TRAINING LEAD-UP
Sunday, Oct 27:
Range day...
Started by practicing pistol with iron sights (G19C), with
- Scott's Drill for 2 mags on an 8" square at 15yd. It went well.
- 4" dueling tree still surprisingly good, as long as I focus on aligning the *tops* of the sights
- Forwards and backwards walking up close, because that's fun
Practiced the El Pres Drill with rifle about 7x, improving each time, meaning
1) look at the next target before moving
2) remember sight over bore
3) think ahead on the steps you want to do for the reload before it's time to do it
4) steady cadence throughout
I did the Bill Drill on an IPSC head, too. Key focus points were:
1) remember sight over bore
2) proper trigger reset
I also did some rifle to pistol transitions.
I finished on this bay with rifle, running among different positions. It was good and fun.
At the zero range, I zeroed my RPR to make sure it was still good ahead of the Guardian match. It was maybe 0.1 low, but it wasn't worth adjusting at this time.
I did 20 min of build and break from prone and modified prone. I discovered that a button on my ckye pod was missing, which was good to discover now vs at the match. Fortunately, MDT takes care of its customers, although it's not fun to need good customer service and warranties.
Next, I went to the forest bay to dry fire from a variety of props: tank trap crux and arm end, barricade, barrel, tire, on a 250yd target.
Lessons...
- I figured out a good way to remember which way to adjust the gun on a vertically oriented MDT Send-it level... "blue is left leaning" and "red right". You move left or right based on whether it's blue or red.
- When doing single knee kneeling, I should put my front leg outward more, for extra stability.
- I can sometimes pull inwards with my left arm for more stability of the gun.
- Use Pacman up on the custom GC when you need more height than the flat/sideways pacman can handle.
- Even though it's not ideal to have to tiptoe to see the target, that can still be better than not tiptoeing and having a bunch of scope shadow to deal with.
After I got home, I did 3 miles in 44:44 with 50# in the v2 rucker and MACV1s while dinner was still digesting.
Monday, Oct 28:
Yoga for Lizards & Yoga for Sciatica with Adriene because my body was jacked up from the ruck at pace.
Adriene is so funny and down-to-earth.
I joined her in a banana costume of my own. I had been hoping to get a Dole-sponsored spot in the Charlotte Half Marathon, but I didn't get a spot, so I didn't get to use the costume for that.
Tuesday, Oct 29:
Before work, I did glute and pec PT v1 in 35:10, and then I did "My Invention" in 39:16.
After work, I met up with the ruck club for 3.0 miles in 1:09:50 at Renaissance Park. I taught the group how to use a compass really quickly, and then we established our pace count and discussed the factors that would influence the count (terrain technicality, uphill vs downhill, ruck weight, run vs walking pace).
It was our last chance for an after-work trail ruck before daylight savings would kick in.
Afterwards, I went to Blackstone with Moogie, to show her all my tricks...
She was great at the ball-and-dummy drill and was willing to try shooting with both eyes open, even though it wasn't within her comfort zone. She was great at staying front sight-focused. She improved her grip technique. She got pulling the slack out of the trigger before doing a slow squeeze straight backwards. She could try out different grip pressures on her own. She also made adjustments to her upper body. We played a little timed game, which showed how much that can mess with us even when we know what proper fundamentals look like. We worked on the draw and presentation path. She also tried out my red dot. We practiced trigger resets.
It sounds like a lot and maybe is, but she was incredibly teachable and crushed it, making improvements over the course of one ~1hr session.
Lessons for me on how to teach well:
- Don't try to cover too much in a day... simplify to a few cues
- Just like you can help re-position people when you're teaching them how to do an exercise at the gym, you can use the same methods to adjust their stance
- Help them feel successful and come away feeling like they've improved
- It was good that I also shot some, so that she could see what I looked like... it also helped me talk through how I think about different steps in the process
- Give them things to work on after the session is over, especially ammo-free ways
- Expose opportunities for future improvement (like with the timer effect)
It was cool to troubleshoot and figure out how to explain things and learn how to be a more effective teacher. It feels good to help someone improve and work towards their goals, especially when they're so good at implementing your suggestions.
Thursday, Oct 31:
3 mile ruck in the morning with 30# in the v2 rucker wearing the Altra Torin Plush, to finish my 75 miles for the 3-month PATHFINDER Class 041 Forward Program.
At night, I did Day 18 - Savor | MOVE & Healing Yoga Break yoga with Adriene.
CANE CREEK 5HR ADVENTURE RACE
It was exciting to see a new little adventure race pop up in a neighboring county. I don't know much about the RD, but he considers himself a seasoned racer (typically solo). Cane Creek Park is about an hour away from me, so I had never been out there before. There are many other parks that I can visit, that are closer to me.
I decided to sign up as a solo at an AR, for the first time ever. I've done solo orienteering events many times before, but I typically do ARs with my friends, since that's a big part of the fun. Since my main teammate wasn't available, and since this was a pretty short race, it seemed like a good opportunity to give solo racing a try.
Fortunately, South Main Cycles in Belmont, NC, had been able to fix up my bike pretty quickly after the tree incident at Nationals, and for a very reasonable price. They're great to buy from and work with.
I decided to go the low-cost route and bring my own sit-on-top kayak. We'd have to see whether this would put me at any disadvantage based on the quality of the rentals vs what I had. Fortunately, I was able to borrow my parents' van to bring the kayak and my bike to the race. It would've been tricky logistically, without the van. My dad decided to come, too, since the race was short. He could easily find hikes to do for 5 hours, and/or just hang out.
I should've planned to be unloaded and ready to receive maps as soon as check-in opened, because that's when maps were distributed. I should've figured that ahead of time, since the race website hadn't explicitly mentioned a specific map distribution time. I guess I had assumed that it would happen at the pre-race meeting or as soon as the race started, but that was a bad assumption.
RACE SCHEDULE
8:00 Arrive/ Unload /Check in* ; Park Gate Opens at 7:30,
9:30 Prerace mtg
10:00 Racing Bliss Begins
3:00 Race Ends. All teams must have Control Cards to Scorer by 3:00pm.
4:00 Awards, food, and camaraderie – Lies and Excuses will be exchanged
Once I dropped off my kayak (at about 8:30am) and my bike and checked in, I was rushing to plan. Maybe it's good practice, to not have oodles of planning time and have to go more on-the-fly. Plans often go off track pretty quickly anyways and force you to adapt, although it is super important to read the race rules and understand the big picture thoroughly, so that you do know the parameters in which you can choose alternate courses of action when the time comes. I did have enough time to figure out a reasonable plan, even if it did feel rushed.
A couple of notable rules of travel were that bikes couldn't use any paved roads or walkways to travel, but we couldn't off-road bike either. Also, there were also pedestrian-only trails that would have signage, that we weren't allowed to use. There were a couple of issues with these rules. 1) We were "landlocked" by paved trails, so everyone probably had to use paved roads to some extent, but then it becomes hard to tell if you're doing is reasonable or not, depending on where you're going. Also, the maps didn't show which trails were pedestrian-only, so you could end up making a plan that revolves around taking a certain trail, only to find when you get to the trail that you can't use it, and then you'd have to make an alternate plan, but as you do, you don't know whether your new route is going to encounter the same issue. I was hoping that it would be more obvious when we were on-course, but not really. To someone who has been at the park before and knows the trail system, maybe they'd take it for granted which trails are pedestrian-only and what routes make the most sense, but there were probably many first-time visitors to the park, since it's in a countryside county.
Anywho, other rules were more straightforward and typical... you had to get at least 2 trekking, 2 biking, and 2 paddling points. You could do the disciplines in any sequence, but you can't go back to a previous discipline once you turn in your passport for that discipline.
A fun bonus twist to this event was that you got to play a mini-round of mini-golf. Once you made 3 attempts, you could stop. You could also play the same hole repeatedly if you wanted, and that's what most people did. It was worth points for anyone who played, plus there would be a special prize for top golfers.
Prologue:
For the prologue, you had to run to Trek CP1 (T1) to receive your first punch card. The first flag was also there. Before you could get the punch card, you had to present one of the mandatory gear list items that the staff member asked for. I had a nice setup with my Boogie Bag fanny pack... I strung the roll of duct tape on it and easily carried it with me the whole race.
Trek Leg:
From there, it was pretty natural to continue on the trek leg... based on where the points were, you could either go to the west side of the park first, or you could go to the east side of the park first. I started with the eastern leg, since there were more points there. For trekking, you could go off-road. I handrailed the hardball to get to T5, tracking my pace and building landmarks as I went along. I cut into the woods to find the first point. From there, the next point was mostly east, and slightly to the south, with the vegetation boundry as a handrail, plus a powerline as a big indicator.
The powerline was along a big open lane that was easy to run down, and I pace counted and watched the slopes to my right and my elevation changes until I got to the second peak. From there, it was just a matter of going uphill until you couldn't go uphill anymore. Since this was a winter race, there wasn't much density in the vegetation, so you could see T2 from far away once you were close.
To get T3, I went against the grain from the pack of guys who went into the woods eastward. Instead, I kept going down the powerline, since that offered fast movements, until I got near the water, and then I handrailed the water's edge until I got to T3. I still did some amount of buschwhacking, but the vegetation was much less dense along the water, than it was in the forest, and it would be easier to tell where I was the whole time.
Now that I had gotten all of the eastern points, I took trails that brought me all the way to the western side of the northern part of the lake. I took the trail that hugged the lake, since T7 was on that trail, which was beneficial, because while I was there, I saw signs indicating that this trail was pedestrian-only, so I knew to avoid this trail later on when it was time for the biking leg.
I went onwards to T6, which was marked right on Cane Creek. As the clue indicated, you'd have to guess which side of the creek it was on, and if your 50/50 guess was wrong, you'd either get wet or have to go back around to the other side. I guessed wrong (guessing that it was on the close side), but you could cross and stay dry if you were careful enough. It probably was a bit slower having to pick my way down the bank and back up the other side, though.
Time to head back towards the start! On my way back, I played mini golf. Even if it wasn't worth much point-wise, it was fun to be able to say that I've played mini-golf during an AR. I think it's cool when ARs incorporate a non-traditional discipline. It adds a bit to the adventure element... otherwise, paddling, trekking, and biking are pretty predictable. I only had two holes where I sunk the ball in 2 hits. The rest of the time, I used up all 3 chances.
So far, I was clearing the course and feeling good.
Bike Leg:
This is where things started falling apart. First of all, I wasted a good chunk of time going back and forth trying to look for a non-paved trail that we'd be allowed to travel on, but no such thing existed. Once we exited the main entry area of the park, there were allowed trails, though, with easy riding.
I decided to tackle the southern part of the lake first, since there were 8 possible points there, vs 2 points on the northern part. I could always grab the 2 points later if I had time, but they were on the far side of the northern part, so it wasn't worth getting early on.
Point B3 was my first objective. It ended up being very challenging, because as the RD had warned, there were trails in the real world that weren't on the map. The clue suggested that the point would be easier to get if you took some of the unmapped trails, because you didn't actually have to bushwhack. I started off by trying to take unmapped trails. I went quite far without finding it, so I turned back and re-attacked from known trails with a plan of bushwhacking. Unfortunately, neither plan worked, and I sucked up maybe 45 minutes of the 5 hour race time (which is actually less race time than that, since you want to get back early to avoid a DNF), not finding the point in the end. Now, I had to not only move on to find a different point, but I'd also have to travel further east to get a second required bike point. The trails weren't that bad so far. I'd have to walk on some of the uphills, but a lot of it was at least rideable. Fortunately point B4 was easy to find, and it was at a vegetation boundary in a clearing. It was mis-marked, though. Someone else happened to come by the point when I was there, and he mentioned that he had seen another mismarked point, too, so he wasn't surprised.
Now, I had to grab another point. This next trail that I was on was quite a bit more technical, so I decided to drop my bike, rather than pushing it and having to walk anyways. It's quicker to walk without a bike than to walk with a bike when you have to push it up hills and haul it over roots.
I got to a clearing where I saw a point across the river. I forded the river, only to find that the point was a paddle point! Fortunately, that at least helped me figure out exactly where I was on the map, and I handrailed the creek to get to my actual point B5. It was a relief to finally have my 2 bike points. I now had to hike back to my bike and bike back to the start to begin the paddle leg.
A snafu struck on my way back, though... my new cheapo Kanpas Map Board (which I had bough to try out as a replacement to the much better constructed AutoPilot Map Board had its screw back out, so the board detatched from the mount. Who knew where the screw was along the gravel road, but with time already being crunched, I wasn't going to try to stop and look for it. I pinched the board in my hand as I continued to bike along. I'll tell you - it's not easy pinching a board against the handlebar while still using brakes... fortunately, I only had to go a couple of miles on rideable trail, backtracking on a known route. If the situation was different, I might've done something different, like ditch the board or look for the screw, depending on how far I had to go and how much navigation I still needed to do.
I got back to the start, to my relief, and quickly transitioned over to paddle.
Paddle Leg:
The paddle is the most unpredictable part for me, since I have the least experience with that discipline. The type of watercraft you're using, the currents, and other factors influence your pace, so it's hard for me to know how much time I'll need with a reasonable amount of certainty. You may head out at a quick pace, only to find that you're going against the current on the way back and need more time on the way back, for example, and winds and tides can shift. For experienced people, there are probably easy formulas and rules of thumb to use, but I'm not there yet.
The first point was just on the other side of the lake, which was narrow here. As I approached the shore, I saw the flag, which was convenient.
It was good to knock that one out so quickly. On to the next one! I grabbed P2, which was the point that I had come across on foot/bike earlier.
From there, I debated whether I wanted to try to grab P3 followed by P6, or just go for P6 and come in pretty early. It would've been super tight going for P3, because it was a long ways away. I decided to be safe and only hit P6. The worst thing would be to DNF. Getting one less point is acceptable.
Finish:
I had a few friends who were also doing the race... one coworker and his family, and two rucking friends. The co-worker had 3 kids in tow with his wife, and they came quite close to beating with me, even though they were very young and tiny! My rucking friends had gotten mixed up on the bike leg with the mis-labeled CPs but booked it for the rest of the event and managed to come back in time.
The prizes were functional, which is always nice... there were nice Mexcian blankets... the kind that Yoga with Adriene sometimes uses as a bolster. It's heavy and warm, too, for cold nights on the couch. I hadn't known how I was doing during the event, and by the time the bike incidents happened, all I cared about was being a finisher, period. I managed to come in second among solo females, though, I'll take that! There were 8 soloists total among men and women, and 3 of the 8 were women. 1st place ended up beating me on the basis of golf! Each stroke under PAR was a minute off of the time. We tied on points, so her 6 under par vs my 2 under par was what put her 1 minute ahead of me. If she had done 5 under par, or if I had gotten 3 under par, we would've been tied. It's all for fun anyways, though, so no biggie.
I used AR mode on my Garmin Fenix 7S Pro, and I did remember to track legs this time. I covered 6.5 miles on the run at 4mph (1:35), 9 miles on the bike at 4.3mph (2:06), and 2.25 miles on the paddle at 3.3 mph (40 min). Too bad I can't just run the bike leg, since I'd end up with about the same pace. My time-to-points ratio was way better via paddle (13 min per point) vs via bike (1 hour per point... 4x more time-consuming!). For trekking, it was 12 min per point.
Of course, that point-per-time ratio will be different at each race, and one snafu like 45 minutes searching for one bike point will throw things off, but even if we excluded that, trekking and even paddling are still better. Paddling was actually not too far off from trekking.
Review:
First annual events will always have some growing pains, but it was still a good race. It was accessible, had some unique and fun elements, and there was good communication leading up to the race. I'd definitely come back to do it again and encourage others to give it a try.
Learnings:
- Maybe I should've insisted / asked up front if the RD would tell us which trails were pedestrian-only.
- Maybe I should've figured out that we'd be landlocked by paved paths based on the map, and asked the RDs while I was still at HQ, which route he'd say is permissible to go through to get onto allowed trails, since everyone had to be dealing with the unclear rule situation.
- It was good that I hit all the trekking points, since that's where I make my money.
- I should probably always just do the minimum biking... maybe one day, there will be 100% rideable easy biking points, but for now, it's probably safer to bank on making it up on the paddle, if anything. At least I know that I can progress while paddling. I have core and cardio, worst case, and can brute force my way through.
- Adventure racing as a soloist felt a lot like orienteering as a soloist. Being on a team is probably more fun, but sometimes, it's still nice to see how you do on your own. You do gain more experience that way, when you have to make all the decisions yourself... you do lose out on the teamwork-oriented learning experiences, though.
- I was happy with how my gear worked out, other than the Kanpas Map Board, which is heavier, not designed to be as user-friendly, and isn't as well-made.. I am ordering a new Autopilot.
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