Training Log Archive: Work4justice

Travelled to a hotel in Erie for Sunday night and then back on Monday.

We crossed the half way mark in terms of time...

We had a lot of fun swapping race stories and just stuff in general. She is just a joy to be around.

Watch died around 3ish. I have my tracks until then. I adjusted the distance based on Olga’s ultratrac. I thought I had set it, and I didn’t –bugger. I did bring a back up watch in general. Olga had hers, and her tracks are posted on Strava. I haven't figured out how to lift them.

Around 5aish, we have covered 40ish miles and, we were arriving on 69 where we knew we needed to make a decision on whether to head to the far east in earnest, or pick up a couple and head back north to S/F. We had covered about 40 miles, and I know my brain was getting addled, I remember feeling very sleepy going up a creek to try and pick up a punch and fill out the intention sheet.

Olga mentioned she needed to clean out her socks, so we stopped on the ski hill, which offered some glimpses of the sunrise. For me, turning off the headlamps often feels ceremonial! But we could feel the heat start up again! We had planned to sit and look at the map, but with a road to our next destination, we decided we could walk and talk and look. During that traverse, we crossed a large creek bed and I slid on a rock…and went DOWN. Ow ow ow! Bruising isn’t TOO bad. Back to the planning. I shared with Olga our distance and time and what I estimated our speed would be based on our last couple of hours—factoring in a decline in speed and some significant climb both ways. I suggested looking at the maps for straightline distance and add 40% and then calculate how many hours it would take and adjust our plan accordingly. I swear, that was the ONLY time Olga looked at me and said “huh?”

I have to admit, I felt a little relieved she might have been a little tired. I knew I still had some fight left, and no question she did!

After looking at the map, we realized that we could try to get a few of the points, but I was worried because of the freeway we couldn’t cross back. I looked at Rootstock’s log (they beat us by about 2 controls) and there was not a way across the freeway. I am so glad we saw that. So, it was a road run for a 70 pointer (with some significant climb). While he was not ideal we had to do a pretty big road run just to go out to get a 70 pointer but in the end it made all the difference.

Climbing back up to head north was a bit of a bear, and when we got back into the woods around 9ish my legs did not want to climb over logs. What? COME ON LEGS! They came around, and I tried to trot when I could, but I could feel my feels. Coming off the last descent got tricky, and the green pushed us to the road that we hadn’t intended, and had to run hard to not lose points. I never know where that last kick comes from, but it comes!  The crowd around cleared a path for me to kick it in, wow! And, some lovely people brought us ice in cups and there was ice cold soda at the ready. Wow! So lovely.

We got first female and second overall AND accomplished my goals. Olga was awesome to race with, she said she loved it. Go team Fragile Flowers!

Event: 26th Annual CNYO ROGAINE
 

Back in March at Raccoongaine, I had a chance to chat with Olga Huber a little bit and she invited me to do this race with her. There was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. Before I went, I had three goals: 1) to push myself, 2) to learn something and 3) to dump my overworked brain. Work has had a lot going on!

I knew I had some preparation to do because I know she's an incredible runner very fast, very fit, and a great navigator, my work was cut out for me. I had been trying to log some miles and I did check out how many miles she arthurd did last year. While I was little bit nervous committing I felt like I could give 50 to 55 miles for the race. Arthurd brought me some maps to look at, which I appreciated. However, it wasn’t until dinner the night before with JayXC did I grow to have appreciation for the hills we would encounter. As well, he shared a lot of intel, and really looked forward to the race. Later that evening I arrived at Olga’s, and we chatted and pondered over packs and gear and looked over the maps again. I wound up ditching a lot out of my pack…she can go pretty light! And, I learned about her master’s title. I knew she could run, but well, in for a penny, in for a pound!

Saturday morning we arrived at Race HQ excited. Set ourselves up, and attended the race briefing. Thankful for those who made the race happen, as well, for the beautiful maps. The map was set up with the good chunk of the points on the far in the western side and a few points on the east side of the freeway to get from the west to the east was a pretty significant dead zone. That worried us some, as we tried to build an add on plan. As well, while the heat didn’t seem bad, we knew it would get worse and would have to account for that. There were 52 controls, and I think to clear it, I would estimate it would be about 120/130k to clear. We decided on counter clockwise…and decided to pause and make a decision at 69.

The first few points I made the mistake of trying to navigate along with Olga when it was really more efficient for me to put the map away until we got closer to the point and pull it out and help with some of the finer points. Olga is a spectacular navigator and I was really slowing our team down by trying to do overall navigation. I didn't even really realize it till she pointed it out after a few points. So once we got into a rhythm it went really well. She was taking the lead on navigation, as we got close, I served as support by pace counting, holding a bearing, looking at the map as she needed to “see if I saw something she didn’t”, running for the punch and the intention sheet. As a note, I really wanted to write out Fragile Flowers every time…but I didn’t toward the end. On a few points later in the day and in the overnight we needed to try a new attack, but overall, it went quite well, and I learned from Olga about her way of navigating. I have to mention, how cool is it that the property boundaries are so well marked! That was very cool.

Side bar...I got some prescription safety glasses...wow! They made an ENORMOUS difference!

It did turn out to be a very hot day. And, hills are not my strength so climbing was tough. A few times Olga took my pack (like up the skill hill!) I did hill repeats on a ski hill in Michigan, but NOTHING like this. God Bless my glacial goodness. That ski hill brought on the worst leg cramps, but it was flat for a while, which allowed some running to work out the cramps. Around 8pish we got out the headlamps, and was in deep woods for a bit of time. And at one point, came out to an old barn on a field and saw millions of stars. It took our breath away! We decided to turn off our headlamps, lay in the grass and just look for a bit. It was spectacular. Then we were off to the powerlines/hydrocut/pythons…depending on who you asked when! ;) I think I have mentioned before how much I love my headlamp…however, it was a HUGE insect attracter! I figured out a lower setting which kind of slowed me down in the woods, but was super helpful once we got within a few hundred meters of the flag.

C • Wow! 10

Kid biked along.

Thanks to byrnedfish for the kayak loan! With Michellegreen and ccmarie!