Training Log Archive: PG

Event: US Long Course Champs
 

Sprint at Fair Hill, MD, start of DVOA's Long O' weekend. Nice course by Wyatt, lots of fun, ran clean and as fast as my little legs will carry me these days. Best tine was 13:05 by Clem.

C • Padding your workout log 6

Warm-up.

Chapel Sprint - Splits

No training today, but had the great pleasure to visit one of the seven wonders of the orienteering world, the DeWeese bridge.

One certainly hopes and expects that the O' map of the DeWeese homestead will be expanded before long to cover this fine edifice.

As the Michelin guides say, a visit to this bridge is "worth a detour."

With Phil on Mt. Toby. With both of us focusing (even more than ever) on the psychological ramifications of every move, I can report the following:

1. Immediately after announcing on the first long uphill that we are running faster than "talking pace," which I interpreted to mean too fast, Phil shuts up and increases the pace. I do my best to keep the gap from getting more than 20 yards. He seems quite pleased, though he does complain about the basic unfairness of the fact that I can run downhill, especially downhill through crap, faster than he can, so any lead he may have going up just isn't going to last. With which, I feel quite pleased.

2. I keep my head in front on the other two climbs, though it is clearly a case of the pace being set by the person behind. I will push hard enough to keep a few yards lead. If I hear him falling back I can ease up, but if he is getting closer, then I have to keep picking up the pace. I have no choice.

3. We opt out of one last climb and come back along Rt. 47, motoring pretty well. With a half mile to go I decide to take it a bit slower, and say as much. Phil rejects the idea of a social jog in and picks up the pace, finishing strong. I guess he had no choise.

In all, a relatively non-competitive run.... :-)

C • training pace 2

Two-silo loop -- up along the river then a couple of small hills and then back. Pushing the pace a little, and legs felt it (and will probably feel it tomorrow).

5 mile race in Hatfield, mostly flat, total climb about 80'. Nice day for racing, low 50s, no wind, light drizzle.

Did the best I could. Aerobicly I was just about right (had enough left to finish without fading, but no more), but the legs were hurting, mainly the quads. Don't know what I'm not doing right, they have been bothering me for a while now, whereas the usual bugaboos (hamstrings, caves, achilles) have been behaving themselves.

Time was a little better than expected. Ran a 5-miler in Amherst in late April in 33:45 when I was in better shape (and 6 months younger!), but it was a much hillier course. So I was hoping for under 35 for sure and maybe under 34, so the 33:25 was a nice surprise. But I worked hard for it, including having a guy closing on me in the last couple hundred yards, and my mind was conceding that he would pass me while my legs were picking up the pace. And he got closer and I picked it up some more and he got real close and it was an all-out sprint for the last 30 yards and I got him by about 6 inches. We are silly sometimes.

Splits: 6:31, 6:50 (slightly up), 6:50, 6:39 (slightly down), 6:35 (flat, except for 3 speed bumps...). Ran the race once before, 10 years ago, in 30:50. Best ever for 5 miles is about 29:30.

Before and after.

M&M trail south of Rt. 202 (close to where I was yesterday, up and down along the ridge crest). Didn't have much energy so cut it short.