Training Log Archive: wilsmith

Travel day. Well, I only arrived home at 0430 and was zonked so didn't have the heart or legs to run this day. In fact, after supper and getting Mia to bed, I was out like a light at 8 pm. I left the meet yesterday at 12:30, and drove non-stop for 14 hours solo (!). I had to stop for a 30-minute nap in New Liskeard, slurp back another large double-double, and then managed to do the final 2 hours home. What a relief to hit the sack, even if it was only for a couple of hours before getting up and going in to work....

West Point Classic Distance - M21

Another nice race on decent maps. Sure, the green is off any it is nowhere near as "crisp" as the WOC 1993 maps, but it was adequate for the day's tasks.

Feeling a bit sore for this one. And was wondering how I would fare physically - had I improved enough along my spring fitness curve to maintain a decent (i.e. not embarrassingly slow) pace for a long race after the two races on Saturday? On the drive down, I had been anticipating a middle distance of about 35 min, a sprint of 15 min, and a long of about 75 min. But based on how long we were out on Saturday, I knew we would be 80-90 minutes in this race....

Was late for the start - a late departure, a slightly longer drive to the meet, and general disorganization on my part meant I only got to the start a minute after I had been called up. Fortunately, they allowed me to get up to my proper line and I started on time, which was nice.

Raced this one pretty conservatively the whole way. Never felt physically bad, which was an excellent breakthrough. In fact, had I realized just how close I was to the lead (I was even still leading at #10), I would have been actually trying to move myself, rather than simply cruise. As it was, cruising speed was enough to place 3rd, only a minute out of first.

Dropped about 90 seconds on the first long leg (#12), by just not taking a really aggressive route and not willing to trust the trail system, which had been advertised as unreliable in the meet notes. I also climbed away from the lake in the beginning of the leg, rather than trying my luck along the edge of it (looked steep and green on the map, but it turns out it wasn't so bad and most of the other guys went this way). Was sucked into a bad error on #14, ended up way too close to the straight route, which included lots of unnecessary green and a green marsh crossing, plus an extra big climb. Can't believe I only lost 2 minutes there, but so say the splits. Otherwise, no real mistakes of much importance - maybe 30 sec each at numbers 2, 6, and 11.

Overall, a surprisingly good result. And encouraging to note the improved running endurance.

For the above.

Generally a very good weekend. This was to be my barometer for the upcoming test races in Ottawa. It was the first weekend this year that I was actually planning on "racing" - I had been considering the previous races as just a warm-up and a way to force myself back into running shape after a winter of alternative training. My goals for West Point were to show I could run at or near the top of the field - and I was hoping to be top-3 in each race.

In the end, a very bad technical performance in the middle distance cost me a podium spot, but the sprint was a nice result, and the long was also good. There was a lot of driving involved to get to this one - I went solo and thus spent a total of 38 hours behind the wheel. Ouch.

But, it was worth it. You can do oodles and oodles of training on your own, but you never really know how you will do in a race situation until you put yourself into a race situation and give it a go. My brain is getting back into gear, I feel psychologically prepared for Ottawa, and the physical side of things is coming along very nicely, thank you very much.

Physically, I feel pretty much at the same level as the other guys, and I know I am still at a more favorable spot along my improvement curve. And I know I will deliver solid navigation when the time comes.

There will be a decent number of guys trying out for the WOC team this year (again), and so at least two really good runners will have to sit this WOC out.... Will be interesting to see how we all fare in two weeks. Other than Jon Torrance this weekend, I really haven't raced anyone head-to-head this spring. Based on fitness and reliability, I expect Mike and Patrick to be in good form. After that, people will have to put together some solid results in order to earn a place on the team....

Event: West Point A-Meet
 

West Point Middle Distance - M21.

Not a great race, though not a disaster I guess. Excellent course setting, and bags all in the right place, so no excuses there. Mainly, I had trouble (like most everyone else) adjusting to the fog. It came and went throughout the race, and depending on where you were when it hit you, it could be significantly problematic. With the generalized mapping on these maps it is very, very tough to relocate unless you can see a reasonable distance.

Problems right off the bat, despite taking a safer route to the right on #1. Came off my solid attack point, and... nothing but grey. Was within about 10m of the control, and couldn't see it nor the feature for the life of me. Fussed around for a little under a minute before stumbling onto it. Another minute lost at #3 as I wavered too far right in the flat area and had to correct to even get into the circle. Smaller (15sec) errors on 4 through 7, then a biggie on 9 as fog rolled in and obliterated my view of the terrain. Was too high in a flatter area with many unmapped smaller features and took quite a while to relocate - lost nearly 3 minutes. At #11, again the fog was so thick I could not figure out where I crossed the ridge. Was too far left, but couldn't see enough features to relocate so was forced to run back and forth - lost 2.5 minutes there. Similarly, a minute was lost at #12. After that, I descended below the fog/cloud level, and it was clear to the end. Zero problems when the visibility is good....

The bad news is that I lost between 9-10 minutes on the course - way, way, way too much for any race, much less a middle distance. The good news is that I physically felt quite fine, and was able to run all but the steepest climbs. Ended up 4th, about 3 minutes off the lead. Sigh.

For the above.

West Point Sprint Distance - M21

A nice course on a very nice new map. Good utilization of the terrain. My race was about as good as I can expect, given that I am a non-sprinter by preference (and by running speed). No major mistakes, I suppose the worst were about 10 sec on #14 (bad exit from 13, too far right) and about 5 sec on #19 (misread the little walls and crossed 4 of them unnecessarily). Was actually in the lead of the race at #10 - go figure.

I don't think I could expect anything better than 3rd place in this event. If I was a faster runner, I would have been able to do some damage - so much of the race was spent knowing exactly where I was and where I was going, but just not having the legs to get there.

Did a good job of reloading and recovering between the races, finally, after some failed attempts earlier in the year. As much as you figure you can do things in training, you never know how it will work until you test it out under real race conditions.

For the above.

The "usual" 4x4.

For the above, with recovery.

The now-usual 4x4 block. A bit chilly out today but hey, at least the snow is gone from the roads and our front lawn. Trying to get a few more hills into these. Still a bit too much snow in the woods and on the trails (packed down by snowmobiles) for running there.

And recovery for these. As it was chilly, kept the pace up a bit more than usual.