Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyle

Ascent of Mount St. Helens. For those who might not be aware, Mount St. Helens is the volcano that erupted in 1980 in the biggest eruption in US history, blew the living crap out of everything around and is now 1300' shorter than it used to be, and if you're from Washington and under 35 you got sick of hearing about it around age 6.

We left around 830am and gained the summit in ~5h15m, progressing at a leisurely pace with several breaks, including lunch. ~1.8 horizontal miles to the tree line at 4800', then the rest up through ashy rocks mixed with rocky ash. Very barren and moonscapey. A lot of weird exotic-looking insects too. Glorious 360-degree views at the top of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and surroundings.

C • Permit 2

A little jog just to say I did. Looking down into the crater, you can see several steam vents coming out of the lava dome. There were also a couple rock slides while we were at the top, at a point on the crater rim far away from us but still very loud.

Descent. Did a little bit of glissading on some of the snow chutes nearer to the top. Ran out of water about halfway down but was still well hydrated at that point. I chose to wear my metal-spiked Orocs, which worked excellently and held on to the bare rock with the grip of death. Wildlife report: I saw a chipmunk and some butterflies. Audrey allegedly saw a marmot, but I find her claim specious at best.

Happily, the day's exertions didn't adversely affect me much; my calves were extremely sore when we left the parking lot and they were more or less in the same state when we returned. Although we were exposed for 7-8 straight hours without succor, the temperature was very comfortable, especially higher up, and I escaped with just a little redness on my wrist, nose, and neck that barely register as effects of the sun.

The most treacherous part of the trip was the drive home from 9-11pm. Front windows all the way down, music blasting, slapping myself and poking my pained calves to stay awake. It's a minor miracle that I survived.

Ragnar, Leg 29. Pretty wrecked after the end of my second leg, especially the calves, and had a bit of a queasy stomach all night, but managed to get about three hours of real sleep and 1-2 more off and on during our van's first three morning legs. I didn't have much speed left in me, and this was also the hilliest of my three (relatively flat) legs, which added up to a pace ~30s slower. I passed 18 people, for a total of 94 (our team had a lot of pace variability, which probably inflated the numbers for some members). Sort of feel like a jerk for keeping track, but counting is definitely a way to stave off the tedium. I also got ambushed and passed early on by an extremely impressive mid/high 30s woman who was crushing at a six-minute pace. I was like, "Damn." Sometimes when you're thinking you're just the awesomest it's good to be reminded that other people are way more awesome.

Overall a fun and successful experience individually, and collectively our team (orienteering members included Ali, Eric, Zarina, and myself) did great - we finished in about 26:45:00, coming in under our projected time by nearly an hour. Thanks to Ali bringing it home strong we also bested Team Beef from Montana, who became our de facto rivals after we started in the same wave and yo-yo-ed back and forth basically the whole race. Team Beef was literally a team of Montana cattle ranchers with pictures of steak dinners on their shirts; one guy was handing out beef jerky samples. I'm told we finished around the 90th percentile overall, and 95th among mixed teams.

Team portrait.

UPDATE: 53/539 Overall; 22/354 Mixed Open.

C • Damn. 4

Ragnar, Leg 5. Plan was to take the first leg pretty easy at a 6:40ish pace, but I started out way too quick (first mile 6:08) and had to consciously scale back to a more comfortably sustainable 6:30-6:40. Quite hot in the sun. Passed 25 people.

#2 favorite team name so far:
"Whidbey Nice to Finish"

#1 fave:
"Your Pace or Mine?"

Miles:
6:08
6:21
6:28
6:41
6:40
6:29 (0.91)

C • #5 1

Ragnar, Leg 17. Went super well and according to plan! Maintained a 6:30 pace then ramped up and pushed hard at the end. Passed 51 people. For the first three or four miles I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of a beautiful sunset over the farm fields. With about 1.5 miles to go I was surprised by our entire Van 2 squad waiting at the side of the road to cheer me on, which was a fantastic morale boost and definitely helped me speed up.

Miles:
6:37
6:26
6:28
6:33
6:27
6:27
6:17
6:08
6:14 (0.19)

Plan for the weekend: Ragnar Fri-Sat followed by climbing Mount St. Helens Sunday. Also known as: "run all night then surmount an icy death volcano." Should go well!

C • Nice! 1

Event: COC Wednesday Evening Series #3 - Big Finn Hill Park
 

Big Finn Hill control placement/pickup.

Quite pleased with how things turned out. The map came out beautifully and the course got some nice compliments, and a couple people even recognized the significance of my Bruce McAlister memorial control. Also, we had ~75 starts, which is another Wednesday Evening Series record!

C • Way to.. 4