Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Goat Rock Beach, Sonoma St Beach. Fog burned off at the cabin, so we headed out to the beach. It was windier than Wed and Thurs, but still gorgeous. Walked out to the seals at the mouth of the river. Hung out there for a while, meandered back, continued on to the Goat Rock parking lot, then back to the car.

Monte Rio. Old Monte Rio Rd. After getting back from the beach, and knowing I wouldn't get exercise tomorrow, went for a relaxed run on the road below the cabin.

Start: bottom of the little path, just beyond the big barrier
1023 Cnopus Rd
1504 Turn around (planned to do so at 15 mins), by the wire fence on the downhill side
1955 Cnopus Rd
2938 Back to start

Distance estimate is based on previous GPS track showing that distance to Cnopus Rd is almost exactly one mile.

[Easy distance]

Cool down

In the afternoon, Rachel, Louise and I got massages at Osmosis in Freestone, while Garrett hung out. My massage was again by Ruth.

Shell Beach to Red Hill the long way, that is, via the Pomo Canyon Trail. With Louise, Rachel and Garrett. Even slight uphills make me struggle (which is quite disappointing).

Red Hill back to Shell Beach, the shortest way.

We stopped first and had lunch at the top of Red Hill. It was gorgeous, warm and no breeze. We all basked in the sun for a while, amazing considering how cold it's been in the mornings (under 40 deg F).

Goat Rock Beach. After returning to the car in the Shell Beach parking lot, drove to to Goat Rock Beach and walked out to see the seals by the mouth of the river. The mouth was further N than usual, on the other side of the big rock. The seals were on our side of the river.

Didn't start the gps track until we were a third of the way there; the track going back is the full walk.

Goat Rock Beach. From the mouth of the Russian River back to the car.

Walking in my hiking boots was much easier than walking in running shoes, plus no sand got in the boots. On the other hand, it rained a good deal the last few days, so maybe it was just that the sand was wet and therefore tamped down a bit.

Kortum Trail, Sonoma State Beach. After the good run on Saturday, thought I was on my way, but I had very little today. Walked over the first big hill, then kept a pretty moderate pace, often looping back for Louise. Towards the end, my glutes were really hurting, so walked the little uphills coming out of the gully crossings.

Actually, looking back at previous runs, the split of 1352 from Sunset Rocks to Shell Beach parking is not bad at all. Guess I was moving better than I realized. Coming back, though, I'm often under 13, but today was 1414.

[Easy distance]

Spent the day getting ready to go to the cabin. Didn't leave until 4:40. Great meal at Pomelo's in the Sunset.

Front of house. 40 degrees, chilly breeze. Knees have had several episodes of extreme creakiness in the last 48 hours, so just did some easy laps out front. (R & L ran to Gist and back.) Glad I didn't attempt more since my knees were definitely feeling it.

634, 617, 609, 604, 559, 116

[Easy distance]

Cool down.

Stationary bike, step ups, parade march. Gotta get the sinovial fluid going in my knees.

This was before going out for the run.

Casual walk down the old jeep road on George's property, skirt the edge of Mackenzie's, then up the trail behind our house. With Rachel and Louise.

Lake Ranch Reservoir. 40 degrees, chilly wind, sunny. Waited for Rachel to drive down from SF, so out a little later than usual. R & L couldn't wait at the start, so I was trailing them by over a minute. Ran easily but faster than I would have if they hadn't been ahead of me. Finally caught up with about a mile to go.

Nose still pretty runny, but breathing was good and relaxed. Hips and calves started feeling it towards the end. Both knees ached for a while afterwards but seemed fine later.

459(523)1023(500)1523(439)2002
340 - up to third bridge, dragging a bit
217 - down
438, 413, 551, 447

Usual 4.0: 3932
Extra half-mile: 557

[Easy distance w/hills]

Cool down.

The usual weekly accumulation of morning exercises: stretching, strength and balance. As the week wore on and my cold wore off, ramped up so that by week's end I was back to the full set of exercises.

Los Gatos. Walked from the JCC to the top of the Vasona Dam and back. On the way, took a trail by the creek (which I'd never noticed before) instead of the bike path.

Cool but sunny. It was nice to look out over the lake to the green hills.

JCCLG. Ten laps around the large grass field. Distance estimated by pace counting.

First run in ten days (due to having a cold), so taking it easy. Felt OK.

It was really windy at my house, so since I was going to meet L at the JCC anyway (we were going to meet Mike K at Amber India), decided to run there.

[Easy distance]

At Kevin's. Mostly over my cold, but still a bit congested. Since I hadn't exercised much in 9 days, took it relatively easy - but it was still hard.

With L. Waked on George's road down to McKenzie's, then up our own trail behind the house. Cold is not nearly so bad as it was.

Some improvement in my cold. Late in the day, bundled up and walked up to Greg's driveway and back, about .6 mi, in about 15 minutes.

Had wanted to go to the Holiday potluck and Christmas lights event in WIllow Glen, but just not well enough to do that. In the afternoon, did walk over to Frosty's and visited Kathy for a while. Nose didn't run for an hour, but it did as soon as I got back.

The usual weekly accumulation of morning exercises. This past week was almost all stretching (very little strength or balance) due first to last weekend's meet and then to having a cold.

L and I walked over to Frosty's and got our tree, essentially the nearest one to the entrance. Felt good to be out of the house for a bit, but that was the maximum activity I could handle for the day.

Cancelled everything and stayed home. This is a bad cold.

With my cold, decided against running, but did some of the warmup activities just to have some movement in my body.

The Presidio, San Francisco. Qualification for the National Event part of Sprint SF. 2.7km, 38m climb, 21c. Start at 9:20. Cool, but no rain - good conditions for me. Ground is wet, especially the grass. Course is obviously 50% too long for a Brown runner like me, but we knew that going in: same course for everyone, and the course is designed for M21.

First race ever on the new ISSOM map of the Main Post, made by Matej Sebo.

Given how much I'd worn myself out the past two weekends trying to organize this event, and given that I stood out in the rain for 5 hours yesterday at GGP, I wasn't expecting much of myself, at least as of last night. But we stayed in a hotel near the Presidio, got a good night's sleep, and I was actually feeling pretty decent. But things went awry big time in two spots and I wound up with a MSP. Maybe the last two weeks did have something to do it. But I also think this was a factor: Tapio was starting one minute behind me, and Aron Walker one minute behind him. It's rare that I run against people who are so much faster than me in terms of running. I figured they'd both catch me around the middle of the course, and I think I let that throw me off my game. I didn't do a lot of things I almost always do, e.g., there were probably 6 to 10 controls I didn't check the code or the clue. I was in too much of hurry. I ran really hard, figuring that at best I had one run in me, so it was pretty disappointing to have it go to waste. Had I done what I usually do, I might have been under 19 minutes, challenging Steve G and Daniel for 13th.

I ran off the map going to #2, costing me over a minute. Worse, going to #16 I started focusing on the circle for #3 (one building S of #16). Navigated there perfectly, and from there to #17. But never checked code or clue at #16 (actually #3), so had no idea I was in the wrong place. I was in fact where I thought I was, it just wasn't where I was supposed to be. Hence the MSP.

Leaving #1, I was facing terrain that wasn't on the map; perhaps that threw me off. Francois and at least one other person had the same problem I did. (When I went back and looked later, seems like the map is fine and I should've handle it.) Problem was I ran past the first left and took the second one, not realizing something was wrong and that I was now off the map. As I started going up a big hill, I knew that wasn't right, but it took a while to figure out what probably happened (and I kept running hard). Probably should've gone back, but figured I'd be able to make a left somewhere. However, it was a long way up the hill (which caused a loss of energy in addition to time) before I found a stairway going left and down the hlll. By the time I got down to the road at the edge of the map, I could see #2 to my left - and Tapio punching in.

Chased Tapio to #3, but lost sight of him on the long leg to #4. As I got close to #4, was catching up to Fyodor (who had started a minute ahead of me) and caught him just as he punched - at which point Aron caught both of us. I'd already scoped out #5, so was able to stay ahead of Aron to that one, but there was rough terrain going to #6 and Aron powered past me. To #7, I went around the N side of the olive green and out towards the grassy area; Aron started off S, but must've had problems because as I was getting to #7 from the N, he punched in from the E. By the time I got to #10, though, he was well out of sight.

#11 - #15 was a tricky little loop. Did the first 3 of those very well. (Funny, though, I spotted #13 from 30m away, and I shouldn't have been able to since the map shows it behind a small thicket.) Thought I did #15 well, too, but it appears that I lost about 8 seconds. Went around the N side because it looked simpler, but perhaps going around the S side was shorter - very hard for me to see the details that way, though, without slowing down drastically. (now that I've looked at Route Gadget, it appears that many people went over the crossable wall at the end, while I went around it - probably the difference. Also looks like going N around the building to #10 was slightly better.)

Then the disaster at #16. Hard to know why I didn't check the clue or the code.

Did a good job the rest of the way, checking little details while maintaining my speed, and hit all the optimal routes.

[Orienteering sprint race]

Cool down, partly with Steve G and Tapio.

Good warm up (before the race, of course).

The Presidio, San Francisco, again on the new ISSOM map of the Main Post. Still cool and dry. Started at 12:38, the last starter of the whole event. B-Final (same course as A-Final): 2.9 km. 60m climb, 26 controls.

I conducted the Award Ceremony between the A-Final (which went out first) and the B-Final, so took the last start in the B-Final as a meet worker. Either way, I wouldn't have seen any other competitors.

Legs didn't have a lot, but really focused and ran a near perfect race (wiping away the bad taste from the Qual). Ran decently to #13, but after that, even the mild upgrades slowed me down. But hung in there, read all the details while I was running, and pretty much nailed all the routes, with excellent work inside (entering and leaving) the circles.

Wore my running shoes because my trail shoes were still a bit wet from the Qual. This cost me several seconds trying to go up a slippery, grassy slope leaving #22. Only other time losses (at most a couple of seconds each) were: (a) leaving #2, took several steps due N before realizing I needed to go NNE, (b) going to #1, had to slow down for a few steps after the start triangle because I hadn't yet found my place on the map, and (c) took the N route, past #8, to #2, rather than the diagonal one. However, this turned out to be fortuitous: Going from 7 to 8, I refolded my map and had a hard time finding my place on the map, but since I already had been past #8 on the way to #2, I knew exactly where to go and never slowed down, finally finding my place a little before I got to #8.

Finished ahead of all the other Brown runners, behind most of the Greens, almost all of the Reds, and all of the Blues. No way I can make up for my lack of running speed (check out my time in the chute).

Jamie Parkinson, the overall winner, said this was the best course he'd encountered all year. Indeed, it was delightfully challenging (though I'd have to say that the WMOC Final in Old Town Tallinn was more challenging).

[Orienteering sprint race]

Didn't quite allow enough time beforehand, as I needed to go over the Officer's Club and use the restroom. Don't think it mattered, though.

Didn't do a cool down afterwards, just some stretching.

Presidio Sprint Qualification - Splits

Presidio Sprint B Final - Splits

Presidio Sprint Qualification M65+ - Splits

Golden Gate Park. Sprint SF 3-Round Tournament. Lots of rain.

Arrived at 9:30, helped start each round, and generally directed volunteer activities. Despite the rain, it was a fine day and things went well (despite a stolen control right as the semifinals were starting). The non-qualifiers had gone out in staggered starts for Round2. The last of them was Chris Brew, who later told us that a homeless person queried her as she punched #2. Seems almost certain that he then swiped the control. Not knowing this, we started the first heat of the semifinal. But, three minutes later, just as we were about to start the second heat, all 8 runners from the first heat came back and told us that #2 was missing. With all 16 semifinalist there, I decided to tell everyone to just skip #2. We then started the second heat, waited about a minute and a half (it was chilly and raining and no one wanted to stand there any longer) and re- started the first heat.

Great camaraderie throughout the day, and enjoyed chatting with several locals who hadn't orienteered before as well as with several orienteers from far flung places.

Exhausting, though. Glad I decided to stay in the city for the night.

Event: BAOC: Sprint San Francisco
 

The usual weekly accumulation of morning exercises: stretching, strength and balance. Tapered off as the week wore on, partly because of the race on Sunday, but mostly because I was in manic meet director mood.

Starting to come out of the manic mood, mostly because I think we are actually going to be able to pull off the whole weekend.

Front of house. Easy warm up, just loosening up for Sunday's race.

I'm still in manic meet director mode. :-(

2 x loop: 614, 537

[Easy distance]

Hadn't wanted to go for a jog today, but I'm in manic meet director mode and Louise has a cold. We thought about going out, but decided against it.

Really shouldn't go for a hike (like yesterday) the day after an orienteering race.

Castle Rock SP. Saratoga Gap Trail almost to the campground; Ridge Trail on the way back. Trail map has this loop as 5.2 miles. Chilly in the canyons, but gorgeous on the exposed parts of the Gap Trail, with clear skies and great views.

No trouble walking level or downhill, but climbing muscles very tired from yesterday.

Bon Tempe. Brown 3.7/180. Start at 12:08. Sunny, cool. Annual volunteer appreciation meet. Hadn't been to this event in over a decade. The park was recently remapped, and the map did indeed seem much better, especially on the Hillside of Death. (There were two controls there on this course, and though the deadfall and vegetation is such that running is out of the question, I had no trouble navigating to those controls.)

One error, on the long leg to #7, where I sort of outsmarted myself. Had planned to stay on the trail all the way to the junction, but Tony was just ahead of me for most of that run, so towards the end I could see that the road was just above and we were going to swing wide around a spur, so thought I 'd get clever and cut up to the road to cut off some distance. However, I was one spur further along than I thought I was, so in cutting up to the road I missed the trail junction I'd been aiming for, and after getting 200m and 3 countours down the road, realized something was dramatically wrong. Took about a minute to figure it out, but an additional two minutes to climb back up. Yeesh, only mistake is on a trail and road. :-(

Came in first on Brown by about 3 minutes (official time was 1:00:40), ahead of Bob Cooley. Another set of people will be running the same course tomorrow.

Note on GPS track: Failed to take a split at #1, so the control numbers are off by 1. #1 was at the 1:30 mark on the track.

[Orienteering race]

Walked with Dan Greene part way to the start, then jogged the rest of the 1 km as my warm up.

The usual weekly accumulation of morning exercises: stretching, strength and balance. Skipped a good deal of the strength exercises over the last few days due to significant lack of sleep.

Fort Scott, the Presidio. Walked around in a heavy mist, noting places that need map corrections (there were many) and good control sites and routes. Made the corrections when I got home then started designing courses for the relay a week from Friday. (Finished the courses the next morning.)

[Orienteering course setting]