Training Log Archive: JanetT

Up the hill and back down again, via Bowood. Very light showers; upper 60s. Took a rain shell but only put it on for the last few hundred meters or so where it was breezier.

Hole in the toe of the right shoe isn't getting any smaller.

Focus on breath. Left shoulder painful in many positions but I pushed through it (I need to check on PT for it).

Wednesday was a travel day, yesterday a rest day. I have an appt this afternoon so don't know whether I'll get out later. Might depends on the weather too.

Rocky Mountain National Park, Wild Basin area on the SE side of the park. We got there around 9:00 am or so on the advice of Virginia L. who said the parking area could fill up quickly. It was mostly full but still had a number of open spots. We changed and were hiking before 10am.

Walked to Copeland Falls, Calypso Cascade, and Ouzel Falls. The area had suffered a fire in 1978, and flooded trails more recently than that (about 5 years ago). First part of the trail looked "recently" redone. Rooty and rocky in places, but nothing too too hard for me (no poles). Rocks had been hiked on enough that most were rounded off. Stopped a couple times to have a snack and turned watch off during those periods, so time is mostly time on the move (with stops to take photos).

Nice hike before we head home tomorrow. We also drove up to Lily Lake and walked along the SE side a bit, admiring the ducks and other wildlife (muskrat, perhaps?) and dragonflies, before the wind kicked up and got cooler as a T-storm got closer than it had been. Now warming up with coffee at Starbucks in Estes Park.

Scared up a female turkey while out on my course today. I was surprised to see a turkey in Medicine Bow NF, but Wyoming does have turkeys, so that must have been what it was.

RMOF day 6, Classic stage 3
Brown 4.1 km/ 160 m
Mostly cloudy and upper 60s, breezy

Nice finish to the week, although I didn't have a perfectly clean run. Bobbled 5 when I didn't take the "expected" route across the bare rock to the cliff but instead circled around the bare rock expecting to see the cliff on the far side...but I missed it and kept looking until I climbed up by some other rocks and had to scramble down rock faces when I finally did find it.

Otherwise, happy with my run. #1 and 2 were pretty straightforward. Took the first suggested/streamered crossing of Supefly Marsh then stayed low to get to the correct reentrant before climbing. Then out to the road, skirting a group of campers near the top of the reentrant. Road to field, where I could see the rocky knoll (with a flag) 150m or so before the control which was visible when I got to the knoll.

To 5 I headed toward the fence corner, and crossed under it and followed it down to the reentrant E of the rocky spur to use the suggested marsh crossing below it. Decided I didn't need to climb right away to the rock face (which actually would have been a good route) and that circling under would be okay, but I missed seeing it and climbed too high. D'oh.

Since #6 was at the NW foot of the spur, going around to the left seemed a better idea than climbing up and over...and it was. Climbed the last spur before the aspens and stayed below all the rock until the hill curved around enough and I could see the cliff. #7 was easy..through the aspens and over the spur. Just had to check my descriptions to figure out what side of the cliff it was on. Nancy Lindeman was there. Across the aspens to the tree and then up up up along the long fence handrail where I saw Lex (F60) several hundred meters ahead. I didn't have enough oomph left to catch her before she finished (I was still approaching 9 as she punched and headed in), but knew she had started 12 minutes before me and I had closed up most of the gap.

When I finished Virginia still wasn't in so I knew I had won the day and thus 2/3. I was 6 minutes ahead of Leslie, who was 2nd overall in F65 and 1st Western States; Virginia had had trouble and took 80 minutes today.

Western States Day 3 Brown - Splits

Throw away day?? (Results based on best 2 / 3)

Classic stage 2, Twin Boulders map (1:10000), Brown 4.2 150m climb. Temp around 60 (cooler start to the day today, even with our later starts) and sunny.

Lost at least 5 minutes and probably a bit more heading to 3 as I mistakenly thought the water cup symbol was my control when it was actually beyond, on the hillside. I might have tried to stay low, and found the cowpath that others said they followed along the marshy stream. But as I crossed the first stream (after finding a place narrow enough that I could jump) I saw another Brown runner, Belgian Linda V, heading up to the open spots and I went that way too. It was a long night time before I realized I was heading the wrong direction, and that my control really *wasn't* in that reentrant where the cup was. I then corrected and found the huge rocky spur to use as my Attackpoint. Got to the top of a reentrant but it was in the next one SE, for another few seconds lost (beyond the wide detour). Dave Yee was there; Soupbone passed me along the way out toward 4.

Fine to 4. Planned to go to the right side of the aspens and then pick my way N along various boulders and hills, crossing two roads before the control (forest corner???). Managed to catch a toe on a sage bush and fall forward jarring my already sore shoulder and right knee...ouch. Felt sorry for myself until I got up, then slowly continued. By the time I got to 5 I barely noticed anything. Nancy L. was coming into it from my right.

Ser bearing to the next one and promptly headed off in the wrong direction! until I noticed the N arrow on my compass was pointed wrong and the hill was dropping off. Turned around and went past 5 again, then headed off in the correct direction. Slowly picked my way through the boulders to find the 6m one at the edge of the yellow.

To 7 a tall thin fellow in white caught up, but checked various other rock features along the way while I continued confidently to my hill/cliff. Then it was down the hil, cross another stream (managed to just get a muddy shoe rather than a wet one), and slog up 5 contours. Fellow in white was going my speed so a bit of a distraction. Got a bit off line and confused by a rocky area that didn't seem to be mapped, so wandered above and beyond #9 for awhile before correcting and finding the correct bare rock and rocky ridge.

Then it was just find a tree on a shallow spur (flag was hung on wrong tree), and a "reentrant junction"/ foot of spur before slogging up,the hill to finish. I saw no need t run since I'd made so many mistakes already.

The F65s whose times were posted when I finished were both faster (73 min for Virginia, 80 for Leslie M). I wasn't slowest on the course, but only about four or five times were slower.

5-7 min error on #3, 8-9 on #9.

Western States Day 2 Brown - Splits