Training Log Archive: Carolyn

Social Run

Red - Splits

Red Course at Peaceful Valley. Lots of relatively minor mistakes. Navigational bobbles on 1,5,11,13,18. Larger than necessary pauses to carefully consider my location on 3, 4, 12,17 plus the ones with navigation mistakes. Ran more than Buena Vista but less than Chatfield.

From Orienteering Routes

Control pickup on yellow. Started out pretty quickly but slowed down as I picked up more.

Event: RMOC - Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch
 

5k in Monument. 1st half uphill, 2nd half downhill. It was a small race. I stayed in contact with the lead women on the uphill portion and flew by on the downhill. I like running downhill on roads, its what I'm best at, though it trashes my legs so I don't do it often. I relaxed for the last 3/4 mi since I was comfortably ahead and the ball of my right foot was killing me. I'm hoping its plantar fasciitis and not some stress reaction since its not very consistent and it didn't feel it the rest of Saturday or Sunday. Now comes the hard part of training. I can always get down to a comfortable 22 range 5k on very little training and no fast training but I have to actually work to go any faster or longer...

Training day at Peaceful Valley. 1.5h morning session adv long course. 1:05ish adv short on my own in the avernoon. 1.5h night-o in the evening. 90% walking.

ute valley, I had already eaten and had a glass of wine when I got a knock on my door to go running, so I went and didn't feel very good.

Monday night run. Getting faster. Mostly conversational.

Run to and on the bike path. I think I need to run faster. My legs felt like they were spinning uncomfortingly fast when I got faster than 8:30 pace.

Free hot yoga class with Kristina. Kicked my butt.

ute valley

Full moon run at red rock canyon. Pretty speedy up the hills. More wine and food afterward. I'm feeling a bit of cumulative fatigue from 6 days in a row after a few months of once a week, so tomorrow will probably be off.

Monday nights at Trinity Brewing Co. A little faster this week. I've put in some decent training in the past two weeks and I can feel the fitness starting to come back. I just have to be careful about overdoing it and hurting myself- I'm far too prone to running injury because of my stupid biomechanics. I was conversational all except the top parts of the two biggest hills. And had a good religion/politics discussion with one of the old guys. Its always good to hear I'm not the only nonstereotype in the springs. And wine and sweet potato fries afterward.

A very good day after waking up really nauseated and calling in sick and taking a 7 hours nap instead of work. I'm blaming it on putting the guys in charge of food last weekend. Frozen hash browns that had been melting in my car for 24 hours then semi-heated on the camp stove? That could have been it. Or it might not have been it. Either way, I'm planning food next time.

Garden 10 miler is 4 weeks from yesterday. I don't think I have much of a chance at beating my 1:17 from last year on five weeks of good training (with 1500 ft of climb) and even less of a shot at the sub-1:15 goal after last year's race, but 1:25 isn't out of reach I don't think. As long as its not too hot. Last year's upper 40s was perfect.

Red. I walked most of it. It turns out I can actually follow a bearing when I'm walking. I felt pretty much spot on through 7, made a pretty big mistake on my way to 8, a smaller mistake on the way to 9, and I took a "longer than necessary but I knew where I was the whole time" way to 10. I'm pretty happy with it. That's definitely the best my navigation has been. I wish I could run and navigate at the same time, but that will take more practice. I really like the map.

I started very cautiously since I've been blowing the first control pretty consistently lately. Last place on 1 and 2 but not after that. I got caught picking my way through a bunch of downed trees before 5. I gradually started moving faster and was running for 6 and 7. I *really* felt awesome after 7.

I of course go on to butcher 8, but there are no circles in my route. There was plenty of slow going up the reentrant when it seemed like I had gone too far, there were too many rocks on the right, and then there was a bend in the reentrant that caused me to finally figure out my actual location. I figured out where I was and moved on. I made a route choice error on 9. I should have taken the trail down rather than the reentrant which was steep on the sides and filled with tumbleweed. I'm not sure why I started looking at the wrong pile of rocks, that was just stupid, but I realized where I was quickly and didn't walk all the way around the wrong pile of rocks first.

After those two blunders I did some careful navigating on a safe route to 10. I came out of 10 in the wrong direction. It cost me time, but I knew where I was and recovered. I'm very happy with that overall. I'm especially pleased that there are no aimless circles on my track. Now I need to be able to navigate and run at the same time like I did at 6 and 7. That was my best red course ever but it had the most walking time ever too... In theory I should be faster if I run more, not less.

From Orienteering Routes

Event: RMOC - Buena Vista
 

Green Night-O at Buena Vista. Finished!!! Shamelessly followed footprints in the snow and noticed other people around. I did find some completely on my own without major navigational errors.

#9 was really my only panicky one, but I saw people... I was being led by people at 11 and it messed me up I think. I should have ignored them, I was pretty sure we hadn't gone far enough while they all thought they had gone too far up the spur. Confidence would have helped here. I was especially happy with my 5 and 6 where that were my relative fastest splits except the finish and I didn't see people going in or out of them. In fact, I think I led people to them. I just think its hilarious that I had the least "lost" time on this course. Consistently very slow and careful and I had the brightest light.

From Orienteering Routes

Red - Splits

Night-O -- Medium - Splits

ute valley, extra gnarly rocky route

2x little flying ranch loop on the roadie

Social run in the Garden, conversational pace, wine afterward, the usual deal...

Recovery day... just noodled around town on the roadie. Originally planned usafa loop but apparently no civilians in today.

Event: RMOC - Chatfield State Park
 

Red, completely boggled the 1st control by attacking from the wrong bend in the trail. Nothing else quite as bad but there were a distractions and bad route choices in there especially in the last part when I was tired. This time I picked straighter routes and ran less extra distance to stick to trails than I would have last year.

Start-1: My worst control, attacked from the wrong trail bend and went all the way up to the bridge to recover.

1-2: I was a bit thrown after #1 and was slow. I had a few moments of panic wandering through the pricker bushes when I didn't immediately see it.

2-3: I'm happy with it. Fitness was the limiter here. Looks like I was drifting left in my bearing though.

3-4: Happy with navigation, not fitness.

4-5: I had to back track a little after crossing the creek.

5-6: Grumpy at myself for wandering into the fight too far north and without a careful bearing. Had to backtrack and then key off the nick in the opposite side of the streambed. I feel like I did the same thing last year.

6-7: Happy with it. Maybe I could have run faster and cut some climb out by going around rather than over the large knoll but I could see it from the top of the knoll, so I'll stand by my route.

7-8: Happy with it. I tried to sneak around the people searching in the wrong reentrant but they all saw me and followed me to it.

8-9: ok...

9-10: Happy with it.

10-11: Found the control easily enough but my route choice left something to be desired. Followed the indistinct barely there trail along the lake that took me up and down and up and down. I should have stayed farther from the lake. I really started to get tired after this one.

11-12: I was sooooo close to it. I was in the right depression but I didn't go quite far enough south and then I got distracted by people searching too far north. Arg! I have to get better at ignoring other people out there even if I think they are better than me.

12-13: I was tired. Crossed the stream, missed the southern streamlet that I was planning to follow so I continued up the stream for a bit to confirm where I was along the stream and then waded into the fight right to it.

13-14: Route choice... Crossed the stream at a too deep place and swam and got my map all wet (borrowed Tom's to scan since mine is not very legible). Got stuck in some fight on the other side and tried but failed to get across to the trail closer to the lake. Ended up running north on the trail all the way to the road. And I over shot the control. I'm not sure quite what the ideal route choice would have been here. Probably cutting across the marsh...

14-15: I was really feeling tired but I went straight to the control

15-16: Straight to it.

16-finish: Straight to it.

I'm kind of embarrassed by my last place. At least I finished and wasn't last by a lot. I'll like ski-o better until I gain some sort of sense of direction and distance.

I think my strategy of backtracking when I screw up works better than my last year strategy of wandering in circles. 5 and 6 would have turned into nightmares if I hadn't backtracked as soon as I realized I wasn't sure I was going in exactly the right direction.

From Orienteering Routes

Red - Splits

Trails in ute valley. I nearly fell asleep at work today, where did my energy go?

social run at garden of the gods

Training at White Ranch. Very good for me.