October 15

Ilsa - Hard-surface work. ≅300 yards, 4 turns. 2:15 old. First leg (50 yards) and first turn on grass; remainder of track on either asphalt or concrete. Sunny, 59 degrees. Moderate Breeze (which made things really challenging). Humidity 56%

[Note: Throughout this journal I have been using terms like Calm/Light Air/Light Breeze/Gentle Breeze to describe the wind. These are all pulled from the Beaufort Scale, which describes wind conditions in what I consider meaningful units from 0 (calm) to 12 (hurricane). I can't tell the difference between a 10 mph wind and a 11 mph wind, but I can tell the difference between a Gentle Breeze (Force 3, 8-12 mph) and a Moderate Breeze (Force 4, 13-17 mph)]

Blind track. A couple of weeks ago she ran her first blind track with VST-like challenges, and I realized then that her indications are not nearly as clear and easy to read as they are on vegetated surfaces. The purpose of today's track was to some extent to practice a blind track on non-vegetated surfaces, but more to the point to give Susan, my wife, her first experience as a tracklayer. She did a splendid job. Ilsa and I had more mixed results. We both got around, but it wasn't pretty.

Without giving a detailed play-by-play, two things emerged as requiring further attention.

        1. I have got to sharpen my ability to read her, particularly on hard surfaces. She got one turn dead-on, but I failed to realize what she was doing. 

        2. As hard-surface tracks age, she seems to have some difficulty. She found the turns eventually, but really was struggling. We may drop back our age a bit until she seems more confident under challenging conditions.


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