Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyle

Very long Anza Borregoat Willvision. First 43 or so minutes feature lots of other folks but are otherwise pretty standard, then there's a fun 7-8 minute stretch where I curse rather more than usual. Remainder is generally solo orienteering, with a couple good doses of standing around being confused.

Special shoutout to Cascade's own Eric Jones, who ran well (especially Sunday) at the Georgia Navigator Cup - only his second-ever A-meet national event.

C • First A-Meet 16

Anza Borrego pics:

Ocotillo far away and close-up. Not super friendly - looks like some sort of medieval war hammer.

The other one I can't remember the name of far away and close-up. Notice the unassuming little guy rolling solo near the lower left corner of the first pic - those are the ones you gotta watch out for. I'm given to understand that stepping on one is thoroughly unpleasant.

C • cholla 9

6:18/km

Mappy

If Will runs a good middle distance race, but no one is around to see it, did it really happen? This was easily my best orienteering of the weekend. Really fun course designed by Matej, though there were only seven or eight of us left to run it. Orienteering strategy generally was either of two techniques: 1. Count the reentrants; 2. Ignore the reentrants, instead take a bearing and distance estimation. I was too low on 16 and lost 45-60s, but relocated quickly (off 17). Instead of controls there were tricolour pin flags, which were sometimes hiding behind bushes.

Day 2 - Borregoat! There was a good group running the Goat, including Eric, Francois, Josh, Mark, Matej, Young Will and others. Herd running for the first few controls, then things started thinning out a little by 6 or 7 with Eric, Matej and myself generally spearheading the train. I reached 8 first, then spiked 9 without help, which I was happy about. Took the trail around to 10 which put me a few seconds behind Josh and Eric, who went straight.

Hanging out in the lead group till 12, after which things fell apart fast. I had been planning to skip 13, which was perfectly reasonable, but in the course of heading south on the trail I ended up going past all the viable climbing spots and found myself in a slot canyon with sheer 50-foot walls on either side. Which was cool, except it took me 700m the wrong way and I had no opportunity to climb out until I had nearly reached the start of the Maze-O, near control 19. So yeah, that was that - had to retrace my steps some 1100m back to 14 to get things sorted out.

Lost a couple minutes on 19, then caught up to Josh on the way to 20, but instead of going to 20 we ran clean off the southern edge of the map. Hard to relocate without being on the map. I found 20 first and got away from him, then the rest of the course was uneventful, just alone running out the string dispiritedly and on tired legs.

Really fun course, and a good challenge to race with a bunch of guys, most of whom had been here before. This is just the kind of high-visibility, open rolling terrain that I love (see: Fishtrap). Lesson learned: Don't mess with the canyons - get out as quick as you can.

Event: Anza Borrego 2016
 

Anza Borrego Day 1 - Classic course. My first taste of the desert! A decent if not particularly awe-inspiring race; a good-to-great time (for me) would have been near or under an hour. Ended up second, 2+ minutes behind Matej. Lost time at 8 and 11, then went to 14 before 13, and bled time at various places in the 15-20 Cliffs of Insanity section (but so did everyone). Second part of the course traversed one of those ruggedly unforgiving terrains where everything is magnified and seemingly innocuous route choice decisions and minor errors can cost minutes.

Good news - rumors of my knee's imminent demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated! I threw on my soft knee brace and did some warming up, without pain. So I started the race jogging - still no pain. So after the first control I gradually pushed to race pace without issues.

About the desert - it's similar to parts of Central Washington, but with more sand, more cacti, and less low brushy vegetation. Also, less rock. Also, more rock. I learned almost immediately that one cannot merely sashay past these cacti as with garden-variety inconsequential ground vegetation; indeed, they're deserving of a full-fledged detour. Luckily, the cacti are spaced almost uniformly - each plant seems to vigorously guard its territory such that any two are rarely less than 8-10 feet from each other.

Map stolen from Will's log:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1540/24056960599_1e4...

Maze-O in the ultra-detailed and convoluted slot canyon area. This stuff is seriously nuts. I was just walking to give my knee a rest, and even so I didn't know where I was half the damn time. God knows where I would've ended up if I tried to actually run. Super interesting and fun though!

Patellar tendon has the Itis :( :( :( It's very frustrating to get injured right as I'm positive and motivated and things are going well.

C • TLC 2