges with roll-ins (or whatever they're called), along with hamstrings...I took it easy.

Cool morning (upper 50s), in contrast to last week's temps near 90, but I hear it's supposed to warm up again later in the week. That's good because I like warmer weather better than colder weather.

5-5-5 (x 2) exercise session.

I find it interesting that there's a 1.2 km difference between the two Brown courses in California this weekend. Discuss?

C • Brown Course 2