Training Log Archive: ebuckley

Warmup (15 min - not enough, but I wanted to be home for dinner by 6) and warmdown.

Rockwoods Test Loop (1:15). Ran as well as I ever have, but Rockwoods has just gotten too thick along the streams to match my PR from 5 years ago (32:24). That's OK, I was considering retiring this version of the Test Loop in favor of one that used the trim controls so I wouldn't have to keep re-taping it. I'll take one more stab at a PR in December or January.

C • tape 5

Test loop - Splits

Hanging all the controls for the SLOC meet at St. Francios (1:15). Easier than even my usual easy pace because, this being St. F, I was taking extra care to make sure I was putting stuff in the right place (map is not great and the terrain is subtle). Glad I did because it would have been a real shame to spoil the great battle on the Prologue & Chase. David Frei overcame a nearly 3-minute deficit to Andy Komm on the chase and then the two of them sprinted it in at the finish. I had to stand off to the side to see who would get the lean at the line, and even from that vantage point was just barely good enough to determine that David did get it by an inch or two.

Control pickup at a somewhat better clip.

Hill training at Greensfelder (1:15). Four uphill legs of 3-4 minutes run at redline connected by some control picking for about 10 minutes recovery between each. Uphill legs were technically trivial (basically run to the top of the hill), which was good since my brain wasn't working too well at that level of effort. Includes warmup/dn on the map.

Got to the park at 7:00AM and found things somewhat colder and much darker than I expected. I didn't have a headlamp so I had to wait a few minutes for it to be light enough to set out on the trail for my warmup. By 7:15, I could read the map OK.

From work to the Link (12 min) and then running from the park to where Kate and Baby-O were baby sitting for a friend.

Control picking intervals at Willmore (1:5). 4x1000@4:05-4:15 2:00R. Includes 20 minutes of jogging on the map from the Link station to the start of the first picking course.

In to work. Started at 5:45 and got hit by a bunch of lights. Haven't yet found the limits of my thermos - coffee was still hot after an hour in the pack at 41 degrees. Can't say so much for my hands. I really need to find my full-fingered gloves.

Back from work. Light rain and somewhat cold, but not really unpleasant until it got dark. Then I just wanted to be home.

But I wasn't about to bust my streak this late into the month so I did a bike-O on the UMSL campus (1:5). Map.

With legs recovering from yesterday, I did a long control picking session at Meremac (1:15). Focused on staying clean, which I did, except for the times when I didn't.

At 4:30AM it was still raining so I figured I'd run in today which would both get in the long run I missed yesterday and also avoid riding in 45-degree rain. By the time I rounded up an assortment of clothes appropriate for running in cold rain, the rain had stopped and the temp had risen to a balmy 50F. So, I spent the first few miles of the run taking off all that stuff and putting it in my pack.

Felt none too zippy, but my usual long pace was fine. Still, the 34-mile round trip plus O-practice seemed a bit excessive, so I only went as far as Clayton, where I picked up the MetroLink.

But not before getting in my daily O by running a sprint course at Shaw (1:3). It was just light enough that I could read the map without a headlamp. Map is way out of date, but it was still fun. The finish circle was conveniently across the street from the Link station.

Got off the Link at Grand and wound through SLU to get the total time up over 2 hours (not counting the 20-minute train ride) to make it officially a long run.

Back home. A bit pokey, but it did make for a 50K day, so pace was not a paramount concern.