Training Archive: bill_lIn the 7 days ending 2007-12-01:
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Saturday Dec 1 | ||
| Event: Castlewood 8 Hour | ||
| AR race 6:58:00 [4] *** | |
| slept:5.0 weight:163lbs shoes: Montrail Vitesse #2 | ||
| Teamed up with Rudy, D, and Joe.
We finished 5th of 14 4-person coed teams. An excellent race! Followed up with some excellent organic vegan choc cake that D brought from Chicago for Rudy's b-day. (Thanks D! And thanks Rudy for sharing!) Weather was cold with a brisk wind, but the precip held off with only a brief period of sprinkles early in the day. My legs are really toast! I don't remember the last time my legs were this beat. Details are now posted.... read on.... O-course map. Bike map 1. Castlewood 8 Hour Race Report December 1, 2007 Team Mid Rivers Adventure 2 (MRA2) January 2007 I spent about 8 hours manning a checkpoint on a Meramec River gravel bar (with now teammate Matt) for the 2006 edition of the Castlewood 8 Hour. I'd wanted to race, but my knees were still causing me problems. As a racer, it was really tough sitting on the sidelines, watching other people run the course! Especially since this race is held 20 minutes from my house. No long drives to the race, no hotels or campsites, an ok night of sleep before the race, and no long drive home after the race. Early October 2007 Teammate Matt and I were planning to race with potential new teammate Jaime and an unidentified 4th as a 4P coed team. But, Matt was on the DL with a severe ITB injury, a memento from the Berryman 36 hour race. To all appearances, he was not going to be off the DL in time for Castlewood. Alright, time to put plan B into action. Oh, wait, there was no plan B. Long story short(er)... Hooked up with Rudy from SLOC and Joe via MRA Mike to fill out a 4PC team. Then Matt pulled off a super speedy recovery (the advantages of youth!) and also wanted to race. Luck happened to roll our way again and Rudy pulled in a roadbiker/trail runner/marathonner lady, Dee, (henceforth just 'D') for the 4PC team and we created a 2PC team with Matt and Jaime and everybody was happy! Race Week Early in the week, and right up until Friday afternoon, the forecasters were predicting temps in the 30's and low 40's, a mix of liquid, freezing and frozen precipitation, and winds in the teens. Throw in some orienteering, singletrack, and canoeing and you've got all the ingredients for an epic adventure race! Friday The plan was to meet at racer registration at 1600. Some last minute feedback on stowing bikes in a canoe had me out in the yard trying stuff at 1530. Took some digital pics of the results, printed them, and hurried off to the Pointe at Ballwin Commons. Met up with Rudy, D, and Joe at about 1630. Sorry guys. Filled out the typical 'you could die' release form, and did the gear check. Got the maps and headed for a table in a quiet corner to plot and plan. We'd received 2 maps: a 1:15000 O-map of Castlewood, and a reduced 1:24000 portion of a USGS quad map. Also an aerial photo with some of the Castlewood trails highlighted. The coordinates were for cps 1-3 and 16-30. 4-14 were for the O-course and we'd get the map during the race. The race would start with a short run, followed by the o-course, a bike section, canoe, and another bike section to finish the race. Plotting was the usual 'make sure you use the right scale and the correct corner hole'.... Route planning was pretty straight forward with only a few real route choices. Finished up around 1830 and everybody headed home. I'd packed all my required gear way early so I could do some training with a full pack, but because of the mild weather, and a notable lack of accuracy in the weather forecasts this fall, I had yet to dig out all of my winter sports gear. And being an eternal procrastinator, I waited until about 9PM on Friday night to look for things like insulated cycling gloves and waterproof socks. I was pleasantly surprised. I'd put everything in one storage tub last spring and it was still there!!! A final review of the maps and routes at about 2230 and lights out at 2300. Race Day With 200+ racers descending on a limited number of parking spaces near the HQ, I wanted to be certain to snag a primo spot for both parking and TA. So up at 0400 dress, put stuff in car, and eat. Pick up Rudy at 0500 and we're off to the races. Arriving at the park around 0530 it was still dark, spitting rain, windy and cold. We pulled into the parking lot for Picnic Shelter #1 and.... we're the first team there! D was right behind us. Joe arrived a few minutes later, followed closely by Matt and Jaime. We set up our TA right next to the car and about 30 meters from race HQ. Decided that with rain in the forecast I would leave most of my gear in the car. Once we were all set up, we figured out that the other MRA 4P coed team (Mike, Bill, Nathan, and Stephanie) was right next to us as well. The next hour was spent trying to stay warm, last minute gear checks, clothing, food, maps, and chatting. I get really focused so I generally don't pay any attention to what's going on around me. This race was no exception. At 0640, on the way over to pick up the passport, I noticed for the first time, how much activity there was and how many people were getting ready for the race. The 2 nearby parking lots were totally full and people were packing gear in from the overflow parking areas. Ten minutes before the start, Jason announced the pre-race meeting. Couldn't hear much of it and I've forgotten most of the rest. Something about staying warm I think. Oh yeah, and "when you find a control, don't yell out "HERE IT IS!!!"" Well, it is a race with lots of newbies, and there is a temptation to call out when you find a control, so not an unreasonable bit of advice. With two minutes to go, everybody crowded around the start/finish line, jockeying for a good spot in the cold, grey morning light. Following the Star Spangled Banner and a last round of "good luck's", the race was on! CP1 was about a kilometer away with the route mostly on the main road through the park so it was a sprint. The teams up front would get the punch quickly and be off to the next CP, the teams in back would wait in traffic for their turn at punching. From the staring line, the pack cut quickly through the parking lot. A huge storage bin between two cars provided the first obstacle of the day for a number of racers. I think it gave as good as it got. We didn't plan as well as we should have for the first control. Joe was ahead of me, Rudy and D were behind me and we didn't get in line to punch until all four of us were together at the control. No problem. Off to CP2 at the top of the bluffs on the Lone Wolf trail. Our brief pause at CP1 bit us as we got to the wooden stairs just behind 2 or 3 other slower teams that refused to let us pass. Got by them at the top, punched CP2 and took a short-cut through the woods back to the TA for CP3 and to collect the O-course map for controls 4-14. The O-course consisted of a 3-loop tour to collect 3 controls on each loop with a return to the TA/HQ area between each loop. The controls had to be punched in numerical order as they were printed on the map. There were several different maps that altered the order of the loops, so there were teams running all over the place! We ran our loops without any problems and managed to keep our feet dry until the final few controls (although someone almost did a face plant into the creek on the final crossing). As we returned to the TA/CP15 following our final loop we were told by the race staff that we were the 3rd 4-person team off of the course and the 4th or 5th team overall. Cool! Being up front fired us up for a quick transition and after 12 minutes we were off on the bikes. During the transition, I exchanged my soaked top-half clothing for a dry shirt, fleece jacket, wind-proof vest, and insulated biking gloves; downed a yogurt smoothie; put a liter of water in the pack; and tucked a PBJ inside front of my jacket. The route to CP16 and CP17 was entirely on asphalt and we could have put a tow-system to good use. About half way into the totally flat 5K sprint out to CP16, Rudy and D were going strong, but Joe and I were developing cramps in our calves. I know I was dehydrated; I'd consumed less than a liter of fluids during the run/o-course. At the Cp, we both stretched, drank, and took some e-caps. The road to CP17 had two big hills. I had to walk the 2nd because of the cramping. Somewhere along the way Rudy gave me a tow using an old road tube wrapped around his seat post. CP17 (also CP22) was a manned checkpoint. As we pulled in, Karen Holtmann was there taking pictures and gave us lot's of encouragement and some good news: We were still doing great and in 4th place! CP18 and 19 were easy targets on the Stinging Nettle trail with flat, fast single track. CPs 20 and 21 were at the tops of the two high points of the Cedar Bluff (Blue Ribbon) trail (traveling clockwise). For the asphalt and stinging nettle trail, we'd been riding with max pressure in the tires, but once we got to the far side of the rail tunnel on Cedar Bluff, we let some air out. I went from 65 PSI down to 24. For CP20 we opted for a 100m hike-a-bike straight up the hillside, eliminating about a kilometer of climb on the bike. Time-wise, the shortcut turned out to be a wash. The two teams we let go by as we cut into the woods passed us just as we hit the trail again at the top. At the end of Cedar Bluff, there's a nasty 15-20 foot drop with a big rock ledge or two, and some trees thrown in just to make it interesting. There's basically one line through it. If you hit it with some speed, you'll be ok. If you miss the line, or you're tentative on the ledges, it's all over. I've ridden the drop once to satisfy my curiosity, but as a rule, I walk it. Today was no different. As I got to the lip of the drop, I saw a small crowd gathered at the bottom. Not sure what happened, but A racer hadn't made it through. Was bleeding from a gash to the forehead. Everyone said he was ok, so we went on. Heard later that he was ok but needed some stitches. Instead of taking single track back to CP22, we picked up asphalt which made for some easy pedaling. CP22 was the canoe put-in and also a surprise gear check. Since we were heading upstream for CP23, there had been some debate as to whether to leave the bikes at the put-in and pick them up on the way back down stream. In the end, we decided to avoid an extra stop and loaded everything up before getting in the boats. Our strategy was to stack the bikes, laying flat, on top of the canoe. It worked pretty well, but the wheels, extending about a foot out of either side of the canoe, prevented me from getting full-length paddle strokes. Rudy and I teamed up in one canoe. Joe and D in the other. After an easy punch at CP23, about a kilometer upstream, we turned back downstream and into the wind. As we passed the put-in, a number of teams who'd left their bikes behind, had to stop and get them loaded. It felt good to pass a few teams! CP24 was located 250 meters from the river on a flood plain about a kilometer below where we'd started canoeing. From riding the Chubb Trail a couple times in the days ahead of the race, I recognized the spot on the map. But when it came time to get out of the canoe, my quads and thighs had completely locked up and it took me a couple of minutes to get out of the canoe and moving. By the time we got back to the boats, four or five teams had caught up with us. CP25 was the canoe take-out back at the Castlewood boat ramp, about 6k downstream from CP24. Nothing to do but paddle. About an hour and a half after turning downstream from CP23 we made it to the take-out. We quickly unloaded our bikes, pushed them up to the top of the boat ramp and got back to pedaling. CP26 was a short way along the River Scene trail, not far from where CP1 had been located. With 26 down, we had 4 to go, but the last 4 were on the most technical single track with 3 more big climbs to negotiate. This is where we made our only significant mistake of the day. CP27 was at the top of a huge hill overlooking the Meramec Valley. During route planning, we'd considered a hike-a-bike shortcut up a spur to the control. At the end of the day, however, we opted out of the hike-a-bike, but didn't alter the route. We ended up, walking mostly, up the backside of Lone Wolf (counter-clockwise) against traffic. We probably lost 20 minutes. But, one climb down, two remaining. CP 28, 29, and 30 were located on sections of the Grotpeter trail traveling clockwise. 28 was straight up Cardiac. After a long push up the hill (on foot) we were off to 29, at the top of the final climb, on the far of the road tucked back into the woods. We'd scouted this one as we'd passed it earlier in the day, so finding it was no problem. After punching 29, tired legs revived for the pedal to 29 and then it was all downhill with a short flat stretch to the FINISH. I had a great day racing with Joe, D, and Rudy, finishing in 7 hours and 2 minutes (by my stopwatch it was 6:58). It was the first time any of us had raced together and I think we worked really well as a team. Certainly better than any 4 person team that I've raced with previously. And as an added bonus, we finished 5th of 14 in the 4P coed category, 6th of 30 4P teams, and 19th of 85 teams over all. It should also be noted that D performed heroically on the mountain bike! She started the race with very limited experience on technical single track. Despite a couple of falls and a near endo, D pulled through with an amazing great attitude! | ||
| C • cake... 5 | ||
| C • on 13 to 14, we took the tr... 1 | ||
Thursday Nov 29 | ||
| Stretching 10:00 [3] | |
| Cycling (MTB on the road) 20:00 [3] | |
| slept:6.5 weight:165lbs | ||
| Cleaned drive-train and attempted to put new pads on rear brakes (hydraulic disc). Unfortunately, the outside piston was over extended and so there was no room for the pads and the rotor. Put the old pads back on, but had problem with severe rubbing. Went out for a test ride, but the resistance from the brakes was definitely a problem I didn't want to have for the race this weekend. Cut the ride short. Emergency trip to the bike shop where they bled some break fluid from the lines to reset the piston to it's proper position.
Also, the front fork needs to be rebuilt, the rear hub is loose (needs a new hub), and the pivot point is coming loose again. The pivot point seems to be a design problem with the Gary Fisher Cake model. Bike shop says Fisher should give me credit (but not a lot) towards a new bike (or frame). Would be nice if I could actually afford to make up the diff.... | ||
| Walking 30:00 [2] 1.5 mi (20:00 / mi) | |
Wednesday Nov 28 | ||
| Stretching 7:00 [1] | |
| slept:7.0 weight:165lbs | ||
|
The PF is almost completely gone. It doesn't hurt in the morning anymore so I haven't done the wake-up stretches the last few days. Probably should. Still feel like I might have a sinus infection or maybe allergies. I did rake the yard Saturday evening so the pain from Monday night could have been associated. The dust and the leaf particals always get me sneezing. | ||
| Run 1:00:45 [3] * 7.25 mi (8:22 / mi) | |
| shoes: ASICS #2 | ||
| Shortened version of my Webster-Glendale 8.5 loop. Had to cut short to get to a Dr appt.
Legs felt ok for the first 3 miles, but kind of tired after that. | ||
Tuesday Nov 27 | ||
| Note | |
| slept:3.0 weight:166lbs | ||
| Sinus infection? Severe burning pain in left-side sinuses (pressure?) kept me awake for a good part of the night. Started to feel a little better about 4AM.
After a couple days of cold grey and rain, another beautiful one. Supposed to get into the 50's. Must get out for a run. But even our cold and grey doesn't seem so bad compared to: Gimli, Canada Light Snow -10°F (feels like -21F) high: 11, low: 10 Humidity: 64%, Winds: 5mph | ||
| C • Ouch. that sounds terrible.... 1 | ||
Monday Nov 26 | ||
| Walking 30:00 [2] 1.5 mi (20:00 / mi) | |
| slept:8.0 weight:166lbs (rest day) shoes: Montrail Vitesse #2 | ||
| Another rest day. Busy with work. | ||
Sunday Nov 25 | ||
| Note | |
| slept:8.0 weight:165lbs (rest day) | ||
| Felt ok until about noon, then felt totally drained. Should have taken a nap.
A double dietary slam today: Dewey's + Hank's double choc cheescake. | ||
| Stretching 10:00 [1] | |
