Training Log Archive: GlenT

Just for a bit of contrast from yesterday, we spent several hours checking out the Las Vegas Strip. Apparently smoking is allowed just about everywhere, and it seemed like a higher than average number of people smoked. Interesting to see, but no need to return. What's the slogan - "Whatever's in Vegas should stay in Vegas"?

C • Smoking in New Zealand 1

Event: Go Wild! Valley of Fire 3 hr, 6 hr
 

Valley of Fire rogaine, ~50 miles northeast of Las Vegas, hosted by Terraloco. Did the 6 hour option as a team with Janet. Great weather, sunny and topping out at about 70F (and it's in the desert, so humidity was pretty low).

This was difficult, both physically and navigationally. The terrain is almost all rock, lots of red sandstone with a great deal of technical detail. The navigational challenge came from the fact that the map we used was the USGS map of the area with 10 meter contours, so only really big features show on the map. Things like impassable drop-offs and slots don't show up, but are very real in the terrain.

We had trouble with one control and never found it even though we attacked from two different directions and spent way too much time searching. We abandonded a second control when we couldn't find a way around a descending slot and were starting to risk running out of time. We did successfully navigate one slot by removing our backpacks. Interesting stuff!

We finished somewhere mid-pack, visiting 7 of 26 possible controls. We scored 425 points of 1400 possible (and it was a 100-pointer we never found). Vlad G had the highest score of 1000, running solo.

Various wanderings about looking at what 5 million years of erosion can do to a couple billion years worth of sediment. One more serious effort of about 3.5 km from Hermit's Rest overlook to Pima Point and back. High for the day was only about 40F but with abundant sun and little wind it was mostly quite comfortable.

Hike to Devil's Bridge near Sedona, AZ. Spectacular scenery, mostly sunny and upper 60's - pretty darn nice! Devil's Bridge is a natural stone arch about 50' high and those so inclined can walk across it (it's 6-8 feet wide). It was a pretty popular place considering the one-way hiking distance is about two miles.

Hike number 2 of the day in Sedona. Broken Arrow Trail to Chicken Point. A somewhat gnarly mountain bike trail with lots of bare rock sections. No problem hiking it. Partly cloudy and still in the upper 60's.

Red course at Catalina SP. Straightline distance 6.0km. Climb about 150m (just a guess, too lazy to actually count it). More rocks and spikiness. Sloppy - this should've been about a 65 min run. Gave the field 12 minutes on the first control (including a few minutes to take my shoe off and remove something sharp). Added some extra ups and downs on the long route choice leg. Then bobbled a fairly simple control near the end. Oh well. Another warm day (low 80s).

Event: Catalina State Park
 

Orienteering!! At Catalina SP north of Tucson. Green course. 4.5km straight line with not much climb. Rocky underfoot and plenty of spiky vegetation. Warm and sunny. Started at about 9:30 so temperatures were much cooler than the mid-80s later in the day. Focused on navigation rather than trying to run fast and only lost 4 or 5 minutes due to navigation errors. Seventh on Green, but first if you exclude those who are 40 or more years younger than me (a junior training camp was being held in conjunction with the event so a bunch of top juniors ran green, most of them 10 - 15 minutes faster).

Went out and re-ran controls 1-2-12-Fin since I hadn't done start-1 and 12-fin as well as I woul have liked (the "run-in" to the finish was a non-trivial 700m route choice leg). Did better on #1 and a little better on the finish leg.

At Sabina Canyon near Tucson. Sunny and low 70's - how winter should be.

A loop to the dam at Sabino Canyon after hiking. 23C is much more pleasant for running than 23F.

About half of run on packed snow (on the dirt road part). Heart rate high - may have been a bit dehydrated or just trying to stay warm. Cold (low 20s). Expecting temperatures to be in the low 80s by the end of the week. :-)

Hopefully will be back on a more regular exercise schedule. Leg muscles were hesitant when I asked them to run and may be a bit sore tomorrow. Temps in the low 20s but the roads were dry.

Still alive. Just not doing any exercise worthy of posting. Maybe this weekend.