Training Log Archive: maprunner

Another day with no training. I had expected to do something but then found out that my elderly aunt was in the hospital, 2.5 hours away. We are the closest relatives, so I drove up there for a visit today. Lots of driving, but otherwise a good day (she looked better than I feared).

I asked my trainer to go light on the legs this week since I have two sprint races on Sunday. I didn't think he'd go all-in on the arms, though! Tough day.

Tonight's set:
1) arm push-outs with band. Start with both arms straight out in front. Keep one stationary, move the other one in and out 15X. Repeat with other arm. Then both arms 15X.
2) Lat pull down with hands spread far apart on the bar. 10X unknown weight.
3) Half squat then push weights overhead: 10x with 20lbs
4) plank hold (20 sec? 30 sec?)

Keep intending to work out, but my mind is not agreeing with my body this week. Tonight I came home and had a glass of wine before we went out for dinner, where I had two more drinks. I blame work and travel stress. But it was very nice to celebrate anniversary #22!

C • Happy anniversary!! 1

with Sandy and Kiri at the dog park. We moved fast and worked up a sweat.

I took today as an extra vacation day. This is a luxury I can enjoy these days since I have much more vacation time than Mike. So nice to ease back into the real world after a lovely O trip. I'm with Cristina: who's ready for the next O trip already? Join me in Greenbush.

C • We will 2

Relatively easy travel day home. We had a slight delay leaving SJC so we only had 25 minutes in DEN, but we made our connection easily. Our luggage made it too! Dinner at Arthur Bryant's on the way home from the airport.

Notes on the weekend:

My comments on the lack of organization this weekend. There were several things that are not expected at a US Nationals:
1. start crew not prepared on Middle: they were understaffed and poorly organized. They did get more staff and semi-fixed things eventually, but it messed up many starters and may have impacted their mental state.
2. Buses: not enough and not clear on timelines. They were waiting at the parking area for starters instead of picking up finishers. Long delays.
3. Results: Unclear results each day (multiple screens, some with starts, some with results). Not clear who was US eligible and who was not.
4. Relay: not a good sign when they ask if anyone can help with the software only 30 minutes before the relay started. The have not yet figured out the results.
5. Course printing: numbers were not always placed optimally for reading. One of mine was in a section of three close controls, and the number was overprinted in an out-of-bounds area, and I couldn't read it. Other times, the number was pretty far from the circle.
6. Course setters: when you have to ask someone to set the sprint and relay course 3 weeks before the event....
7. Volunteers: overall, they were understaffed. It seemed like the number of BAOC competitors were more than the number of BAOC volunteers. They will need to change this, and get help from other clubs, for NAOC.
8. (edited): Middle White course had two controls flipped. Fail.

I will say that the maps were good, the course designs were very good, the markers were all in the right place. They got the key things right.
EDIT: I forgot about he White course on Friday. They flipped two controls. This was a major error.

And high five to Erin for his remote sprint and relay course setting.

C • Thanks! 7

US Nationals Sprint, Cabrillo College, F55 course 3

The meet notes were very confusing as they described the multi-layer mapping, but in the end, they kept us on well mapped and clear sections of the map. This was a great sprint location and the course was very good. I had a lot of fun!

Other than the first control, again. We had to go up the stairs right away to get to the start triangle. Somehow I forgot that I could look at the map already. I was winded when I turned it over, got confused and decided I had to go up around the first building, instead of turning left immediately. I ran past a long building and was surprised when I got to the end. I thought it was the building with my first control, so I thought I had gone too far. Back and up the stairs, running around like crazy, finally acknowledged that nothing made sense. Stopped and looked at the map, and figured it out after I got some oxygen in my brain. Lost 2 minutes here. The only positive thing is that I knew the race was lost already, so I could slow down to an appropriate pace and run cleanly for the rest of the course.

And I did enjoy the rest of the course. It was a really good navigational challenge and a cool campus. Nice arena set-up, too.



After the sprint, my sister joined us to cheer on the relay teams. I made her go out and find a few "controls" on the sprint course.

Sprint Relay, Cabrillo College, 8 pt club.

Ran with Mike and Dave as an official OK team. Mike ran the first leg and I ran second. I felt OK and ran at a reasonable pace. The biggest issue was that the control codes were not printed next to the control circle (as the meet notes said they would) so I kept unfolding my map to read the codes (and there were a lot of controls). I definitely did not want to mis-punch in a relay. Although it didn't matter in the end since they couldn't figure out results.

I was working hard and moving well. It helped that the course was pretty easy (no tricky levels to look for). I was happy to see that Dave started in the mass start on leg 3 and was not waiting for me. I had a slight bobble on the second to last control, and lots of slow downs to read the map and make decisions. but other wise this was a clean run.

I didn't plan to sprint all out in the finish chute (four races in three days is a lot) but the atmosphere and the adrenaline kicked in and I just took off. That was fun!



We dropped Simon off at the train station on the way home, then went to my sister's house for dinner with her wife and my mom. A nice evening.

C • OK team! 1

Sprint 3 - Splits