Training Log Archive: j-man

Gym was crowded and I was in a bit of a rush.

Just upper body--no legs.

Still signs of improvement. First 40 minute row in a while. 10115 meters (equivalent to 39:32 10K).

Strength was lacking but again endurance looked good. Averaged 158.6 splits and brought the average down from 2:00, except for one uptick around 10 minutes.

Strokes were 22 to 26 (at the end.) Legs did feel a little tired and couldn't pull any harder than 1:56.

No abs or stretching.

Warmup and warmdown. Warmdown with Balter.

The Most Important Race of the Year, aka US Relay Champs.

To me, this is the most important race of the year and has been for some time, basically since the defining moment in 1999. Thanks to being a part of the best club in the country, I've been privileged to share in a tradition of success.

DVOA's results since 2000 are impressive, IMHO. We have won 1 out of 5 medals awarded at the relay champs; have medalled every year except 1 in the 4 point category, twice in 12 and 3 times in 8. We have 4 golds, 5 silvers and 3 bronzes.

With respect to the 4 point team--sometimes is showcases youth; this year we had a veteran flavor. Ironically, the team featured 2 former opponents, now happily assimilated, and one very long-standing DVOA member who fought for us even while outside our borders.

For me personally, this was my 4th gold in the open or 4 point category, and my 5th or 6th including junior categories. It just goes to show the importance of a team effort because I have enjoyed nothing close to that level of individual success.

Anyway, the race was good. Not my finest performance, but I am quite satisfied. I joked with Wyatt that if he gave me a 5 minute lead, I would be fine--knowing that against HVO, a 5 minute lead would be a tremendous gift. Well, he outdid himself and delivered even better.

Actually, when I went out, I had no idea how much of a lead there was, but knew there was something good, because Sergei hadn't done the last loop--a couple minutes worth. So, I knew I had a cushion.

I promised Coach Balter I would have a plan for every control, and I almost did. Unfortunately, I almost blew up on the 2nd control, despite being careful and following my plan. I made a (ex post) stupid parallel error attacking the control and got into an almost panicked state before finally gathering my wits and finding the control. I still don't know how I screwed it up, but there would have been a simple heuristic to prevent what I did... anyway, from there, I buckled down and got methodical.

Things were smooth, more or less, until the map exchange, where I saw feet and understood I had already lost 2 minutes. Although, that was kind of good news because I thought I would be hard pressed to lose another 4 over another 1.5 K.

Nonetheless, I lost some time on the boulder control up the hill--really the only time I lost contact mid-leg. But, I figured things out, and that was basically it.

So, I was able to bang out the rest. I orienteered pretty well--most controls were spot on, and ran hard but not too hard.

Event: Sprint Series Final & US Relay Champs
 

Because we spent 1:15 trying to cross the GW, I didn't do a lot of warmup or warmdown--this is probably it.

SS Finals race #1.

Took this one aggressively, but to my detriment.

Got stung by a bee at 1 which caused some acceleration. Hit the ground hard leaving 2 and had to gather myself.

Lost probably 2 minutes all told--3 x 30 and change here and there.

SS Finals course 2.

A different flavor race. Felt more like normal orienteering. Thought I was running as hard as the first one, but honestly probably slacked a bit. I also thought I orienteered more cleanly, but in retrospect, not so sure. About 1:30 in errors.

SS Finals Course 3.

Decided to run this one easy as agreed with Greg. Also, thought Vadim was going to run easy--but they both apparently were racing.

I enjoyed myself with a mixed effort race. Very clean and very controlled. Much better orienteering than in the first two.

In retrospect, I could have run it harder or accelerated at the end, but I think discipline is important.

No abs or stretching.

Sprint A Course 3 (R/B) - Splits

Sprint B Course 3 (R/B) - Splits

Very easy run before leaving for Vadim's.

3 loops of the fields.

Warmup/down before and after.

TNT. By myself. Eric went to Tyler. We were it.

Workout was 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400.

Recovery was basically a jogging lap in 2 and a little hanging out at the start line.

Hit my target except on the 800s which were 5 seconds slow. For better or worse, I was consistent.

114/300
245/300
414/300
245/300
114/300

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1348341

Supposed to be an easy run for an hour. But, in the interest of a proper taper, I did another one. And I didn't run easy.

Ran out of runway at the turnaround point and had to circle. Went further than I have before.

Celebrated finishing with a 30 second cooldown and a large drink of lemonade flavored Gookinaid--the official drink of DVOA teams everywhere.

Did the CAIA exam today and thus had the end of the afternoon free. It is quite a delight to be able to run in the afternoon.

Warmup and warmdown. 11 minutes before and 16 after.

TNT. Hill intervals. By myself. To keep the dream alive.

Dark and tough.

121 (18)/136 (82)
124 (25)/141 (89)
122 (48)/142 (40)
121 (57)/144 (34)
120 (61)/147 (60)
120 (90)/151 (53)
121 (47)/157 (97)
122 (63)/201 (52)
122 (71)/204 (89)
120 (22)/200 (45)

Every uphill faster than last week.