Training Log Archive: Mr Wonderful

I am wondering about where to host in the spring. I originally thought Peach Mountain, because I love it and it is close. But then I thought it gets used twice yearly, and we had a few maps that didn't get used twice. So maybe I should pick one of those, because none are terribly far away, and I think with my 2.5 meet experience I will be somewhat more efficient in scouting.

Also, Beer in the Shower might be willing to cohost, so maybe going to something on M59 to encourage them into being stand alone hosts would be ideal. Haven Hill or the dog park? Neither have been used much lately.

It was good to finally get out. Didn't bother with the headlamp, so the swamp trek was interesting and slow.

Around the block. 305 loses charge relatively quickly in off, so 'twas dead by mile one. Not too cold. Snow kept things soft.

Removed boats from pond.

Was intended to be more like five, but I didn't realize the one road had a gap. Great weather. The pace vs effort suggests an age group third attempt at the Dickens is going to hurt like hell. GPS track when I return to civilization.

Now with track.

Almost didn't make it out again. Glad I did.

Some scouting up around Island Lake. One clipless crash was I was too busy sightseeing to see the small tree about to stop my front wheel.

For the first time ever, I noticed and hit both log piles on yellow.

I may have seen another Chill person training in their kayak. I'll have to confirm on 12/2.

Did get flipped off once after I gave a "what was that about" wave to the guy who passed by with hardly any inches, rather than waiting the ten seconds for the two oncoming cars.

I had visions of a mega bike ride or similar, but then barely got myself out of the house. I was of course happy when I got out, but this tractor beam of sloth kept me tied to the house until it was almost too late. Not sure what's up with that - poor sleep/diet making me feel down?

Anyway, nice easier run. Sort of an abbreviated Crooked Lake when I misread a sign, but that was alright as it just meant I picked up dear daughter on time.

Flag pickup. Chuck called, and offered to help. I expected to get them all myself, but that sounded good too so he did the southernmost points, I did the middlemost points, and Nancy did the northwesternmost points.

I see a few people found a few softer spots in the swamps. In the daylight it was easy to stay only muddy, not wet.

Event: SMOC Huron Meadows Night Score O
 

Flag hanging. Somewhat stressed, since I was worried about finishing too late, but it worked fine.

C • Great job with live results... 4

Probably could've set this one yesterday, but I left it for today. Upside it reminded me to set the southern water stop.

Retested Ór, and everything was working. Just have to make sure the cards are cleared and checked.

So I think I have some chance of success. Live results would be cool, especially with the auto scoring. I hope I can get everyone checked in by the start, but worst case I could have them start a list and just type while they are on the course.

I also learned how to resync the controls' times, and even had the master set to current time, so I shouldn't have to do any shenanigans on the competition settings for Ór to calculate everything correctly.

C • You are the man! Did the pa... 2

Setting up half of the flags for tomorrow. Woods really opened up. Surprisingly, all of my yellow tape withstood the recent high winds.

Nice run up the Huron to get reacquainted with dodging dead fall.

Just a short ride so Jeff could try out his bars. I forgot my helmet (that's twice now!) so we stuck to the badlands, where a crash would not be fatal.

Speaking of crashes...clipless crash total +1. Turning in sand, forgot to stay leaned to unclipped side.

No training, but I just might have Ór working for instantaneous live results for SI punchers. Woo hoo!

I slightly bit off more than I should have for this weekend. I sure hope I can get maps printed. Those seem crucial.

It was really hard to resist the new Call of Duty, but I managed to get myself out and run the sewer bill over to the township office.

It felt great, just a nice and easy run.

I used the Cascadias in case the swamp was wet after the rain, but it wasn't. Also, those may have lost some of their life. And they are too small after adventure racing lengthened my feet. Time to cash in that running store credit!

Event: SMOC Peach Mountain
 

Control pickup. Wasn't dressed for it, but the woods are nice so it worked out okay.

Hills on treadmill. No headphones, kinda wish I had figured out an outdoor jog.

Woo hoo! Swamp is dry and someone created a path to the dirt roads. Now I only have to do two blocks on roads before I'm comfy soft.

Bit of a run up after the two mile mark, just to see what it felt like.

Much of the run at slower speeds felt easier than the heart rate suggests.

I know I've read about it before, but I seemed to not do it, so yesterday sometimes off trail I concentrated on running tree-to-tree on my bearing and it was working well. Maybe that will help with my wild wandering (eg, to #6 at PLRA, exiting #10....)

C • Yes that's the only way tha... 3

Course checking for Peach Mountain. Started to wander at one when I was thinking about distant features and their usability for other meets. Fully overshot one, not sure if I misread the angle of my trail turn off feature or what, but quickly recovered. Should have used contours instead of the other cue I was using.

I wanted to run the actual loops, but I ran the last two days in a row, plus I was running short on time, so I treated it like a score o.

Oleg has chosen some absolutely fantastic sections of woods - there should be some very fast running at times. Wish I was competing!

C • Peach Mountain 3

11/4 PLRA red routegadget:

http://smoc.fivebean.net/cgi-bin/reitti.cgi?act=ma...

preloaded with Ali, Igor, and Jens

Might be time for a new hrm battery - I don't remember going into some sort of cardiac event at 211 bpm.

Dear wife is clearly in better shape than a month ago - she used to be in pain at 9:40, and occasionally dipped below today without complaint.

Event: SMOC Pontiac Lake
 

Wow, what a difference a week makes! Totally difference experience than last week. Things made much more sense today. Also, I think the fall back hour helped a lot. The furnace being dead did not help, and I almost didn't go.

QuickRoute

1 - trivial route, straight across the valley. Went through #1, figuring that would make it easier

2 - Caught up to Cooper as he exited #2, made for some excitement. He exited south, and I started to, but reconsidered and went north to the trail

3 - Some luck here - I was trying to roughly follow a bearing while dodging thicker clumps, hoping to see the swamp, nearly tripped on it. Amazingly, given the company, very briefly had the lead by six seconds. Ego pumped.

4 - On my route I saw a sweet fat raccoon just a dozen feet away. It stared, then did that fat raccoon scamper off to a tree. Paused for a bearing at the trail bend, and managed to hold it

5 - wanted the west trail, but didn't see it so I took the east trail, then followed a bearing and was trying to count hill/depressions, and nearly tripped over it again

6 - I will be practicing rough speed bearing running in the off season! Not sure why I got sucked west. And doing so, I should've just gone to the trail, and I wasn't running that fast off trail, and the exit to the trail was bad, some fight. Line of rocks was hardly visible on the approach, but the woods were open so I chanced moving south, hoping to spot the swamp at the end, and did.

7 - should been more confident - features made sense but I checked and hesitated a little. I have not been drinking, but I did stop for some water since I was dehydrated a little coming in (furnace debacle, skipped lunch)

8 - Had a hard time moving fast north from 7. The trail I picked up between the two swamps is pretty hard to see! I thought I bore more NE from the trail bend, and then was struggling to make sense of the hills, and was getting ready to look east a bit and then Igor passed and helped me out.

9 - very educational to watch Igor - I assumed he always ran, but he checked up more often than I would've guessed. It makes sense though, and I should maybe do that as well. I was happy that I read the last reentrant and then contoured around and hit it.

10 - almost a big mistake, was on a good line then fell off. Heard Igor and saw two people at the control so I ran over. Doh.

11 - Not a clean exit, and I'm wondering if through the campground isn't faster because of all the climb over that peak on the trails.

12 - the features just made complete sense. I was jumping logs, crashing through the woods, and having a blast

13 - the trail looked faster. I almost think 100% trail would be the fastest - I cut up through the valley but it was a little slow and steep. Saw Igor again converging.

14 - Hard to choose a good line, finally saw the big reentrant, dropped over, a little help from Igor again

15 - Mostly what I wanted, certainly not hurt by Igor's presence.

16 - Dropped immediately to trail, off trail was probably okay, but it seems to have worked.

Finish - Gave all I had, lost maybe 1 second dodging people crowding the table. Missed the win by 3 seconds to Tom - he must've been flying!

Such an awesome time. Mixing it up with Igor was fun - makes me wonder about making a goat event for my spring meet.

Red - Splits

Informal points total for red runners, using (winning time / runner's time) * 1000, then taking the best three for the season so far of runners who have three or more meets:

Mark	3000
Igor	2835
Jens	2484
Rick	2244
Alex	1927
Lew	1874
Sean	1713

Short 12 c on CF. Some silly errors.

Re-did the Spring Mill o course with Jeff and his dog. Jeff had ran six miles yesterday, so we agreed to walk. Everything made more sense at this pace.

Hit #7 this time around dead nuts from two approaches, so I surely would have seen the flag, counting it as a spike.

Did make one mistake at a trail junction - with this leaf cover, it was not visible. So we lost a minute or two while I tried to figure out why the compass didn't match the map. Quickly backtracked.

QuickRoute

Feeling much better - let us see if I can find the fast/slow balance tomorrow.

My wife invited me to join her at a 5K in December to celebrate her return to running. I was originally just going to pace her, since I didn't think I would be in PR shape by then.

However, I reviewed the 2011 results, and my age group is soft. If I can get a few more seconds per mile off in the next four weeks from my time trial the other day, and the group remains soft, I may be able to sneak in for 3rd place.

Tempting.....

C • Do it! 1

Easy base building.