Training Log Archive: FoxShadowIn the 31 days ending Aug 31, 2010:
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Monday Aug 30, 2010 #
Event: 2010 Laramie Daze
Mountain Biking 24:00:00 [3] 102.5 mi (4.3 mph)
Riding Afton for 24 hours was one of the hardest things I've done. Virtually none of the course is flat. Over 1100 vertical feet per lap. Did 15 laps. 8th place of 56 solo riders. I really enjoyed it, for the most part. Dousing water over myself to stay cool during the hot day was tough on the undercarriage due to the constantly wet chamois.
I have great memories of the moon setting over the river as I looked out over the bluff at the top of the high climbs of Afton, feeling the rush of the awesome downhill sections at night, the dry night air supercooling the sweat expelled after a slow grind to the top, the awesome support of Kelly, my friends, and the people I didn't know who stayed up all night at the top of the ManHandler spinning records and greeting my every climb with a fist pump and a cheer.
This race was about perseverance. There were a few different times I thought I had nothing left, but found strength to keep climbing. To the other riders, especially the 7 guys that beat me and my buddy Dan Dittmer (4th despite heat exhaustion), hats off, we went somewhere else this weekend.
Nothing else around here like this one.
Below is the GPS, elevation and HR data for the first 6 laps, click "view details":
I have great memories of the moon setting over the river as I looked out over the bluff at the top of the high climbs of Afton, feeling the rush of the awesome downhill sections at night, the dry night air supercooling the sweat expelled after a slow grind to the top, the awesome support of Kelly, my friends, and the people I didn't know who stayed up all night at the top of the ManHandler spinning records and greeting my every climb with a fist pump and a cheer.
This race was about perseverance. There were a few different times I thought I had nothing left, but found strength to keep climbing. To the other riders, especially the 7 guys that beat me and my buddy Dan Dittmer (4th despite heat exhaustion), hats off, we went somewhere else this weekend.
Nothing else around here like this one.
Below is the GPS, elevation and HR data for the first 6 laps, click "view details":
Saturday Aug 21, 2010 #
Mountain Biking 4:40:00 [3] 55.0 mi (11.8 mph)
Mega ride! From Bloomington down to Murphym where we did three full laps, and back. Great ride with Dan and Andrew and Biz and other joined for parts of it. Awesome training for 24 hours of Afton next weekend!
Wednesday Aug 18, 2010 #
Mountain Biking 43:45 [3] 10.0 mi (13.7 mph)
Murphey Time Trial. Really fun. I was happy with my result. I think there is room for improvement, but not a lot. I did the entire loop including the bird loop in 43:45. It was top tenish out of 75 riders, not sure how many beat me, could have been 8th, could have been 12th. Biz had a great ride as well, finishing right behind me. For only his 2nd or 3rd MTB race ever, he was flying.
I don't know how long the trail is, I just wrote 10 miles in.
I don't know how long the trail is, I just wrote 10 miles in.
Tuesday Aug 17, 2010 #
Mountain Biking 1:30:00 [3] 12.0 mi (8.0 mph)
Mountain bike ride at Mammoth, pretty slow and easy. Getting used to the new bike for the Murphey time trials tomorrow. I put a new wider bar on, I like it much more. Makes narrow tree passages a bit more sketchy, but it's worth the extra control and leverage.
Sunday Aug 15, 2010 #
Mountain Biking 3:00:00 [3]
Fun Rock Lake MTB mixed with retrieval of controls 1, 5, 9, 7 and 8.
Rode the new IMBA trail, although it's not finished, it is totally awesome.
Rode the new IMBA trail, although it's not finished, it is totally awesome.
Saturday Aug 14, 2010 #
orienteering race 5:40:00 [3] 16.89 mi (20:08 / mi)
What a great race in one of the finest forests around. Cheers to Mike and Julia for what must have been a herculean effort to put on an event of this caliber. Crusher and I really enjoyed the challenge.
Analyzing the GPS route below (I have not yet attempted to use sportrax or whatever you guys use to overlay your routes, but one can more or less translate my route if you have the map on your computer desk) was facinating. It didn't teach me too much I didn't already know but it sure it fun to be able to verify exactly what happened.
Here's what went down, in order of control, per MCarl's request:
6 (nice easy jog with Andrei and GJ leading)
1 (alone to this one, walked by it to the easy and then doubled back to it, what a great marsh!)
7 (Looked in the large depression to the west (that was more or less unmapped) first and then ran right to it, nice open woods here. The ampitheatre here reminded me of one of my other favorite large depressions, the one at Theo near Eloise Butler)
9 (used the trail as much we could to this one, found it no problem other than finding firm footing down into this very steep depression!)
8 (attacked this one too early as my GPS shows, corrected fairly quickly)
13 (unsuccesfull but consistent, went to same spot both times I attacked it, didn't know what I was doing wrong then and still don't now. 30 minutes or more of effort with nothing to show for it, bummer! This mistake was tough to swallow)
14 (ran directly to it, further frustrating me regarding 13, making me think even more than perhaps others would confirm my suspicion it was mishung, which it wasn't, which is exactly how I told Kelly it would play out, ha.)
19 (unsuccessful, silly error that was corrected quickly but it was too late to re attack to continued to next control. Cam out on large two track, thought it was the "road", didn't realize the map was accuate in showing that the thick dotted grey roads were gravel--until it was too late)
21 (followed an unmapped MTB trail right too it, which really helped get my confidence back, because I think that's generally a tough skill)
22 (easy single and doubletrack trail jog right to it)
23 (again an easy trail jog, a bit of a challenge to approach from the north perhaps, but had the right first guess, confidence was returning)
25 (got daring and took the first doubletrack then bushwacked right to it, this may have been one of my better attacks of the day)
24 (trail run, no problems here)
18 (attacked from the trail intersection directly SE of the control, another strong route)
17 (WOW was this bushwack thick. I feel like I may have been one of the few to make this route choice. What a doozy. It was slow and not super accutate, but I got 'er done after finding the very small marsh mike generously added. Thanks mike! This is why I am better on an O-map, those type of details really help me).
15 (Tough control to approach from the South. The doubletrack inticated either didn't exist or was VERY hard to find. I walked right by it. There was also a single track trail that was fairly distinct that was unmapped. As you can see from the GPS data, I checked it out for a about 50 feet, but didn't like it. I eventually was able to recognize the large depression to the W of the trail and after walking past the lion's share of it, wrap around the N of it and spike it. I felt it was lucky when I ended up walking right to it.)
10 (Great route to this one, and jogged most of it, nice!)
11 (Biggest blow up of the day. I bushwacked W to the MTB trail, followed it W a few hundred meters until I bushwacked south to the REC trail north of the control. I saw the trail curving from E-W to a perfect SW-NE as I looked to the left. So I assumed I had popped out close to where I intended too, slightly W of the control. I moved a bit E, attacked, no luck. Tried and tried again each time further E. Well, this is where the GPS data confirmed what really happened. Turned out I popped out JUST A BIT E of the control on the REC trail, so if I would have gone W initially instead of E, I would have been well on my way. This control likely took us 45 minutes. Argh! The REC trail shows that the trail does not turn as aggressively NE as it really does. Perhaps it was only for a short distance.
5 (Fun run along the MTB trail. Had no problems)
4 (I was hot on it's path, fun to see my GPS data here! Then I ended up on a spur/spine just E of the one I was supposed to be on. Figured it out very near the control, hopped west over to it and followed the "correct" spine back up the trail for a trail run home).
Not an ideal run, but Kelly and I enjoyed it. Thank you everyone!
Analyzing the GPS route below (I have not yet attempted to use sportrax or whatever you guys use to overlay your routes, but one can more or less translate my route if you have the map on your computer desk) was facinating. It didn't teach me too much I didn't already know but it sure it fun to be able to verify exactly what happened.
Here's what went down, in order of control, per MCarl's request:
6 (nice easy jog with Andrei and GJ leading)
1 (alone to this one, walked by it to the easy and then doubled back to it, what a great marsh!)
7 (Looked in the large depression to the west (that was more or less unmapped) first and then ran right to it, nice open woods here. The ampitheatre here reminded me of one of my other favorite large depressions, the one at Theo near Eloise Butler)
9 (used the trail as much we could to this one, found it no problem other than finding firm footing down into this very steep depression!)
8 (attacked this one too early as my GPS shows, corrected fairly quickly)
13 (unsuccesfull but consistent, went to same spot both times I attacked it, didn't know what I was doing wrong then and still don't now. 30 minutes or more of effort with nothing to show for it, bummer! This mistake was tough to swallow)
14 (ran directly to it, further frustrating me regarding 13, making me think even more than perhaps others would confirm my suspicion it was mishung, which it wasn't, which is exactly how I told Kelly it would play out, ha.)
19 (unsuccessful, silly error that was corrected quickly but it was too late to re attack to continued to next control. Cam out on large two track, thought it was the "road", didn't realize the map was accuate in showing that the thick dotted grey roads were gravel--until it was too late)
21 (followed an unmapped MTB trail right too it, which really helped get my confidence back, because I think that's generally a tough skill)
22 (easy single and doubletrack trail jog right to it)
23 (again an easy trail jog, a bit of a challenge to approach from the north perhaps, but had the right first guess, confidence was returning)
25 (got daring and took the first doubletrack then bushwacked right to it, this may have been one of my better attacks of the day)
24 (trail run, no problems here)
18 (attacked from the trail intersection directly SE of the control, another strong route)
17 (WOW was this bushwack thick. I feel like I may have been one of the few to make this route choice. What a doozy. It was slow and not super accutate, but I got 'er done after finding the very small marsh mike generously added. Thanks mike! This is why I am better on an O-map, those type of details really help me).
15 (Tough control to approach from the South. The doubletrack inticated either didn't exist or was VERY hard to find. I walked right by it. There was also a single track trail that was fairly distinct that was unmapped. As you can see from the GPS data, I checked it out for a about 50 feet, but didn't like it. I eventually was able to recognize the large depression to the W of the trail and after walking past the lion's share of it, wrap around the N of it and spike it. I felt it was lucky when I ended up walking right to it.)
10 (Great route to this one, and jogged most of it, nice!)
11 (Biggest blow up of the day. I bushwacked W to the MTB trail, followed it W a few hundred meters until I bushwacked south to the REC trail north of the control. I saw the trail curving from E-W to a perfect SW-NE as I looked to the left. So I assumed I had popped out close to where I intended too, slightly W of the control. I moved a bit E, attacked, no luck. Tried and tried again each time further E. Well, this is where the GPS data confirmed what really happened. Turned out I popped out JUST A BIT E of the control on the REC trail, so if I would have gone W initially instead of E, I would have been well on my way. This control likely took us 45 minutes. Argh! The REC trail shows that the trail does not turn as aggressively NE as it really does. Perhaps it was only for a short distance.
5 (Fun run along the MTB trail. Had no problems)
4 (I was hot on it's path, fun to see my GPS data here! Then I ended up on a spur/spine just E of the one I was supposed to be on. Figured it out very near the control, hopped west over to it and followed the "correct" spine back up the trail for a trail run home).
Not an ideal run, but Kelly and I enjoyed it. Thank you everyone!
Tuesday Aug 10, 2010 #
Running 58:00 [3] 7.0 mi (8:17 / mi)
Great run around Lake of the Isles and Calhoun with Crusher, Molly and Biz. Totally drenched with sweat by the end. This weather is nasty. I've been landscaping in it for 4 days now and wow is is draining. I've been needing over 9 hours of sleep to recover. Argh!
Saturday Aug 7, 2010 #
9 PM
Adventure Race race 4:32:00 [4] 38.5 mi (7:04 / mi)
WILD AR Hot Summer Night Race.
I'm pretty sure it was 80 degrees at 5PM and 87 degrees at 8PM yesterday. That was a not awesome way to welcome a night of racing. Fortunately the race started at sundown with an awesome swim across the St. Croix river on the way to CP2 which was on the southern tip of an island. You could look at it on my Garmin data but for the fact that the file is corrupt for some reason, big bummer.
The island was thick and nasty. Our team consisted of the usual studs Andrei 3000 and Crusher, but this the first time I successfully roped my HS friend Scott into racing with us. We met in 7th grade because we have similar last names and therefore had lockers next to each other. We raced MTN. bikes in college. He has not worked out since we lived together in Salt Lake City as ski bums in 2002-2003. Although we were merely fast hiking, we were losing fluids really fast trekking through thick Razor grass, buckthorn, and wildflowers with our PFD's zipped tightly beneath our race packs as we picked up four trekking CP's before we headed out on the bikes. The humidy was high and the cold front that would bring rain later tonight had not moved in.
We came out of the first trek in the lead, with Blind Squirrels, Orion, Beautiful People, Rick and Pete, and WEDALI within a few minutes behind us in that very approximate order.
We were out on the bikes in the lead with Blind Squirrels but that only lasted a very short while. I had Kelly on tow but within a few minutes she was off tow and Scott was on for the rest of the bike section. Don't get me wrong, he did great and raced is behind off, but since I knew Kelly would be really strong on the last trek, we were 100% focused on saving as much energy in Scott's legs as we could to ensure he'd be able to finish the race the way we wanted to.
The bike section was fun. 31 miles of mostly paved, a little gravel, and a little doubletrack in the area south of William O'Brian and north of Stillwater. This is an area I know quite well because I love the Square lake triathlon that takes place right there. I've done both the Olympic and the half Iron-man triathlon there. Also, Kelly recently won the Stillwater marathlon on the same roads just a few months ago! It was fun to recognize where we were from time to time on course.
About halfway through the bike section we had gotten passed by 4 teams in total and we had settled into a pace we could sustain, hoping to perhaps pass some teams on the last trekking section. Scott fought hard on his old steel hard tail and we finished the bike section with a clean run with the exception of one attempt I made at a short cut that did not turn out and cost us about 10 minutes.
We arrived at the last trekking section in about 6th place overall, but not far at all behind any team, 14 minutes back from the lead. Beautuful People we learned was dropping out there due to a combination of really bad bee stings on the first trek (sorry Ellen!) kids at home and the impending storm. So that meant that we were two minutes behind Orion and 14 minutes behind WEDALI in third place in out division. There were two two person teams ahead of us as well.
We had a nice fast TA and passed Orion in the TA! Andrei was on the map and we were knocking out the trek at a good clip. Kelly had Scott on tow and they were really moving!
By the halfway point the rain was sheeting down as hard as I've seen it. The drops were both large and heavy as well as misty and windy, like at the bottom of a waterfall. This effect may have been from the water blowing out of the leaves in the trees, not sure, but it was cooling and refreshing. I felt like a kid playing out in the rain.
Then, lights up ahead. Andrei noticed them first at the bottom of a large reentrant, far up ahead. We picked up the pace slightly. Then they were gone. Five minutes later, we saw them again. Andrei decided to bushwack a section. These lights up ahead (which appeared to be two teams, both with two people) veered off to the south. Andrei confidently stayed the course. He knew we had passed them.
I didn't know what place we were in as we ran quickly the remaining few miles back. When we arrived at the finish I was shocked to find out we were the 2nd team overall to cross the line. We passed 4 teams on the last TA trek, so that was a great end to a hot and stormy night. WEDALI had some hiccups along the way, and still came across the line 14 minutes ahead of us.
Andrei rocked the navigation on both trekking sections, Kelly was amazing towing Scott on the entire last trek, and Scott pulled an athletic achievement normally reserved for those who workout 24SEVEN, or at least with regularity, out of nowhere based on nothing guts. Success!
I'm pretty sure it was 80 degrees at 5PM and 87 degrees at 8PM yesterday. That was a not awesome way to welcome a night of racing. Fortunately the race started at sundown with an awesome swim across the St. Croix river on the way to CP2 which was on the southern tip of an island. You could look at it on my Garmin data but for the fact that the file is corrupt for some reason, big bummer.
The island was thick and nasty. Our team consisted of the usual studs Andrei 3000 and Crusher, but this the first time I successfully roped my HS friend Scott into racing with us. We met in 7th grade because we have similar last names and therefore had lockers next to each other. We raced MTN. bikes in college. He has not worked out since we lived together in Salt Lake City as ski bums in 2002-2003. Although we were merely fast hiking, we were losing fluids really fast trekking through thick Razor grass, buckthorn, and wildflowers with our PFD's zipped tightly beneath our race packs as we picked up four trekking CP's before we headed out on the bikes. The humidy was high and the cold front that would bring rain later tonight had not moved in.
We came out of the first trek in the lead, with Blind Squirrels, Orion, Beautiful People, Rick and Pete, and WEDALI within a few minutes behind us in that very approximate order.
We were out on the bikes in the lead with Blind Squirrels but that only lasted a very short while. I had Kelly on tow but within a few minutes she was off tow and Scott was on for the rest of the bike section. Don't get me wrong, he did great and raced is behind off, but since I knew Kelly would be really strong on the last trek, we were 100% focused on saving as much energy in Scott's legs as we could to ensure he'd be able to finish the race the way we wanted to.
The bike section was fun. 31 miles of mostly paved, a little gravel, and a little doubletrack in the area south of William O'Brian and north of Stillwater. This is an area I know quite well because I love the Square lake triathlon that takes place right there. I've done both the Olympic and the half Iron-man triathlon there. Also, Kelly recently won the Stillwater marathlon on the same roads just a few months ago! It was fun to recognize where we were from time to time on course.
About halfway through the bike section we had gotten passed by 4 teams in total and we had settled into a pace we could sustain, hoping to perhaps pass some teams on the last trekking section. Scott fought hard on his old steel hard tail and we finished the bike section with a clean run with the exception of one attempt I made at a short cut that did not turn out and cost us about 10 minutes.
We arrived at the last trekking section in about 6th place overall, but not far at all behind any team, 14 minutes back from the lead. Beautuful People we learned was dropping out there due to a combination of really bad bee stings on the first trek (sorry Ellen!) kids at home and the impending storm. So that meant that we were two minutes behind Orion and 14 minutes behind WEDALI in third place in out division. There were two two person teams ahead of us as well.
We had a nice fast TA and passed Orion in the TA! Andrei was on the map and we were knocking out the trek at a good clip. Kelly had Scott on tow and they were really moving!
By the halfway point the rain was sheeting down as hard as I've seen it. The drops were both large and heavy as well as misty and windy, like at the bottom of a waterfall. This effect may have been from the water blowing out of the leaves in the trees, not sure, but it was cooling and refreshing. I felt like a kid playing out in the rain.
Then, lights up ahead. Andrei noticed them first at the bottom of a large reentrant, far up ahead. We picked up the pace slightly. Then they were gone. Five minutes later, we saw them again. Andrei decided to bushwack a section. These lights up ahead (which appeared to be two teams, both with two people) veered off to the south. Andrei confidently stayed the course. He knew we had passed them.
I didn't know what place we were in as we ran quickly the remaining few miles back. When we arrived at the finish I was shocked to find out we were the 2nd team overall to cross the line. We passed 4 teams on the last TA trek, so that was a great end to a hot and stormy night. WEDALI had some hiccups along the way, and still came across the line 14 minutes ahead of us.
Andrei rocked the navigation on both trekking sections, Kelly was amazing towing Scott on the entire last trek, and Scott pulled an athletic achievement normally reserved for those who workout 24SEVEN, or at least with regularity, out of nowhere based on nothing guts. Success!
Sunday Aug 1, 2010 #
Mountain Biking 47:56 [3] 7.96 mi (10.0 mph)
Rock Lake! One of the best trails in the midwest. And rumor has it IMBA sent a huge trail crew to cut more new trail this week! Awesome! Hopefully it does not interfere with the rogaine, as we'll be racing in this area. I can hardly wait!
C • IMBA 2
Mountain Biking 2:00:00 [3] 10.0 mi (5.0 mph)
Second loop at Rock lake, this time I started my watch late and then the battery died. We got in about 3 hours on the day.
Biz, Chad Milner, Mike Creigo and Brandon and Manimal. It was totally worth it for all of us to bring two bikes each up here! Even if we looked crazy for doing it. Ha!
Biz, Chad Milner, Mike Creigo and Brandon and Manimal. It was totally worth it for all of us to bring two bikes each up here! Even if we looked crazy for doing it. Ha!