In the past couple days, I've been in Newton, Amherst, Craftsbury, Stowe, Weston, Amherst, Newton, and Amherst. I'm starting to think that this tiredness in my legs might not just be from the adventure race. I sat down with a calendar this morning, and looked at the fall, and realized, I have every single weekend until December filled with some sort of event. I suppose this is what you get when you want to compete in several sports, but, this is not healthy. It is time to make my life less busy, and instead of feeling rushed trying to fit school!/thesis!/work!/coaching!/Ed!/training!/race directing!/cyclocross!/family!/orienteering!/running races!/mapping! into every day, it might be time to actually set some priorities, make some choices, and not get involved in EVERYTHING that comes my way. These aren't easy choices though. I know I should prioritize Ed and family over everything else, but all too often, those top priorities get squashed because there is just so much fun stuff going on that if I slow down for a minute, I'll miss something.
Logically, my focus should be on orienteering this fall, both because of my goals in the ski orienteering champs this spring and because that is what I am physically preparing for. The US classic championships are coming up in mid-October, and if I look at my training over the past couple months, its been almost all running and orienteering, as opposed to the last two years where it was rollerskiing and cycling. But, I don't think I can go through an entire autumn in the northeast without racing 'cross, even though I'm not prepared to race a bike of any sort. Again, tough decisions. Maybe racing bikes will help my running. I should really just re-enforce the travel diet, and actually stick to it, except for the part where I'll still be driving to Newton on weekends. This is just ridiculous, but I can't stop...
I need to just pick 4-6 cross races and accept that I will not be blazing fast. Then I should prioritize the weekends where I will STAY HOME, no matter how much fun stuff is going on in other states... damn it, world, could you please get less interesting for a little bit?
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Bitter Pill AR photos
The GMARA Bitter Pill race organizers took 2000 photos, and since I am now a grad student (and therefore my time is worth basically nothing, if you go by the salary), I went through them and found some of our team, the Snot Rocketeers. All photos are from GMARA, taken with permission.
Gear check, the night before.
The "before" picture. Actually doesn't look all that different from the "after" photos...
Beautiful mist on the water that morning. Because I'm not usually up early enough to appreciate that...
Approaching the portage.
Coming in to the portage. Chris, one of the organizers, greeted us with a "why am I NOT surprised that you guys are the first ones out of the water?" Apparently Adrian and Jon have a reputation to live up to...
Awkward position on the second thwart not only bruised my seat bones, it cramped my hip flexors in a not-so-pleasant way. Better than kneeling though, comfort-wise.
Snot Rocketeers heading into the misty yonder.
Heading out on the trek, all full of energy after our three-hour paddle and 1000ft climb on the bike. Yea, orienteering!
In the TA.
At the TA going from trek to hike-a-bike, with the race organizer marking the extra time bonus control (thanks for that extra 1000ft climb, we needed that) on our maps.
This gives you a good idea of the grossness of the swim. Check out all the floating mats of vegetation...
At the finish. Adrian, naturally, has a blue plastic frog stuck into his nostril. We take ourselves very seriously around here.
What, someone pointed a camera at me? Better make a funny face...
Snot Rocketeers won the race. Here we're all presentable and stuff, since they let us take showers at the hotel.
In our regional adventure race champions jackets. Since its over my fleece jacket, it almost fits!
Gear check, the night before. 
The "before" picture. Actually doesn't look all that different from the "after" photos... 
Beautiful mist on the water that morning. Because I'm not usually up early enough to appreciate that... 
Approaching the portage.
Coming in to the portage. Chris, one of the organizers, greeted us with a "why am I NOT surprised that you guys are the first ones out of the water?" Apparently Adrian and Jon have a reputation to live up to... 
Awkward position on the second thwart not only bruised my seat bones, it cramped my hip flexors in a not-so-pleasant way. Better than kneeling though, comfort-wise.
Snot Rocketeers heading into the misty yonder.
Heading out on the trek, all full of energy after our three-hour paddle and 1000ft climb on the bike. Yea, orienteering!
In the TA.
At the TA going from trek to hike-a-bike, with the race organizer marking the extra time bonus control (thanks for that extra 1000ft climb, we needed that) on our maps. 
This gives you a good idea of the grossness of the swim. Check out all the floating mats of vegetation... 
At the finish. Adrian, naturally, has a blue plastic frog stuck into his nostril. We take ourselves very seriously around here.
What, someone pointed a camera at me? Better make a funny face... 
Snot Rocketeers won the race. Here we're all presentable and stuff, since they let us take showers at the hotel. 
In our regional adventure race champions jackets. Since its over my fleece jacket, it almost fits!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Bitter Pill AR
We woke up to a chilly 45F outside, at 2:30 in the morning. By 3am we were in the car and headed to Stowe, where we had to be by 3:45 to load the buses that would take us to our undisclosed starting location. The buses headed south through Waterbury VT, and just after crossing I-89 and the Winooski river, they pulled into a parking lot. I made a mad dash for the paddles - as a short female, there aren't too many canoe paddles that are short enough for me, and the long ones would tire out my weak shoulders (did I mention I have elbow tendonitis and haven't rollerskied or done any arm strength all summer?), so I really wanted to find a paddle that fit me. I successfully found a paddle, and then there was the race briefing. Basically he went over the rules we'd already read, and Jon and Adrian were trying to guess which way we'd start out running.
At 5:00AM, we flipped the maps, and started running towards the river, along the paved road. Other teams were running through the grass, but we were hoping to keep our feet dry by taking the slightly longer route. After about 10 minutes of jogging we got to TA1, where the canoes were waiting, and although we were the second team on the water, we quickly pulled into the lead. I wasn't paddling yet, I had the maps open and was reading through what we'd expect today, trying to be as clear as possible what was coming up. Adrian is a phenomenal paddler, mostly because he is a natural at reading the river, so we were always in the right spot at the right time. Jon provided a lot of power, and I just tried not to be a deadweight in the middle of the boat, paddling weakly. It was a pretty long paddle, with a short portage in the middle around a dam, but we spiked all three controls along the river, and by TA2 we'd put 12 minutes on the next team.
We switched to bikes there, and at this point it was almost 8am, so things were warming up nicely. Throw a 1000ft climb into the mix and we were sweating pretty heavily, stripping layers and gulping water, although I left the legwarmers on, in anticipation of the promised fields of nettles during the trek. It was a short bike, just upriver on the flats for a bit and then we turned south, and climbed to the base of Camels Hump Mt, on Honey Hollow Rd. At the top of the ridge was TA3/4, where we'd be starting and finishing the trek. We moved really well through the woods, two experienced adventure racers and an orienteer, running down the hills and using a quick hike to get up them. There was another 2000ft of vertical achieved during this leg, but with Jon manning the altimeter watch (not only legal, but recommended), Adrian with the map, and myself with a compass bearing to back him up, we were the definition of a smooth-running navigational machine, because redundancy is awesome.
We spiked all the controls and made it back to the TA after 1:50, which is considerably faster than any of the other teams. But now our two strongest disciplines as a team were done, and we were on to the mandatory hike-a-bike. The race organizer had gotten permission to use part of the Catamount trail, but there are no bikes allowed on that trail, so we had to push them. It was pretty hard to be pushing my bike along some sweet singletrack that clearly the locals were riding, but rules are rules, and bending them would mean a disqualification. After about 4km of uphill slogging, we got to the saddle, near where we'd hit a junction and be able to ride our bikes, but first we headed off to pick up two time bonus checkpoints. Each was worth 30min, so if we could complete the little loop in under an hour, we'd come out ahead. Alas, we took 1:10, thanks to some elbows-and-knees scrambling up a cliff under those high-altitude-scrubby pines. We found the trail on the south side of the knob as we headed down, but that was a pretty intense climb. Then I made a navigational error on the way back to the bikes, and managed to convince Adrian that I was right, so we lost more time. I think we could have finished that loop in :45, but it just wasn't to be.
Finally back on the bikes, we knew we were almost done. A short bike leg, then the swim, then a downhill bike leg and we'd be done. We bombed down the south side of that ridge, and then faced another 1000ft climb to get another time bonus checkpoint - this one worth an hour. It took 20min to climb up to it, and I was starting to have doubts as to whether I could turn the pedals one more rotation when we finally crested the hill. Had there been one more climb like that I would have needed towing, but from here on out it was downhill. Coming down that beast was a bit terrifying, but all three of us made it down and to the swim TA intact.
I'll admit I dragged my feet a bit in the swim TA. We had to swim across a lake and back, and the lake was super mucky, with aquatic vegetation all the way up to the surface, and that slimy green stuff with bubbles in it floating around in matts. Gross! We had to swim with our packs, so we put them in garbage bags and pushed them in front of us as we swam. I was thoroughly grossed out by the slimy bubbly farts, and made it quite clear how grossed out I was, but I swam through it anyway. Adrian was the fastest swimmer, so he had the punchcard (they call them passports in this sport), and Jon and I just sort of paddled along trying to stay within 100ft of Adrian. It only took 9 minutes, but the swim felt like forever. I pulled on most of my dry-ish warm clothes afterwards, and we headed down the hill to the finish, in a comfortable 20min lead - we'd seen the second place team starting up the road to the time bonus control as we came down, which meant it wasn't likely they'd catch us.
We held our lead, coming in a couple minutes before the first all-male 3-person team, and about half an hour ahead of the second 3-person coed team. Results. It looks like we had pretty slow transitions, which makes sense given how relaxed they felt, but with a race that plays to our strengths, i.e. a long paddle and somewhat hard nav, we didn't have to worry about that. Had there been more biking, I think we would have been hurting. As a prize, we got a free entry to AR nationals, and a free entry to the Frigid Infliction, neither of which any of us want to attend. Would have been better to be second place, they at least got cool merchandise prizes. But it was a fun day, and the clean navigation, lack of hypothermia, and relaxed attitude of Adrian and Jon really made it a good way to spend a day outside. Given that we never had to really push to stay ahead of any teams, it was all fairly low intensity, which means I feel good right now, definitely more tired from having to get up at 2:30am than from the physical stuff. Its a nice feeling! I can see why they call it the bitter pill... 12 hours is just an entry drug to those longer races. Uh oh.
At 5:00AM, we flipped the maps, and started running towards the river, along the paved road. Other teams were running through the grass, but we were hoping to keep our feet dry by taking the slightly longer route. After about 10 minutes of jogging we got to TA1, where the canoes were waiting, and although we were the second team on the water, we quickly pulled into the lead. I wasn't paddling yet, I had the maps open and was reading through what we'd expect today, trying to be as clear as possible what was coming up. Adrian is a phenomenal paddler, mostly because he is a natural at reading the river, so we were always in the right spot at the right time. Jon provided a lot of power, and I just tried not to be a deadweight in the middle of the boat, paddling weakly. It was a pretty long paddle, with a short portage in the middle around a dam, but we spiked all three controls along the river, and by TA2 we'd put 12 minutes on the next team.
We switched to bikes there, and at this point it was almost 8am, so things were warming up nicely. Throw a 1000ft climb into the mix and we were sweating pretty heavily, stripping layers and gulping water, although I left the legwarmers on, in anticipation of the promised fields of nettles during the trek. It was a short bike, just upriver on the flats for a bit and then we turned south, and climbed to the base of Camels Hump Mt, on Honey Hollow Rd. At the top of the ridge was TA3/4, where we'd be starting and finishing the trek. We moved really well through the woods, two experienced adventure racers and an orienteer, running down the hills and using a quick hike to get up them. There was another 2000ft of vertical achieved during this leg, but with Jon manning the altimeter watch (not only legal, but recommended), Adrian with the map, and myself with a compass bearing to back him up, we were the definition of a smooth-running navigational machine, because redundancy is awesome.
We spiked all the controls and made it back to the TA after 1:50, which is considerably faster than any of the other teams. But now our two strongest disciplines as a team were done, and we were on to the mandatory hike-a-bike. The race organizer had gotten permission to use part of the Catamount trail, but there are no bikes allowed on that trail, so we had to push them. It was pretty hard to be pushing my bike along some sweet singletrack that clearly the locals were riding, but rules are rules, and bending them would mean a disqualification. After about 4km of uphill slogging, we got to the saddle, near where we'd hit a junction and be able to ride our bikes, but first we headed off to pick up two time bonus checkpoints. Each was worth 30min, so if we could complete the little loop in under an hour, we'd come out ahead. Alas, we took 1:10, thanks to some elbows-and-knees scrambling up a cliff under those high-altitude-scrubby pines. We found the trail on the south side of the knob as we headed down, but that was a pretty intense climb. Then I made a navigational error on the way back to the bikes, and managed to convince Adrian that I was right, so we lost more time. I think we could have finished that loop in :45, but it just wasn't to be.
Finally back on the bikes, we knew we were almost done. A short bike leg, then the swim, then a downhill bike leg and we'd be done. We bombed down the south side of that ridge, and then faced another 1000ft climb to get another time bonus checkpoint - this one worth an hour. It took 20min to climb up to it, and I was starting to have doubts as to whether I could turn the pedals one more rotation when we finally crested the hill. Had there been one more climb like that I would have needed towing, but from here on out it was downhill. Coming down that beast was a bit terrifying, but all three of us made it down and to the swim TA intact.
I'll admit I dragged my feet a bit in the swim TA. We had to swim across a lake and back, and the lake was super mucky, with aquatic vegetation all the way up to the surface, and that slimy green stuff with bubbles in it floating around in matts. Gross! We had to swim with our packs, so we put them in garbage bags and pushed them in front of us as we swam. I was thoroughly grossed out by the slimy bubbly farts, and made it quite clear how grossed out I was, but I swam through it anyway. Adrian was the fastest swimmer, so he had the punchcard (they call them passports in this sport), and Jon and I just sort of paddled along trying to stay within 100ft of Adrian. It only took 9 minutes, but the swim felt like forever. I pulled on most of my dry-ish warm clothes afterwards, and we headed down the hill to the finish, in a comfortable 20min lead - we'd seen the second place team starting up the road to the time bonus control as we came down, which meant it wasn't likely they'd catch us.
We held our lead, coming in a couple minutes before the first all-male 3-person team, and about half an hour ahead of the second 3-person coed team. Results. It looks like we had pretty slow transitions, which makes sense given how relaxed they felt, but with a race that plays to our strengths, i.e. a long paddle and somewhat hard nav, we didn't have to worry about that. Had there been more biking, I think we would have been hurting. As a prize, we got a free entry to AR nationals, and a free entry to the Frigid Infliction, neither of which any of us want to attend. Would have been better to be second place, they at least got cool merchandise prizes. But it was a fun day, and the clean navigation, lack of hypothermia, and relaxed attitude of Adrian and Jon really made it a good way to spend a day outside. Given that we never had to really push to stay ahead of any teams, it was all fairly low intensity, which means I feel good right now, definitely more tired from having to get up at 2:30am than from the physical stuff. Its a nice feeling! I can see why they call it the bitter pill... 12 hours is just an entry drug to those longer races. Uh oh.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Bitter Pill Adventure Race: the prep
A couple months ago, Adrian and Jonathan Owens had emailed me, asking if I was interested in racing the Bitter Pill as their teammate. Adrian is on the US Ski-orienteering team with me, and I did a short little practice race with him last summer. His twin brother Jonathan is also an adventure racer, he's on some big team out in California, and used to be a pro mt biker, and he skis, so I know him well enough too. I know they've done this race before, a couple times, but often they do it as the two-person team, and all the glory is in the three-person coed category. I figured it couldn't be that bad, although I was pretty leery about the swim part. Anyway, Jonathan convinced me I'd be fine, and Adrian convinced me that I wouldn't be slowing them down too much, so I signed myself up.
Although I've done a 12-hour adventure race before, with Ken and Greg, I had an inkling of a suspicion that this one would be a little harder. Faster-paced, a little more competitive. We corresponded a lot via email before the race, mostly it went along the lines of me reading the mandatory gear list, and then emailing Adrian and Jon to see if they had extra things that I didn't have. I was able to pull everything together in time for the race, and I drove up to Craftsbury on Friday to do some paddling with the guys and practice getting towed on a bike, since I was pretty sure I didn't have enough power in my legs to keep up. I made a minor detour to Kingdom Trails on the way, and the place was as awesome as always. I needed to do that, you see, because ARs don't have any technical mt biking, and my bike gets cranky when I only ride her on roads. Bike abuse.
So, I got to Adrian's house, and we fiddled around with bikes and canoes and paddles and eventually went off to Stowe to register and go through the mandatory gear checks. They mandate the gear checks because a lot of it is safety stuff, I guess, like the mirror, the lighter, and the first-aid kit. I had checked the weather before I left and I was a little worried about how cold it was supposed to get overnight - it would only be 42F by the time we started the race at 4am. If they made us do the swim first, I would be one unhappy camper for a while afterwards. We didn't know the order of the events, but we knew there would be biking, paddling, trekking, and swimming, in some order, throughout the day. Its all done with a navigational component, you have to find your way from checkpoint to checkpoint, like in orienteering, except that the race directors don't necessarily put the checkpoints in the right spot, and the maps are not necessarily up to date - there will be trails and roads in reality that are not on the map. As Ken said, adventure race maps are mere suggestions of reality. This frustrates the orienteer in me.
Anyway, we got out of the gear checking room by 8pm, which was good, because we had a 2:30am wakeup the next morning. Cruel and unusual punishment.
Although I've done a 12-hour adventure race before, with Ken and Greg, I had an inkling of a suspicion that this one would be a little harder. Faster-paced, a little more competitive. We corresponded a lot via email before the race, mostly it went along the lines of me reading the mandatory gear list, and then emailing Adrian and Jon to see if they had extra things that I didn't have. I was able to pull everything together in time for the race, and I drove up to Craftsbury on Friday to do some paddling with the guys and practice getting towed on a bike, since I was pretty sure I didn't have enough power in my legs to keep up. I made a minor detour to Kingdom Trails on the way, and the place was as awesome as always. I needed to do that, you see, because ARs don't have any technical mt biking, and my bike gets cranky when I only ride her on roads. Bike abuse.
So, I got to Adrian's house, and we fiddled around with bikes and canoes and paddles and eventually went off to Stowe to register and go through the mandatory gear checks. They mandate the gear checks because a lot of it is safety stuff, I guess, like the mirror, the lighter, and the first-aid kit. I had checked the weather before I left and I was a little worried about how cold it was supposed to get overnight - it would only be 42F by the time we started the race at 4am. If they made us do the swim first, I would be one unhappy camper for a while afterwards. We didn't know the order of the events, but we knew there would be biking, paddling, trekking, and swimming, in some order, throughout the day. Its all done with a navigational component, you have to find your way from checkpoint to checkpoint, like in orienteering, except that the race directors don't necessarily put the checkpoints in the right spot, and the maps are not necessarily up to date - there will be trails and roads in reality that are not on the map. As Ken said, adventure race maps are mere suggestions of reality. This frustrates the orienteer in me.
Anyway, we got out of the gear checking room by 8pm, which was good, because we had a 2:30am wakeup the next morning. Cruel and unusual punishment.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Left hanging
Last time I was out in Amherst, I met with Keith (my advisor for grad school), we brainstormed all sorts of ideas, I got all charged up about stuff, and then he mentioned that I wouldn't be able to start stuff until August. Ok, this is fine, and I get various formal-looking emails and letters from the Forest Service about how I am an "emergency hire", with a start date of August 4th. Woot. Keith sends me an email saying that I am starting on 8/4, he won't be in the office, but there is plenty for me to do. Ok, this is fine, so, I show up. It takes almost four hours to fill out all the necessary paperwork (remind me not to work for the feds again), and then I'm stumped. His office manager and I check with various other people in the lab, to see if Keith had said anything about me helping them out, nope. Well, I guess I'll go home. Not going to sit around twiddling my thumbs, but I don't particularly like being left hanging...
Anyway, today when I went in he was there, so we were able to set some things straight and now I have a huge pile o' papers to plow through. Its a good thing I find this stuff interesting, or I might be less happy at having to read all these pages. But since Keith will be out early next week, I'm basically on a literature-review-vacation (you know, one of those vacations where you have to do some work, but, not really that much) until next wednesday. Woot!
In all my free time, I've been working on the Boston College Law School map. Its basically at the point where I'd say its done, now, it still has a bit of a cartoon-ish feel, but it is functional. I sent out some orienteering peeps on it the other day, and nobody complained too much about things being wrong. More importantly, my GPS track lined up properly with all the important bits and pieces. Yay! The one hitch is that I mapped it using ISOM (International standards of orienteering mapping) instead of ISSOM (for sprints, that's the other S), which means its fairly useless except as a park-o map or a training map. That said, its too small to really use it for anything other than a park-o or training anyway. So I'll remain proud of this little map of my backyard.
Anyway, today when I went in he was there, so we were able to set some things straight and now I have a huge pile o' papers to plow through. Its a good thing I find this stuff interesting, or I might be less happy at having to read all these pages. But since Keith will be out early next week, I'm basically on a literature-review-vacation (you know, one of those vacations where you have to do some work, but, not really that much) until next wednesday. Woot!
In all my free time, I've been working on the Boston College Law School map. Its basically at the point where I'd say its done, now, it still has a bit of a cartoon-ish feel, but it is functional. I sent out some orienteering peeps on it the other day, and nobody complained too much about things being wrong. More importantly, my GPS track lined up properly with all the important bits and pieces. Yay! The one hitch is that I mapped it using ISOM (International standards of orienteering mapping) instead of ISSOM (for sprints, that's the other S), which means its fairly useless except as a park-o map or a training map. That said, its too small to really use it for anything other than a park-o or training anyway. So I'll remain proud of this little map of my backyard.
Monday, August 2, 2010
August, already?
Time moves differently when you're not working. You're lacking that eight-hour block in the middle of your day where you have to be in a certain place, doing a certain thing, draining you in a certain way. Maybe its that I keep myself too busy as it is, but I'm wondering how I'm going to fit that sort of time commitment towards school into my life. Will probably have to cut back on some fun... but there are things that do have to get done, like work for the CSU A-meet this fall, and setting up the ski-o event this winter. Those are the things that have not been getting done.
I finished the basemap of Boston College yesterday and went out to do some field checking. It is an interesting little area and I can't wait to set some courses there. I get the nagging feeling that its sloppier than would be perfect, plus I was using ISOM (international standards of orienteering mapping) rather than ISSOM (for sprints), so Amherst will definitely be ISSOM, because there are definitely drawbacks to using ISOM on a 1:5k sprint map. Also in the orienteering vein of things, I set up a scavenger hunt/orienteering course for the junior skiers yesterday, many people got lost but they all seemed to have fun. I'll do that again some time, for sure.
I've been attempting to ride my bike a little more than before, mostly to prepare my butt for the adventure race this weekend. Hopefully the other teams are also not strong riders, although at least on the bike leg its easier to tow someone. I'd be the towee. I headed over to Prospect Hill park last week to see what happened when I rode up hills, and I was able to ride negative splits and stay seated, both of which surprised me. More surprising though was that my times were faster than when I did this last summer. The only thing I can think is that I was on race wheels - I left my road bike, with the heavy commuting wheels, in Amherst, so I was riding my cx bike, and put the race road wheels on just so that I wouldn't have to use knobby tires. I really doubt that my legs are putting out more power than in the past. Especially on eggbeater pedals that wiggle with every pedal stroke... I should probably tighten those up.
Speaking of bikes, its time to go do some maintenance... better to ride slowly and have a bike that doesn't fall apart than to ride fast and have mechanicals.
I finished the basemap of Boston College yesterday and went out to do some field checking. It is an interesting little area and I can't wait to set some courses there. I get the nagging feeling that its sloppier than would be perfect, plus I was using ISOM (international standards of orienteering mapping) rather than ISSOM (for sprints), so Amherst will definitely be ISSOM, because there are definitely drawbacks to using ISOM on a 1:5k sprint map. Also in the orienteering vein of things, I set up a scavenger hunt/orienteering course for the junior skiers yesterday, many people got lost but they all seemed to have fun. I'll do that again some time, for sure.
I've been attempting to ride my bike a little more than before, mostly to prepare my butt for the adventure race this weekend. Hopefully the other teams are also not strong riders, although at least on the bike leg its easier to tow someone. I'd be the towee. I headed over to Prospect Hill park last week to see what happened when I rode up hills, and I was able to ride negative splits and stay seated, both of which surprised me. More surprising though was that my times were faster than when I did this last summer. The only thing I can think is that I was on race wheels - I left my road bike, with the heavy commuting wheels, in Amherst, so I was riding my cx bike, and put the race road wheels on just so that I wouldn't have to use knobby tires. I really doubt that my legs are putting out more power than in the past. Especially on eggbeater pedals that wiggle with every pedal stroke... I should probably tighten those up.
Speaking of bikes, its time to go do some maintenance... better to ride slowly and have a bike that doesn't fall apart than to ride fast and have mechanicals.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Summer vacation 2010
Thanks to this whole graduate school thing being pushed back, to an unspecified date in August, I've been enjoying my second summer vacation in a row. I could get used to this! While some might spend free time on a beach or otherwise relaxing, I am incapable of doing something as normal as that, and it seems that I'm even busier than when I also had a job. Its all fun, though, and I've come to realize that I get all jazzed up about projects when I have the time, but I have to be realistic and cut back before I start work again, or I'll just disappoint myself by not getting stuff done.
First off, Ed "re-hired" me as his sales manager. He'd been trying to do it all himself, but I have the coaching contacts, so we're collaborating again. He pays me in sushi (but on commission), so its definitely a win-win situation! Running your own business is no joke, but Ed runs a tight ship, I'm impressed with his operations. His rollerski ferules came in last week, so we're trying to get those out to the right people and all that good stuff.
I also managed to put together the contours and aerial photos for basemaps for a couple maps that I've been wanting to make for orienteering. The first is the Boston College Law School/Edmands Park, which happens to be a five-minute walk from our door, hence the desire. Its not a huge area, but it would be sweet for a sprint or two and to train on a map. OCAD (orienteering mapping software) has its issues, but I'm starting to figure it out. Next up is Boston Common, for which we have a map, but it isn't in OCAD. So, its a matter of digitizing/transferring the data over to an actual computer file, with accurate contours and all that good stuff. This is really Ed's project, but I'm helping out. And the next map is the UMass Amherst campus - the place is huge! It would be perfect for a campus sprint, and if all goes according to plan (this is what I mean by biting off more than I can chew), I'd like to set up a campus-O series at some point this year at Amherst.
And along those lines, I nominated myself as meet director for the big east-coast ski orienteering weekend this winter. We don't have a snazzy name yet, so help me out and suggest me something. So far what I've got is "NH Ski-O Weekend"... doesn't quite cut it. We're thinking of using two whole new maps, so it involves lots of permission-getting and speculation about maps in places where you can't go field-check, and pushing and shoving and herding these cats to get all the information together soon enough to put it on the NENSA calendar before it goes out. Which happens soon.
So as though that weren't quite enough to keep me busy, I've been coaching my usual mid-week specific strength workouts, my friday core-from-hell workouts, a couple extra rollerski technique sessions for people who ask nicely, and trying to keep on top of the kids who still need to send in training logs and answer the questions of the ones who are always on time but can never hear enough about skiing (hey, I understand that position - I was there), and this weekend I'm thinking of setting up a scavenger hunt somewhere on an orienteering map. Wheeeeeeeeee momentum!
So in all my spare time, I'm reading up on some freshwater ecology stuff so that I'm not caught out cold when I start doing work, if that ever does happen, although I hope there is at least a little review at the beginning of the classes... the grad student handbook was fairly intimidating, but I think I have everything ironed out, I at least got the classes picked.
What can I say, life is more interesting when its packed full of things you love to do. And its nice to be in Boston with no dayjob, at least until about noon each day, when the heat gets unbearable. Although today, I was out setting streamers for an orienteering training session later in the week at noon. That was fairly unbearable too, although the nail in the coffin was the track workout later that night... I think its time for bed...
First off, Ed "re-hired" me as his sales manager. He'd been trying to do it all himself, but I have the coaching contacts, so we're collaborating again. He pays me in sushi (but on commission), so its definitely a win-win situation! Running your own business is no joke, but Ed runs a tight ship, I'm impressed with his operations. His rollerski ferules came in last week, so we're trying to get those out to the right people and all that good stuff.
I also managed to put together the contours and aerial photos for basemaps for a couple maps that I've been wanting to make for orienteering. The first is the Boston College Law School/Edmands Park, which happens to be a five-minute walk from our door, hence the desire. Its not a huge area, but it would be sweet for a sprint or two and to train on a map. OCAD (orienteering mapping software) has its issues, but I'm starting to figure it out. Next up is Boston Common, for which we have a map, but it isn't in OCAD. So, its a matter of digitizing/transferring the data over to an actual computer file, with accurate contours and all that good stuff. This is really Ed's project, but I'm helping out. And the next map is the UMass Amherst campus - the place is huge! It would be perfect for a campus sprint, and if all goes according to plan (this is what I mean by biting off more than I can chew), I'd like to set up a campus-O series at some point this year at Amherst.
And along those lines, I nominated myself as meet director for the big east-coast ski orienteering weekend this winter. We don't have a snazzy name yet, so help me out and suggest me something. So far what I've got is "NH Ski-O Weekend"... doesn't quite cut it. We're thinking of using two whole new maps, so it involves lots of permission-getting and speculation about maps in places where you can't go field-check, and pushing and shoving and herding these cats to get all the information together soon enough to put it on the NENSA calendar before it goes out. Which happens soon.
So as though that weren't quite enough to keep me busy, I've been coaching my usual mid-week specific strength workouts, my friday core-from-hell workouts, a couple extra rollerski technique sessions for people who ask nicely, and trying to keep on top of the kids who still need to send in training logs and answer the questions of the ones who are always on time but can never hear enough about skiing (hey, I understand that position - I was there), and this weekend I'm thinking of setting up a scavenger hunt somewhere on an orienteering map. Wheeeeeeeeee momentum!
So in all my spare time, I'm reading up on some freshwater ecology stuff so that I'm not caught out cold when I start doing work, if that ever does happen, although I hope there is at least a little review at the beginning of the classes... the grad student handbook was fairly intimidating, but I think I have everything ironed out, I at least got the classes picked.
What can I say, life is more interesting when its packed full of things you love to do. And its nice to be in Boston with no dayjob, at least until about noon each day, when the heat gets unbearable. Although today, I was out setting streamers for an orienteering training session later in the week at noon. That was fairly unbearable too, although the nail in the coffin was the track workout later that night... I think its time for bed...
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