Training Log Archive: Tundra/Desert

I normally have a miserable day at the annual Long Course Champs, which is a half-paradox given my extensive ultra background. But, the Long race is usually run faster than your typical 50 km, the effort is at a pace closer to a road marathon, in a regime that I totally hate: This effort requires a significant utilization of the carb-burning mechanism, which I undertrain, as opposed to the fat-burning mode which I train tons. And, my main problem at the Long-O usually seems to be the lack of training specific to both terrain and length. I.e. my running prepares me for the distance, and BAOC events, to the specificity of running in the woods; but neither, to the particular task of utilizing your jump-over-the-tree-and-balance-the-body muscles for three hours. So, the usual outcome of the Long-O for me is a slowdown around 2 hours, followed by cramps, switching into survival mode, and cursing the Universe for hours after the finish.

This time... my navigation was 100% clean, with only one questionable route choice to Control 1. I did cramp, and it did cost me 5 minutes. But the cramps came close to the end, and my result (time behind, USOF points, etc.) was a lot better than usual. My placing, if I were USOF-eligible, would have been not too far out of the medals. Maybe all that training is finally paying off... but most likely, I finally learned to pace myself and eat correctly.

The course was excellent, on par with the one I consider the best ever in my attended lifetime, the 1993 Champs at S-F Ranch. It spotlighted decisive route choice on most legs, and the difficulty of control sites was appropriate to the competition outcome being resolved on the basis of the athletes' endurance and coarse-navigation skills. The travelled length is preliminary but the climb, from the Polar, is correct.

My evening in hipster Williamsburg was uneventful, and the only highlight was hearing Custom Concern play on a jukebox from the open door of a bar. I went back to Greg's place and watched the newborn kittens.

Blue 2 (Long-O) - Splits

Event: US Short and Long Championships
 

As I got off the airplane this morning, looking to catch a cab for the 14 miles from ALB to the start, there was a car of Chicago OC people waiting for Charlie S at the terminal. I got into the car, and Orlyn, navigating, promptly made a 180° that I then had to fix using a ghetto map I had printed out for the taxicab driver.

Warmed up running to the start of the US Short Course Championships. Passed Sharon Crawford on the run, who was late to start.

The Short Champs. Every year I look forward to the Middle distance Champs, as it is my strongest discipline, the one that emphasizes quick decisions and detailed navigation, both of which my reactive style fits well.

The race went just fine until Control 9. I made a couple of small errors, but was moving ahead confidently and the course did not seem hard at all. At #9, though, my race was broken. I misread the control description, totally my fault. But, as I ended up a cliff below the control, I could not relocate because the most obvious relocation feature was covered up by the magenta (not purple) circle. I did a loop.

At the next control, I caught up with Jon Torrance who had passed me at #9. His pace was a tad faster than I was going, and I put it all together and finished the course fighting, staying mostly ahead of Jon and only making one mistake, bad route choice to the last control.

At the finish and the event-center shelter, the results were coming out looking a touch funny, a few good times and a bunch of mediocre ones quite a way back. It was learned from talking to most Blue runners that more than 50% of them had some issues with Control 9. It seemed that this single control effectively decided the race, which is not an evidence of appropriate planning even though there were no problems with the control site selection and the mapping around it. To me, the leg was significantly harder than the rest, and what I'm trying to say is that probably the rest of the course could have been slightly harder, not necessarily that this particular leg should have been easier. Congratulations to Wil and John who certainly aced #9, through superior skill.

The map printing quality was not good, the colors were way off. The length is preliminary, but the climb is firm, from the Polar.

For the rest of the day, Mindsweeper and I first stuck around the finish, hoping that whoever had taken his warmup jacket with the rental car keys in it would realize the mistake (or not). As the hope faded, we relocated to the hotel where we watched Tiomila and I drank lots of beer.

Blue - Splits

To Wells Fargo from work.

Then, from the Wells Fargo to the nearest BofA.

Back to work.

Felt even more tired in the evening than yesterday.

Another jog to Caltrain with the computer, in the absence of buses.

Was tired in the evening, so the recovery run was on beer at the Safeway.

An early morning jog to Caltrain once it again became obvious that neither #30 nor #45 was forthcoming.

Home to Kezar. Hurting a bit.

A 20-minute continuous T session. Mikkel was a touch late and joined me after about 1.5 laps, and we ran together. I was shooting for exactly 13 laps, 92 s/lap, but was a touch slower at 93. Mikkel ran 20:09 for 13.

Hobbled home.

Had a long day on UAL. Woke up on time in the morning in ATL, got to the airport fine, got through the insane security line—I knew how long it would take from my Navigator Cup experience ("This sure is a long line..." "No, sorry m'am, it's sure a paranoid government..."). Got to the gate and the door was closed.

Apparently the new UAL policy is to close the door at least 10 minutes before departure, regardless of what's going on outside, and for the rest of the day (they did put me on priority standby) I observed the policy uniformly enforced. Reminds me of the underwear gnomes. Step 1: close the door.