Training Log Archive: OutdoorsMama

Event: SMOC -Island Lake State Recreation Area
 

Rough estimate of time. Setting up 3 controls in the morning and some legwork after the meet picking up controls.

Rough estimate of time spent setting a couple controls in the morning and picking some up in the afternoon. Welcome back to mountain biking!


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Co-Hosting SMOC meet:
I helped W4J out with this meet at ILRA. First time I have helped host a meet, and not the last, I hope.

Highlights:
3 winter trips for scouting.
Addition of snowshoes to my gear closet.
One more trip for scouting.
Many, many emails, text messages and phone calls.
Lots of plotting on maps.
One last ground truthing session.
Game day!

Thank-you to everyone who pitched in today. The number of participants was incredible and we ran out of SportIdent punches! (Everyone seemed to show up at the same time, for some reason). But all in all, a super day. No complaints of mis-placed controls (my worst fear!) and beautiful weather.

I would like to help host another meet next year. Belle Isle is of particular interest to me, but I would like to do some more exploring there first. But Island Lake is so beautiful with such diverse terrain, it might be hard to tear myself away from it.......plus, we have several awesome control placements that we did not use today, that we would like to share with the rest of the SMOC community.

I love the diversity of participants at these O meets. Hard core runners. Dedicated hikers. Parents with kids in strollers or back packs, or energetic toddlers, all the way up to teens. Groups of friends, young and young at heart. First timers. Those returning to orienteering after 5 or 20 years away. And those who make it to most meets. What an awesome excuse to spend a day in the beautiful outdoors!

If you have any inclination to help with hosting a meet, I bet SMOC would love to hear from you! There are excellent guidelines laid out for first timers, and experienced meet directors who can give feedback on course layout. It is a great way to give back to the community and help keep this sport going in Southern Michigan. And this is coming from a Canadian ;)

C • The first task with Belle I... 9

C • I steal you.... 10

"Bike to work", they say. It takes me 40 minutes to drive to work on paved county roads, so biking to work would be a bit of a time commitment, to say the least.

I have considered driving to one of our offices half way to my office, then bike to my office. So today I gave that a try (on a non work day). About 12 miles each way, zig zagging on gravel and tar and chip roads. Winds from the north and east would slow down my trip to work, and winds from the south and west would slow down my return trip. Today winds were from the SW.

The crazy part was a stretch of old railway track. Not rail trail. Loose gravel where the ties were pulled up a few years ago. It would've been good on a mountain bike so it was a bit dicy on the CX bike.

The sun came out on the return trip and I only met one cross dog. So when spring planting season is over and we get back to 8.5 - 9 hour days, this might be on the agenda.

Bit of a guess on time.
Setting flags for tomorrow's SMOC meet.
What a drop dead gorgeous day!

The TRX is a humbling thing, as usual.

Then some plank stuff.

Then a session with the foam roller and stretching (not logged).

Down to the park, up and down the gravel paths on the hills a few times, then back.
Very misty down by the lake. Still a wee bit of ice along the shore. Geese were vocalizing somewhere off shore as they settled in for the night.

Brisk walk to warm up/cool down.

Good stretching session afterwards (not logged).
IT band etc. are still happy........