Training Log Archive: Mr WonderfulIn the 7 days ending May 20, 2013:
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Monday May 20, 2013 #
Note
tl;dr Match up fitness levels for races, improve nav
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rage Reflections
I think I will have a longer list of potential areas for improvement than Hilary! :)
* Race with vetted fitness or AP log or similar. I wish I were a better person, and I'm certainly no rock star, but having somewhat compatible fitness levels is apparently imperative to my enjoyment. The idling on the final bike was very trying.
* Improve low vis nav. I will strive to get compass bearing work in thick vegetation, and do more night nav. I was okay with readable features during daylight. Also need to work on vague areas - big hills and stuff are easy, now time to bring it home on fussy terrain.
* Better team role definition. We had times where everyone was trying to do the same thing, and times when no one was doing anything, and both were not good!
* Look for extra roads, time permitting. One road was renamed, and goofed us up on the bike. Another decent sized road was not on the USGS and distracted us from the correct semi hidden road that was on USGS.
* Don't do things without a reason, and don't be influenced by other teams. We had moments where people were "it feels like this way", which it turns out is a terrible way to do it. Stop, take 90 seconds to make a plan, and do that instead.
* Pack less crap. I brought way too much stuff, and used almost none of it.
* Spare paddle? Might be worth keeping a beater around if the logistics support it
* I love Jeff's giant dry bag, but if you actually have to move it anywhere, it just doesn't work for me.
* Ignore short chill spells when portaging. You'll warm back up on the water. No need to layer up and roast just yet.
* I need a more persuasive personality!
Some successes:
* Time targets. Desperate for a ranked finish, I put conservative time marks on most of the final bike (including at the optional o course), which helped us make good choices (mostly to skip everything optional).
* Never give up. We did horrible on the first o section, but kept at it, hoping others may have had issues and we could make it up later. That worked somewhat - there were still bikes, we weren't last, and other teams had issues later.
* Co navigating with Shane. Apparently he and I get along really well as a team. He holds a good bearing, I can keep him on track if he veers, and with both of us in it, we could have good discussions on where we were and what to do. He had a plan I disagreed with, but he made good arguments and convinced me, and he was right so it worked. Only problem rolling him into our team is having just the one set of maps, but maybe we can work on sharing with some Waterloo training sometime.
* Jeff's go slow to go fast winter training rocked - he just kept going and going. Awesome.
* Copy supplemental map points to main map when possible. Then we had an extra set of maps, and the big maps had much better printing quality, rendering them usable!
Probably more but brain is fuzzy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rage Reflections
I think I will have a longer list of potential areas for improvement than Hilary! :)
* Race with vetted fitness or AP log or similar. I wish I were a better person, and I'm certainly no rock star, but having somewhat compatible fitness levels is apparently imperative to my enjoyment. The idling on the final bike was very trying.
* Improve low vis nav. I will strive to get compass bearing work in thick vegetation, and do more night nav. I was okay with readable features during daylight. Also need to work on vague areas - big hills and stuff are easy, now time to bring it home on fussy terrain.
* Better team role definition. We had times where everyone was trying to do the same thing, and times when no one was doing anything, and both were not good!
* Look for extra roads, time permitting. One road was renamed, and goofed us up on the bike. Another decent sized road was not on the USGS and distracted us from the correct semi hidden road that was on USGS.
* Don't do things without a reason, and don't be influenced by other teams. We had moments where people were "it feels like this way", which it turns out is a terrible way to do it. Stop, take 90 seconds to make a plan, and do that instead.
* Pack less crap. I brought way too much stuff, and used almost none of it.
* Spare paddle? Might be worth keeping a beater around if the logistics support it
* I love Jeff's giant dry bag, but if you actually have to move it anywhere, it just doesn't work for me.
* Ignore short chill spells when portaging. You'll warm back up on the water. No need to layer up and roast just yet.
* I need a more persuasive personality!
Some successes:
* Time targets. Desperate for a ranked finish, I put conservative time marks on most of the final bike (including at the optional o course), which helped us make good choices (mostly to skip everything optional).
* Never give up. We did horrible on the first o section, but kept at it, hoping others may have had issues and we could make it up later. That worked somewhat - there were still bikes, we weren't last, and other teams had issues later.
* Co navigating with Shane. Apparently he and I get along really well as a team. He holds a good bearing, I can keep him on track if he veers, and with both of us in it, we could have good discussions on where we were and what to do. He had a plan I disagreed with, but he made good arguments and convinced me, and he was right so it worked. Only problem rolling him into our team is having just the one set of maps, but maybe we can work on sharing with some Waterloo training sometime.
* Jeff's go slow to go fast winter training rocked - he just kept going and going. Awesome.
* Copy supplemental map points to main map when possible. Then we had an extra set of maps, and the big maps had much better printing quality, rendering them usable!
Probably more but brain is fuzzy.
Saturday May 18, 2013 #
Event: Adventure Rage 24 hour AR
4 AM
Adventure Race 1 [0] 0.0 mi
Some major tracking issues. Also not sure why it turned off at some point, and then came alive to record the drive home from Oscoda.
5 AM
Adventure Race race 26:38:00 [3] 95.0 mi (16:49 / mi)
shoes: Inov8 Roclite 319
Still trying to my head to a place to make an objective look at the race. Nice to have a ranked full mandatory (no short course) finish under the belt, but our efforts were fraught with such terrible execution as to be embarrassing. 85 minute error to first CP? At least I learned a lot.
Tied for 12th with Shane, who was in our party for the race, out of twenty teams.
Overview with maps (less detailed than the supplied 1:30k maps)
7 mile o course
4.5 miles road biking
12 miles single track
6.5 miles road bike
7 mile paddle
4 mile trek
11 mile paddle, several dozen boat exits to lift over logs
9.5 mile coasteering w/ brutal bushwhacking....7 hour split?
10 mile gravel bike
Skipped the ~5 mile optional score o
~23 mile paved bike (skipped two optional power line hike-a-bike points)
Finished with 22 minutes to spare.
Tied for 12th with Shane, who was in our party for the race, out of twenty teams.
Overview with maps (less detailed than the supplied 1:30k maps)
7 mile o course
4.5 miles road biking
12 miles single track
6.5 miles road bike
7 mile paddle
4 mile trek
11 mile paddle, several dozen boat exits to lift over logs
9.5 mile coasteering w/ brutal bushwhacking....7 hour split?
10 mile gravel bike
Skipped the ~5 mile optional score o
~23 mile paved bike (skipped two optional power line hike-a-bike points)
Finished with 22 minutes to spare.
Friday May 17, 2013 #
Note
First team to get maps. No one can stop us.
11 PM
Note
Might get three hours of sleep....
Thursday May 16, 2013 #
Note
slept:7.0 (rest day)
I should taper less. I get glum when I don't exercise. Granted, this was not all intentional, life has been busy. But I have a/c again at the house. Hooray!
Tuesday May 14, 2013 #
Note
Rage Prep Reflections
I used the report function to look at what I did since the Monday after the last Rage and my crushing defeat.
I logged:
* 1000 miles on the bike. Not bad, I'll take it
* 85 hours of orienteering. Probably my best move.
* ~550 controls.
* ~500 miles on foot (includes the 85 o hours). Not enough running (only 115 excluding orienteering). Probably fine for a slow paced AR, not so good for my o career.
* 14 km of climb
What I think I would do different is bike more in the late fall - I lost a month or so when the red bike started to fail. I would also do more USGS practice on more difficult terrain. I did get out for two rogaines and a couple local practice sessions, but those were in hillier sections. I think I am starting to get a handle on bigger features, but when it gets fussier, I fall apart.
And I should also figure out the diet situation - still 20 lbs too fat for ideal race weight. And I drank too much soda. And I really, really want a soda right now.
Barring disaster I should be able to power through physically, especially at our pace. I think I am a better navigator than I was. Is it good enough to make up for the pace? Will I be able to get to just one or two minor mistakes instead of the ~hour lost last year? I sure hope so, but no guarantees.
I used the report function to look at what I did since the Monday after the last Rage and my crushing defeat.
I logged:
* 1000 miles on the bike. Not bad, I'll take it
* 85 hours of orienteering. Probably my best move.
* ~550 controls.
* ~500 miles on foot (includes the 85 o hours). Not enough running (only 115 excluding orienteering). Probably fine for a slow paced AR, not so good for my o career.
* 14 km of climb
What I think I would do different is bike more in the late fall - I lost a month or so when the red bike started to fail. I would also do more USGS practice on more difficult terrain. I did get out for two rogaines and a couple local practice sessions, but those were in hillier sections. I think I am starting to get a handle on bigger features, but when it gets fussier, I fall apart.
And I should also figure out the diet situation - still 20 lbs too fat for ideal race weight. And I drank too much soda. And I really, really want a soda right now.
Barring disaster I should be able to power through physically, especially at our pace. I think I am a better navigator than I was. Is it good enough to make up for the pace? Will I be able to get to just one or two minor mistakes instead of the ~hour lost last year? I sure hope so, but no guarantees.