Training Log Archive: ebuckley

Pre-dawn shuffle to try to get some life back into my legs for the Trot. First few minutes were really bad, then things started to work a bit better. BTW, the shoulder isn't hurting much and it's certainly not stopping me from doing anything, so the injury flag is going off.

Warmup.

Possum Trot at Knob Noster (1:10).

Well, one question answered: running a goat event on dead legs really isn't much fun.

Since I couldn't hang with the early pace (I think I was around 15th to the first control), I skipped early, hoping to pick up one of the leaders after the pace had eased. Hooked up with Tom Carr at #8 and we ran pretty much the rest of the course together. Made up for the slow pace with some pretty accurate nav. Biggest mistake was probably around a minute when we missed right crossing a ridge. Tom had a skip in hand which he saved for the end and got third. Best result for him, I believe. I came in only four minutes later, but three others finished in that time. 7th is the worst for me in a long time.

Still, that's three long events in a row with rock solid nav. Furthermore, while I might have expected to place higher in better circumstances, there were no shockers ahead of me - all pretty solid competitors. So, I can't say I'm too unhappy with the result. And it was certainly worth it to bust an hour again at PM. Even being fresh, I wasn't going the threaten Mook's 1:50 winning time. Race report to follow.

Figured my only chance of even being able to walk tomorrow was to get in a decent warmdown. Left heel is pretty tender. Not sure if it's a bruise or the plantar, but I'd better take it easy for a few days.

Trot - Splits

Event: Possum Trot XIII Weekend
 

First warmup. Timed it perfectly except that I had the start time wrong. Thought the start area looked a bit tranquil for a race that was supposed to start in 10 minutes. Found out it was really 40 minutes. That was actually a good thing because when I checked out the Goat Cliff trail, I found it had a lot of ice and the spikes weren't going to cut it. I had time to go back to our room and get my Icebugs.

2nd warmup. This time there were a lot more people hanging around when I showed up at the start line.

Pere Marquette. Conditions were very fast, probably even faster than last year. Most of the top runners set best times. Not me, of course, 'cause I'm sorta chubby these days. Adjusting for condions I was probably about 90 seconds off last year's PR. That seems about right for 10 pounds heavy on a hilly 1-hour course. However, I did manage to not embarass the race organizers who had the audacity to seed me 9th - I finished 11th, 1st M45-49.

This was the most solo running I've ever done at PM. Was completely alone after the 2nd climb. A guy caught and passed me right before climb 3, but he faded back on the hill. He closed back up going into climb 4, but again faded back. Then he really came hard on the big descent to the finish and I thought he had me for sure but he lost it big time on the ice at the bottom. He wasn't hurt and still managed to finish just 3 seconds behind me. Although the IceBugs are by far the heaviest shoes I've ever worn for this race, today they saved me a place.

C • You forgot to mention the d... 4

Longish warmdown on the hope that maybe I could keep my legs from getting too gunked up for tomorrow. As of this writing (6PM), it looks like the Trot is going to be mighty tough. At least it's Knob Noster and not Bluffwoods.

Trail Run - Splits

Easy jog before leaving for Pere Marquette. Rather crazy day at work had us leaving later than planned (but still before dinner). Then, we got about 500m from the house before I realized I had a flat tire. Rather auspicious start to the weekend, but I got it back home and we switched to Kate's car. Good thing Bill is driving to the Trot.

Yes, that really is the G these days. What a disgrace. Family class with Yaya. Shoulder feels better each day, so I felt like I could go harder as long as I didn't punch hard with my right.

Castlewood report.

Morning jog in fairly nasty conditions; high winds and ice pellets.

Family class with Yaya. Took it easy so I wouldn't aggrevate the shoulder.

8x400@92 100R. Considerably colder than this morning, but more comfortable since there was no precipitation and a bit less wind.

So the plan was to just train through Pere Marquette and save some legs for the Trot. Then I checked my seed. 9. No, that can't possibly be right. I looked up the times for 10-20. Yup, all slower than me (at least they were in 2007 & 2008). It's only an improvement of 4 places from last year's result, but the fact that my bib number will have just a single digit suddenly has me wanting to defend my honor (I'm not harboring any delusions about defending my honor at the Trot, despite the fact I'll be wearing #1 there).

So, out to the track for a proper dial in. 95 would have been more correct, but the first 12 minutes of PM are uphill, so it pays to take it out just a bit hard (but not too hard). Felt fine, but of course the track is flat. I'm so fat right now I really can't imagine breaking the hour again. I don't expect to finish in the top 10, but I'd like to stay in the mid-teens so I was sure of getting wave 0 again next year.

C • What do those numbers mean? 2

Once again, felt fine, but slower than it should be. Not quite sure why I'm suddenly running 30s/mi off pace, but I'd better fix it in the next 4 days or Pere Marquette is not going to be anywhere near an hour.

Easy morning jog round the hood.

Duck(U)@20:44. Felt easy, but I guess that's because I was running too slow. Tempo should be a minute faster than this. On my way back, I did a mile@6:20 on the HS track to try to reset my pace feel.