Training Log Archive: revy

Flew into Calgary on the way home - stopped in Exshaw to ride Prospector. So nice to be on my bike. Feet were a bit sore going down the bumpy stuff and legs tired but otherwise fine. The trail was more xc-ish than I expected - I though it went straight up and then straight down. The last section had some technical bits but otherwise nothing too crazy. Rode cautiously as I didn't feel 100% in terms of mental focus after the race. Short loop but worth a ride.

Event: 12th World Rogaining Championships
 

World Rogaining Champs in South Dakota. Best way to describe this race for me is "meh" for various reasons...

Initially this was going to be my A race this season and I had big plans to spend a lot of time on my feet in preparation. Then I injured my calf in May and didn't really run for a couple months, switched my focus to biking and was busy bike racing in the last few weeks when I was finally healthy enough to run. So race goals were certainly adjusted and consequently was only lukewarm excited about the event. James kind of felt the same way so at least we were on the same page.

As for the actual race James and I plotted what I thought was a good course - ambitious given our fitness although we had given ourselves a few good sections to drop in case our pace was slow. Within the first few hours of the event I realized we would not come close to clearing what we had planned as travel was slow (out of the total distance we covered at least half was bush whacking). This was a bit of a bummer as we had purposely set out to do what I felt was the harder section of the course first when we were fresh (south) and it was obvious that our planned course was perhaps not as efficient as it could be due to that decision. other issue is that the sections I thought were good for dropping were in the second half of our planned course.

We moved pretty well for the first 4-5 hours (including finding 85 with little issue although it was a poor control) and fairly clean nav. Then my continuing problems with heat reared their head again. This is the 4th or 5th consecutive event over several hours in length where I have developed some sort of hydration issue. I slowly got nauseous, my calorie and fluid intake became non existent (due to the nausea), my pace slowed and eventually I dry heaved a few times. This was despite what I felt was decent fluid, electrolyte and caloric intake over the first few hours. It might be that I need even more water when I get really hot - doubt it is electrolytes or calories based on different approaches in each event. The frustrating thing is that I have done a lot of exercise this year in very hot weather with no issues but generally for only 3-4 hours or at a slightly lower intensity. Anyway I was not having much fun for most of the evening… didn't really feel like we were racing anymore.

We decided to short cut back to the hash house which meant dropping a section of the course that scored well (450 extra points for only 8 km further than what we covered). Night time nav went generally fine - walked in a circle around one control for ten minutes but that was it for issues. We were back at the hash house a bit after 1 pm - I went to sleep for 2.5 hours and then managed to eat and drink a fair bit. it seems like a bit of rest and my body returns to normal - the blood supply to the gut resumes. Same sort of recovery all the other times as well and then I feel quite good for the rest of the race…

We went out for a loop of the NE section - left a bit before 5 so spent at least 3.5 hours resting. This section seemed like the travel was a lot easier (although afterwards looking at our per hour scoring it was not in fact higher but fatigue could have been playing a role). We wasted at least 30 minutes looking for 101 which was not in the correct position and unfortunately we chose wrong in terms of direction it might be if it was misplaced (but did find it eventually as we worked through places it might be). This took a bit of the wind out of our sails and now it was James's turn to lag behind over the next three controls. The wasted time (on 101) screwed up our route back to the finish as James was concerned we would be tight for time if we continued bagging controls so we walked back 6 km on the rail trail and finished with 30 minutes to spare. We left at least 150 points out there but at that point I wasn't going to argue given we had stopped thinking about placing a long time ago. Looking at Google Earth afterwards we would have been fine as we would have hit a number of useful unmapped roads (map was good for contours but if 50% of the roads were mapped I would be surprised…).

Total tally is 34 controls (out of 80!) and 2040 points.

Damage to body:

- blisters under both big toes (crossed a creek 5 hours in that we probably could have avoided and this contributed to the damage) that slowed down the downhill walking
- sore legs (defiinitely not in shape to push the pace as we mainly walked and even that beat me up)
- corneal abrasion from a stick in the eye (couldn't see clearly for the last 3 hours of racing)

The terrain was adequate for this type of event but again I kind of felt "meh" about the scenery as it got repetitive and not a lot of "wow" moments. I think I am a bit spoiled by some of the other places I have been. Way too much managed forest too - not a lot of spots that felt untouched.

Anyway always nice to see some familiar faces so that at least was good. And my sleep meant I felt awake for the entire race so no sleepwalking:)

C • WRC 5