Training Log Archive: Mr Wonderful

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552675308

Savage River Score O

Controls were given a point value - you were credited with 1 CP for every number in the 10s place (42 = 4 CPs). We had swagged the bike back at 24 miles, and picked 6 mph for a pace estimate, so we needed to leave by 10 am.

We also needed to not climb too much, so that naturally led to grabbing the four flags worth 42 points that only required a single big climb.

Navigation went well; I got nervous about picking the right reentrant to get the spur, but I was awesome and we hit it spot on. Phew!

Taking the ridge to the softest saddle ever used in AR was mostly fine, other than it felt really long to get the last bit to the flag. I hallucinated the flag once, even got the passport from T but nothing was there.

On the way back along the ridge, T kept us in easy walking, but I did have to grab him back as he started to veer towards the south spur at the fork, so we trusted our compasses and gave up the open stuff to be sure we didn't screw up.

That was the big success - most times T or I were going to screw up, the other one would catch it with spidey sense or a compass check. It's a good team. T is about 95% certain he is right at any moment, and keeps us moving confidently. I am 30% certain I am wrong, so I double check and get concerned which minimizes many errors, but when I'm hemming and hawing, T can grab a decision and go. In a perfect world, T might back off to 90% confidence and I might go up to that. Some self doubt is healthy; too much is a curse.

We caught up to MRA 1 (with 7 cps worth?) along the way, and were saddened to hear of Hil's ankle woes. Then a MI team reunion at the TA to the final bike with MRA 1, 2, and WAR!

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552677658

Final Bike

We budgeted 4 hours for this final bike, having map wheeled off 24 miles during the long TA, figuring 6 mph should cover it. Maybe 4 mph would have been a better estimate...

We were okay at the start, then began the interminable climb from the Savage River valley. It never ended. We were passed by a roadie like we were standing still. Because for all intents and purposes, we were. M was fine, but T was struggling with a weak leg, and J was in usual end race fade (why?). I walked my bike an embarrassing amount. :(

We reached a fork and were coming to the same conclusion: We were going to be in sketchy shape if we tried to bag another big hill, bike on bumpy trails, and expect to make the cut off. Bailing on those three points, taking a flattish route to the finish, and maybe bagging the easiest final O CP would be our best chance. So we did. I felt bad. I could picture my fan club seeing our resignation on the tracker and being disheartened, like a Michigan football fan. I felt they deserved better. But they would probably forgive our pragmatism in the fog of late race decision making.

It was still a long bike! The hills were replaced with wind in the exposed gorgeous farmland. Another team yoyoed with us, going ahead, stopping for maps, going ahead, stopping for maps, ultimately beating us.

C • Hey, its completely underst... 2

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552679088

Final O

I was worried we would get back to the finish and ever eager Tizoc would want to grab some o points with sketchy time. So I tried to swag out some conservative estimates during the final bit of the final bike - if we had less than one hour, we locked it in. Any more, we would have to grab #33, nearby in a massive reentrant.

We had 68 minutes left. I informed Michelle we would have to go for one more point. Her eyes welled, but she nodded yes. So T and I checked the resort map for a hint on route, and we hiked over and up. We saw Tecnu coming in and cheered them. They looked great.

I forgot/didn't realize this would actually net us two points, one for the CP and one for "finishing" the foot o, so we got back 2 of the 3 bike points we missed. And this may have better matched our team energy and strengths (we hike better than we bike).

C • Terrific write up, and an a... 2

Event: 2014 US Nationals
 

2014 USARA National Champs

22nd/36 co ed, ~27th/60 overall

tl;dr Need moar bike power; Michelle and Tizoc are awesome

C • wonderful job 5

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552334128

Hike up to the whitewater center. I was trying to pare down, so I didn't bring extra shoes, then decided I didn't want wet feet for the start, so I wore my treadless Keens. Slippery!

No packs or equipment required, just stuff for the boogie board.

We should have inspected the ski runs a bit more earlier just to be smarter about the route up, but no harm done.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552338254

Boogie Board

Team had to perform three runs or a trail run sub. No details on the trail one. I was not thrilled about doing this. I have no swimming ability, I sink, it would be cold...I considered having Tizoc go twice for speed (he's a strong swimmer and not a fraidy cat), but then most other people went and I said stuff it and took a crack at, after T and Michelle did great on their runs.

Water was cold, but it was instantly unnoticeable.

I found swimming on the board difficult. So I almost got pulled out into the large eddy in the start pool before the first drop.

RD advised going feet first, but that gave me only face fulls of water so I gave that up just before being spun out in the first of many eddies I would ride, which worked out to be a great break because I was exhausted after just a few waves. I switched to face first and then I could at least see and anticipate being dunked in the aerated water.

That worked well, although I fell off the main current a couple times, and it was something tough to get back in.

The final one before the big pond...oh man. I took a breath for the big hit, popped up, then went under again, which I was not ready for. Scary! Popped up and tried to make my way around on the board, but that was too hard just I did face out crawl using the life vest and towing the board.

Changed and then down for the bikes.

C • crazy. 7

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552344962

Hike down. Didn't chose the best assortment of ski runs; also, descending in gripless sandals is challenging. No harm done.

:insert map drawing later: :adjusting all times, distances, etc. later, I have no idea when we did what:

1st bike. We didn't see the ski lodge road up the backside, so we ignored the RD's tip of "don't" and did take the paved road up with our friends from Wisconsin. Bit of a climb! Then we mostly did okay getting to 3, except we took the wrong trail a few meters low of the correct trail for #5, but no big deal; we dropped our bikes and hiked a few meters up to the correct trail, jogged to the point, and even found our bikes again.

We took the trails around and up to four, deviating from our original plan to use the wider, less direct trail to my favorite CP, #4, with its glorious massive boulders and flag on top. Highlight of the race for me!

I saw 47 mph on my bike computer descending back to the ski lodge. But it reads ~3% high so I was probably only going 45.

Jogged down to the marina. Didn't feel like lugging PFDs so we brought our paddles and used their vests. Unlike Thunder Rolls, we selected a boat with handles at each end. I'm slowly learning this sport!

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552465720

Holy cats

I'm not having the best track record with races this year.

Thunder Rolls = lightning on the Mississippi

USARA Nationals = swells! wind!

We tried mixing up my terrible steering by having Michelle run the back while I tried to form a power section with T in the front. But the weather and perhaps weight distribution didn't help. T got hit with waves, the little extra wobble in these yellow boats started to get M a bit seasick. Finally we broke towards shore to hope for boundary layer. It did seem a bit better, but maybe it died down a little. At least would we would have a huge tailwind back!

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552574872

First Foot O section

Navigation seemed relatively straightforward. My biggest mistake was not figuring that the houses could mean private property, or not figuring out a way through via charm, begging, bribery, etc. so we had to backtrack a bit to enter the park proper. Tecnu headed out that way too but we never saw them again so they found a way.

Stealthily bagged #11 and then informed T and M that "the map says we should go north", which confused them both until such time that I could reveal I had punched it and we needed to go north to get to our next CP.

#12 was very easy and straightforward. Too easy! This is the national champs! Fun to be passed en route by Dart Nuun (I think).

#13...wish I had a watch; we did a pace count from the overlook, but when we hit the terrace we had overshot it. We estimated ~250 meters, paced to 220, and still went past by 30. At least I saw it! Then we charged with confidence as if were further west; hopefully we misled a few teams. :)

#15 was a sweet point on an old mine entrance.

We saw a of teams coming back from #14 - MRA2, most notably. But we elected to run off the end of the spur and take the road back; I would love to have had a high refresh rate to see if that choice paid off for us. It was quick moving on that road along the water.

Hooray! Time to ride that wind back to the marina.

Only it was dead calm.

Oddly, this gave Michelle issues steering the boat; perhaps it was not challenging enough to hold her attention, so we quickly swapped to give me the stern. We only had some light rain starting up shortly before the take out.

Back to the lodge, this time with a teeny tiny shortcut, but not on the new hiking trail. Rain picking up....

Mega long TA. It was pouring torrentially; we were looking at 18+ hours without resupply of any kind. So we were not exactly super efficient. Something to work on.....

C • rain 3

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/552673578

The Long Bike

We had chosen what I thought was a clever route - we would go east, then take 17 from the east on a flat route that saved some 250' of climb for just one more flat rollin' mile. Perfect for a team that is not strong on bike climbs (more so the men than the woman who pedaled up most stuff).

Except...USGS had an extra little road segment..and our navigation team didn't check compass bearings after the turn....not noticing that WNW is a lot different then NNE....

So by Accident we ended up in Accident, MD, which we discovered when we checked the front of the post office.

This put us on the same line as many other teams, just with an extra ~four miles. And then we had to do the same wicked climb out of Beaver Creek as most teams - a climb that had words on it, I kid you not, like "Suffering".

With that resolved, we did things as best we could until we got back on plan.

Took 18 first, elected to go for 20 next, then 17 as an out and back, then 19, and onward to the next set. Lots of teams in an around at this point.

Did well at 21, 22 no problem. Elected to think road was faster, but now given our climbing ability, maybe we should have back tracked on the trail rather than descending on the powerline to the road. Power line descent undid Michelle's skewer, but she heard her wheel squeak and we fixed it, phew.

We paid for our road ride climbing back up to 23. We dropped bikes and hiked in figuring we'd be pushing them anyway. That worked out okay. Map adjustment under an awning at a small store just below 23.

I'm not entirely sure what we did to get to 24...it involved pretending paint on trees were blazes for the two track we thought we were taking. And I swear T and I both checked compasses, but somehow we were not on the right trail once we bikewhacked to that system, but the park markers got us sorted and we got 24 via orange and purple, then 25 via the green trail, and then exited the area via the higher trail through the cabin area.

26 saw the most frightening moment of the race. T and I were pulling up to stop for the reentrant and we heard a bike crash noise. We turned around expecting the worst for Michelle but she was standing on the side of the road and her bike was laying in the middle. Whuh?

She had fallen asleep. And managed to unclip and walk out of the crash while asleep. Other racers gave her some high caffeine gel.

Long bike to the TA....

C • Crashing while sleeping 1

Event: USARA Nationals
 

Already moved up to second place. Podium here we come!

C • link it up! 3

After Berlin on Sunday, marathon world record pace is now below 70 s per 400 m.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record...

or 4:41/mile.

Slowest of the 5k splits was 14:46.

Round #1 of poison ivy removal. I think I will rip everything out, napalm the area, and replant next spring.

Timing could be better. :/

But I did up my unique snake count, having found one of these tiny fellas in amongst the ivy roots.

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_121...

(Brown snake)

C • Snakes 4

Event: Dexter Corn Maze-O
 

Corn Maze O long. Closed gap on Igor, which meant I had the lead, but then blew it by not thinking about the directions correctly, staying in the maze when I should have used the entrance as a shortcut.

Very fun, let your guard down for a moment and very hard to relocate. Even if you'd been through the area a few times, there was no guarantee you wouldn't stuff up the next time.

Super fun!

C • If not for Dennis I'd spend... 5

C • Wow! 3

Modified my technique - no compass, just thumbed the next junction ahead, rather than behind as I tend to do in conventional o (and the previous round). Hugely minimized bobbles, and had a nice finish as well. ~5 minute win, but granted Igor and I were running after getting familiar with the course so the two young ladies should get credit for it.

Control pickup. Much easier walking! Except, again, if you let your guard down, you miscount junctions and make mistakes.

Dog