Training Log Archive: vmeyer

Event: Middle Earth Championships
 

FR distance = 5.62 miles with 166.4 m climb
Place W55 = 42/52, and 63/79 on Course 14 (includes W16 and W35AS)

Winsplits - Long by Classes



The spaghetti tracks say it all...but, at least I didn't mispunch or quit.

Carefully made my way around 1-4, enjoying navigating by myself, having started at the end of the day.

Then, I just wasn't careful enough into 5, plunging into jungle of ferns and such. Attacked again and again, but I wasn't making sure I knew where I was. Lots of standing water didn't help, but at least the mud was finally off of my shoes, though today was the shoes' pre-planned last hurrah.

Anyway, I walked over to the highway, like another woman was doing, and I sorted out where I was and gave it another go. Finally!

Around the simple to find 6-7-8, and then messed up 9 just at the end. Eventually, I was able to sort out where I was on the trail based on the pits. Happy with 10-11-12-13, gaining confidence. Lost that quickly as I was tiring and leaked a bit on 14-15-and the cherry on the cake, 16. Convinced myself I was on the wrong track, since the control hadn't come up as soon as I thought it should, so I ducked into the woods. Knew this wasn't right, so I got back on the original track but had now passed the last control. Was in sight of the Finish when I turned back and trudged up the trail and then back.

Two hard falls to add insult to injury, or is it injury to insult, while searching for #5. Regardless, I had fun on my self-made adventure.

From the event bulletin...The Middle/Long Distance event will take place in the Whakarewarewa Forest one of our city’s greatest treasures and internationally known for its superb mountain biking and walking tracks and for the magnificent stand of Californian Coast Redwoods.

It was a spectacular event center!







Though a little chilly under the canopy/sail.



Every so often we ventured out into the light to warm up, feeling like a mole surfacing after a long winter's nap. OK, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but I wish I had brought my gloves and hat, that's for sure.

A picture of fern, because, it is required to have at least one fern picture to post.



Permanent control




And, a nod to Middle Earth...



And, me included, for scale.

C • Redwoods 2

Middle/Long - Course 14 - Splits

Rest day in Rotorua.

Updated
April 7-9 - added travel part of things
April 10 - added rest day
April 9 - fleshed out the race report
April 11 - added horse ride report
April 11 - added afternoon note
April 12 - finished Te Mata "race" report and trip to the Peak

Lazy morning
Pie shop - yum!
Some minimal sightseeing
Grocery store - trip 1
Log updating
Grocery store - trip 2
Tea
Redwood tree night walk

First stop of the day was to a pie shop. I love homemade hot pockets!!

Then, it was off to see the event center for tomorrow. Redwood trees galore.



The Finish, Download, and Results area will be here. Plenty of room for everyone and power...





and Artistic bathrooms close by, in addition to the portables brought in for the day. Even with 1200+, there never seemed to be a line.





Control stands for tomorrow.

Then Tim, Jane, Phillip and I went to check out Lake Rotorua. There was a fence around the touristy area preventing people from walking on the sidewalk there because of the high water levels.

Spent a few minutes watching the helicopter take off, and just enjoying the beautiful day.

The last stop of the day was to visit a Maori settlement.


There we saw some hot springs, some likely presently used for cooking.







Saint Faith's Anglican Church - hard to tell from the picture, but the cross hatched roof was very pretty.







Not to scale...this was on the fence posts and was only about 18" tall.

Miscellaneous...





ISOTD

While we were at the event site earlier today, we decided to go on the Redwoods Treewalk, but during the night time. Tim stayed back sick, so it was Jane, Phillip, and me...

The tracks are a hoot - all wiggly and squiggly, when we were walking in straight lines, maybe bouncing a bit on the bridges.





Tried to get the lights and the changing colors on the ferns, but these pics don't really do them justice. Fun to try through.

C • tree walk 3

Ha! AP thought this was Peppering, and since I miss her (and Roger, too!), I will leave it as is.

Long trip from Middle site to Rotorua (almost like Roto-Rooter - can't get jingle out of my head. Arrived around 8.
Grocery store for breakfast supplies
Dominoes for pizza - don't tell Roger.

Middle - Course 14 - Splits

FR = 2.63 miles

Placed 9/17 for Leg 3 runners.



Joined up with Beverly and Carol from New Zealand on Team Just for Fun. Class was 55-64, so we were a legal but non-official team, i.e., we couldn't take home the "trophy" even if we were having more fun than Just for Fun. All of the legs were essentially equal in length and were forked somewhere in there.

Turned out to be a good pairing with Beverly handing off in 1:02, and Carol coming through her leg in 55:44. I was off to the races, and had a good run except for coming through the Finish/Spectator area, where I headed to 18 instead of 15. Checked the code and knew 100 was the last control, so came back down the hill, but see what to do next, so I went back up to 18, , and then I finally saw 15. At that point, I headed through the woods to the control.

When I finished, Carol was waiting for me to let me know that she had mispunched. Hey, no worries! We all had fun!

C • Thank you 4

C • Map 3

Long - Course Course 14 - Splits

Event: Oceania Championships 2017
 

Sprint - Course - 9 - Splits

Drive to Auckland - lots of low clouds and rain and traffic going through the city. Likely exacerbated by the threat of heavy rains and winds...people were using the forecast as an opportunity to start the holiday weekend early.

We stopped in several small towns along the one, including one with yummy pies. I ate two of them. Oink!



On the way back from the walk, we stopped at the grocery store to stock up for the next few days when services would be limited due to the Easter holidays. I bought this Rhubarb yoghurt. It was heavenly.

Phillip, Jane and I walked to the Oceania Sprint venue and back. Was spitting a bit at times.