Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyle

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Rode along with Eric out to some training at Salmon la Sac, also known as "Land of the Thirteen-Minute Kilometer." Salmon la Sac is a true orienteering meat grinder, offering the ideal combination of giant rock cliffs, scree slopes, massive hills, horrible vegetation, waist-high slash, and Scandinavian technicality. Starting a course at Salmon la Sac is known as "going over the top." Finishing a course at Salmon la Sac is an accomplishment in itself.

However, scattered amongst the carnage are areas of true brilliance that make you feel like an orienteerer is meant to feel. I've seen nothing to compare to it in my (admittedly limited) orienteering travels.

Event: COC Ultimate Orienteer #6 (Goat) - Moses Lake Sand Dunes
 

6:41/km

Moses Lake sand dunes sprint-goat. We've invented yet another orienteering discipline.

The red group out of the mass start was Eric, Jourdan, Peteris, and myself; with the short distance this was our best chance to dethrone the Bonesaw from his longtime reign as goat champion, but we fell short once again (Bonesaw is my new nickname for Eric that I'm attempting to put into mainstream use). I made three ~30s errors which cost me - leaving 6 the wrong direction and hitting the road in the wrong place, overrunning 9, and on the way to 15 getting stuck in a swampy thicket that looked friendlier on the map than in reality. My legs didn't feel good, but then my foot didn't hurt, so call it a wash. I've been doing lots of massaging and stretching (and not running) the past few days, which seems to be helping.

On the way home we discovered the racing forecast in Idaho this weekend: Fri - 99. Sat - 104. Sun - 108. 108! We're all going to die grisly heatstroke deaths.

I have intermittent foot pain which shows up at random times, sometimes in the arch, sometimes heel, sometimes ball. I hope it's not plantar fasciitis, but I suspect it is. My plan is to ignore it for the next three weeks, then see where I'm at after the WCOCs. It's not a great plan but I'm doing it anyway.

Event: COC Wednesday Evening Series #2 - Wilburton Hill Park
 

Setting out/picking up controls for the Wilburton meet.

Easy ride to Wilburton Hill Park to field-check my courses for Wednesday. I felt weird most of today - had a bit of a queasy stomach and a headache. Probably due to travel stress/not enough sleep.

Short Boston recap:
Generally - really fun weekend with lots of good training and racing, and good times hanging with a group of excellent people mainly including Kseniya and Meghan, plus Alex, Ed, and Erin when they weren't super busy organizing things or taking care of juniors.
Personally - I performed better than I expected physically and navigationally. Only made one real error (20s) and one egregiously incorrect route choice (15s). Other than that, pretty darn clean over five races, and felt strong all weekend. But, must go faster.