Training Log Archive: stevegregg

Due to my cut, bruised, and battered legs courtesy of the Billygoat, running was out of the question today. So I did a weight workout on what usually is a running day for me.

Event: Billygoat Run
 

The Billygoat, for the first and perhaps the last time. Glad to hear that, according to Peter Gagarin, it was probably the "hardest one ever".

I had decided before the event that I didn't fly all the way out here from California to just be a "jockstuffer", but the race took out exceptionally fast and that plan quickly went out the window. I am not at all used to this complex New England terrain, and I also found the tiny 1:15000 map hard to read with my deteriorating eyesight. I could not keep contact with the map at the pace at which even the middle of the pack was moving, but my competitive instincts would not allow me to slow down and get run over by the entire field. So I basically had my map in my pocket all the way to the first control.

I was with Peter at that point and knew he would be a fine person to follow. I once again lost map contact soon after leaving control 1 and was just following Peter. Although I didn't know for sure where I was, it soon became clear that Peter was skipping 2 to go directly to 3, so that's what I had to do too.

But that turned out to be a very good skip, since at 4 a pack of fast people who hadn't skipped yet caught up with us, and at that point they were running at a pace I could hang on to. I basically stuck with that group without knowing where I was most of the time, all the way to control 9. It was educational to see just how fast top orienteers can run in this sort of terrain and still maintain constant map contact. Could I get better at it if I lived here instead of in the easier terrain of California? Probably, but I'll never know for sure.

But then I finally got dropped by the fast pack at 9, as I couldn't keep up that pace anymore even without reading the map very much. I had to find 10 by myself, and that turned out to be a big problem. Even Peter made an error here, I discovered later! I was way too far north on the ridgeline. Then to compound the problem, when I went back down to relocate, I ran into Ted Good heading up the hilll, who was "sure he knew where he was". Turns out he was almost as lost as I was, though, as we headed back up the hill to almost the same incorrect spot I had already been at.

After finally working out what had happened, Peter and a few others had caught back up and we punched 10 pretty much together, so I had another pack to work with to 11 and 12. At that point I was too tired to stay with either Peter or Ted, and so from 14 on I was more or less on my own. Fortunately the navigation was easier at the end of the course and except for screwing up the last control (aargh!), the rest of the race was uneventful. I clearly wasn't moving as fast at that point as the people in front of me, though, as Peter ended up beating me by over ten minutes and I certainly didn't have anywhere near that much error time from 14 to the finish.

My finish in 22nd place was about where it should have been, I suppose, as the huge amount of time I gained by following people at the beginning was balanced out by the large amount of time I lost at control 10 and my tiredness at the end--caused, no doubt, by running so hard the first half. Maybe I will come back in the future if the Billygoat matches up with my spring break again.

C • Good story, where are the splits? 2

Out-and-back on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail in Adams, Massachusetts. Quite lucky to find a brochure describing the trail at the visitor's center at the museum in North Adams. Another fine run--pushed the pace to tempo speed on the downhill stretch back to town.

Ran at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Connecticut. Still a big jet-lagged after my flight to Hartford yesterday, but felt fine during the run. The scenery was not at all what I expected to see (flat pavement in an open area surrounded by salt marshes, with a few trails and some nice mown grass thrown in), but it turned out to be a very nice run.

Short Aquatic Park loop. Made the huge mistake of eating a pastor quesadilla for lunch right before the run, and had bad cramps most of the way back. But I finished, and now it's vacation time!