Training Log Archive: kgeisen

Event: Thunder Rolls 24-Hr AR
 

Initial trek, all on road, from Camp Benson to canoe put-in on Plum River. Mostly AR shuffle. I forgot how hard running with a pack is for me, but Chuck said my walking pace was so fast sometimes he had to jog to catch up with me. Guess that's a side benefit of the (hallelujah!) finished StepBet. I wish I'd spent time walking and jogging with a weighted pack.

Almost the same paddle as Thunder Rolls 2013, though that year Virtus ended up doing it in the daytime.

No early coasteering this year, but putting in on the steep banks of the Plum River ensures that you'll be racing with wet feet. Quite a few logjams, including one huge beaver dam that we opted to portage around. Dragging the canoe up the steep riverbank, past the blockage, and then getting it back down into the water was seriously tough and one of those times I totally miss racing on a 3p team so we have another person to share the load.

Chuck and I canoe well together, and all his paddle training/experience from MR340 definitely helped make this a good leg. I typically dislike paddling, but this one was actually pretty fun until the upriver section. Rain started around 4 am and came down pretty good for a while, making visibility a little tricky. Wet hands started feeling pretty bad towards the end.

In retrospect, all I remember eating for this paddle was part of an ensure and a few slices of dried mango. While I had part of a peanut butter & honey sandwich at TA, clearly fueling could have used some improvement.

I felt terrible on this leg. Not sure how much of that was from not eating/drinking enough during paddle or from being a little wasted from dragging the canoe around or from something else. I've been riding this bike for over a year with no problems, but during the race everything about it felt off and I was super uncomfortable. Very weird. And very disappointing to be so weak on the one thing I've been doing a lot of this year.

Mosquito hell.

Two loops at Palisades, each with 1 mandatory/9 optional CPs. We didn't have maps on these legs until arriving at the TA, where we could copy the controls for the Blue map, tackle as much of that course as we wanted, and then come back and do the same for the Red map. Since we didn't have all the information for the bike leg back (we'd get that after finishing the red map) or the 10 CP trekking section back at camp (we'd get that upon arrival at camp), we opted to go for a smaller amount of CPs in Palisades on the bet that we could get more points for our time in the later sections of the course and ensure we'd be able to get all the mandatories.

We got 1 mandatory/4 optional on each loop. We rappelled down the same rock face I'd had to ascend at my first Thunder Rolls, MUCH better in this direction, and then had a pretty short ascent. Maybe half of the rappel, if that. This was only the second time I've felt pretty strong on the ascent.

We took less direct road and trail routes instead of bushwhacking. Chuck's nav was on, but in a continuation of my bike woes, this also felt really bad. Not just hard with the climbing, but totally un-fun. Not like me to feel that way.

Time includes transition time.

Palisades to Rall Woods natural area. Still feeling slow and very uncomfortable on the bike. I can't believe this was only 11 miles because it felt like 30. I really wanted to quit and was pondering how to do so. ("Fake a mechanical?...no, Chuck could fix that. Get hurt...uh, no...pretend I have cramps! That might work...)

100% better than Palisades. Chuck nailed first two right off the bat and then gave me the map. That didn't go as well, so I gave the map back and we reattacked. I felt much better when he couldn't get it on a couple tries. Decided to skip it and were on our way to the saddle CP when some guys we'd helped with the mandatory one gave us some pointers on finding the one we'd missed (the other reentrant, I think). Went back, grabbed it, then went after the spur which we overshot but luckily Chuck spotted on our way back out, we grabbed the saddle CP and then headed back to the bikes. First time I had fun all race since the paddle.

Still somewhat uncomfortable on bike, but otherwise I felt fantastic. Lost some time looking for misplaced CP35, several map checks along the way but no miscues until we blew right past the road for camp and didn't realize it until we started seeing street signs.

This felt SO much faster that I'm surprised our pace was so similar to the first bike leg. Was all of the earlier stuff in my head?

Just going for final mandatory point. No rush.

First day back at work skunk avoidance steps plan.

Cyclery ladies' ride. Not the answer to in-town training partners but a nice, chill loop on the MCT paved trails.

Finishing out the steps for a stretch day. Only three days left in this Stepbet, thank goodness, because while it has at least made me move a lot more on s regular basis I'm REALLY sick of walking.

With Jeff

Finishing steps. Defintely sore from yesterday, which made climbing around the City Museum with J and his friends even more of an adventure.