Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Long day yesterday: getting up in KY at 6am, not getting home in CA until after 2am (5am EDT) - and with a badly swollen ankle.

Tried to stay off it for most of the day, iced a few times, wore an ace bandage, kept it elevated.

Carter Caves, KY. U.S. Middle Champs. 3rd in M65 (missed 2nd by 31 seconds). Even colder than yesterday (17 degrees at breakfast time).

Turned my ankle rather severely coming in to #1. Took a couple of minutes of hobbling to shake it off. Was wary of it for a while, but pretty much ignored it for the second half of the course. By evening it was all swollen and black and blue.

At first navigated very cautiously, having little confidence in this terrain. Mostly accurate over the first half (though lost a minute at #5) but about 5 - 10% slower than the competition. After #7, felt more confident (plus a greater sense of urgency), picked up the pace and did quite well the rest of the way except for a brain cramp at #12 costing about 40 seconds. By the end, I was moving really well and with confidence, just in time for the weekend to be over.

17 degrees at sunrise, probably near 32 at my start. Wore my long sleeve smart wool top under an O-shirt, which was better than the turtle neck running top - I didn’t overhear. Once again wore smart wool leggings under O-pants, rubber booties instead of outer socks, and golf gloves. All worked fine.

Two copies of the course, one with my route and one without, are here.

1. Took a few second to realize I needed to take the trail to the left. Seemed to be at the bend adjacent to the reentrant before my pace count said I should be, and I could see the top of a reentrant in the woods to my right, so cut in. Didn’t see a control as I looked down the reentrant, checked the map, realized I was one reentrant short, so contoured and soon saw the bag. But just then I badly twisted my left ankle. I hobbled in great pain to the control, not sure I’d be able to continue. Lost about 30 seconds, :10 because of cutting in too early, :10 because of the ankle, :10 because I was being very cautious.

2. Had noted earlier that #2 was back across the jeep trail, so headed that way, hobbling in significant pain. By the time I crossed the road, figured I would try to continue. Got myself on the nose of the spur and headed down, soon saw the control slightly on the left. Lost about :20 due to the ankle (including needing to focus on my foot placement rather than on the map).

3. Across the road, across the bottom of the reentrant and then the ditch, then relied on compass and pace count. Spotted the bad ahead and to the left, downhill. Caution was good: D.Hunter and Natalia each had huge errors on this one. Lost about :25, mostly due to ankle, the rest to caution.

4. Leg looked a little scary to me, so really hung on the compass. In reality, things were quite clear once I neared the stream bed, including pits marked with tape. Also saw a couple of guys heading along the hillside opposite me towards to control. Lost maybe :15 because of the ankle and :15 for being over cautious.

5. At this point my ankle wasn’t bothering me much, so mostly forgot about it the rest of the way. Did not see a good way to approach, so tried careful compass and pace count. (In fact, once on the second trail, should have gone down the trail to the end of the fight and then cut in). Near the control, really slowed down because I couldn’t identify anything, though I clearly was in fight. Decided to cut left to the trail to relocate. On my way, realized I was out of the fight, looked left and saw the bag. Lost 1:20, by far the biggest error of the day.

6. Tried to go straight (and quickly, given the catching feature right behind the control) but suddenly found that the trail was 2m to my left, so veered right and nailed it. Only lost a few seconds.

7. Crossed the big ditch by going NW first, to avoid elevation loss in Bay Area style. Contour above the rocks, plainly see the W end of the light green right in front of me, go along the upper side, see a bag in the ditch, know it’s not mine but take a few seconds to check the code anyway. Keep following the veg boundary, soon see the bag at the upper end of the ditch dead ahead. Felt good about this leg as I saw all the features, but lost :30 anyway, presumably because I was too cautious.

8. Down along the right side of the ditch. Ankle made it a little difficult to get down to the road. Had thought I’d run the road to the second bend, but instead went straight to that spot. Then compass and pace along the contour, nailed it. (PG did pretty much the same route.)

9. Got turned around for a few seconds, but then headed NE, thinking I’d take the trail up. But after a few steps on the trail, headed NE again to the road, trying to push the pace. Easy to spot all the man-made features in the clearing. Around to the back of the pool, to the corner of the clearing, slow down a little to stay on bearing, see a streamered pit dead ahead and before checking the map, see the bag a little to the right.

10. Feeling much more confident now, and also realizing there’s not much left, want to push the pace. My ankle made it a little difficult to get over all the deadfall, but did keep a decent pace. Stay just left of the steep dropoff. Wait until I was a little past the stream junction below, then cut diagonally down and across the ditch, then contour. Soon see the bag on the boulder to my right (so I’d waited a bit too long to cut across).

11. With the stream on the right and boulders and trail on the left, felt confident in going on a rough compass and moving quickly. Nailed it.

12. This one cost me the Silver. Was on a roll now, moving with confidence. Straight down to the stream bed, then contoured the broad spur (though I should have gone straighter) and across the trail, figuring then when I saw the ditch in the reentrant I’d turn left and run along the second ditch into the fight. But when I came to the ditch and took a few steps across looking for the second ditch and saw nothing, I was puzzled. Didn’t see the green to my left, so suddenly worried that I was too far left, but couldn’t see anything to the right either. Stood there doing nothing for far too long, somehow not believing in the plan was to go left. But finally I did that; I was further to the right than I’d planned, but that was not a good reason for just executing the plan. Finally saw the fight ahead, then the ditch and then the bag. But lost :40 (and missed the Silver by :31).

13. Got off to a bit of a slow start, probably stewing about the error, also considering taking the jeep trail around. Decided to go fairly straight, bending a little right to save some climb. Saw Platt coming in as I was going out. Around the big spur, saw a clearing on my left with a parking lot beyond - but the clearing had a building in it, not shown on the map. Might’ve cost me a couple of seconds, but had to assume the map was just wrong. (Later learned that the building was shown in gray - is that even part of ISOM? - since it was actually a leant-to, open on one end.) Down towards the reentrant I could now see, landed on the intermittent trail, could see the boulder and the bag from there. A little tentative going down because of my ankle. Third fastest split, 2 secs behind Natalia, but still :24 behind Walter (10%) who cleared had a great day.

14. With the big building on the left (which I didn’t recognize as the lodge I was staying in), figured to go straight and push it. Saw a control in a depression 2/3 of the way there, foolish wasted a few seconds checking the map (it seemed I was beyond the halfway point of the building, which is not what the map shows). Continued on, soon saw the boulders dead ahead. Rather than check the clue sheet to see which one I was looking for, just looked behind the first, then the second, and there was the bag. Oddly, I hadn’t noticed the trail right behind the boulders on the map, which should have emboldened me even more. Nevertheless, had the fastest split.

15. Lots of detail down near the GO control, wanted to make sure there wasn’t a trap (had no idea until many days later that we were about to run over a natural bridge), was about to step out on the paved trail when I saw three young women flying down the path from my left. Let the first two go by then jumped ahead of the third and joined the sprint, not so easy on the pavement with my spikes. The third one passed me and I noticed she had a BAOC shirt on. She slowed right before the control, I passed and realized it was Katie P.

F. Thinking it might be close for medals, gave it my all on the hill up to the Finish. Katie caught up and then edged past. On my course, only (young) Karen Strat and (speedy) Sue Kuestner (:01) were faster - unusual for me to be so fast in the chute.

C • 13 and 14 2

Though I took the shuttle and thought I arrived near the start in good time, the call ups seemed to be 5 mins ahead of what I expected, so there really wasn't time for much warm up (and, I didn't seem to miss it).

Cool down: walking back from the Finish to the lodge.

Near-nightmare scenario: Zipped into the bathroom just before my call up, but in the way out, the doorknob on the door to the outside came off in my hand. At first I couldn't get it back on, but after some struggle finally did. Was a minute late for my call up, but no harm done.

For the third straight day, didn't think to try to start my Garmin until less than 2 mins before the start, and it never got the signal.

Middle - 5 Brown -69 - Splits

Carter Caves, KY. U.S. Long Champs. Brown (everyone under 70): 3.9 km, 120m climb, 9c. 4th in M65 (6th overall on the course). Missed 3rd (D.Hunter) by 1:03, 2nd (B.Cheatum) by 1:33. Walter was 4:21 ahead in first.

Low 30's at the start, but the cold never bothered me; indeed, overheated a bit with a long sleeve shirt on.

Plan was to take my time, learn something about these woods, maybe be in a better position to do well in Sunday's Middle. But after taking trails for most of the first 3 legs, realized there were trail options on almost every leg (#7 was the exception) and took them every chance I could - which was a good move in some cases, not so good in others. The strategy might have gotten me a silver medal, but leaving #5, I never found the trail I was looking for, got very befuddled, and squandered two minutes feeling lost before finding my way to another trail. Also lost a minute on #1 when I apparently went right to where I thought the control should be, and it was there, but I didn't see it.

Ran pretty hard from #5 on - a lot of energy spent for just missing a medal.

Two copies of the course, one with my route and one without, are here.

Wasn’t sure what to wear given the near-freezing temperature - had to stay somewhat warm, but it’s so easy for me to overheat. Wore my long sleeve, turtle neck running top under an O-shirt, had smart wool tights under my O-pants, rubberized booties over a pair of short Thurlows and my golf gloves. All of that was good, except the long sleeve top was a little much: by the time I left #1, wished I had something lighter on.

For the 2nd day in a row, failed to think about starting my Garmin until less than two minutes to my actual start, and once again it failed to get a signal.

1. Hadn’t thought to look to see which way Brown runners ahead of me went, but figured out quickly I needed to go NW on the trail. First thought was to follow the trail all the way to behind the control but then realized it would save distance and climb to go through the parking lot. Spotting the building at the far end meant I could relax through the lot, plan the rest of the leg and also the next one. Past the building, straight, jump on the trail, realize that it would be pretty safe to save distance by leaving the trail and contouring W, which I did. Counted reentrants, pace counted, got right to what I thought would be the correct reentrant (and someone was slowly walking up it from below), but no bag. Could see another reentrant not far ahead, went to that one, no bag. Looking at the reentrant running W below and to the left, definitely had gone to far, but there wasn’t a bag in the first reentrant, so what to do? After a few seconds, went back, but a little higher - and there was the bag below me. How could I have missed it the first time??? Note: After the race, Paul Clatterbuck told me he got into the correct reentrant, couldn’t see the bag, then saw it only 2m away. Later, I read Mary Jo’s log and she said the bag was hidden from her view by a large tree until she was 2m away from it. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t see it the first time. Lost one minute.

2. Had worked this leg out earlier, so without hesitation, went up the reentrant, crossed the first trail, turned left at the second. Followed the trail (dirt road, really) around the bend, but didn’t see the junction. Quickly arrived at the junction I wanted, but my pace count was way short, so I stopped and double checked the map before proceeding. (I think what happened is that, having not seen the previous junction, I misjudged the middle of the bend and started my pace count too late.) On this trail to the cutoff under the red line and then left to the W tip of the curve. Took a careful bearing and went downhill. Saw a bag ahead but well to the left. Couldn’t see a ditch there so couldn’t be sure it was mine, so figured I’d better go a little further straight to see if there is another bag ahead, but pretty soon veered left and the one I’d seen from a distance was indeed it. Probably lost :10 - :12 between the hesitation at the junction, the stop for a careful bearing and the extra distance veering to the left. But had the 2nd best split, :13 behind Walter.

3. Straight looked too scary. While on trails going to #2, considered the trail, but after punching #2, felt like maybe that was too far out of the way. But after a couple of seconds, decided it would be much easier for me to take the trail. The uphill part was tough and muddy and I had to walk some. Easily identified the bend I wanted, contoured and saw people dead ahead at the control. Had the fastest split.

4. Considered going straight, but lots of medium green plus had no confidence I’d know where I was when I got to the final trail. Plus, trails seemed to have worked fine so far, so decided to take trails as much as I could. Contoured back, took the trail down, cut off a little of the corner and ran the trail. No problem identifying the ditch crossing. Pace counted from there, also looking for the little trail siding on the left. At the point the pace count ran out, thought I saw the side trail (Mary Jo used the reentrant on that side), so headed straight up hill at a walk. Could see I was between reentrants, so kept my eye on the left one and eventually saw the depression and the bag. Thought I did all of this pretty well, but it appears I lost about 1:15 to some of the other leaders. I believe they went straighter, but that wouldn’t have worked for me. However, instead of going down the first trail, I could have gone straight N, saved 100m (perhaps half a minute) and still known where I was when I arrived at the trail.

5. Planned this while climbing to #4. Contoured to the trail, turned right, to the third bend (the trail was hard to see in places; George M said he missed it entirely). The mapped light green patch was pretty thick, so continued on a few meters before taking a bearing towards the control. Down, then looked up the hill on my bearing but couldn’t see any rocks so hesitated a bit. Not much else to do, so started up and finally saw some rocks, but still bothered that I couldn’t see the 2m boulder. Persevered, finally saw it, kept pushing up the hill, meanwhile examining the next, very long leg. Lost :05.

6. Once again, opted for the trail route. Had I executed it well, might have finished 2nd overall on the course. Contoured S towards the trail. Saw a bag in what looked like one of the two mapped reentrants. Got well beyond my pace count, but still hadn’t seen the trail. Should have just kept going S, at worst hitting the ditch and then going to the trail (which actually would have been the optimal route), but I was just dumbfounded and didn’t know what to do. I think what happened was that I’d unknowingly angled down the hill some and actually hadn’t gotten as far as the trail. Found myself in a flattish area but I guess my brain was panicking and I couldn’t identify the area. Moving very slowly, not sure what to do, finally saw a ditch and beyond that someone looking like they were running on a trail, realized where I was, went S and hit the trail-ditch junction I’d crossed on the way to #4, and then ran the trails all the way around to SSW of #6. Contoured into the reentrant, went along the left side of the bottom, soon saw the reentrant on the left. Surprised how high up the bag was (wonder if it was misplaced a bit). Peggy, who took the route I wanted to take, ran almost as fast as Walter, who went ”straight”. Lost at least 2:15, possibly as much as 2:40.

7. Straight down the hill (after punching in just ahead of Lou Pataki), contour on the other side, climbing a little, and come out just above the rocks I was aiming for. Compass and contour, staying in the broken ground. A tall sleek guy went by me early, but then I saw him pull up a bit short and start looking. He turned and looked at me and I saw it’s Brian Ellis. As I approached him, I saw directly beyond him, where I expected the bag to be, a few people congregating, and then I saw the bag, and Brian did too. Leslie aws there when I punch in. Natalia was :30 ahead of me on this leg, but also :17 ahead of the next fastest (Cheatum & Peggy). I was 4th. Peter and Brian (on the other Brown) were a few seconds behind Natalia.

8. Again, didn’t want to go through the green (but it was light green) or climb (but only 2 contours and I had plenty left, and the trails had been working, so wanted to drop to the road, but that seemed so far out of the way. But then noticed the indistinct trail, which would cut off a good chunk, so opted for that, and ran hard. Coming to the junction in the road, couldn’t read the trails heading towards #9 well enough, so just decided to go straight, crossing the little canyon. Had enough strength to get up the other side, so this was a good choice. Went to the corner of the parking lot SSW of #8, took a careful bearing, nailed it. However, 1:10 behind Natalia and :49 behind Walter. Going straight would have worked for me since all I needed to do was get down the other side anywhere near the road bend. So, lost :45 or maybe a drop more.

9. Really couldn’t see any details of the second half of the leg, and there could’ve easily been a trap, but lots of people were running that way, so just headed off hoping for the best. Without much ado, saw the bag on the bridge and ran hard for it.

Took the shuttle from the lodge to near the start.

Warm up: jogged for about 6 mins, maybe .5 mi, mostly trying to keep warm and one trip to the restroom.

Cool down: Walked from the Finish (I was very cold after waiting to see results and eating my Junior Team sandwich) with Tapio and Cornelia back to their cabin. Roughly .65 mi with 100m climb (not an ideal cool down!) in 15 min.

Long - 5 Brown -69 - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XIX - U.S. Individual Champs - Sprint-Middle-Long
 

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching and strength exercises. Eased off on the core exercises and pushups this week.

Morehead St. Univ, KY. U.S. Sprint Champs. Brown 1.9km, 40m climb, 15 controls. 2nd in M65, :30 behind Walter, 5th of 71 overall on the course. Temp in the low 40's with a cold, biting wind.

Two copies of the course, one with my route and one without, are here.

Got in to the lodge at Carter Caves at 2pm this morning. Not much sleep.

Ran very well with one exception: on #8, there were several tempting narrow passageways that, even with glasses and magnifier, I had a hard time seeing well. I dithered for about :45, eliminating a couple of choices but unsure whether two others would work (they would have) and finally decided to run all the way around the W building, costing me another minute. Eliminate #8 and I was only :11 behind PG.

Also lost :15 - :20 total over #1 and #2 because of incorrect mapping (and control description) of the feature for #1.

It was an excellent venue and a very good course, and it was really fun despite the disappointment of flubbing #8.

Warmed up for about 10 minutes on the model area map. Legs felt good, mind was mostly on what to wear in the cold. Despite the cold, wore just a short-sleeve O-top, no gloves, and that was fine. Got very chilly afterwards hanging around the results.

Wore my rubber-cleated Speedcrosses. Course was mostly pavement, some lawn; shoes were fine.

Forgot to start the Garmin until about 1.5 mins before the start, and it never got the signal.

1. Hesitant as I got near #1 because the clue said paved area but the circle was next to a big parking lot but I could see nothing on the map in the circle that looked like a paved area. Turns out there was a tiny brown square in the center of the circle. And when I got to the edge of the lawn where the circle was, all I saw was some sort of vent: 5’x5’, low concrete walls, metal grating on top. Went behind it and there was the bag. Clearly mis-mapped: should have been a black X. Seems that most people didn’t even look at the clue - just went to the center of the circle - but George Walker was also thrown off a bit. Lost about :10 on this leg but also another :05 on the next leg because I couldn’t do any advanced planning.

2. Around to the right or left looked about the same, but chose left because I still needed to evaluate the possibility of going through the gate. Determined that there was no way out, but maybe I was running a little slowly. No problem with the rest of the leg. As I rounded the SW corner of the field and spotted the control exactly where I expected, felt like I settled down and ready to do well. My next three splits ranked 1st, 2nd and 1st.

3. Headed immediately NNW up the street (cutting W on the N side of the fenced in out of bounds area would’ve been slightly better, but never saw that), turned left, avoided cutting across the out-of-bounds lawn. Had planned initially to go around the final building to the right, but then thought the walls and maybe hill might be slow plus going left would create a dogleg, so went left. Started to skirt around the depression in front of the building to avoid climb (1 meter!), realized that was ridiculous and cut across the W part. Nailed it from there. Fastest split.

4. Had planned the first part of the leg in advance, so quickly headed along the red line. Found it hard to pick out the details around #4; actually came to a stop to make sure there wasn’t a trap. Still wasn’t completely sure I could get through as I approached, but wound up with the best route - along the N side of the final building - whipped around the final corner and knew exactly where the control would be. 2nd fastest split, though Peter was :08 ahead.

5. Though I’d looked for an exit route on the map before getting to #4, I wasn’t sure, but as I left #4 could see in the terrain how to get out. Picked up the pace crossing the street, ran on the grass on the other side of the street, hugged the corner, ran hard to the building. Clue said SE corner, though center of circle seems a little further SW; surprised when I turned the corner that the bag wasn’t right there, but spotted it immediately on the next building corner (clue is definitely wrong, or the bag placement is) and didn’t lose any time. Fastest split.

6. Don’t recall whether I went NW or W then NW, but knew I had to get out in the street and turn left, and did that quickly. Passed Sharon C here (she’d started 2 mins ahead). Had a hard time reconciling the clue with the map; clue is definitely wrong - should have been building/wall junction (junction was missing), S side (clue had inside N corner). Must’ve slowed trying to work this out, and had some trepidation as I turned the corner that the bag would be on the other side of the wall, but there it was. Lost :04.

7. Because I was busy puzzling out the clue for #6, didn’t plan 7 carefully, but it looked about the same going around either side, so without heistation went up the stairs. By the time I got to the top, knew the lower route would have been better, but too late to turn back. Nailed it from there. Lost :05.

8. Lost the race here. Headed immediately for the gap between the buildings SW of 8. At first thought I saw a path through there but then realized it was blocked off. Came to a complete stop. The gaps to the left all had stuff in them I couldn’t make out clearly. Thought I’d play it safe and go through the courtyard SW of #9 and headed that way. But then couldn’t see on the map whether I could get into that courtyard or out, so stopped again. Looking back, saw Sharon headed into a gap, so thought I’d chase after her. But when I ran for a bit, thought she went up the gap that I knew wouldn’t work, so didn’t go that way (she actually had gone up the correct gap further SW). Flustered, I just ran all the way to the left around the building. Lost close to a minute dithering around and another minute running so far out of the way, approximately 1:50 all together (though Paul Clatterbuck was 2:08 ahead, :14 better than 2nd place PG). Had I stayed with going through the courtyard towards #9, probably would have been about :45 faster.

9. Still not sure I could get between the buildings N of #9, but had to chance it. There was a stairway I hadn’t been able to see on the map, so no problem. Sharon was coming up as I headed down. Looked left at the bottom, there was a bag a little further away than I expected, but that had to be it, and it was. Didn’t think I lost time on this short leg, but Peter was :06 faster.

10. Probably because I’d seen Sharon going up the stairs and because I’d already seen that one could get to #10 from the top of the stairs, went that way with no hesitation, never looking to see that going around the SE side of the building was a better route. Did not see until later in the weekend that there was an even better route: between the wall and the NW side of the building - wonder if anyone had the nerve to go that way. Spotted the bag well before I got to it, and started working out #11. Lost :10, though a couple of those seconds might be because I slowed at the end while examining the next leg.

11. By the time I punched #10, realized that the initial plan to #11 would have left me on the wrong side of the wall and had identified the correct route. So executed the route to #11 perfectly, pushing the pace some. Saw Sharon punching as I got close, so kept pushing hoping to keep her in sight.

12. Knew I had to go around the round building, but wasn’t sure I could get between the next two buildings: the red line was covering a key space. Thought about going all the way around to the left, but then I saw Sharon heading for the gap with the red line so went that way (correctly). As I jumped off the stairs on the long, was trying to work out exactly where the bag was going to be. Noticed the “upper” part of the clue, and looking up towards the building, realized that the bag would be on the covered terrace and that Sharon was heading the wrong way. Put on the brakes, veered sharply right to the ramp entrance, 40m away. Nailed it from there. Lost about :20, 10 for the extra distance, 6 or 7 hesitating early in the leg, 3 or 4 hesitating while working out the bag location.

13. When I arrived at #12, wasn’t completely sure I could get of the balcony on the E side of the building, but glanced over there and saw the stairs, so off I went. Left turn, confirmed who the rest of the leg, tried to run harder.Approaching the bag, having already planned the next leg, stayed a little left of the direct line to the bag so that I could make (the mirror image of) a turn like a baseball player rounding first and trying for a double. Think I punched without coming to a full stop. Had fastest split.

14. Totally nailed this, second fastest split. Maybe I slowed a bit looking at the next leg, because the clue was puzzling.

15. Between the cars in the parking lot, nailed it, fastest split. But the clue is wrong: NW end of the wall? There’s no wall near the center of the circle.

F. Push it. Second fastest split.

C • Sprint clues 1

Warm up: jog about a mile in 12 minutes, using the warm up map.

Cool down: after standing around for a quite a while at the Finish/Results area, jogged back to the parking lot with Tapio and Cornelia, about half a mile in 6 minutes.

Sprint - 4 5 Brown - Splits

Long travel day, leaving home at 8:45am PDT and not getting to Carter Caves SP Park until 2am EDT. But everything went very smoothly, and I had good travel companions in Tapio and Cornelia.

Front of house. Just a warm up. Legs feel OK but not great. No point pushing 48 hours before the Champs.