Training Log Archive: PG

Got out the road bike for the first time this year. Didn't feel awful. Just a short ride to start breaking in the various body parts that aren't used to being on a bike.

A little bit of warm-up, including 100 yards up the hill. Didn't want to start out without getting the heart going a little.

Mt. Washington Road Race. Quite a day. Quite a fine day actually.

I suppose the only really bad news -- not counting the fact that I walked more than I ever imagined I would -- is that I can now bypass the lottery for the 2012 race. Do I really want to do this thing again?

Results.

It is, as they say, only one hill. But it does go on for a while.

We drove up Friday afternoon, made contact with the two guys that we were giving rides back down to (have to have three runner's passes to be able to drive up), and made it an early night. At some point Gail asked if I was nervous (or apprehensive, or scared, one of those words). I think I was a little nervous, but not big-time. There have been many other times at the start line that I have been seriously nervous (most major O' events, nervous about how I would do)), or seriously apprehensive (most ultras/marathons/rogaines, apprehensive about how much I was going to suffer), or scared (most 100-milers, WTF am I getting into?).

But this was not one of those times.

I guess I was mainly thinking, it's going to be a little under two hours of just going up. Just keep plugging away.

My expectation was that I should do under 1:50. My hope was to do under 1:45. Under 1:40 would have been wonderful, but I didn't think it was really possible. Besides time, my other concern was doing well in my age group, for a reason beyond the usual fact that I'm just competitive -- The little blurb that local running journalist and old friend John Stifler had put in the local paper, well, he'd also put it into his preview article for the race. So, sensibly or not sensibly, I felt an obligation to show him that his words were not totally bogus.

One serious concern at Mt. Washington is the weather, especially above tree line. It wasn't supposed to be cold (upper 40s was predicted) or especially windy (10 to 15 mph was predicted), but some rain was moving through, and that could be rather unpleasant. But we got lucky, it rained during the hour before the start, and rained hard at the summit, but that was the end of it. It was still a bit warm the first half, and very humid, but then really quite nice higher up. The summit was in and out of the fog.

My race -- the first couple hundred yards are flat, and then you just keep climbing. 4,600', average grade 12%, 7.6 miles. Mostly paved, a couple miles of firm dirt. And just up and up and up.

I figured I would walk early and often. I did, though probably not early enough, ran the first mile. I paced myself mostly by how I felt, which was reflected in my heartrate, 158-160 seemed about right, anything higher and I was getting wobbly. So I kept it there for the whole damn race. And walked a lot. And ran as much as I could stand to. When I was walking I was walking as fast as I could. When I ran, it was usually very short stretches, but also at a pretty good pace. There were all sorts of different tactics on view in the folks around me, with some running a lot more. I think mine suited me the best.

The time went by pretty slowly. The second mile seemed especially hard, one long steep pitch, there was no way I could run, probably walked for the better part of 5 minutes straight. The third and fourth miles just kept going, maybe a little less steep, but every time you came around a corner it just kept going up. I was sweating a lot, feeling too warm, and breathing hard. But there is no choice, you just keep going. Most of the time I was running/walking in stretches of 50 to 100 yards and then switching. Run as long as I could, then walk until I thought I could run a little more, and then keep repeating. And just grit your teeth and keep going.

Miles 5 and 6, now above tree line, didn't seem as steep, but my pace was slower. Getting tired obviously. Also, by now the air was getting a little thinner. I remember times getting off a plane in Denver and trying to run and gasping for air if I tried to go uphill, and this was just the same. At least it was getting cooler. Along the way I was calculating and recalculating -- what was a possible finish time. And it seemed like 1:45 was just possible, and that was a real good feeling that kept me going.

Mile 7, more of the same, the air a little thinner, but the slope seemed not so bad. Ran more, but the legs were tired and I'm sure I was moving slower. But another mile was done. And I could see the summit buildings, and start hearing cheers.

Like all things, the hill eventually ended. I finished as well as I could, totally wasted. And totally delighted with the time, 1:42:26. I think I could have done the course 15 or 20 minutes faster some years ago, but for right now, this was excellent. And first in 65-69 was just icing on the cake.

The event is really quite something. The organization is superb. The karma is great. I'm not sure if I will do it again. I certainly could have been better prepared. But it was still a great adventure. And absolutely worth doing.

C • Good for you! 32

OK, time for a new "competition" -- got some small tomato plants today, 2 for me, two for Gail. She potted hers in some very fine looking potting soil. I potted mine in some very fine but also very strange looking "soil" from last year's compost pile, which includes some things that didn't seem to decay too well -- avacado peels, corn cobs, and peanut shells.

So who will produce the first tomato? Actually, if there are any tomatos at all it will be a triumph.

And if I get a bumper crop, will Ali be unable to share in the harvest because of the peanut shells?

A little warm-up.

A response to Phil throwing down the gauntlet....

Rerun of the Cemetery Hill sprint, no map or compass. Hadn't looked at the map since after running the course last Friday, but I had gone through it in my mind a couple of times to make sure I knew where all 20 points were.

The only problems were #1, where this time I went into the woods sooner, so it was new, and there was more vegetation than expected, and 12, where I was sort of winging it but still spiked it, and 15, where I went straight (last time to the right) because I figured it was faster but didn't know the route.

And then one other problem, I was running out of gas a bit on ups at the end. Started a little too quickly.

Alex will have a hard time beating this. Ali will at least have to put out some effort. And Phil, well, maybe with his new explosive training, you never know....

Today's route (solid line) compared with last Friday's (line with borders). Today's is very demanding -- every time I slowed to hit the lap button on the 305 it looks like I'm walking.

C • Multi-challenge 2

And a little after.

sprint - Splits

A few observations about orienteering in Ireland (based on a very small amount of data)....

1. I was wondering what they did for beginners' courses. I never got around to asking, but they are on RouteGadget. Here's the M/F 10 and M/F 12 course from day 1....



And day 2....



And day 3....



Are their kids just a lot better than our kids (I would think courses like this over here would get a lot of parental complaints)? Or does it make a huge difference that there are no trees? Or were the courses streamered and I just didn't know it?

Some of those legs look quite difficult.

2. When you are an Irish pro, or as close to a pro as they get, you get special clothing, as Marcus Pincus models here....



Question -- what is the zippered butt pocket for? In this case I went right to the source, but the source wasn't too helpful. Marcus said he'd only had the jacket for two weeks and hadn't even noticed the butt pocket. So what is it for?

3. Everything seemed so mellow. Organizers all seemed totally relaxed, competitors didn't seem to be complaining. Was this a different sport they were doing than what we do in the USA?

4. The final awards -- again, was something wrong? They were on time, everyone seemed to be there, all done in about 10 minutes, nice local crafts for the awards. What gives?



5. For a country with two official languages, they seemed to manage with just using one on the map (English). A lesson for the Canadians here?

6. Maybe all of this is a result of the roads -- the narrowest, windiest, most dangerous things you could imagine, also with absurdly high speed limits. Is everyone so mellow because they realize that the real challenge of the day is getting to and from the event?

7. I had to wonder, given the wonderful terrain, why there weren't more participants. Granted it was a long way from the population centers. Granted the JK had been in Ireland a month earlier, so maybe Brits had gone there instead. But this was such lovely country. Here, I guess, they share something with us -- a great product, but how do you get more people to do it.

C • so much to say there 23

A couple more times up South Sugarloaf, first time up and down the trail (7:49, 3:54), second time up and down the road (9:57, 7:35). Legs were feeling tired.