Training Log Archive: kissy

Travel day from Venas to Moltrasio on Lago di Como. It was a longish, hot time on the roads, but a beautiful destination. Tomorrow we move on to Risoul.

Stage 5 of Italy 5 Days. Middle race.

Another not-stellar day of orienteering. I think it's the combination of 1:7500 and 5m contours. Things just aren't looking the way I am expecting them to look. One of my controls today was in a "reentrant" that I could barely tell was anything when I finally got to it.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day. The assembly area was in the town center of Padola, and the last few controls were like a street-O. The sun was shining and everyone was hanging out in town. It really was a spectacular way to finish out the week.

I had such a great time in Italy! The Dolomites are unbelievably gorgeous! The orienteering was challenging but still fun. I've always wanted to try my hand at the type of woods we had in Stages 2 and 3, and I didn't get horribly lost there, so I'm happy.

And I'm having fun with my traveling companions. We've eaten out a few times, but I think the best food we've had has been the dinners we made at home. And now we're off to a night in Como, and then on to the French 5-Days and many more Americans.

Stage 4 of Italy 5 Days. Middle race.

This was my worst race of the week, so far. Out of the first 6 controls, I messed up 3 of them. Blah!! In all three instances, I didn't make a solid plan, just "let me head in that direction and see what happens." So, no, that did not work out. After that, it got better and that was mostly because a train of women caught up to me (I was an early starter) and I couldn't help but see them as I moved on to the next controls. It was kind of fun doing that pack running. Once we hit the road at the end, where the last few controls were Orange controls just off the road, they all took off, but I still did okay.

We were in a new area today, outside of Padola, and it was much nicer running than the past two days. It was still hummocky, but there were more areas of just normal woods.

C • Maps 1

Stage 3 of Italy 5 Days. Middle race.

I turned in a fairly decent placing for this, but I think it's just because it was next to impossible to actually run anywhere on the course, so the speedy ladies had to slow down.

This was the same hummocky green terrain as yesterday, but add in *very* steep slopes. So whether I was going up or down, or the very worst thing - contouring, it was a physical day. I only had trouble on one control, number one. I think it was mostly that even though I knew we had changed to 1:7500, it didn't register in my head to make the change IRL. So, I overshot #1 and spent some time figuring out where I was again.

After that it went okay, but I was also having troubles with my shoes. I just felt wobbly and unsupported for the entire course. I'm not sure why, since those shoes have been fine before. Maybe next time I'll try to tie them even tighter.

Day 2 of Italy 5 Days. Long course at Lake Misurina.

This was tough terrain. Lots of hummocks and depressions, all covered in moss or some kind of greenery. It was tough to pick out the small details or the large details. Within seconds, you could be totally lost. There really was no open running unless you were on a trail. Even running through the fields was tough. They were very muddy and wet and mucked up with cow hoof prints and cow patties.

I had decided before I started that I was going to go slow because I did not want to ever get so lost. And, the good news is that I never got lost. The bad news is that I went very slow. My feet got pretty badly beaten up.

The weather started out fine. Then about 3/4 of the way around, I started to hear thunder and see lightning. And just as I was making my way down the ski slope to the finish, it started to rain. I got to the car and was changing when the rain started coming down harder. And then it turned to small hail. And then it turned to big hail. And then it became very big, noisy, painful hail.

The worst news is that Charlie fell and really hurt himself. We got him the strongest medicine we could, and he's sleeping now. We'll see how it goes.

Event: 5 Days of Italy
 

Day 1 of 5 Days Italy. Sprint-O in Auronzo.

We got to Auronzo fairly early to pick up our packets and look at the layout. Luckily, we were there so early, we got a parking spot right next to my start. The other start for Charlie, Jan, and Brooke, was about 2 km. away.

After they left, I hung around my start and ran into the beautiful Walkers. We had a nice chat before I headed out. Earlier in the day, we had run into the Worner-Kohn family. It's nice to see familiar faces when you're so far from home.

I had a fine run, with no navigational errors, but I was quite cautious so ended up a ways back. I just didn't want to blow up on the very first day. Plus, it was very, very hot!

Afterwards, we had our first gelato of the trip and watched the awards ceremony. Then home for a fine dinner of fish and potatoes -- what do you expect with two Norwegians in the mix??