Training Log Archive: Mr Wonderful

Event: Mal Harding Extreme-O :: FDR SP
 

Extreme O!

Ed and I walked the short course. We knew short from before we started, owing to the long drive back.

We started with a compass and bearing to the platform, then headed off on shaded relief. I should have asked for clues as we ended up on the wrong side of the huge ditch and had to get wet feet and scramble. Sorry Ed.

Then it was on to a 1:5 with several blank sections. I think the people in front of us made an error turning too early on the wrong little stream. We did pretty well, and Ed figured out a blanked out area had a trail right to the second to last, so we made good time for walking.

Then it was a written instruction to follow some powerlines, where we caught up to some of the fitter younger teams, which was nice. Then some satellite for a bit, before the long/short split. We stuck with short, as it was taking even longer than planned.

USGS here, which is nicely fair, so you can sort of eyeball, like "there are only two hills, and it's 35 = 1/3rd and 4/5 = 1/2 of the way through the square so this one.

Then a little bit of math from an information sign to get a direction to head on a trail, then a rope scramble up a steep bank, then a park map to.....

Possum toss! Four tennis balls, 10' or so, get one ball through one of the possum face cut outs (think photo board). I was close but missed three times before clutching the fourth. Only other team to be successful was Peng's friend JieYi, who got it on the third try, citing her basketball experience.

Then a quick 5 or so on 1:10 back to the S/F, including one wet foot under the bridge, before the giant flag and done.

Quick shower and a 12 hour race back to Michigan, successfully with no tickets!

Now a longer blue! It started with a long uphill climb. As I neared the top, I heard a distressful noise. Some disturbed sort of wailing. Was someone injured? They weren't blowing their whistle. I couldn't make out any words. Should I investigate?

I ultimately decided someone was running hounds, phew.

I continued about, trying to avoid climb when I could. I have been on this map...and lost..before...so I used caution in the downslope of fanning spurs with and without creeks. Peng used less caution so I caught him at #4.

#8 shows an error, but really it's because it's a 4 index * 5 contours/index * 5 meters per contour = 100 m climb up a spur. Eventually I realized this was their main trick - have you climb to get tired, then send you across the spurs, then send you back down so you make a tired overspeed error in the parallel spur confusion.

I got enough back to edge out Peng for SMOC Blue bragging rights on the combined, but not enough to whittle back Minto's massive Saturday lead.

Fun stuff, but maybe Red is enough unless I were to get in mega running shape.

Blue - Splits

Event: GAOC Georgia Navigator Cup Forest 2-Day: FDR SP
 

Model crash course with mah boy Ed.

I was able to shuffle a little bit for the first hour, then ran out of run power and then Minto passed me, which was sad as he was 8 minutes behind. The final hills were tough and I almost miss punched as I got to a cliff in the right reentrant, failing to notice it was 2 m instead of 1 m, but did notice the wrong number. Spot check of bearings to things seemed plausible, but then decided to push a bit more up the reentrant and saw the next line of cliffs. I should bring a magnifier for 1:15!

Blue - Splits

Event: GAOC Georgia Navigator Cup Sprint: University of West Georgia
 

Fun sprint. Nice map and campus. I can tell I don't sprint enough as I thought I would be fenced out and wasn't, so the next time I tried to go straighter and got walled out, haha. Not enough top end to mix it up in the ranks.

Blue - Splits

Not that bad for 8 degrees.

I had Harvey wear snow pants, boots, and a coat over a hoodie, and kept the blanket indoors. He said his fingers were a little cold over our 11 minutes journey; also he doesn't wear gloves nor keep hands near his body or in pockets.