Livewire Rogaine

So as I may have mentioned, Mat and I went to a Roagine on the weekend.

I have decided that no Rogaine can occur without a drama. 

Our drama was our water pipes bursting on Friday due to the cold, and us having no water for the day.  Add to that the pressure of a very big day for both Mat and I - he had some big machine that needed something done pronto, and I was part of a busy team that was serving hundreds of kids and their parents at the kiosk during a winter sports carnival.  It was rather non-stop!

Follow that with a going away event for a very lovely lady from work, whom I shall miss, so I wasn't going to miss the going away party... but had to get home at 6pm to hold the torch (flashlight) for Mat so we could repair the water pipes.  As it turns out, getting home at 6:30pm (oops) wasn't a bad thing because Mat didn't make it home until 7:30pm (oops)! 

So I was packing and preparing so we could leave by 6:30am Saturday morning, but I was so tired and rather challenged by the lack of water. I was considering pulling out.  I just didn't think we could be ready on time.  I didn't want to leave without the pipes fixed because the first thing you need when you get back from a Rogaine is a shower... and there are a million dishes and all the laundry to do as well! And we didn't get the pipes fixed until 8:30, but luckily Mat did a great job of repairing that and water was restored! (You just don't realise how much you depend on instant water until it's gone!)

When Mat got home from work he came up with the BEST idea ever!  We would take our own car!  What a novel idea! I was so wrapped up in the idea that we had to be ready for our ride that I couldn't see our own sitting there in the driveway.  I felt such a weight off!  The pressure was gone! *big sigh of relief*

So we got the pipes fixed that night, and the next morning we got packed and left at a bit of a leisurly pace.  The event started at 12:00 noon and we arrived after 1:30pm.  We registered, set up the tent, had lunch while we considered our route.

The original plan was to go out for 4 hours and be in by dark, then go out again in the morning for another four hours or so.  But that was if we left at noon.  It was nearing 2:30 and dark was going to hit us soon!  So we changed course, as you do, a bit mid-stride.  We changed because the terrain was much more challenging than we had even anticipated... those HILLS!  So we decided to use the roads in the dark.

We did alright, but couldn't find one 20 pointer, the bush was so thick and we probably just didn't go quite far enough (a common problem, particularly at night), but we just thought to not waste our time, get in to the Hash House and have something to eat and a rest.  We decided we'd come back for the 30 pointer we passed on the way in, and never mind the 20 points.

We were out for about 6 hours, and although Mat's feet hurt (he needs better shoes), I was feeling pretty good.  The hills were tough, so I really felt my butt working on the way up, and my knees working on the way down, and my feet were wet and soggy, but I was really still feeling strong and fresh. The pace was easy and we weren't lost!  There was lots of moonlight - and a Lunar Eclipse!  Neat!

We must have crashed out around 10:30 or 11:00pm because we heard Ella and Marianne come in, but didn't hear them come back from the Hash House.  We got up and headed out again around 9am, I guess, and went up for our first target, #45.  Well, we didn't do a very good job navigating to it, just using landforms and no compass.  So we decided we better put our compass to use for 101, a big one up the big hill!  I was the navigator leader and guess where we ended up?  Right back at 45!  What the heck!? I walked us in a circle!!  Using a compass!

Honestly I was so disgusted with myself and so upset about it that I wanted to bail right then and there.  My competitive nature, the part of me that wants to do it all well and not make mistakes and be 'better than' and all those things I strive for just smacked me in the face and threw me into the dumps.  I was so downtrodden!  This is supposed to be fun and I wasn't having fun anymore!!

So Mat accepted that the fun had just ended and we headed back to that 30 pointer we passed on the road on the way back to the Hash House.  But we went down the wrong track and couldn't find it either! We weren't alone, there were others searching for it too, but to find it involved one of those "pacing" exercises.  There were a lot of little bush tracks off the main road, and only three marked on the map.  We just picked the wrong one by, once again, just not going far enough.

We came in after about an hour or so on that trek, and sat around, eating, considering our map, and wondering what went wrong, when Marianne and Ella returned triumphant!

They ended up placing 3rd in the Women's category, with over 1500 points.  Mat and I were very near the bottom of the list with only 390 points.  We were aiming for about 800.  However, on the up-side, we did get 40 more points than our last Rogaine, and it was a BEAUTIFUL place to walk around!  We had a nice stroll and got to spend some time together!

Mat drove Ella's car home and I drove ours because the girls were in no condition to drive - they had only 4 hours rest (they didn't completely sleep) in the whole event.  They walked for about 19 hours pretty much non-stop!  Now that's impressive!

Lessons learned from this event:

You probably just haven't gone far enough!

My Week in Review - Week 10

Monday – Planned: 2: 5km run, teach balance

Actual: 1

• No run, we were driving home from Bunbury, had to pretty much shower and run to work.
• Taught Balance – laughed at myself because I couldn't do left and right all night :)

Tuesday – Planned: 2: Circuit, spin 1 hour

Actual: 0.5

• Circuit! Nope! New people, teaching teaching teaching.
• Spin 35 minutes and was done! Do not do this without bike shorts, the padding is critical! :) And my legs sure knew I had done it. Stopped at one point and took some tension off the trainer cuz I was going to have to stop after 10 minutes! Could I call this ONE instead of HALF?

Wednesday – Planned: 2: run 6km, teach balance

Actual: 2

• I wanted to ride my horse today, but I had to go clean the kitchen at work. We had our last Healthy Bodies session last night, which was a dinner we cooked ourselves, and we went overtime. Security nearly locked us in. Had a lot of dishes to do. Once again, my horse gets neglected.
• 6km run – yep, on the treadmill, hill program, level 6, 40 minutes. Highest grade was 4.9% and stuck to 9km/hr for whole time, so slower than usual, but was on the high end of my target heart rate the whole time, so felt I was working in the right zone. My butt was on fire! So it must have been working!
• Taught Balance.

Thursday – Planned: 2: Teach Balance, run 7km, T&E for dinner, so no other workout, unless time for a spin or row at the end of the night.

Actual: 1

• Taught Balance
• When did I think I'd have time for a run? Really, what was I thinking?

Friday – Planned: 2: Circuit, Row

Actual: 0

• Circuit - again no workout for me.  I could have actually gotten in a workout, but we were having a school winter sports carnival, and I needed to be accessible to the staff if things got out of hand.
• Row - now when did I think I'd be able to do this?  Lindy's going away party, packing and preparing food for the weekend, and NO WATER in the house.  Holding the torch (flashlight) for Mat so he could fix the burst water pipes in the dark.

Saturday – Planned: 1: Rogaine. Leave at 6:30am for Donnybrook area. Planning on doing 30-40km over the weekend, in approximately 4 hour/10km stints. 12-4pm (approx 15km), break for lunch, 6-10pm (approx 10km), sleep, eat breakfast, 7-11am (approx 15km), have second breakfast. Event ends at 12pm on Sunday.

Actual: 1

• Rogaine - did 1 6 hour stint.  HUGE hills and good walking pace most of the time. Feeling like I've worked, but not SORE, so my feet and legs are getting used to the increased impact. 

Sunday – Planned: 1: Carry forward of Rogaine. Won't want to do anything but sleep and shower and get rid of ticks.

Actual: 1

• Rogaine - only went out for an extra two hours on Sunday, and had a poor time of it.  Missed several hundred points we were aiming at.  Might do a post about this.

The best thing that happened this week:  The Rogaine was really good, as always. Had family over for dinner, and it was nice to have them over, as they usually feed us! We don't entertain enough.

Planned: 12

Actual: 6.5

Success Rate: 54%

What is Rogaining?

You may have noticed that some of my upcoming events are Rogaines. And you may be wonderings, “what is that anyway?”

Basically you get a map with some dots on it, a compass, and then you walk around the bush looking for these orange and white carboard sheets stapled to trees where the dots on the map are. These dots & cardboard sheets are called 'controls' and you want to collect a whole bunch of points by visiting as many as possible.

Here is a small section of our last map:

So basically, the way a Rogaine goes, you arrive at the Hash House (which is where the food and toilets and fire all live) and you set up your camp. What happens next depends on the start time of the event. But at some point you eat, you get dressed up to run around in the bush, and you go to the Admin tent and get your map. Then the feverish route planning begins!

Route planning involves: highlighters, string, compasses, and lots and lots of guessing. Pens and calculators and paper are also very helpful. First you colour in all the dots that are worth 100, 90, and 80 points. Sometimes more if you have more highlighter colours. You want to get the most number of points you can collect, so knowing where these really valuable spots are is a good thing! And you colour in the Water Drops blue, so you can get a water refill on your route.

Then you spend a little time guessing how fast you can walk and how many hours you want to march around, and estimate your planned distance. For example, you might estimate that you can walk 4km per hour during the day, and you have 6 hours of daylight, and you estimate 2km per hour night and you only want to do 2 hours overnight. So then you work out you can walk a total of 28km. And then you go, “I'm not going to walk that far! Let's make it 20km.”

Then you use your string and measure your total distance against the map scale distance thing and tie a knot. Then you hold one end of your string on the Hash House symbol Δ and start stringing together the little dots on the map with a return trip to the Hash House, writing down each control number and then adding up the number of points you would collect. Do this repeatedly, until you find one worth heaps of points!

Then look at the route and ask yourself... are there any really big hills? Is there anything in the way, big bodies of water (not likely in WA, but it could happen) or out of bounds areas you would have to walk around? You may want to readjust your route based on these obstacles. Another thing we like to do is plan a few 'outs'. If things go wrong, where's the water, where's the patrolled roads, how easy would it be to get back to the Hash House after 10km for a rest?

And if you have time, we like to plan an “after our rest” route, that is a short route to collect a few extra points if we're feeling up to it. So far Mat and I have slept through all of these opportunities, but it's good practice. Ella and I went out for 80 points and came back with 300 once on one of these just-in-case routes, so it can help.

Now join the dots with your pen and straight edge of your compass and then calculate the bearings from each control to the next.

Phiew! That's hard work. Get a drink, double-check your pack, wonder what you should really be wearing and ask if you really need the gloves or beanie (toque).

There's a gathering at the Hash House before the siren blasts, and everyone gets their punch card. If you lose everything else, you cannot lose your map, your compass or this punch card! No card, no punch, no points!!

When the siren sounds, it's a strange and anti-climactic start. Everyone just sort of heads out in random directions, some even head back to their camps. And although you're travelling with a fairly large group for the first two or three controls, things thin out and you're out there with your partner, map and compass in hand, hunting for these orange and white sheets! At each control, you have two jobs:
1) fill out the intention sheet – who you are and where you're going next (so they can hunt you down if you get lost)
2) punch your punch card! No punch, no points!

The rest of it is really just endurance, planning and problem solving. And walking walking walking. Good shoes help!

The event is time limited to 6, 12, or 24 hours, and the time spent 'out' is recorded too, so that if two teams came in with equivalent points, the one that collected them quickest would be ranked higher. So when you return to the Hash House, you hand in your punch card, and if you go back out, you sign it back out and these times are recorded. At the end of the event, either 6, 12 or 24 hours after the starting siren, everyone needs to be back in and all punch cards returned. You lose points for every minute you are late. And if you're half an hour late and they have to go look for you, then you get no points and you are in serious trouble (probably because it means you're lost!)

Then you EAT AND EAT!! Oh how the eating is such a wonderful treat! The Hash House cooks food! Breakfast food, dinner food, desserts. Bread, rice, eggs, curries, stew, soup, sausages, toast, cake, fruit... You wouldn't believe the feast they manage to put on for the 20 or so bucks you pay to register for this event! And there's also the wonderful joy of sleeping!!

Presentations are next, and they read out absolutely every result for every competitor. You sit around the fire and enjoy. Then you can help clean up or pack up, sleep some more if necessary, and then drive home.

It's a great way to spend a weekend – it's like camping and hiking, but with better food and a little bit of a challenge! And best of all, it's something Mat and I enjoy doing together!