Training Archive: Cristina

Orienteering race 1:24:16 [3] *** 8.0 km (10:32 / km) +320m 8:47 / km
ahr:178 16c shoes: Rory (inov8 X-Talon 212)

Long at Gold Rush Hills. Another very nice course and map from CTOC, and a better day for me, though still not stellar.

I was briefly confused at the start because I anticipated that the first control would be more or less in the same direction as we had to run from the last call up line out to the start triangle. This was true for all the courses except red, and would be quite natural. But we actually had to run the other way, and the options were to run through the finish or back down to the call-up line out to a road. A point to critique, I think. Only a few seconds of confusion for me as I forced myself to reorient my map. First control was fine, and it felt great to be able run and move so much faster than yesterday.

So great did it feel that I ran gleefully past the second control. Realized I had gone too far, looked behind me, and saw what I thought was my control. Ran back. Wasn't mine. Over again until I hit a trail (whoops), got over the shock of being so far off, and ran directly to my control, finally. Those shenanigans cost me about 4 min. Yuck.

The rest of the course was much better, though I certainly feel entirely incapable running uphill. Also a few absolutely preventable goof-ups towards the end, nothing that just a little more discipline wouldn't prevent.

Second today (I think), Carol in ~78 and Tori ~35s behind me.

Running warm up/down (dirt) 10:00 [2]
shoes: Rory (inov8 X-Talon 212)

Short warmup before the middle. Legs felt surprisingly good, so I didn't feel the need to run much. Plus, I figured I wouldn't actually be running very hard on the course today.

Orienteering race 49:56 [3] ***** 3.64 km (13:43 / km) +220m 10:32 / km
22c shoes: Rory (inov8 X-Talon 212)

First PNWOF race (for me), middle distance at Gold Rush Hills.

I knew this was going to be tricky based on the description - complex hydromined terrain, so much detail they printed it at 1:7500, plus a silly amount of climb. And it was very tricky. Very cool terrain, very intense. I think Lisa has a good description on her log. My plan: forget about speed (really) and be very careful.

Unfortunately, I wasn't quite as careful as I should have been on the first control and blew ~3 minutes trying to figure out where I was. A little miss on the second one, too. The next few were much easier and the rest of the course went much better, but I never felt like I was able to orienteer with any kind of speed. For one thing, we had to almost constantly go up or down. And when we weren't doing that, I had to go slower just to read *something* on the map. It did not feel like I was running "through" the map, like I think good orienteering should. Instead, it felt like how I orienteered the first few years - in fits and starts, only with a lot less mistakes than back then, thank goodness.

So, an okay run if only because I don't think that right now I am capable of handling this stuff any faster. Even just a few days on this type of terrain would probably help, as I was able to move better and better as the course went on.

I think 3rd in F-21+, Tori in ~46, Carol in ~49, and maybe top red runner just under 40 (?).

Event: 2009 Pacific Northwest Orienteering Festival
 

Running (road) 23:00 [1] 2.42 mi (9:30 / mi)
shoes: Gus (Asics 2120)

Snuck in a morning run just so that I wouldn't forget what running feels like. Terrible week.

I was looking forward to the cool, fresh early morning Tucson air, but instead I opened the door to a rather stuffy layer of blergh air. There was a cloud deck (wtf?) so it was ~10 degrees warmer than usual (about 77) and the dp was ~10 degrees higher (~35). Still entirely pleasant running conditions, I just have too much going on to enjoy it. Quite unpleasant to be running, physically, so I cut it short. Now I'm off to the dentist. (And that's just the beginning of my soon-to-be-spectacular day.)

Running (trail) 1:10:00 [2] 6.0 mi (11:40 / mi) +150m 10:50 / mi
ahr:170 max:182 shoes: Asics Trail Attack III

Morning run at Sabino Canyon, Bear Canyon trail. Had to drive Melissa to work so I didn't get to Sabino until 7:30. Not too bad, but the sun was already too high for much shade in the canyon.

Felt better than I have been on these trails lately, but still not exactly springing along. Also, I seem to have had a rather annoying vegetation encounter at TJOC that is becoming gross. On Wed during Tatyana's marathon I got stinging nettled, an experience I don't really remember having before (my pants had lots of holes in them, including at the knees, which is probably why it was memorable). By the weekend I had quite the mass of itchy red bumps on the outside of my right knee. Yesterday I had a mass of itchy red bumps oozing pus, and today it was a mass of itchy red and yellow bumps, plus some crusty stuff, dripping pus down my leg as I ran.

On the more palatable side, I saw hundreds of critters today, including deer, several bunnies, lots of flying things, and a completely silly number of lizards. But none of that matters because today I saw, for the first time in the wild, a Gila monster. It was chilling on the edge of the trail and I almost ran right by it, but I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye and had a "WTF is that?!" moment (these suckers are huge). I'm pretty sure my feet left skid marks as I stopped. I was very excited when I realized I it was a Gila monster. He checked me out, then waddled across the trail and crawled under a rock and that was all I saw of him. Awesome.

C • egetation 20

C • Yes! 6

Strength/Core 10:00 [2]
shoes: Gus (Asics 2120)

PT calisthenics, blissfully short session.

Running (road) 30:00 [2] 3.4 mi (8:50 / mi)
shoes: Gus (Asics 2120)

Followed by a short, easy trot around the twisty track (x2)+. Felt okay.