Training Log Archive: possum

Went to the doctor this afternoon, and he prescribed pain meds, more ice and compression, and set me up for a physical therapy evaluation tomorrow.

C • Injury 2

This was a very bad day. I messed up on 2--looking on the wrong side of the trail. After that, I did well until I got to 7. It was located in a pit, with a large rock monolith on one side, and a large log on the diagonal across. I climbed over the log and dropped to the ground and did really bad things to my left knee. Since I don't have to be manly, I made a distressing sound which freaked out several other people near there., I sat for a while, pushed the kneecap back in placer, and got up and punched the control, and managed to somehow get out of the pit. Then I walked very slowly, taking baby steps because my knee was hurting a lot, to controls 8 and 9. I continued on to 10, but since it was very unstable and I could feel it trying to fall out again, I decided to quit and walk back to the finish. I didn't want to mess up the cartilage, or have the embarrassment of having to have others bring me in. So I walked over the spur very slowly, got on the road and walked into the finish.

On the way home, I put both knee braces I had been wearing on the one knee, then iced it down after a MacDonald's stop. We had a ten hour ride home, so it was mostly immobilized, but it was difficult to walk when I would get out of the car.

This afternoon I see the sports doctor.

Unfortunately, this accident overshadowed the good times we had, and the courses and venue which were really challenging, but lots of fun,.

Middle - 4 Brown 70+ - Splits

Long National Champs at Carter Caves, Kentucky. I was really conservative in going from 1 to 2, and, although I spiked the control I really ate up time in going the long way around on the trails. The two big mistakes were on controls 4 and 5. On control 4, I was in the exact right place, except for the contours. I was too low on a stair step type hill where it was difficult to see down or up. After going back and forth several times (isn't doing the same wrong thing over and over and expecting a different result the definition of insanity?) I finally went straight up the hill right into the control.

On number 5 I should have gone down the hill and hit the trail, but I went east cross-country. The problem was getting across this huge reentrant, which caused me to go too far south where I hit a different trail than I thought I was on. So I ran back and forth on it trying to go in the right direction. I finally figured out where I was, and made a plan to go to 5. This worked well, and no other problems with the rest of the course.

This course took us under the road and a huge rock bridge. We followed the trail across two creek crossings right into the finish. This last section was really spectacular. I had a terrible time on the clock, but I learned a lot, and I did hang in there and finish the course.

Long - 4 Brown 70+ - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XIX - U.S. Individual Champs - Sprint-Middle-Long
 

Walked around the model course at Carter Caves, Kentucky. After finding the five controls on the model, walked around the model area to see how things were mapped, what constituted light and medium green, etc., and saw one really big monolith, and a cave (outside only).

National Championships Sprint run at Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky. No problems with reading the map, but two of my route choices could have been much better. Going to 8, I made a mistake going to the right and had to go way around--going left would have been a lot better. Same at number 11--I should have gone NW then east, instead I had to run around an uncrossable area.

Also, on the leg from 11-12, the mapmaker should have cut the line in another area because it obscured a staircase that could have been used and would have saved quite a bit of distance.

Sprint - 4 5 Brown - Splits

A harder workout today; we did the Burpee countdown--9 at station 1 interspersed with jumping rope, 8 at station 2, etc. My HRM stopped working in the middle of the workout, for one of those mysterious electronic reasons that gadgets have.

Hard workout with my trainer. I did my agility drills holding a medicine ball over my head, then supersetted with pushing the sled. Not too bad going down, but I used the low handles coming back each time. Also, did not of drills with the big ropes, many of them standing on one foot. We really hit the balance stuff tonight.

Again, it feels like I'm working harder than my HR indicates. Lots of legs today.