Training Log Archive: JanetT

Flying Pig / U.S. Ultralong Champs at East Fork State Park

Of all the races at the Flying Pig, this was the one I most worried about for my knee. Left knee had not bothered me at all in the Middle or Sprint races, but I knew the East Fork map for the "course formerly known as «Long»" came with a potential for steep climbs, and sure enough I had a steep one on the way to number 1 (my route choice), where I then managed to also make a parallel error on costing me a couple of minutes or so (because I had to descend and climb an extra reentrant/ditch). In retrospect it probably would have been better for my knee and faster if I'd stayed along the creek longer and skirted around the north side, reducing the climb. In any case, the knee tweaked again, and ached for most of the rest of the race, though it didn't slow me down on the flat running.

Most of the rest of the course was up on the plateau area, but on 7-8 there was opportunity to go down and up some more steep areas. To avoid all but the last little bit of climb to # 8, I took a longer route around (beeline was 900 m; I went about 1.4 km), but my time on the leg (3rd fastest) was good enough to beat all but one of the M65s, who otherwise all beat me overall. [Sharon C. had the fastest time on that leg, and the course.] So it wasn't a bad route choice.

Time to rest it (again) so I can attempt the Billygoat next Sunday (which I know will have climb, but maybe not really steep slopes?).

Added a page with my course and route.

Route Gadget route.

Brown - Ultra Long - Splits

Stage 1 of the US Sprint Championships, a campus sprint at Miami University's central quad, around and between the buildings. Mike spent a lot of time mapping all the trees (they were easy to run between, too). I'm not sure where they came up with 50 m of climb since there were only a few contour lines crossing the map. There are 9 contour lines between the lowest point and the highest (finish area), but they're only 3m contours...

Since it was a campus sprint, I pushed my pace as much as I could but still navigate, giving it my all on the last little35m push to the finish. Only 40 seconds behind Valerie (who I KNOW can run a faster mile split than me and would beat me soundly in a road race) -- woohoo! That felt good.

Second stage of the Sprint Championships at College Suites apartment complex just south of Oxford, in a more park-like setting, plus woods with a heavy trail network. I didn't quite execute my planned route from 2-3 so I counted that as a non-spike, even though I recovered and easily found the control. From 3 to 7 I was behind a young fellow in a bright yellow shirt, and closed the distance at each control as he stopped every time to re-set his compass bearing (on a sprint!). When I caught him at the flag at 7 I told him "You're wasting time" as he had stopped again (5-8 were a quick set of controls less than 100 m apart). Read the map! Of course, he was able to get ahead again on the climb out of 10.

F55 sprint champion for a year (out of 4, with 2 people mispunching). :-)

Course 2 was for those normally running Orange, Brown and Green.

Didn't add my courses and routes because they weren't far different from PG's (I did 3 slightly different routes on the campus sprint. On the afternoon one, for # 1 I took the rough open south to the gap and then east to flag, sloppier to # 3, and from 12-13 went west and through gap in dark green WNW of control; otherwise very similar).

Route Gadget routes.

Orange/Brown/Green Sprint 1 - Splits

Orange/Brown/Green Sprint 2 - Splits

Event: Flying Pig XII
 

Will post on Monday (and maybe even post maps).

Middle distance race at Rentschler Forest (NW of Cincinnati), which seemed more like a long sprint race with many short legs. 4th fastest on the course out of 13 who competed on Brown Friday (George and Lyn Walker were two of the three who were faster), which was a fine start to the weekend and my 1st year as F55. :-)

I could have taken a more direct route from 6-7 rather than skirting the green and tops of reentrants. I forgot the contours were 3m rather than 5m so the straight-line route would have been faster, but I did find the ditch without much problem.

Nice use of the often-green woods and this area.

Warm-up (not counted on the other races as I usually only do a few minutes of jogging to get the muscles going and a few stretches) was 1.2 k, including about 3/4 of a mile along a busy road (before we turned off onto a side road where I did *not* so much as look at the fence. Muscles were definitely ready to go by the time I got there. The light rain of earlier in the day had stopped by the time we went out late, but it was still plenty muddy. :-) Lots of mud to get off the shoes so I could get them dry enough to use Saturday afternoon.

Route Gadget route posted.

Brown - Short Pig - Splits

Long weekend ahead. :-)

C • Flying Pig results 7

Class in Chatham, again without the step. Knees are feeling slightly better on going up and down stairs (fewer "ouch!" moments), so I have hopes that skipping the stepping for this week (and next because of a session break) will help calm whatever's going on in my left knee.

Then I'll go back and pay attention to the aches in my right hip and knee. :-)

For my hip, the instructor suggested an alternative to purchasing a foam roller -- two tennis balls tied into an old sock. Then roll the affected area until you find the painful part and hold it there for a little bit. Related pdf.

To give my knees a break, I took a leaf from Peggy's book and pedaled the recumbent bike for 40 minutes. This was the first time I'd used this machine. I think I had the resistance set at "6" (whatever that means), and pushed the "fitness" program button, and think I felt slight resistance changes as I pedaled (I was reading a book and not paying much attention to the display). I did look at the display panel enough to note that my "speed" was about 14.8 to 15.1 mph; and I broke a gentle sweat, so it wasn't all fun and games. But it was nice to be able to read and exercise concurrently; made the time go faster.

As often happens with bikes, however, my butt got numb after about 30 minutes, with some of the numbness going down my left leg. I guess the seats aren't as comfortable as they look.

C • numb body parts 6

In Chatham. I did the "step" portion without a step (it was only slightly confusing, but still good exercise). I hope my knee(s) is/are better by this weekend.