Training Log Archive: chitownclark

Reno. Up at 5am at Atlantis Hotel. Desert morning was dawning beautifully, and I was drawn out of our room, leaving Soupbone to his dreams. Not sure where I was going, I started a jog across the huge parking lots: first for the Atlantis, then numerous discount centers, then a few industrial plants, finally crossing underneath the n-s interstate (US 395) to Peckham Lane which skirts the south boundary of the Reno airport.

Running east into the rising sun, I gradually entered residential territory: first a dilapidated hispanic neighborhood with cars in weedy, dry lots; then up into the brown baked desert hills, with watered golf courses and small Nevada frame houses surrounded by xeriscaping or old-fashioned lawns and mature trees.

After 30 minutes I turned around and ran back toward the hotel I could see in the distance, down on the valley floor. Traffic was much worse on the return, and I obstinately ran in one of the 4 lanes, against traffic, making car drivers swing out to avoid me. One hispanic woman, unable to get over, slowed and finally stopped in front of me, incredulous that I was usurping her territory, and unsure what to do about it, her eyes wide behind the wheel. It was a stupid stunt on my part. But asserting decent space for a pedestian, and refusing to be pushing into the rocky gully, made me feel good. And I arrived back at our room ready to go up to the pool for an hour.

C • I should of known 2

Swimming laps in the rooftop pool at 7am after my hour run in the desert.

Burton Creek. Classic Brown course. Was better nav than yesterday; at least I navigated to several controls. But after blowing #1 and #2 badly (the second with Edwin Gookin for 20 minutes investigating the wrong rocky spur) I just walked dejectedly the rest of the course.

The high point of the day was seeing Soupbone come by me at #6, which I'd finally found with great difficulty, looking fast, in control, and confident. He went on to post a 55:44 for the 5km course and take first in his age group, and 4th on Green overall, beating local favorite Dennis Wildfogel by 7 minutes!

Afterward we scrammed; down to Reno to check in to the Atlantis casino, where I crashed until 11pm, arising to go out to lose $50 at the craps and blackjack tables, where Soupbone found me about 1am, after a fun-filled night of his own...it's nice to be young!

Burton Creek. Yes folks. I gotta admit. I spiked only the GO control today. What a performance. My worst fears at Spooner on Thursday were realized: I couldn't read shit.

For some reason, I thought I could read all the mapped clearings, and spent most of the day finding that I couldn't. But I didn't change my nav...I continued to plunge into this bland terrain without a safe plan, and continued to get lost, lost, lost.

The Burton Creek map was last revised in 1999 I think (they didn't print mapping info on the map...embarrased?). And mapping was very hit-or-miss: rocks here may be mapped down to 1m, but over there 4m boulders were unmapped. Green vertical bars were identified as "undergrowth" in the legend, but by Sunday I finally realized that these areas signified intense deadfall.

And controls were hidden within the circle, so that you had to search...#5 today being a prime example. A huge boulder 50m away made a rock-solid attack point. But despite 10 minutes of searching by myself and many others, the control couldn't be found. So I bailed, found #6, and navigated backward, only to again come up on that large boulder. Finally I found the control coming from the opposite direction, because I saw the top fringe of the bag, wedged down between several huge logs, and the small boulder control feature was completely hidden underneath the logs.

To add to my frustration, Nancy Lindeman casually walked the course, and from #3 to #7, got there and found each control about the same time I did, while running frantically. I just couldn't leave that woman behind! Aaah the beauty of orienteering!

Event: Tahoe 3 Day
 

NorthStar Sprints. Friday afternoon at the ski resort. Walked way up the runs and started high. The course was completely a steep downhill challenge: go too far down and you struggle to get back up to the missed bag. I came in 4th in M65+ beating Evan Custer for the only time this weekend.

All kinds of downhill bikers coming through at breakneck speeds. Downhill bikes are a new breed for me: heavy welded machines that essentially cannot be ridden; riders just sit on them and coast downhill, occasionally pedaling in small gears just to increase their speed. Not a particularly athletic sport. Big fat guys do it. We met a family from the Valley whose teenage son was encased in total body armour. As he recounted his adventures to his smiling marathon mom, he took a minute to show us his downhill bike: the thing was practically too heavy to lift off the ground!

Afterwards we went back to Truckee and discoverd Fifty/Fify Brewing Co and Alicia Barr. My review.

Ponderosa GC, Truckee, California. An old 9-hole course that I played twice: first by myself at 8am with the bright mountain sun making it difficult to follow my ball, hence poor scores. And the next time with three California guys, up for a social weekend, attending a wedding. Fun to interact with Californians again. And I shot much better, probably because of their influence. Soupbone waiting impatiently in parking lot when I finished, and we went up to NorthStar to see road bike race.

Spooner Lake - West. Training with Soupbone after waiting 5 hours for his flight to arrive at the Reno airport, doing sudokus and reading Investors' Business Daily.

I did well in 2003 when I was last on the Spooner map. But today I couldn't read squat; everything seemed mismapped. I know I have been neglecting my orienteering training recently, but isn't it just like riding a bike? You never forget the skill, once learned?

Twice up to Newport and back; first to get work started, and again to lock up at the end of the day. Getting packed for an early flight out to Reno tomorrow morning. Meeting Soupbone at the airport for 4 days of high-altitude BAOC fun at feature-starved Burton Creek

Beautiful day. But feeling very stiff and slow...barely able to creep along the sidewalks. Don't know what is going on. Last Saturday's 5k was all-time slow pace. Maybe this enforced slowness will allow me to navigate more efficiently on the featureless Burton Creek maps at Tahoe this weekend.

Around the buildings, doing summer maintenance. Showing 400sq ft, 1BR apartments for $1695 and getting good response. New lawyers are now offered over $150k to start here in Chicago; so this rent represents just 13% of their gross. Don't tell me that inflation is under control...the fact that I'm getting interested prospective tenants at these outrageous rents tells me that big changes are about to happen.

C • Do you uss. do back to back... 5

Out to dinner on bikes with Sari about 7pm. Beautiful evening. Rode up Clark St. to try a "pizzetta" at Soma. All along the way, people out, walking, jogging, laughing in sidewalk cafés, enjoying the warm, lingering sunlight of a mitsommer evening...4 days to the solstice. Then over to Broadway to a new Thai place, and then home in the dark, gliding along quiet streets, the perfume of blooming alanthus trees hanging heavy in the warm night air.