Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Recumbent bike post-Billygoat shakeout. BG was the big goal for the spring, so time for some unstructured training and rest before thinking about new goals.

Stretching

Event: Billygoat 41
 

Tried to warm up to the extent possible before the BG mass start.

Billygoat 41 - Burnt Mountain

Map: http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.ph...

First of all, this was a terrible idea. What was I thinking?? 20 total hours of driving with a toddler in order to go run in the woods for 2 hours and then have to leave immediately so we could get back home before midnight. On Mother's Day.

But - the orienteering at Burnt Mountain was, as always, great fun; dinner with PG, Gail, and Julia was a delight; and seeing everyone at the Goat, including the elusive Balter, was a pleasure. Still, clearly need to reassess trips like this in the future and either skip some or alter logistics in a way that is more fair to Inara and does not leave us wrecked by the end of the weekend.

The Goat. I was excited to run a goat where I did not come into it completely hobbled, even if my shape leaves a lot to be desired. With Greg A dropping out, the field felt wide open and well set-up for a battle of the young bucks (AJ, Keegan, Peter Z) and the old goats (Will H, Francis F, Wyatt, and myself).

Off the start, a lead pack formed with the seven guys above, plus Philippe C-J and, for a while, Ari. No one really wanted to take the lead, so the pace was quite gentle on the trail up to 1, very different from the usual furious goat rush.

I could tell that my legs didn't feel particularly spry, so I expected right away that this would be a struggle. We all hit 1 fine. On the way to 2, I contoured to the trail with Keegan, while everyone else went straighter, taking more climb. Keegan and I got ahead, but floated just past the flag, and the group was together again - the first of many acts of navigational sloppiness on my part.

Downhill to 3 Will set a furious pace, tearing through the green, and the pack strung out a bit. Coming into it off the last trail, I took a slightly better line and ended up in front, only to stop one hill short and end up at the end of the pack, with Wyatt punching right in front of me.

Leaving 3, I saw Keegan head towards 5, skipping early and by himself. I thought at the time that seemed like a bad idea.

4 was uneventful, but on 5 everyone seemed to go north, while I barreled straight into the swamp, surprised to find myself alone. I think the swamp was a fine route choice, thought I did not execute perfectly, getting initially drawn north of the line by the pack. Climbing out of the swamp and into the woods, I ran into Wyatt, who had gone around to the south. We arrived at 5 towards the end of the pack - Francis, Will, and AJ were gone, while Peter and Philippe were behind us. I walk/jogged along the creek through the green up to 6, while Wyatt disappeared to the trail.

I took the eastern trail around to 7 and caught a glimpse of Francis as I slogged up the hill. Peter and Philippe followed me. I hit 7 well and ran hard for 8, seeing Keegan hesitating up ahead. I bobbled a bit in the circle (again!) and Keegan was gone.

I was feeling ok here, so picked up the speed to 9 and spiked it, seeing the whole pack coming back to it from my right. I am back in it!

This didn't last long, however. My undoing came, as it always seems to at Burnt Mt., in the Bermuda triangle around where #10 is. I have made substantial errors there each of the tree times I have had controls there. I thought it would be smart to run up the stream before climbing up to the trail just before 10, then attacking. Will went with me. We climbed up, but immediately nothing made sense. We hit a trail, but couldn't tell if it was mapped or new. I drifted north and west, hopping ridges, but really unsure of where I was. I then saw Francis go by in the lead - I couldn't tell if he'd gotten the control yet. Soon, AJ and Keegan came by. They looked hesitant, so I went with them for a bit, but then they took of, so I knew I had to turn. I contemplated just skipping 10 at this point. I turned back and eventually got to 10 after watching Wyatt, Will, Peter, and Philippe go by. Ugh. Honestly, just planning to skip 10 might not have been so bad for me.

I raced down to 11 and, of course, missed it, taking Peter and Philippe with me. Another 1.5 minutes or so gone. Didn't see Philippe after this.

On the dogleg to 12, I only saw Wyatt, meaning that Francis, AJ, and Keegan were quite far ahead.

Heading out to 13, I was surprised to see Will coming in, as he missed 11 even worse than I did. I was cursing at myself here, but also telling myself not to give up, as there was plenty of tough orienteering left.

Peter was cleaner to 13, so I punched behind him. Straight to 4, still together with Peter.

I got ahead to 15, running somewhat lower than I had planned, but correcting quickly and coming into the control as Wyatt was leaving.

Up to 16 with Wyatt and Peter, where Peter and I decided to skip 17. Will was coming in as we were leaving.

Skipped 17.

Heading to 18, we merged with the lead pack of Francis, AJ, and Keegan. I asked Francis if he had skipped, though I was pretty sure I knew the answer. He confirmed that he hadn't.

At 18, I thought that my last remaining chance at winning this thing would be to take whatever fork the leaders (AJ and Francis at this point, since Keegan had skipped) did not take, and so I did that, choosing the western fork, as did Peter.

I was slow to 19, and Peter disappeared as I came into it.

The way to 20 was a slog and I could feel that I was getting tired, as I was tripping and stumbling more. However, I hit 20 cleanly and saw Peter maybe 20-25 meters in front.

I chased him on the way to 21, but could not get closer, as there was no speed left. We left the trail early (stupid!), and I stumbled through the rock field, eventually dropping down to the marsh and hacking my way through the green below the giant cliff. When I climbed up the cliff on the other side of the stream, I was spent. I jogged/walked to 21 and hit it, alone.

At this point, I was sure that everyone was gone, and my only goal was to finish without getting caught by anyone from behind (I was imagining some mix of Ari/Philippe/Alex/Vadim/Andis chasing me).

Clean and slow to 22.

As I trudged up the little trail to 23, I heard crunching behind me and was dismayed to see both Will and Peter closing on me. I hit 23, then 24, still in front of them, but had no fight left on the run to the finish. Peter took a much better line, while Will got stuck in the woods, and I was clumsy going around, so Peter ended up 4th, Will 5th, and I 6th, a full ten minutes behind a very impressive AJ, who seemed to be the only one to avoid boneheaded mistakes that the rest of succumbed to (Keegan on 8, Will, Peter, and I on 10, Francis on 22). Well done AJ!

In the end, I am proud to have run a competitive Billygoat race for the first time since maybe 2012. It gives me hope for more fun races in the future if I can stay healthy. I am also disappointed in myself for throwing away chances at a better result repeatedly through sloppy navigation and bad decisions.

Finally, thank you so much to PG for agreeing to the difficult task of taking care of Inara and Barney while we raced! Thank you also to UNO and the Bundschuhs for organizing a great goat on a great map, and for stepping up to help PG manage Inara! And thank you to my patient wife who put up with all of this on Mother's Day, no less. You are the best!

C • Great Play by play 6

Billygoat - Splits

Event: QOC Granite
 

We hit the road north of Saturday morning, with plans of hitting QOC's event at Patapsco-Granite, and then continuing north to PG and Gail's house for the night and then the Billygoat at Burnt Mountain.

As we started the drive, messages came in saying the QOC event had been cancelled. We scrambled for a while, thinking of other suitable maps to stop at along the way. Eventually, we got in touch with Jan M, who kindly agreed to let us come run the courses at Granite (he got the cancellation notice after all the controls and water had been put out!) and even watched Inara as we went out - I on the brown course and Alli on orange. The woods at Granite were beautiful and vibrant green from the recent rains, and it felt luxurious to have the forest, with all the controls put out, virtually to myself. I was somewhat sloppy technically, never really settling into a good rhythm, but it was very nice to get out and shake out my legs.

After this, we had Inara play at a playground for a bit, got lunch, and kept going north.

Last set of elliptical intervals before the Goat. I did 8x(30" on - 60" off - 60" on - 90" off).

Stretching

Steady-state elliptical

Stretching