Training Log Archive: expresso

Cloudy, cooler & breezy so I turned around pretty soon to go get my windbreaker. Lonely ride after such a fun weekend with so many good folks. Got to thinking about the colossal amount of work that goes into an a-meet. Although I never took meets to which I traveled for granted, now I certainly never will. I thought through the jobs performed by each the volunteers and was amazed at how much work so many had done. But my "hat comes off" furthest for Michael Collins for his yeoman's effort over the prior months as well as the whole meet day weekend. Thanks Michael... just don't get in front of me again when I am late for my start... ;-)

Up early and down to the lobby for coffee. Got a chance to talk to Bill S. from Cincinnati. We joined Mike M. for the walk to Denny's where we sat with Al N. from Michigan. Good to get to know new folks and hear about Mike's success with orienteering in schools. Maybe I should reallocate some of my CAOC volunteer time to that. A thought...

Warmup run. Feeling a bit pressured trying to free up for an opportunity to finally do some enjoyable orienteering this weekend. It was great when Jill arrived to take on the registration duties. She did a super job. Thanks hon !!

Big Blues Ramble - long course. Glad I had the chance to run on this new map. I always liked this area and am so glad that Michael worked so hard to get this map rechecked.
Barely got to the call-up in time and Joseph and Katie were there waiting to go out on their white course. I realized that I'd forgotten their punch cards all the way back in the car. Arrrggghh!! The only option was to run back and so I did. Although I was winded when I returned, Joseph was only two minutes late for his start and I was a minute late for mine. Whew. Lucky that I didn't have too much to think about to control one (other than checking a control that I knew was not mine). Control 2 is when the morning stress (and a brief conversation with Joseph there in the woods) distracted me enough to make a dumb parallel error. 'nuf said. I got things back on track and got through some easy controls but wish now that I had taken the road as part of my route choice to 7 and back to 12. I was careful going to 9 but wasted a good amount of time getting there. I think I had Finland marshes still in my brain when I chose to plow through a Chicago swamp to 11. I got caught in 10 foot tall reeds that yielded for the first 20 feet to suck me in and then thickened to an impenetrable wall and flanked me from the sides. I battled them as hard as I could but finally retreated north to go around. Whew was I tired!! and I had picked up a full layer of burrs. I stumbled through the last few controls.
Not a super race for me technically but the engine ran pretty well.

Although most all of it was fun, the absolute best part of the weekend was sitting on the grass while Joseph and Katie were jumping around me trying to catch leaves blown down from the trees. There was no residual stress, my run was done and I was digesting a fine beer. I hope I never forget this wonderful afternoon.

Event: Big Blues Ramble 2007
 

Up early and out to meet site to help set up and get registration going. A couple of Swedes on a short visit to Chicago were jogging through the FP and saw a control and found us. Chris wanted to register so we obliged and he ended with great time both days. He seemed genuinely happy to be included (and with his runs). This is one of the parts of being a host that is very rewarding.

Jogging around before the sprint. What gorgeous weather.

Fun little sprint. I would like to have made some different route choices and been more careful with my bearing to 7. Oh well, I'm almost top 10 in the 2008 SS rankings though.

After packing up Busse and running an errand in Oak Park, I headed for the meet hotel and had just enough time to get cleaned up and head out to the Kerry Piper for our meet dinner. Shaw and I put together poster-sized maps of the day's courses and then folks started to arrive. It was good to get a chance to meet new folks talk & laugh with the CAOC gang. I really enjoyed myself.

Sprint - Splits

First time in a spin class. Next time I will bring my shoes because there are SPD clips. This was pretty hard for 5:15 a.m. Although I am an early riser, I usually leave my interval workouts until after cocktail hour.
Good variety & tunes. I think I could become a regular to these.
Hard to log this because it varied a lot in the high intensity zones. A perfect use of the mixed intensity AP feature.

Another round of this. Much easier on the tib. ants. after loosening-up in the spin class. No aquasocks today because my old one are delaminating. Need the traction though; maybe I'll try my scuba booties next time. Jury is still out on the value of these workouts.

Easy swim to warmdown after prior stuff. Worked a little on technique and did some pwp5.

Spent the afternoon and evening sitting around the lobby of the meet hotel talking to folks and handing out packets. Enjoyed the conversations but had to head home right before they all went out to dinner.

Extended circuit. Still a weakling.

Decided to try this for the first time. It's a workout for the calves and tib anteriors. I tried all sorts of paces and strides to see what works. Nothing felt like running be I'm sure it has some cross-training and strength benefit. I'll try to keep it up and increase my workout over time.

Easy swim (& some pwp). Felt better and smoother than Monday.