Training Log Archive: bgallup

Event: NEOC: Blue Hills Traverse
 

Awesome time at the traverse, set by Jeff.

1: Stupid out of the gate, followed the Fast Crew before really locking onto the map. Changed horses midstream and followed Alex 'Fear No Hill' Jospe over the top. Probably lost a minute or two playing mix-and-match with other peoples' strategies.
2: Split up with Alex pretty early (coin toss route choice) and had my first of many re-run-ins seconds later. I liked the southern route around the swamp (thought it lined up well on the approach) and proceeded to lose two minutes searching for the vague trail - which was much closer to the fence then mapped. Found some foot-deep muck and brought some along for the ride. Echild passed me on the way, and Juha passed as well, but stayed near.
3: Flanked and passed Juha into some supremely runnable woods. Nailed the pin just in front of him and Ari. Stone wall in boulder field is my new favorite combination of features.
4: Picked up Jonathan of the Dropped Map. Surprised to see Ari running up the road - wonder where he got through the fence.
5: Planned on going east around the hill a la Alex, wussed out at the trail network that didn't quite make it easy, and followed Ari over the top, to be reward with a closed trail. Where he went scrub-plowing almost immediately off the top, I ran down the west trail and plugged through a thinner band of scrub. Would've been a good line, drifted waaay east. Popped out in front of Ari and we joined Will and Alex hunting. I played connected the boulders and picked it up nearby - perhaps a little off.
6: Alone and moving well through the woods, but still just beaten to the circle by Will and Alex. They overran it slightly and I picked it off. Nobly made noise doing it after a momentary ethical dilemma.
7: Straight chug. Lost substantial distance to Ari and Alex's superior road running. Lost maybe 20s looking between the wrong hills. Somehow beat Will?
8: Easy do
9: Likewise
10: Maybe 10s of reentrant-understanding.
11: Went the north way. Lost track of scale slightly and was somewhat confused by the various trail junctions. Passed by Will, let him move uphill slightly early, and then let the reentrant guide me in. Reconnected with Alex, Ari, and Tim P.
12: More chugging, more falling off the back. Jon upgraded to Alex. Passed by Juha again. Initially aiming at 13 at first. Saw the Alex/Ari/Jon/Tim/Juha conga line and reverse-followed it right into the pin. Really feeling the up.
13: Easy follow-the-fall-line. Aiming at the same gap as alex coming back the other way, but I called dibs, so it was cool.
14: Slowly watching Juha disappear into the distance. Fair bit of uphill walking. Slight N drift and overshoot. 30-45s?
15: Lot of walking up slight uphill on this one. Alone, then susprised by a Will coming in from behind as I was leaving the pin.
16: Easy bomb downhill (except for some nefariously leafy rocky ground). Pretty good on line, but lucked out to stumble across a semi-frustrated Ari/Jon/Alex finishing their Tour-de-Rootstock.
17: More unraveling as Alex and Ari gradually escape and Will passes. Really cramping up at this point.
18: Easy straightline zip to the bridge.
19: Really feeling it. Crappy lumpy field was surprisingly murderous. Just barely off, wrong cliff 10m S. 15s?
F: Thud thud thud. Happy it wasn't the ski hill.


Did far far better than expected for how I felt. It was a bit of a trundle/grimace-shuffle by the end. Mostly endurance-ily challenged and sore hip flexor (iliopsoas?) + adductor. Wearing trail runners instead of oroc280's was a smart, knee-saving choice. Lot of rocks to pound out there. Had two gu and merciless gas for the rest of the day. One was for eaten for gas (ha ha ha) and one was just to distract the super crampy grumpy fiddily hip bits, which worked great. Exact same cramping that ruined the end of a relatively smart WHNO. Have electrolytes been discredited yet? Maybe bring shot blocks or whatnot next year, Ben. Some issues processing water (felt sloshy), likely due to the cold. Well dressed in pants-no-tights, long + short poly, and liner gloves. I like the cold.

C • Traverse 2

Traverse - Splits

heh. looks like i missed this years, but maybe i can save up for a flight next year.



from world of o's map-o-the-year call for submissions

also awesome, machu picchu!. hoping to get down there in the next year or two. i'll have to remember to bring the map! and extra red blood cells?

first time back in the gym since 'nam. strength's alright, endurance is shot. good to feel like i've used my hands. well, maybe not 'good' exactly, but satisfying

registered for the traverse with about 8 minutes left to wuss out. cardio capacity isn't near what it should be for the length, and knees are questionable. but, o!