Training Log Archive: ebuckley

Warmup on a short course at West Tyson (1:10).

Tyson Test Loop (1:10). Not sure if any useful information was gleaned as I've already been in the woods a few times and my legs were off from yesterday. Still, the time would indicate that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with technique or fitness - just a lot of polishing to do.

C • US Park Service relations 12

Setting the controls for Parkpalooza at the Arch (1:3). Yaya came along and "helped."

Control pickup. Left Yaya back at the pond to save time. Didn't quite work ou that way because she got herself soaked and I had to spend time cleaning her up. Still caught the train in time to meet Kate and get out to New Town for the evening race.

Parkpalooza was a modest success. 148 people stopped at the tent. About half that went out on the course. About half those did the entire course. More importantly, we've built a bridge with the National Park Service. Prospects are very good for using the venue for meets in the future.

C • Arch map? 4

Warmup. No water provided at the start which sucked since I hadn't brought any. I don't think it affected my performance, but it's just a silly detail to overlook.

Very lame effort at the New Town 5K. Only 20 seconds slower than last year and still good enough to repeat winning M40, but the difference in the two races couldn't be more pronounced. Last year I was coming back from surgery and won by running one of my best tactical races ever. This year I had good legs but ran a completely boneheaded race. Started a bit too hard, backed way off to go through the first mile in 6:06 and then forgot to get back on the gas once I recovered. It felt like I was going OK, but I just haven't been training pace lately. Second mile was a rather embarassing 6:21. That split jolted me awake and knocked out mile 3 in 5:50, so the legs were clearly up for a better run. I guess I need to resume my track work if I care about running well in road races.

Mapping the Arch grounds. I don't usually wait until 16 hours before an event to begin field checking, but I was pretty sure the engineering base map had given me what I needed. Fortunately, things were even better than I had hoped - the southern section had seen some construction since the engineering map was last updated, but what I got off the aerials was quite adequate so only minimal updates.

Finally got back on the wagon with respect to non-car commuting. In to work via bus and link.

Back from work, taking the bus to the grocery store. Cauliflower on sale for $1.50 a head! Had florets on the list, but the full head was too much of a deal to resist. Problem was that it pretty much filled up my pack, so I had to hand carry the pork chops. Since they were the thin-sliced variety, I had to hold them out level so they didn't bunch up in the shrink-wrapped tray. Running through the burbs carrying pork chops like a waiter - might be a new PR for dorkiness (and that bar is already pretty high). The fact that there were a bunch of skateboard punks all slackered-out in the parking lot helped drive the point home.

C • think that might be a new O... 1

My first time biking at Quail Ridge. A bit of a haul out there for just a few miles of tame single track. Most of it is pretty basic hard pack. The eastern side is more technical, but it's all really loose stone which is my least favorite surface. I probably won't make the trip again just to ride there, but might stop in on the way to/from Cuivre River.

That said, it is a nice park and if you include the paved path, the trail network is dense enough that you can ride things in different orders so it doesn't feel like you're just doing the same thing over and over again. Plus, a hundred minutes spinning on easy terrain was pretty much exactly what my legs needed today. So fine!

5x400@88 200R. Yesterday's run didn't leave much room for a dial in (tomorrow would put it right in the recovery trough and any later would be righton top of the race). The scheduling was further complicated by the fact that I was up all night coding a silly little VBA app (yuck!) that for some reason absolutely had to be done by today. Anyway, I did manage to get over to the track after dinner, 26 hours after a stiff tempo run and 38 hours since sleeping to knock out some hot laps. Felt OK (although I may think otherwise after 3K at that pace), and when the first five were right on target, I decided I'd done enough.

Lower lot to the tracks in 24 minutes to warmup and a short warmdown on the connector trail.

Figured yesterday's excess might serve as a sort of carbo load and with a full 5 days to recover before New Town (it's an evening start), I might as well take advantage of it.

PR back from the tracks to the Tyson trailhead on the Chubb. Not sure what my old best was, but I'm quite sure it didn't start with "23:". Not an all-out effort, but pretty close. Haven't pushed like that in a while and the effort felt good.