Training Archive: PGIn the 7 days ending 2007-05-26:
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| S | M | T | W | H | F | S | |||||||
Saturday May 26 | ||
| Event: Big Muddy Ranch Rogaine #4 | ||
| rogaining 13:00:00 [1] | |
| shoes: Pegasus 08/06 | ||
| Big Muddy IV rogaine in Antelope, Oregon, with Barb. Awesome performance, got 53 of 56 controls, 3rd overall.
At the Swiss 6-Day in Zermatt last July, there was a free day in the middle and I had in mind to take a hike up to the hut at the very base of the Matterhorn. And Barb Bryant was looking for someplace to hike, so we ended up joining up. A couple hours up, very fine scenery on a perfect day, an hour or so down, and good company. But what I think was really going on was that she was checking me out as a possible rogaine partner. At some later time there was mention of that possibility and then at some later point, I'm not quite sure how it transpired, I had made a commitment to do the Big Muddy Rogaine in Oregon with her on Memorial Day weekend. And not 100% sure that was a good idea, because the body isn't as young as it used to be but 24 hours is still 24 hours. And then certainly less than 100% sure when I zapped my left hamstring in a fall at the North Americans in October. And then way less than 100% sure when I zapped it again in North Carolina in March. As it happened, we were planning a general strategy meeting for that weekend, and we had that anyway despite the fact that I could barely walk. "Strategy" in the sense of what kind of pace we might go at (fast walking, very little running seemed favored by both), how often to stop along the course (as seldom and for as short a tine as possible, again favored by both), how often to go back to the hash house (never, by both), and how serious/competitive to be (moderately serious, but more emphasis on enjoying it, again by both). So easy agreement on those things was a good sign. Though there was the question of whether I would be healed by then. Good enough to at least walk, I said, so the plan was still on. So sometime in mid-April we signed up and bought plane tickets, and then I zapped the hamstring again the second day of the HVO meet (my sterling A meet record this year is 2 days DNF, 1 day finished but very slow, and 6 days at the event but DNS). Now with tickets already paid for, training went to plan B, virtually no running, certainly no running in the woods, but lots of walking. And keep the fingers crossed. And as it turned out, my hamstring was ok at the start of the rogaine, and ok at the end, despite any numbers of falls in the rocky terrain, especially at night. There was the usual procedure for a rogaine, get the maps 2 hours in advance to plan the route. I'm used to having my partner do that (Fred would tell me what order to go in, then let me find them, his work done). This time we spent maybe 45 independently looking at possibilities, then compared notes. We had similar notions about what might make a good route, and pretty quickly put together a plan to get about 3/4 of the controls, which I thought might well be all we would have time for. We could make plans for rest depending on how we were doing. Which was fine, except it didnt allow for the possibility that we might be able to get them all. That never crossed my mind. But you never know&. Race report will be on Sundays entry, along with the map. | ||
Friday May 25 | ||
| hike 1:40:00 [1] | |
| shoes: Pegasus 08/06 | ||
| Hike with Barb about 2/3 of way up Dog Mountain in Washington state, up to the junction at 1,960' using the eastern trail when it forked.
A foolish thing to do under my normal training regimen (i.e don't train the day before a normal running or orienteering event, don't train for several days before a rogaine or ultra), but I figured I had been doing so much rogaine practice that a little extra hike would be ok. But just to be clear, it was Barb's idea. And a fine idea it was. Part of rogaine preparation is to get to know your partner. About 15 minutes before we turned back she asked me what my CV was. I believe that CV is a phrase that academics use, and she is a doctor so she qualifies for that designation, and I think it boils down to asking what I had done with my life. Now I believe a CV is supposed to be limited to such things as where you worked, what honors you've earned, what you've published, and so on. So I played along and gave her a few of the highlights, with special emphasis, of course, since we were preparing for a sporting event, on my squash match with General Westmoreland. Yes, the General Westmoreland. For those of you too young to know, he was the head of our side in the Vietnam War ("Second Place, Southeast Asia War Games" is what Don Davis's t-shirt used to say), and then Army chief of staff. And yours truly was a first lieutenant, stationed at the Pentagon, I believe this was in 1969. And on a Sunday afternoon I went to the officers' athletic club to see if I could pick up a game of squash. I stopped at the window where they took court reservations, and heard the man in front of me saying something about looking for a partner. I'll play, I piped up, and he turned around and looked my up and down and thought for a moment and then said OK. And I saw that it was Westmoreland. Hmmm, this will be interesting. I never asked why he was looking for a partner, I mean, who would dare stand him up? But it didn't matter, I had a match. To the court, warm-up for 5 minutes, and it's clear I had a better game than he did. I won the first game, and then the second, both about 15-5. I wasn't trying particularly hard to beat him (although I was not a fan of his, to put it mildly), but I also wasn't going to let him win just because he was the really big boss. It was now about 2:20 to 2:25, you got a court for 30 minutes, so I figured we had time for one more game if we didn't dally, so I picked up the ball to serve to start the third game. "Give me the ball!" he said in his commanding voice. What was this, it's my serve for having won the last game, I think I wondered. "Excuse me, sir?" I thnik I said. "Give me the ball," he said again. I think I wondered some version of WTF, but I tossed him the ball, and he did one slow lap around the court. And then tossed the ball back to me to serve. The General's version of a Time Out? Game three was another 15-5, or maybe 15-4 or 15-3, not close again. It was now 2:30, and there were two officers in their 30s, majors or colonels I assumed, who were in the balcony, waiting to play next. "Give me the ball" again. Another slow loop. I was aware of the time, but he was the Man, and if he wanted to play more.... Another 15-5 or -4 or -3. "Give me the ball" again. I looked up in the balcony. "Sir," I said, "I believe these gentlemen have the court reserved." He looked up at them. "You don't mind if we play another game?" "No, sir, go right ahead, sir," came the obligatory response. This is really lousy, I thought. So I toss him the ball and he does another lap, slower than ever. And then the 5th and last game is just the same, maybe 15-2 because I was pissed. And it is 2:50 when we turned the court over to the other two and they would have 10 minutes, and it really pissed me off. Though I, too, probably like the colonels, was smart enough not to say anything. But as little as I cared for Westmoreland before that, I sure thought much less of him afterwards. ------- Now in the normal business world it can be useful to be able condense a long story into an executive summary. For rogaining, it's just the opposite. And I was clearly in good form -- my CV report ended just as we reached the parking lot.... :-) | ||
| Note | |
| At some point either during the hike or during the subsequent drive to Antelope, Barb pointed up and said, "Isn't that the moon?"
Well, it sure was, and it was only about half full. And we were sure the event web site had promised a full moon rising about 9 pm. Which left 2 possibilites. The web site might have been wrong. That was the better of the possibilities. The worser, and it was much worser, was we were out there on the wrong weekend. It wasn't til we saw the first O' sign that I could relax. Would have never lived that down.... | ||
Sunday May 20 | ||
| orienteering 2:28:55 [2]12.5 km (11:55 / km) | |
| weight:134lbs shoes: integrators 2006 | ||
| Well, I got talked into going to the Billygoat by a couple of postings on AP and a phone call from Phil, and I'm glad I went. Weather turned out perfect, rain on the drive out and drive back but sunshine during the event. And I made it around the course without wrenching the hamstring again. Which is good, because I have a rogaine starting in 6 days.
Plan was to walk everything in the woods or rough open and run slowly on roads/trails if it felt comfortable. And not to do anything dumb -- even when walking it would be easy to slip and take a tumble, especially on the steep rocky areas. So my mantra for the day was "Careful." Right at the tail end of the crowd on the way to 1. I guess I passed a few people thereafter, but there was never a sense of doing that (you don't walk away from someone). I suppose I just got by a few folks when they made mistakes. Course was relatively friendly and very nice. Great job by Bill Jameson (head goat) and Glen Tryson (course setter). I'd been to the previous 28 versions of the BG in one role or another, and it felt good to be there for the 29th. | ||
| C • 1:20am 4 | ||
Billygoat XXIX - Splits | ||