Training Log Archive: pfc

Did a Superman on the way to #10 last night and banged my right foot just above my big toe. There wasn't any pain even after the race, but it's slightly swollen and hurts to walk this morning - limping a little. Cross my fingers that it starts to heal and isn't anything serious.

Test hike for the foot - it's better after 10 minutes of walking but I don't dare run yet. Took the camera out to WOB and got some photos. Came back and walked around Como.

Event: MNOC - Adventure Run #1
 

First fall adventure run at TIerney's woods. Night event, mass start at 7 PM. Started with a road run from Reynolds Park to the NE corner of the O-map. I went out hard and opened up on the downhill to get a half minute lead. Nailed 1-5, which all had reflective tape and then went for 6-10. This was a little slower since they didn't have tape, basically, you had to navigate to the right spot since you could only see the flag by beaming it. Ran 6-7-8 well but blew #9, crossing a trail without realizing it. I reoriented pretty quickly, but in trying to get back out to the trail I ran into some buckthorn. As I struggled through it, it stripped me of my glasses. I stopped and did a grid search and found them after 4.5-5 minutes. At that point my concentration was gone, so I left my compass sitting on the ground, and clumsily managed to get back on course, finding #9 right after JJ was leaving it. I chased him over to 10 - regretting the lack of compass. I was a little too far south and he was too far east, but we both realized and beamed #10 right at the same time. We ran or and punched 3 seconds apart, right as gearjunkie was coming down the hill towards our lights. We ran out towards W Bush Lake Rd as a group, knowing that it was only a road run to the finish line. We briefly started running the wrong direction down the road, but corrected after about 10 seconds and the three of us set off for the finish at a solid pace. On the way back we had to go back up a fairly long hill, and dropped the pace a bit. JJ stayed right on my shoulder and gearjunkie was within talking (not shouting) distance. As we crested the hill I was happy to feel myself recover from it within about 20-30 seconds. On the flats, both JJ and I put on a couple bursts, which we each matched. JJ cleverly started the psych game and reminded gearjunkie that he had a marathon to run on Sunday, so he shouldn't exert himself too much.

The whole run was decided in the last 150 yards - I was slightly ahead and cutting the straightest possible route on the streets and sidewalks without cutting through people's yards. As we diagonally crossed from the north to south side of 83rd Ave and onto the sidewalk, I tried to squeeze JJ into the weeds. He drifted behind me to avoid that (?), and I made a quick cut-the-corner through tall grass (about 15 yards) as he continued on the sidewalk. I think that was enough to give me a small gap and I started the sprint as soon as I was back on the pavement. In the end, there was a only a five second difference in our times.

Definitely the most exciting finish I've ever participated in - and only possible because of the mass start. Looking forward to JJ's account to see if my memory is correct!

C • reading this makes it all worthwhile.... 3

Retrieved controls 9-10-1-2 by memory. Also went back and found my compass in the buckthorn. Came back to the car and got stopped by the Three Rivers Park Patrol. He was OK when I told him what we were doing and said we had a permit. Waited for Tom and Biz and then went for dinner.

Jiffy Lube to Theo and back with mobiz, followed by Palin Bingo. My card sucked ass.

TNT - Todd @ Como

Bike to and from Como. Tried the new neoprene shoe covers. Not that cold out, but they worked great.

Flow control course at Como - emphasis on planning one or more legs ahead and not slowing down at the control - all in the dark. Todd set a Mega-O-ish course of 74 controls (no tape, but obvious features like boundaries, corners, junctions, etc.) I bobbled a bit at the beginning but settled in nicely without changing pace after the first 20. I'd estimate about 10-12 controls where I focused on the route and was unable to plan (short legs, and I still kept a general idea of which way to leave the control), a similar number where I had the route planned 2 or more legs ahead, and the rest were consistently planned one leg ahead.

I found a useful tactic was verbalizing the clue descriptions ahead - "Run to the E end of the batting fence, then turn right to SW side of S building, then turn right and go to NE corner of the building". I'm sure saying them out loud must have looked weird but it helped a lot with fixing them in mind.

The main drawbacks were momentary blindness from looking at the map with a headlamp, and a few places where the map needs updates (e.g., a paved road that was torn up, converted to a sidewalk and resodded.)

I've specifically worked on these particular skills for the last couple of years, so the drill wasn't new - but the course was long enough to promote improvement by repetition.

C • TNT 11

Event: MNOC - William O'Brian State Park
 

William O'Brien course, set by Carl. Tough going in the woods due to the undergrowth (downed logs, brambles, AND nettles) resulting from the burn they did in '06. Quick tip: fire good for prairie - for open forest, not so much. Adjusted my routes to include more trail running instead of fighting the tide, and it seemed to work well.

C • vegitation 2

C • trails were the way to go..... 2

Red - Splits