Training Log Archive: ebone

At Teanaway Forks, warm up from the car to the start and warm down from the finish back to the car.

I ran with Jukka Kokkoniemi through the Blue course (I set) for the 1998 U.S. Individual Championships at Teanaway Forks. There were a couple of inches snow on the ground over most of the area. The air was calm, and the temperature was around the mid 30s under mostly clear skies. I ran with a nearly full 3 liter hydration pack, which I probably only drank a liter from. It was fun to be out in the terrain on such a pleasant day, and there were some good views of the surrounding forest and mountains and some elk. We ran at an easy to moderate intensity, walking any significant hills. We spent perhaps five minutes total at the controls, verifying that we were in the right locations. Other than that, we ran pretty smoothly through the course with very little lost time (which makes sense, as I was the course designer). My heart rate mostly stayed below 158, often around 150, but it spiked up to 166 when we picked it up a bit for the last few controls, even though the pace still felt easy and relaxed. My legs felt fine until about 1.5 hours into the training, when I noticed that my hip flexors were fatigued from stepping over all the logging debris and other down logs. After the car ride home, I felt significantly tired and a bit stiff in the legs.

Splits: 204 147, 942 129, 242 138, 745 144, 227 154, 255 160, 1134 131, 057 135, 1533 148, 422 157, 227 159, 321 138, 027 138, 749 148, 1039 139, 049 138, 1025 160, 328 136, 516 158, 308 159, 742 163, 224 169, 132 165, 054 164

Running to and from the car, going to my eye appointment at GHC on Capitol Hill.

Setting controls at Aldercrest for Shoreline HEE orienteering class. My legs felt great for the first few minutes, but then they felt fairly flat.

Picked up controls after O' class.

My right quad is still sore, maybe a bit less so--it's hard to tell.

My right quad is significantly sore from the fall off my bike, and I'm getting a couple streaks of poison oak rash on the outside of my right lower leg.

Balance Bar 24 Hour Adventure race in Santa Monica, CA. I raced with Jennifer Shultis and Pete Swenson (Team Eastern Mountain Sports). My average heart rate during the 18:15 race was 130. The race started at 3:30 a.m., and the time breakdown went like this:
3:57:30 mountain biking
8:25 transition #1, to kayak
3:00:47 kayaking--mostly miserable, because of a sore butt, extreme muscle fatigue, and bouts of sleepiness and leg cramps toward the end
7:59 transition #2, to trek
1:09:14 trekking
6:54 transition #3, to bike
1:10:55 mountain biking on road
9:58 transition #4, to trek
23:49 trekking to PC 9 (at ropes)
17:40 putting on harness and waiting for a traverse rope to become available
24:47 assisted traverse, plus removing harnesses
4:36:30 trekking
9:05 transition #5, to bike
2:32:17 mountain bike to finish (at 9:45 p.m.)

The navigation in this race was more straightforward than the navigation in the second (New Jersey) race on October 9, and there was no orienteering and just a few hundred meters of off-trail travel, so it didn't play to my strong suit. Still, it went pretty well for our team, with no major physical or navigation blow ups. We had a close call, as we (mostly I) had plotted one of the checkpoint locations one kilometer too far to the East. The actual location happened to be on the route to the incorrect location, so we stumbled upon it.

A little over an hour into the race, on the first bike leg, I hit a deep rut in the trail and tumbled over the bars, getting a scratch or two and severely bruising the outside of my right quadriceps muscle, which hurt for the rest of the race.

I think I made my energy and electrolyte drinks a bit too concentrated, and I started cramping only six hours into the race. Next time, I think it would be a good idea to have some plain water (along with the electrolyte tablets and food that I already carry), so that I could better modulate my calorie and salt intake.

The 14-mile kayak was mostly extremely miserable, I'm sure in part because I started too hard. I was in the bow of the boat, and I set a paddling cadence that was somewhat faster than that of the several other teams around us for about the first 1-1.5 hours, then similar or slower for the last 1.5-2 hours. As usual, I used my 240cm Werner dihedral paddle (which is too long), but I wonder if a shorter paddle and/or a wing paddle would facilitate better pacing. When we reached the end of the paddle and came into the beach, we timed our approach badly and a wave overtook us just as it was breaking, plunging the nose of the kayak underwater and tumbling us under the surf. We all came out fine, avoiding any sand abrasions due to our wearing long pants and jackets. Unfortunatley, Pete's Legend paddle broke adjacent to one of the blades.

I got pretty tired on the road climb on the second bike leg, and Pete towed me for a few minutes. I towed Jennifer for the first trek and for most of the way up the big climb on the final trek. This made me tired, and I asked Pete to relieve me for about the last 500-700 vertical feet, after which I bounced back.

The term "assisted traverse" makes it sound easy, but it meant an upward sloping rope that we had to pull ourselves about 120 feet across. I nominated Pete to go first, and he left his pack behind to ease the crossing. I crossed second, with my pack and with Pete's assistance via a tow rope. It was a painful anaerobic experience for my arms and abdominal muscles, and I got a wicked rope burn on my right ankle when I swung my legs up to relieve my abs. Jennifer crossed last, carrying both her and Pete's packs and with both Pete's and my towing assistance. This strategy worked very well for us.

On the final bike, I was flagging again, and Pete took my pack, in which I had too much water. Again, I bounced back and felt totally comfortable (too comfortable) for the last 1-1.5 hours. Due to our misunderstanding of the transition bin logistics, we didn't have our bright lights for the final bike leg in the dark, so I led the way with my Cateye (single, super-bright LED) Opticube EL-500 and my MILA night orienteering headlamp with only a AA battery pack down the single track trail, which had some rocks, ruts, and small ledges in places.

Balance Bar 24 hour: first part of mountain biking, climbing up to the top of a ridge.

Balance Bar 24 hour: off-road mountain biking.

Balance Bar 24 hour: road biking sections.

Balance Bar 24 hour: first part of kayaking. I started too hard and hit the wall.

Balance Bar 24 hour: lower intensity paddling. We hit a moderate amount of kelp and saw a few seals.

Balance Bar 24 hour: a mix of fast hiking and jogging, including plenty of towing Jennifer.

Balance Bar 24 hour: pulling myself across the traverse line, with Pete's assistance. It was very tough, and I felt exhausted at the end. I paid for not lifting weights for a few years.

Balance Bar 24 hour: Pete and I pulled on a tow rope to assist Jennifer across the traverse.

Evening run around the Santa Monica waterfront. There is a giant fishing pier with an amusement park on it, and it was fun to check that out.

I took an easy bike ride around the waterfront of Santa Monica. I was scoping out the beach and the finish of the Balance Bar 24 hour adventure race.

Paddled around Green Lake. It was in the upper 40's with a slight breeze, but I actually found myself to be on the warm side with a long sleeve shirt, an ultralight wind shell (GoLite Shift), and rain pants on top of running pants. Once I was thoroughly wet from sweat, my temperature moderated. My arms and back felt pretty good, but my back got a bit tired toward the end.

Short bike ride down through Ravenna Park, along the Burke-Gilman Trail, then up the hill under I-5 and home. I felt pretty good and got up the hill well.

Ran to Woodland, ran the first mile of the high school cross country course, then ran home. I felt okay, except for the fact that I don't have any speed. I miss being fast.

I have a bit of soreness in my throat, but it's localized on the right side, perhaps a minor tonsil infection.

Rode to UW campus and back to hang controls for Introduction to Orienteering class. One control marker went missing during the four hours between when I hung it and when the students arrived at the control location--bummer.

Set out controls at Magnuson Park for Introduction to Orienteering class.

I went for a 2:09:00 bike ride, including trails at St. Edward and Big Finn Hill and roads out the Sammamish Slough Trail to the crossing with I-405 and back. The ride ranged from intensity 1 to intensity 3, and about 45 minutes were at intensity 1.

Running the low profile knob tires I'm using right now at high pressure (almost 60 psi) didn't cut the mustard on the wet, slippery trails, and I crashed once--when I went through the 'V' trail across the deep reentrant next to Holmes Point Drive. I severely bruised my right forearm adjacent to my elbow, but it seems that I didn't break any bones or badly strain any muscles (although some muscles in my chest are sore from absorbing the impact).

Moderate-to-high-aerobic portion of my bike ride at St. Edward, Big Finn Hill, and on the roads.

Medium intensity (near threshold) part of bike ride, mostly on the Sammamish Slough Trail.

Set and picked up controls at Discovery Park for Shoreline HEE score-O event. The weather was gorgeous--sunny and cool.

Picked up controls after class at Brugger's Bog.

Starting in the evening and going until after dark, I paddled from Log Boom Park in Kenmore up the Sammamish River to Bothell Landing, back down to Lake Washington, along the West shore for a few miles, then back to Log Boom Park. I used my dihedral paddle for the first 1.5 hours, used my wing paddle for almost an hour, then used the dihedral paddle again for the remainder of the paddle. I mostly felt okay, but I was noticably fatigued for the last hour, especially when using the wing paddle, which I train with much less than with the dihedral. There were lots of weeds in the Northwest part of Lake Washington, and it was pretty annoying to paddle that stretch, especially because I had gotten cold just before that, when I stopped for about 10 minutes to eat, drink, put on a light, and switch paddles.

Ran in the area around the Bellevue YMCA. A muscle in the forward part of the arch of my left foot is hurt, and it feels like a pretty severe strain/pull. Otherwise, it felt good to jog. My legs felt quite fatigued from the weekend.

Played tag with Warren on the lawn next to Ivanhoe Theater. It was basically a big fartlek workout, part of which was sprinting, which I've logged separately.

Tag with Warren.

Brisk warm-up for the U.S. Long Course Championships at Joe Grant Park, North. I felt okay warming up--not too tired from yesterday.

Ran U.S. Long Course Champs at Joe Grant Park, North. I had a fairly good run, but not quite as well-executed as yesterday's. I had a few minutes (between 2.5 and 4.5, I think) of lost time. I paced myself well and ran pretty fast the whole way. My feet got pretty beat up by abundant sidehill running, getting dirt and pebbles in my shoes, and abundant downhill running, and I had a big blister on the bottom of my left heel at the end. Most of the way through the course, there was a long downhill leg, and I had trouble holding my running form and pace after that intense downhill. The splits show that I managed to push through this fatigue okay, though. I was disappointed that the course wasn't 30-40 minutes longer, and there could have been more route choices, but I was glad that the route choices that were present were soluable, not bingo.

Warm-down jog with Terry after my Long Champs run.

Blue - Splits

Brisk warm up for U.S. Short Course Champs at Morgan Territory.

Ran U.S. Short Course Champs at Morgan Territory. I had a good run, with just a minute or two of lost time. My main criticism of my run is that I could have done a better job of looking at my exit routes on the ground, so I lost a bit of time moving out of many controls, climbing over rocks and branches. My legs felt pretty fatigued fairly early in the course, and I had to keep pushing to keep a good pace. It certainly wasn't a great day for me in terms of running speed, but that makes sense, given my recent lack of high intensity training.

Bits of jogging after my race.

Blue - Splits

Ran around MacLaren Park with Terry. It was hilly (not surprising in San Francisco) but had nice terrain, including some contour and rock features and a good network of various size trails.

My right hamstring is somewhat tight and sore today, which is hard to figure out, since I haven't done much with it lately.

Paddled two different Cobra sit-on-top kayaks (one sleek and unstable and one beamy) around Pillar Point Harbor. The waves were so big outside the breakwater that the Half Moon Bay Kayaks folks didn't want me going out there, so I paddled around inside the ample harbor area, which still had plenty of wind and some waves. I felt pretty good, although the paddle had a thin shaft that bruised the fingers on my left hand.

Jogged a couple loops at Baylands with Vlad. My quads felt fatigued from the last couple days' workouts, but my hip felt fine during the run (although I have felt that it is tender during routine activities throughout the day) and my achilles tendons were fine as well.

Rode via Higgins Purisima Road from Half Moon Bay to Purisima Creek Redwoods trailhead, through the Borden Hatch Mill and Grabtown Gulch trails, and back. The brief ride down Grabtown Gulch was low intensity, and I've logged it separately. I was riding a Trek hardtail, and the model name started with a '4'--"495", or something like that. The bike had platform pedals without toe clips, but I still managed to make fairly good speed. The geometry seemed pretty similar to that of my Trek Fuel 90. Maybe the lack of rear suspension makes a significant efficiency difference.
Splits:
5.75 miles and about 250m climb to trailhead in 28:30
3.7 miles and about 575m climb to top of Borden Hatch Mill trail in 35:30
9.35 miles and almost no climb from the bottom of the Grabtown Gulch trail to the Bike Works in 31:00

Downhill ride on Grabtown Gulch Trail. I went slowly and carefully, because I was riding a rental bike (without toe clips) that I wasn't used to, and the trail was nominally under construction, so I wanted to be ready to stop abruptly on the steep slope, which had many patches of anti-erosion straw covering the vicinity of the water bars/dips.

Ran from Terry's to the South end of the Sawyer Camp Trail, back to the North end, then part way out the North extension and back. I mostly felt pretty good, but my right hip joint started hurting about half way through, and it was significantly inflamed at the end of the run. The 7 minute miles that I ran in the first part of the run felt easy but fast, and it felt like it would have taken a significant effort to hold a faster pace for more than a couple of minutes. My heart rate started low, climed to the 140's, stayed between 142 and 152 for most of the run, and climbed to 157 momentarily toward the end of the run, when I was pushing up a gentle slope.