Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyle

Event: CascadeOC Ultimate #7 - Fishtrap Lake (Goat)
 

Fishtrap Goat!

1 - It was funny that 1 was on a black X, as I knew there was only one of those anywhere near because I've used it for training before. The pace was easy to the first control; I was hoping this would continue. It did not.

2/3/4 - Danny and Adam started getting out in front; I was determined not to push myself too hard early on, so I resolved to let them go if necessary.

5/6 - Adam joked about skipping 6 and swimming across the lake. Danny ran out of sight and I didn't see him again.

7 - Briefly considered skipping. Adam also got away from me on the way to 7, which again I was fine with. Weirdly, Eric was nowhere to be seen behind me, so I was surprised to be already alone. Afterward Eric said he had been feeling really poor early in the race, and even considered quitting.

8-9-10 - Uneventful; caught sight of Adam here and there. Tentatively decided to skip 19 and 23.

11 - I made a big tactical mistake here, which was that I didn't notice the water stop on the way to 11 until I was well up the hill beyond. Short of turning back, this meant there would be no opportunity to drink until between 24 and 25, which was not a good situation.

12 - Lost some time here on some suboptimal route choice and some bobbling in the circle.

13-14 - I saw Eric, Andrew, and Nikolay behind me, going the other way toward 12.

15-16-17-18 -20 - Hesitant on some of these, felt like I was bleeding bits of time almost every control for no good reason. Starting to feel tired and dehydrated, despite the moderate temps.

21 - This long leg was definitely an energy- and water-depleted struggle, just trying to push through to the water between 24 and 25. I saw Eric off in the distance behind me, because of course he was right behind me. Eric is never not right behind me.

22 - Took a bad route into it and got slowed by some slashy stuff instead of staying high, and Eric reached the control just after me.

24 - I skipped 23 and headed for 24, while Eric headed for 23. I figured he couldn't have caught me without having used a skip already, meaning that he must be skipping 26 for his second. I thought 23 was a better skip, so I had hopes of reaching 27 before him.

25 - Suffering quite a bit, I finally reached the water stop on the trail halfway to 25. I drank a bunch and dumped some on my head, which immediately lifted my spirits.

26 - With Eric in the back of my mind, I booked it toward 26, pushing as much as I could and no longer worried about bonking. As I got to the rise above the low area a bit before the control, I saw Adam climbing the hill ahead of me, looking pretty beat, which gave me further motivation. As I approached the circle I saw Adam ahead, heading to my left; I assumed he had just hit 26 and was heading for 27. Shortly I came to where I thought 26 was...and found nothing. Scratched my head, bumbled around and double-checked myself a bit, but everything told me I was in the right spot. Did some more wandering and eventually noticed a control a ways off to my left, which turned out to be it. In the end I assume Adam had done the same thing, and when I saw him he actually hadn't punched 26 yet, but rather had gone to the right place and seen it off to the left.

27-28-F - Approached 27 well to the right, which also implied to me that 26 was in the wrong spot. Came into the finish naturally some minutes after Eric (who had had the good fortune to skip the misplaced control) as well as Adam.

It was a bummer to feel like my race was affected, but overall the Goat was still great fun regardless, and I was really happy with how strong I felt under the circumstances. I had considered dropping down to the Ibex, but it turned out the Goat was well within my physical ability on the day. My conservative approach early on was a good choice, but my main error was neglect/mismanagement of hydration; better attention to this earlier in the race (namely, drinking at the water stop on the way to 11) would have yielded benefits later on. It was also really fun to have people in the race(s) beyond the usual Cascade cohort.

Event: CascadeOC Ultimate #6 - Fishtrap Lake (Middle)
 

Fishtrap NRE middle. Ran okay under the circumstances, but felt very fatigued after being sick/recovering from COVID the previous week, so just had no zip in my legs. On "home" terrain, I thought sub-40 would have been very attainable if healthy - though that's easier to say than do.

Blue - Splits