Training Log Archive: bbrooke

Event: 2014 US Classic Championships
 

US Classic Championships -- Day 1 at Badger Gulch (Lake George, CO)

I started off with a "bang" by blowing it on #1. I actually saw the control flag from a distance, but I thought it looked like it was in reentrant rather than on a knoll, so I wandered off in a different direction. (And, actually, it was on a knoll in a reentrant, so I should have been reading the map more closely.) Sigh...

Things improved after that, and I probably benefited at times from seeing other people running in and out of controls.

I zig-zagged into #8, and then -- DOH!!! -- I set my compass backwards when heading off to #9 and I ran full-speed in the wrong direction until I hit a road. The infamous 180-degree error... I've done that exactly two other times in the past 14 years.

The rest of controls went OK, but I had already wasted plenty of time at #1 and #9 (~11 minutes total). Also, I was moving pretty slowly on the steep stuff, which there seemed to be a lot of. I never felt like I was 100% in contact with the map or fully confident of where I was.

But overall, it was lots of fun.

Green X - Splits

Travel day.

Rest day...at work.

One Cowboy Relay -- fun!!!

I had one bobble on one of the first short loops, but otherwise I was happy with my navigation. I navigated a bit on my own during the final loop, but having a pack of other runners all around made it a lot easier to zero-in on the control locations.

I squeaked in under the 30-runner cutoff for a crystal prize (28th). Yay!

I did the short course and ended up third overall. How did that happen?!? :-P

It's a little embarrassing to admit how hard I had to work to stay just ahead of a few people who are ~30 years older than I am...

There was a lot of pack-running (read: unavoidable following) in today's race.

I planned to do the Short course today, to avoid another disaster like on Saturday at Devil's Claw, but then I later regretted it (since the Long course looked totally do-able, in retrospect). Also, there was confusion at the start about where to take the shortcut (it wasn't maked on the map), and I think I did it wrong. (I went from #4 to #10, and now I think it should have been #3 to #9...??? I'm still not sure.)

I was mostly on my own from #10 onward. It was gratifying to go directly to #17 as some of the Long course leaders veered way right and blew it. ;-)

A much better day than yesterday! For most of the course, I was in a pack of three with George Walker and Leonid Shatskin. I was ahead for awhile, but the other two pulled ahead at #17 and stayed ahead for the rest of the course.

I followed the main pack's wide route to #1 and I bobbled #2 and #8, but otherwise I was happy with my navigation.

An hour of folding brochures at our place, then 90 minutes of labeling and packet-stuffing with Kris, Bob & Troy at Mikell's house.