Training Log Archive: ndobbs

The fallen tree in this pic from Saturday is funny. Josh is either a tad too short or a tad far... http://www.flickr.com/photos/25966801@N08/70665101...

Got the ocular syphilis checked out in the morning, then had some time to kill at the med centre, so had my nose looked at, no problem with the thorn, but doc said it was properly inflamed (allergies?) whic explains why I can't breathe, so now have steroidal spray and am instructed to get a HEPA filter. Then had a wonderful Indian buffet lunch (the joys of not being at the YKT cafeteria), and went back for eyelid surgery. May look human again in a week or two ;) Oh, also had an xray done on the knee, nothing visibly wrong, doctor prescribed hardcore anti-inflammatories. And I did some refereeing work. Productive or what?

Now I need to sort out the event on Sunday.

C • Magnesium? 2

Knee continues to not be right. Hohum, to say the least.

Saturday's race was fun. It reminded me a bit of Rand'O de Castor, which is also a long run on dubious terrain (west of Paris), and very successful (or used to be anyway, haven't looked it up in ages). RandO, the year I did it, was a 23km orienteering race, no gimmicks, no aid stations, with a 2h20 winning time (I ran it without water, stupidly). The navigation was reasonably straightforward but much harder than GRR. Instead of teams of three, it was an individual, mass-start race.
GRR had two options - maybe 30km with 4h winning time, in the main race, or 15km with 1h45 winning time.
RandO also encouraged participation by adventure racers and plebs, with navigation clinics the day or week before.

RandO didn't have any funky alpha beta omega stages or whatever, just a straight up race. I like the job GRR does with marketing, and perhaps it is necessary for now. Lidingoloppet doesn't have gimmicks. Tiomila and Jukola don't. Oringen is starting to. And I don't have definite opinions on what is the right path, but I appreciate the purity of Jukola.

The team aspect of the GRR is strange. It made it less intense. It also wasn't particularly social, as the three of us were usually strung out, with one person leading, and not much spare energy for chatting. On the other hand, there definitely was some teamwork and it was fun racing together. And Wil is, despite appearances, a good person to race with (Josh too, but less helpful navigationally).

RandO was also substantially cheaper (but not cheap).

I guess this leads one to ask, if one were to set up a race, which format to take.

Just registered for Billygoat, West Point and the W Mass A-meet. But then again, I'm also registered for SML, and not yet for IOC.

It seems the military need a special waiver, perhaps due to concertina razor wire.

Online entry and payment is great. Now they just need to store data online so as not to need to enter it each time.

Well, that explains why my nose has been sore since the race - a half-centimetre long thorn came out a nostril today. First time that's happened to me.

C • Thorn 5

Lovely run on the trails from home, perfect weather. Stopped on a bare rock hilltop to stretch for a bit ten minutes in.

And the knee. It is complaining. Not when I was running, but since about an hour afterwards.

Can it be something serious if it didn't hurt on Saturday?

And the long drive home from Rochester today. Took a couple of pics in the Geneva to Watkin's Glen section in the Finger Lakes region. After that, the bulk of the drive along route 17 was somewhat pretty, but monotonous wooded hills all the way. A few pics.



Knee isn't as sore as I expected, should survive fine. Muscles are a bit stiff. Head is tired.