Training Log Archive: Anvil

Event: US Sprint/Middle/Long Championships
 

US Middle Champs - Moses Lake Sand Dunes.
One of those races where I thought I was having a really good run, then get back and discover it wasn't that good.
Winner did 34, big pack from 4th on 38 to me at 13th.
As I said yesterday, you needed to be straight and fast - and since the area was quite easy any mistakes are amplified. They were:
#1, stopped dead half way when it didn't look like I expected, then checked #6 just in case, then stood at the top of the spur when it was down the side (luckily Carol ran into it below me which saved me freaking out and running out of the circle and wasting more time) - 45 secs
#2, short leg, overran it - 30 secs
#7, more hesitation, the green to the north and east of the control wasn't obvious on the ground and I really had to force myself to continue into the circle - 45 secs
#17, exit 16 badly, stop, orient, take a few steps back to check the precious control - 30 secs
#21, went way off the line for no good reason, 1 minute
#22, another bad route, the north route was smoother and faster. 30 secs

So nothing major, but they all add up. It was also pushing 30 degrees (or whatever 85 is), it's funny, I never consciously notice the heat, but my HR was way higher than usual for that pace and I felt slow.
Tomorrow will be interesting, 16km on another all yellow map and same forecast!

C • map and route 2

Blue Middle - Splits

Model event for US Champs.
Interesting terrain. Totally open, broad, basic but repetetive sand dune shapes. Only time you need to go offline is around the green, blue or steep sloped.
Race will be won by who can keep the straightest lines and stay fast in the soft sand and heat. Should be fun!

C • Harden 2

Early (for me) intervals with Mathias and Thomas
15 mins out and back to the track and then 4x400 at half marathon pace (the boys are doing the Vancouver half on Sunday), with 200m jog between. Well at least in theory, Thomas and I were lazy and just walked across the astroturf...
We were all pretty slow to get going, splits for me were 93, 93, 85, 85. Honestly don't think I had gone much faster after last night.
I thought we were gonna do 8x400 and was gonna bail, so I'm glad we piked at that point - could feel my stitch was going to act up again.

WET at Princess Park.
Ripper course set by Louise. Mass start, common first loop, then two smaller split loops of control picking - 26 controls in 2.5km.
Semi banter start with some almost sprinting. Thomas and I picked the best route to #1 and were leading until some comedic fence jumping at #2 (I jumped 2 fences to save myself jumping 1 later, Thomas jumped one about 5 metres away from an opening) and Mathias was back on the tail, then Magnus not soon after due to some shoddy exit direction on the little pick on 3-7.
Was behind Thomas, Magnus and Mathias at the end of the this loop, but they were all still in sight.
Unfortunately, I suck hard at control picking and it showed. Ran hard to catch Mangus, but forgot about the whole 'navigate to a control' part of orienteering and well overran #1 of the first loop.
Was pretty much over then, I suddenly remembered how heavy my legs felt and plodded my way round the rest. About 5 mins down on Thomas at the end.
Fun course and format, head to head racing does indeed rule.

Got home to some interesting news, watch this space.

C • Nice 3

Tuesday Pain Run. I was perversely looking forward to this, as I hadn't experienced much pain on Tuesdays in the last couple of weeks.
Unfortunately my body came down with a short case of Ryanitis and I was dropped like a stone after an insipid 3ks.
First the stitch I've been getting returned, then my hamstrings croaked and towards the end my quaddies threatened to kick the bucket.
On the upside, it was a nice warm evening to run around the Sea Wall, so can't complain about that - especially when I read reports of how cold it is in Australia right now :P
I may have run further than that, stopped the watch at one point to stretch my stitch out and forgot to restart it for a good long while.

Loosener round the streets with Thomas and Mathias.
Lots of good discussion. I was educated on the history of attackpoint, including the great crash of 2002 and other secrets. I educated the boys on the story of Australia's more verbose attackpoint troggers and how 98% of Australians post in the comments is not serious :) Education all round!
As for the run, legs felt decent, but HR was a little higher than I'd like for the pace. Streets at night are fun though, especially with scary animal eyes.

Loop 4
Fully in the dark - not quite the experience of Jukola, but the best I was gonna get being on the other side of the world!
Worst loop, the Indian I'd had for dinner was still sitting pretty heavy in my belly and I got a stitch on the long section along the road out the back.

Loop 5.
Fastest first km split of the event! Thought I might go sub 15 on this one cause I felt really good, but no, 15:30 yet again!

Loop 6
Mathias had cracked earlier and did an over 16 lap, so we didn't need to keep the pace up any more (the deadline for the 'most laps from 10pm-5am' wins free pancakes had passed!)
This still hurt. I quit after this one!
We did win the free pancakes though, which was all that mattered.