Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

brilliant day for running at Hickory Run DVOA meet. Legs felt great, and course was really fun to run. beginning loop was pretty easy and then orienteering got more difficult. Two long legs ( 11 and 14) in the design were really very interesting and gave a nice change in tempo.

had a lot of bobbles at the end, so that 15, 16, 18, 19, 21 were all mistakes of various degrees. I think this was from working hard at the beginning and just plain getting tired near the end of the course. breaking an hour would have been nice and I think doable with a bit more concentration at the end.

Super pleased to spend the weekend visiting DVOA with Clem.

C • Nice Job 7

to and from the lab to inject my rats. discovered that the leak in my tire was from the patch not fully sealing the hole. Filled a sink with water and immersed the tube to see little bubbles streaming out from the sides of the patch. Maybe there is a technique for patching a hole that is located along the seam of the tube? The seal is good everywhere except where the seam bumps up. Just put in a new tube instead.

C • tube 4

Blue - Splits

First exercise of the weekend that I was mentally referring to as the PA mini training camp :) Woke up pretty early to meet Clem, he picked me up and he drove us down to Hickory Run to start the festivities.

Cruising around Hickory Run with Clem and Wyatt. Clem was streamering for the DVOA fall training weekend night-o.... I was tagging along behind for the ride. Wyatt found us in the forest as he was going out for a run and thus our group was formed.

Clem would run ( rather quickly, I will point out) to a location and hang a streamer. We would need to confirm that we agreed on the location ( Wyatt and I were right on almost all the time, Clem was right on every bag). We covered quite a bit of ground and probably took more than an hour to do so but I wasn't really paying attention.

felt great to stretch the legs after being in the car and especially after Thursday's 5 mile race. Didn't cool down after that race and it was certainly a mistake.

After Hickory Run we stopped at the WaWa to get beverages. I purchased a half gallon of chocolate milk which I then drank on the way to Sandy's place. She had set up some sprints and let us loose on them.

pretty fast running, almost all on trails. looking for little white stakes in the ground with pink streamers... sometimes hard to see. too much chocolate milk plus being tired in the legs and tired in the sleepy sense meant that I was feeling a bit off as I started the first sprint. mostly okay but my HR was way high and lost some time not finding the marker at control 5. Clem was catching me and if the course had been much longer he might have actually passed me. Felt much better after the first sprint was over... maybe had worked off some of the excess chocolate milk.

The second shorter sprint. I went out first again on this one and was really cruising. Way fun to feel in charge and feel fast. Got a bit cocky and cut the corner from 5-6 didn't stay on my compass very well and the hill side pushed me down onto the wrong section of trail. Ended up running the wrong way for a few seconds before I realized that I had way overshot and then I had to come back ( same thing happened to Clem). maybe not an optimal route to 8 as Sandy says that she expected us to go left and stay low instead of cutting up and over the hill.

after the sprint there were black berries to graze on as we walked back to the car. Back at Sandy's place we showered, made some excellent dinner, had some excellent wine and conversation and finally went to bed. Thanks to Sandy for being a swell host and course designer.

What heinously awful weather. I had a tough time convincing my body to wake up and when it was pouring out I had a tough time convincing my body to run to work. Went out after work with people from the lab so I didn't run home... very glad in the end that I did run and just wish that I had gotten the early start that I had intended.

Running in the morning is very rewarding. it really sets me up for success because I feel very accomplished already and so I have a very positive approach to work and end up accomplishing a lot there too.

sigh, didn't fix my tire that well last night after all :) was flat again when I got up in the morning....possible that I lack the necessary patch skills, or that the patches I bought are crummy. I so didn't want to deal with it so I just ran to work instead. It takes longer but if you don't care when you get there, running is a very pleasant way to travel.

legs felt fine.... everything else is getting very tired, but I think I'm adjusting to less sleep, because not as tired as I was afraid that I'd be.

Some of the girls from work were talking about this big road race out in Weston. When I heard about it I thought that it might be a good chance to get some fast running in because I always run better with other people around.

It started at 7pm, but I was supposed to get there by 6:30 for day of entry. the website I was looking at had the wrong street address for the school but I phoned Coach for local knowledge and made it just in time to give them my 25$, and sneak up to the front of the pack on the starting line.

It really was a big road race, 1330 people or so. I was very hyped up and felt great out of the gate but was surprised to see that I was pretty near the front of the pack. I realized why when I came through the first mile in 5:06 (slightly downhill?) so I needed to ease up a bit and so for the next 2 miles or so I had a string of people pass me, mostly from the BAA track club. One of the last people to pass me was a CSU runner Terry and he remained in my sights the whole race but I didn't quite catch up ever.

The race seemed to go by really quickly... I was running mostly by myself until the last mile when I tried hard to push and catch the few people still ahead of me. My goal was under 28:30, so I'm pleased with 27:30. 22nd overall.

there was a festival atmosphere surrounding the meet, but I wasn't prepared for the weather so I chatted with some friends for a few minutes and then just drove home and gave the rest of the meet a miss ( food, vendors etc).

C • Terry 3

to and from work. Biking home late after getting Taiwanese food and ice cream. Got another flat tire, found the piece of glass impaled in the tire and got out the patch kit. Bad luck or bad roads to ride on?

C • often 3

Biking to work, from work up to Arlington for CSU training and then back home from Menotomy Rocks. Very wet, hate the gritty feeling of road grime that gets spat up and covers everything. Pretty chilly on the way home so I tried to work hard to keep warm. wore my heart rate monitor on the way back too... doesn't get nearly as high as even a pretty relaxed jog... about 145. for comparison, while orienteering in CT I was 165 while fresh and 155 when I got tired.

Clem set an awesome training that was, probably because of the weather, under-attended. He printed out 6 little loops (~1km each) with 2 or 3 controls and we had a little one-man relay with those courses.

Brendan rolled his ankle early on but Audun and I finished all 6.

distances seem a little funny, but if Clem's calculations are correct it was 7.2 km straight line. when you run hard being confident that you are in the right spot is hard, but I managed to find all the controls with only minimal fuss. HR up to 194 at the end of the first map and 186 at the end of the last one.

Splits below.

Course E (5:26) 1.2 k
1) 2:12
2) 1:48
F) 1:26
Course F (6:03) 1.2 k
1) 1:39
2) 1:00
3) 2:15
F) 1:09
Course A (5:00) 1.0 k
1) 2:16
2) 1:38
F) 1:06
Course B (5:14) 1.3 k
1) 2:33
2) 0:55
F) 1:46
Course C (6:03) 1.5 k
1) 2:44
2) 2:09
F) 1:10
Course D (4:23) 1.0 k
1) 0:36
2) 1:22
3) 1:15
F) 1:10

C • Sounds like a great workout... 4

to and from work.

Monday is hills day! tried something different today. legs were fine but my mind was rebelling at the idea of running up so many hills. So I compromised. told myself I would do just 4 reps, but take more rest and try to get all 4 under 2 minutes.

felt great, especially after the first couple of times looked so nice. clear that more rest is important and probably doing fewer reps is good for motivation. Don't want to dread this workout, since it is the most important aspect of my physical training right now ( that is to say, my hill climbing feels like my weakest link). HR was AVG 173 on the climbs and MAX 186 ( 189 for the last one). Pushing hard.

times:
10:30 to the base of the hill
1:54
--4:48
1:52
--5:09
1:56
--5:45
1:56
18:12 back to the lab after the last hill