Training Log Archive: Sandy

Yep, that's right. Over an hour for a two and a half k course! And I didn't have any big errors!! Just incredibly slow going and I decided to just walk most of the course anyway not putting any pressure on myself. I had a few errors but nothing too dramatic - always knew about where I was - but could have been a lot cleaner on several controls. But the worst was that I didn't notice that from #7 to #8 there was a marked route for the first half of the leg and I didn't follow it. It got almost all the way to 8 and when I checked my control description to see what I was actually looking for, I realized there was a marked route in the control descriptions. I had seen it at the start but it didn't register then that it was something to pay attention to since I've never had one in the middle of a course. Anyway, I decided to go back to 7 and do the leg right - about a 5 minute time loss.

I ended up 21 out of 68. A 1:04:18 time would have put me in 15th. So pretty happy with the result. Since I walked all but the run in I know there were a lot of folks out there having a lot more trouble than I did.

Using all the little trails was the key to success so very glad to have gotten out on the model yesterday. Will be in very similar terrain tomorrow so hoping to do a bit better.

C • Great job! 3

Event: WOC 2011 + O'Festival Savoie Grand Revard
 

Yay! Made it to France - barely. Got a little late start, then got stuck in a major traffic jam on the NJ Tpke, then got lost trying to find the Park2Go. Got to the airport at 4:52 for a 5:55 flight. They let us cut to the front of the line and Clem and I got our boarding passes before the 4:55 cut-off but they had to override the system for Eddie. I was convinced our luggage wouldn't make it, but it did. Flight was fine and, in fact, we landed a little early. Got through customs and got the car.

We weren't sure whether the gas gauge was reading empty or full so tried to find a gas station and drove around some of the back roads around Geneva. Spectacular scenery. Eventually found a gas station that would take our non-chip credit cards and it turns out the tank was full. Got on a highway before finding an ATM in France and when we got on a toll road were a little concerned about how we would pay. But they take credit cards for tolls!

Made it to the race site and decided to check out the model area. It was kind of a last minute decision so I didn't change out of my shorts and shirt though and just wore my trail shoes not my o-shoes. And the woods are really, really tough. They aren't "thick" in the sense of PA thick woods with prickers and briars and so on - just lots of dense trees that you can easily push through but not see through. And the ground is very chunky - lots of large squarish rocks and some downed trees and very steep so virtually impossible to run through for all but the top elites. But, lots of mapped little trails - some mapped as indistinct but easy to see on the ground and lots of little open areas. I went to 4 controls in about half an hour all in about 500 meters. Clem helped me find the first 2 then I kept going and learned how to use the trails to full advantage.

After that watched the long qualification races and cheered on the Americans and Canadians, the main reason I came. And it was a lot of fun. But I also started to fade as I hadn't slept since Thursday night. It was great to see Ali have such a good race but very sad that both Alex and Sam had trouble out there.

Drove into Chambery to pick up our race packets after that, then to Aix-les-Bains so Clem could get his media packet, then had dinner at a nice outdoor restaurant and finally made it to the hotel and crashed.

Off to France this afternoon.

Loop in the Wissahickon before breakfast.

Yoga. Planned to do more, but couldn't focus.

A bunch of yard work; didn't feel like much else.

Early morning yoga at the beach. Back home today.

The storms passed much more quickly than predicted so went out around 4pm for a jog on the beach. Jogged 10 minutes with the wind, walked 2 min into the wind, jogged 5 into, walked 2 into, jogged 5 into and then walked 3 with the wind back to the house.

The storm deposited chunks of jellyfish - I'm not sure how else to describe them since they aren't full jellyfish with stingers and everything. They're just blobs of clear, fairly rigid globs of protoplasm I guess anywhere from half an inch to a couple inches. I talked to the lifeguard and he said as long as they're clear, they're not dangerous and that's almost always what washes up on the beach.

http://www.longbeachislandjournal.com/animals/moon...

C • Jellyfish 7

An out and back on the beach in the early evening - half in the deep dry sand and half in the more packed wet sand.

C • Happy Birthday! 9

Yoga. Not sure if it was because of doing it right after walking on the beach or because it was hard work (it was), but I sure was sweating up a storm.