Training Log Archive: Bash

ECOC Long - beautiful terrain in the Gatineau Hills. It seems like I'm trying out new gear in every event lately, and today it was my new Atakpants - Canadian-made orienteering pants. Regular AP readers have heard all about them - and yes, I liked them. 'Nuff said.

I don't think my ankle sprain played a big role in today's race, so I've removed myself from the "injured" list (even though my foot is still purple). The major distraction today was blisters from my new O shoes after the first hour - not a big surprise, I guess. The first hour of the race went well (other than a bobble where I chose the wrong trail from the start triangle), then I had 3 bad controls near the end. In analyzing what went wrong, I see that I should have stopped and looked harder at the map when I had a sense that something was wrong, because I could have fixed two of my errors sooner if I'd followed up on my gut feelings. My 3rd error happened in a complicated trail network where there seemed to be extra trails, and it took me awhile to process the fact that I could get where I wanted to go without using trails, so I might as well ignore them if they weren't helping matters.

I lost almost 20 minutes on those 3 controls, but the rest of the race went well, and even though it seemed that I was out there forever, I finished 3rd of 7 runners, behind two orienteers I respect a lot - The Amazing Kempster and Cherie M.

It was a great A Meet debut by 'Bent! In both of his events, he was in the closely-spaced midpack in his age group. In today's race, he finished 7th, but won 5 of 13 splits, which shows that he has tremendous potential if he can find more time to practise his navigation.

Event: Eastern Canadian Championships
 

ECOC Short Distance. There isn't much that went right for the first 8 controls (out of 13). It was my first real race since spraining my ankle six days ago, and I was very cautious. The Active Ankle worked well, but the terrain was rocky, and I took my time picking my way through the forest. I'd decided not to wear my aging Ice Bugs, since I'd been wearing them both times when I turned my ankle. This turned out to be a dumb move. I went out in my favourite adventure racing shoes, but I don't do a lot of running on slippery rocks in adventure races, so I didn't realize how out-of-control I would feel in them - like tap dancing on an ice rink. As if that wasn't enough, it rained so hard that I could barely see through the clear glasses I wear for eye protection, so I had trouble seeing places with good footing and reading the map.

Oh yes, the map. I heard several more experienced out-of-town orienteers say the same thing - it took a few controls to get the feel of this map. Nothing wrong with it (that I noticed), but it took awhile to expect orange areas to be big expanses of flat rock rather than fields, even though NevMonster had warned me about it. And at junctions, trails sometimes disappeared into the rock for a distance, then you had to find them again. None of this would have mattered if I had been sharper, but I just wasn't on my game.

It was pretty much a disaster for the first 3/4 of the race, then the last 5 controls went fine - my time was 13:30 compared to 11:00 for the winner. When I realized how cautious I was being in the woods, I started choosing longer trail routes where I wouldn't worry about my ankle, and that helped a lot. Although things went badly, I stayed calm. I guess I wasn't expecting much because of my injury - and also because I had entered F-Elite to get a longer race course, so I definitely wasn't racing to win. As it turned out, I came 2nd of the 5 racers who finished, but a long way behind the winner (Cherie).

ECOC Sprint. After skidding around so much in my first race, I bought real orienteering shoes at last - Jalus Olways. Probably 1/2 size too big, but there wasn't much selection, and I was desperate. I ran about 100 meters of warm-up in them, then did this sprint race as a test run. They rock!! I had much more confidence in my footing in this race, and thus was somewhat less cautious with my ankle. My nav was good, with one bad route choice that took an extra minute, and one misread control description that sent me to a hilltop instead of the base of the cliff below the hill. Not perfect, but much better than this morning - about 5:30 behind the winner.

Canoe paddle around the entire shore of Lac Gauvreau with 'Bent, ThunderDog and BulletDog. The cottagers hadn't arrived for the weekend yet, so it was nice and quiet. The sky was steel grey, but the rain held off for us.

'Bent and I rode in Gatineau Park, mostly on muddy double track trails with a bit of road. We started at the Wakefield parking lot, rode west cross-country to Lac Philippe, went south along its shore, then made our way cross-country back to Wakefield on different trails. The forest was beautiful, and there were a few good hills to ride. We did a double take at the Lac Philippe entrance gate when we saw Ian Sidders walking up. He's here for the O meet - I guess it shouldn't have been surprising to see someone we know.

The campground weather forecast said there is a 90% chance of rain with possible thunderstorms. Oh goodie.

Last minute packing for our multi-sport weekend in Gatineau. Lots of ankle icing today!

GHO Adventure Nite

Sprint Race - first run in my new Active Ankle brace. I know we're not supposed to advertise products on Attackpoint, but I have to say that this little device really works like it's supposed to. I bought it with a sense of defeat and disappointment at the fragility of my joints, but it allowed me to orienteer on the side of a rocky escarpment just 3 days after my injury. I was cautious and didn't go at full speed, but it was pretty good, considering that I still have some pain walking around the house. After the race, Marianna - a younger and more talented orienteer than I am - showed me that she was wearing two Active Ankles!

I wouldn't have gone out in the woods so soon if it weren't for the ECOCs this weekend, but I needed to know if I would be able to compete. Fortunately, the first day has the shorter events and less rocky terrain, so I can do that, then decide whether I'm up to doing the Long on Sunday.

Anyway, this was a fun, fast sprint course.

Picking up flags on the training course. I took it a lot slower since it wasn't a race, and the terrain was more difficult for my ankle. At the farthest point, the thunder began, and about halfway back there was lightning too. Yikes! Sudden was just preparing to come out to retrieve my electrocuted remains when I finally arrived at the parking lot.

Results were posted from Storm The Trent, and I'm really happy! I finished 1st female solo, 7th/24 solo racers (mostly guys), and 11th/81 teams overall. ('Bent was just ahead in 10th.) One coed pair was faster, so I was the 2nd woman to cross the finish line in a race with 180 people. I'm proudest of being 2nd solo in the advanced bike nav section, which took 1 hr 42 minutes, including over an hour in a trail network in the Ganaraska Forest. Yahooo!!!

It's nice to have a reason to be happy while my ankle remains swollen and stiff. It is mending though. I was fitted with an Active Ankle brace today, and I'm going to try to do tomorrow's orienteering Adventure Nite - probably at a very relaxed pace.

Hard Core Monday - had to adapt a couple of the exercises to avoid stressing my sore ankle.

I had really been looking forward to focusing on my running over the next month, since I don't have a major multi-sport race until June 17. Lousy timing with the ankle... I visited ThumbsOfDeath for various treatments today, and it looks like I'll get outfitted with an ankle brace this week as well. My fingers are crossed that I'll still be able to do the ECOCs this weekend.