Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Kayaking on the Russian River, from Willow Creek to near the river mouth and then back to the landing near Cafe Aquatica. Pretty good workout for my triceps, a little for my quads.

Added my commentary about the two races at Round Mtn.

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching.

Skyline, Gist+ and back, plus one front of house loop. Legs feeling a bit better.

Out before breakfast because we're leaving for a long weekend at the Russian River.

Col down

JCC. Haven't played in a while. Felt good moving around. Shot surprisingly well (for me).

Haven't done these in a while. Went through all the exercises, one or two sets, lighter weights, less reps. Just starting the process.

Walk on Skyline.

Front of house, by myself. Nice day. Legs still pretty tired, don't try to push it.

3.5 laps: 629, 602, 545, 229

Cool down

Skyline. Easy walk to Four Winds and back.

US 2-Day Classic Champs, Day 2. Ran my butt off, stayed away from big errors, but still had a half-dozen errors in the 30-to-60 sec range - way too many. Nevertheless, very pleased with a come from behind victory.

Just as I left the Finish and headed for the Start, felt a pang of hunger. Turned around, jogged back to the car, ate half a Power Bar, then jogged back towards the Start, getting there in plenty of time.

Last night, finally felt adjusted to the altitude (after arriving on Wed). Even jogging to the start, I could tell my body felt a lot better. Today I need to push it, and I feel like I’m going to be able to do it.

1. Hadn’t seen any Brown X runners leave the start triangle (Walk had moved up to an earlier start) but quickly figured out I needed to head generally S and started in that direction. Took a bit too long to get my map straightened out and get a compass bearing. Down into the open reentrant, across the spur, next open reentrant with the marsh, rocks are on the other side - but no flag. Check map for other rocks: I’m 80m too far E. Start along the contour, realize I need to climb a little so veer upwards, then straight to the control. Lost :40, but didn’t get upset about it.

2. Due S. Pass just E of the trail junction (as I should have) but don’t worry about any further details, figuring I’ll sort things out when I cross the second trail. Cross just E of the N facing bend, which is perfect. See the line of boulders, pass W of the depression on the little hilltop, see the boulder in front of the trees across the broad reentrant, and go just E of that. Take a bearing, look up, see a rocky knoll and head up. Don’t see the second boulder (NW of the circle), a bit worrisome. Get to the knoll, no flag. Look around, spot a flag 50m to my left behind a knoll: that’s gotta be it, and it is. Don’t know how I got that far off in the last little bit after doing so well for 600m. But not too down because I feel like I’m running well and that a good day is still quite possible. Lost :30.

3. Cross the fence by the W side of the trees, bearing to road, see the wide bare-rock-topped knoll beyond, go around that to the big boulder and slow down - want to be careful from here. Figure to aim for the reentrant just right of the double knoll which is just right of the line. Careful bearing, see it, see the reentrant, and once I get there, see the little hilltop below where the control should be, and it is. 2nd best split, :27 behind Peter.

4. First thought was to go by the S end of the aspens, but my BAOC instincts kicked in and lead to a poor (though not very costly) decision: didn’t want to go down and then have to go up, so headed for the N end of the aspens instead. Contour across the big open area, climbing the spur a bit, hoping to see the boulder on the other side of the spur, but I don’t. There’s a big pile of rocks in front of me, but is it the one N of the line or the one S? Decide it’s the one S, veer left and start to climb. But after a few steps, realize I shouldn’t be climbing plus there’s no open area ahead, so back down, swing around the big rock pile (realizing now that it’s the N one) and into the rough open - yes. Confirmation when I pass the little reentrant. Over the spur and confidently right into the control. Lost :25.

5. Quickly down the reentrant, looking for the two aspen patches. They seem bigger than mapped. See the boulder and stay to the right of it, see some boulders and knolls up ahead, go around the one that looks least like a boulder, and there is my flag. 2nd only to Peter, by :09, and :16 ahead of Natalia in 3rd.

6. Think about going along the fence (which is what PG did) but decide to go for the aspens instead. There’s a young woman ahead, moving quickly, try to keep pace with her. Push myself uphill, figuring to run to the W tip of the aspens and then start being careful. But when I get to the W end, find myself at the E tip of big clearing with marsh-plant in it. Could the aspens have grown that far up the hill, and could I have bent that far right without noticing? Stand there a few seconds (and I had noticed the rock-covered hill on the right) and decide that that’s exactly right, so make a 90-degree left, go over the spur, and right there in the reentrant is my flag. Whew! Could have been disastrous (and was for Walter, Beatrice and perhaps others). Lost :40.

7. Bearing for 100m, thinking about how to get beyond the rocks ahead. Consider going around to the left, but see that there should be a way across just S of the line. (Didn’t consider going around to the right, which is what Peter did.) A bit slow over the rocks, but find the cliff-free section I was hoping for, push my way through some thick branches, and see a broad reentrant, a spur with a cliff beyond, and Rich Parker and two women (one of whom was Angelica, I learned later) coming around the cliff and heading N. Get there quickly and punch. (Wonder how Natalia had such a fast split on this one?)

8. Around the E side of the cliff because that’s what I saw the others do, but then angle NW to get into the rough open. Force myself to keep pushing uphill. By the time I get to the form-line knoll, I’m feeling strong and running. Rough compassing towards the little patch of aspens before the road, figuring if I’m off a little either way, the trail junctions will tell me. Running hard, pass Rich, see the two rocky spurs to my right, finally see the road ahead and the aspens just to my left. Slow down before the road, take a good look at the map; look up and see the rocky ground, the fence, and the rocky double knoll beyond. Once across the next trail, see a control to my left, oddly close to where I’m going, realize it must be a leftover trail-O control (had seen a couple earlier in the run) so don’t get distracted. Around the left side of the little hill with three knolls and see the little hill that should be (and was) hiding my control. Angelica crosses my path, wondering out loud where the control is. I point to where I’m headed (having no idea if she’s looking for the same control). She punches in behind me. This felt like a really good leg, and it was: my only #1 for the day, :05 ahead of Peter, :37 ahead of Natalia in 3rd.

9. Rough compass towards the trail on the E-W broad spur on the other side of the open reentrant. Angelica is running alongside me. First thought I’d aim for where the trail has a loop (N of the line), then decide I should aim further E, but wind up at that loop anyway. Along the trail for 100m (Angelica is ahead), see the higher ground ahead, decide to go left of it, and then Angelica heads that way, too. She crosses the end of the trail (which has an unmapped loop) just ahead of me but heads too far left. I go down the little reentrant between all the knolls and see a boulder ahead, and Angelica headed towards it from the left. We get there about the same time, but no flag. There’s another boulder just beyond (mapped as a knoll), but no flag there either. Realize we’re out in the open and that these must be the two rocks N of the circle, so run S, see the boulder in thick trees and then the flag. Angelica comes in as I’m heading out to the N. 2nd fastest split, :15 behind Walter, but I think I lost :30 at the end, having had such a good split because I’d run so fast. From the GPS tracks, it appears that Peter made the same error I did from the reentrant between all the knolls.

10. Ran hard, but was too careless. Noticed the boulder on the other side of the trail, and expected to see the marsh next, but instead I was confronted with a patch of aspens in a deep reentrant. Stopped and looked at the map, no patch of green, which threw me off. Of course, what I was seeing was the patch of white on the E edge of the circle, but I expected the aspens to be mapped as light green. Angelica caught up. Dived into the narrow reentrant to the right, despite thinking that it was too narrow for the mapped marsh. No flag. Stopped, came to my senses, went around the N edge of the aspens and right to the flag. Lost :45, which could have been disastrous, but wasn’t.

11. Run hard, stay near the fence. Only Peter beat me on this leg.

F. Punched the left Finish box, but didn’t hear a beep. Punched again, looking for the light, but didn’t see it. Punched the other box, and it worked. Lost :03.

After finishing, felt I’d had a pretty good run despite all the bobbles because I’d run so much faster that yesterday. Very happy to win the division. Later, still happy, but realized that 6 errors in the 30-to-60 second range is far too many; have to do better than that. Wish I could have another crack at Round Mtn soon to get a better balance between running fast and fine navigation, but of course that is not to be.

C • Congratulations 7

Warm up, including jogging back to the car for nutrition. Walked the uphills.

Brown X - Splits