Training Log Archive: syd

Trek 2

Started off with Gear Posers, but they got ahead of us on the climb to CP10. Bobbled CP11. We didn't go quite far enough and briefly explored the wrong spur. Caught up to MRA here and went back and forth with them and Gear Posers for the next few CPs. Saw Richard's team as we were headed to CP12 (they were headed to CP11). Had a second bobble on CP15. We followed a bearing from CP14, but drifted way to the W. Smooth sailing after that! Trotted on trails for the majority of this section. Also pretty sure we heard a bear trundling through the woods at one point, tried not to think too hard about that one.

Paddle

Arrived at TA3 and were surprised to see Gear Posers still in transition and Don't Be a Chad arrive a few minutes after we did. Had my bike jacket in my pack and decided to put it on for the paddle, great decision. This paddle was crazy. It was so foggy! Fun, but it was stressful hearing rapids and not being able to see anything. I was happy with how fast the paddle went by, the river must have been really flowing.

Bike 1

I was freezing when we got off the water, we were both shivering uncontrollably. I had packed my rain jacket in our bin, so swapped jackets and gloves which helped. I was glad the bike started with a big uphill! This bike went well. Navigation was pretty straight forward and we were feeling decent. We had originally planned to maximize roads, but they were so sandy that we ended up riding more on the trails. Inadvertently took a horse trail on our way to CP23. I finally warmed up here and took off my jacket. The bike up to CP25 was a bit of a struggle.

Trek 3

Arrived at TA5 as MRA was finishing up the trek. Kevin and I had just been discussing what we wanted to eat, I wanted an Oreo and Kevin wanted Diet Coke. And there were both at the TA!! After a mood boosting snack we headed out on foot. Goal was to minimize climb. Kevin's knee was bothering him, so we didn't run, just tried to keep up a good trekking pace. I enjoyed this navigation and picked routes so we only had to climb big hills twice.

Bike 3

Ugh. The never ending bike ride to the finish. We thought we were close, but it just kept going. We were both pretty beat and hadn't seen another team since TA4 (except for MRA, but they were so far ahead), so motivation was pretty low. So much sandy two track and I think the entire bike was uphill. Let Kevin take my pack for a bit, but he wasn't doing much better than I was. Just kept waiting for a team to pass us. But no one did! And we finally rolled in to the finish in 3rd place :)

Event: Michigan Adventure Race: Epic (6 or 18 hours)
 

Caberfae, MAR Epic Edition, 20 h AR

Practiced my defense presentation Friday afternoon and then headed up to Caberfae. I was hoping I would have time for a quick nap, but it didn't happen. Arrived at 6:30 and had just enough time to eat dinner and get gear ready before the briefing at 7:30. Mark was a little long winded with the briefing. Received the maps and were able to plan out the bike routes and order of CPs for the treks. Felt more rushed than I was expecting.

Bike to TA 1

Started off with a short bike to TA1. Fun start, everyone was cruising along.

Trek 1

People everywhere dropping bikes at TA1. We weren't that fast in transition, so ended up behind a big pack headed to CP3. We weren't able to get around and ended up letting the pack lead us to CP2 (we were headed to CP1...). Not a big deal, but kind of frustrating. At least we ended up at a flag and not lost somewhere. People started to thin out after this so we were able to do our own thing. Jogged down the road, cut in a little too early and ended up hitting CP5 instead of our intended CP7...so that was two wrong flags in one section.... Did the rest of the loop in reverse of our original plan and things went much better. Still ended up in 3rd leaving TA2. For future rogaine style starts I should plan a route that I expect to be less popular.

Bike to TA 2

Another short bike over to TA2. Caught up to Gear Posers in transition.

Trot around the neighborhood trails. Exercising in the morning still isn't really my thing.