Training Log Archive: expresso

Event: US Sprint & UltraLong champs
 

US Sprint Championship - Mendon Ponds Park, Rochester, NY
Had an early start for this so I got out on the model course early to get my head into the mapping style and small scale. Race "arena" was a small field with the start, finish, spectator control and an occasional runner crossing at the top of the hill. Very well designed and fun area and course.
My run was good and clean. I particularly enjoyed the first few controls through some nice white woods. Other than drifting right on 3 a bit the run was very clean and fast through 9. Bit confused by the bushes and slow to 10 and then took a roundabout way to 11 that was safe but a bit slow. 14 was my downfall, although I executed the route pretty well, it was the worst of 3 route choices (straight). I had not had any problems moving through the woods yet so I thought I could power through the short distance or maybe find a beaten track (no such luck). Rest were fine but I was really tiring at the end and a cadetette dusted me in the chute.
Results... were pretty good. I was fourth among M40-44 runners (beaten by Eugene, Tom C. & Sergiy G.) but with one Canuck and two running up with the elites, I defaulted in for the gold medal. I look at it as a US bronze and was pleased with my run.

Middle - Mendon Ponds Park, Rochester, NY
I was on this map about a year ago and remember some big hills and technical areas. I was looking forward to the nav challenge but did not want to kill myself on the hills in advance of tomorrow's ultra-long. I approached the race with a resolution to stay off the gas and get into the map. Things were off even before the start as I forgot my magnifier which I needed to read the detail. I could have run back to car but didn't want a panic session so I decided to just go.
Things got even worse as I missed seeing the mapped stream to 1 and drifted left and luckily recovered on rootstock pair. Straight to 2 and I spotted the control right beyond a depression with (I thought) a bit of drying mud at the bottom so I decided to go through it at high speed. Nope!! It was a 6+ foot deep pool of "quickmud" and in an instant I was up to my armpits in stagnant goo; just awful !! I slowly dragged myself out and looked like the "swamp thing" with decomposing leaves and mud hanging off me. I trudged over to punch the control with heavy, mucky feet and then shambled off for the next point considering whether I should just bag the run only 2 minutes into it. But I didn't and was lackluster through 6, bad 7 and then major boom on 10 when I did not see the second trail and made a parallel error. That was it, I was already tired from dragging around the extra 5 pounds of water & mud and my run was non-competitive so it was time to slow down and walk to focus on nav and conserve energy for tomorrow. It was not fun to let people run by me but decent nav practice and would hopefully pay off tomorrow. Results are not relevant.

Warmup/down around the day's races.

Sprint: Red - Splits

Middle: Red X - Splits

Crazy morning getting everything done and generally settled so I could enjoy the weekend. Quick plane flight to Buffalo where I met Charlie & Maricel. Drove to Henrietta (Rochester), got an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday (yum!!) and then browsed through a sporting goods store. Wound down the evening in a very sedentary mode.

Adler Lap with tempo stretches of about 1.1 and then 1 mile.
Tempo Splits: 7:40, 6:57
Good to work through a motivation low and push this.

Carmel Lap. Legs ready for more intensity, maybe tomorrow.

Easy ride through LF to 41 & back. Perfect weather. Takin' it easy this week.

CAOC Meet - Arie Crown Sprint #1
These courses were more like short middles than sprints. They were too long and the terrain was more complex through thicker woods than a typical sprint. Nevertheless, they were very good courses set by Carl.
I was shaky on three controls and that knocked me way out of contention on this sprint. I did push it through the woods and ran hard despite the tough humidity. I need more time on maps and soon.

CAOC Meet - Arie Crown Sprint #2
Another good short middle course. No big booms but lots of little bobbles. Ran well but much to improve.

Ran the orange course for practice. Took a few sub-optimal routes off trail to get more nav practice. Ok, but had seen some of the controls in the earlier sprints. Not nothing nav, I guess.

15 minutes before sprint 1.
5 minutes between sprints.
15 minutes running around to fetch controls & warm down.