Training Log Archive: piutepro

Easy run to Dennings Point, run long tempo runs. Good warm spring weather, blue sky. Lots of dogs with happy dog owners. Of course, no dog follows, no dog slobbers and jumps up on me, no dog slows me down. Not. If only dogs would keep their owners on leashes all the time.

4x 3.5 - 4 minutes long tempo runs. I am tired, so I only do a few of them. I don't know it is the garden & house clean-up yesterday or the long Silvermine run last week, but I feel slow.

I run at night after a long day of cleaning up the garden, getting leaves out of the gutter and moving stuff in the basement during the rain. I run to relax my tired muscles and loosen up my stiff back.

I stretch and do aikido exercises down at the river. It is warm and a beautiful night to have the spot at Dennings Point for myself. A great view down the Hudson with the Storm King west of the river and Mt. Beacon and the Highlands on the other side.

It is warm, finally some good warm weather. I feel good, even after yesterday's long run. For some reasons yesterday's fast run on the sprint course helped to get my energy up. Many times I feel energized after a speed training, better than after a long run. I guess it gets my endorphine or whatever going.

Course setting at Silvermine. I set the controls deep in the woods, where nobody is passing during the next weeks. I spread hanging the controls over some time before the meet. Like that it is fun and I don't have any time pressure.

I rescue one airplane, type Falcon, estimated wing span about two to three feet. The crash must be a long time back, the fuselage is half rotten plastic. I wonder if there would be an engine somewhere...

In absolutely non-related news, I bought and planted 12 strawberry plants.

C • Silvermine controls 5

Another test run on the Silvermine sprint at dusk. I switch around two controls to see if the course works better this way. I also test some alternate route choices. I am about two minutes faster than last week. I drop (and almost lose) the watch, all splits are erased, so I can't compare them with last week's splits. Still felt good after almost three hours of control setting.

Easy run along the river.

The last two days I designed courses for a local meet, an adventure race and a training for a group of AR runners. I enjoy setting the courses and trying to squeeze some new legs and courses out of the maps which have been used many times before. Tomorrow I start putting out controls, spreading it over several visits to the woods. This might be the reason the HVO north area flags are somewhat faded. They spend considerable time in the woods.
Not as long as a control we found at Blue Mountain last weekend: It consisted of the metal frame, some fibers hanging down and a well preserved control code. (No names to be named, but we know it was out there for almost three years.) Hope the Eastern Black Glove Hare had a good time munching the tender nylon fabric.

I run down to the river trail to do long tempo runs, then back via the steep hill to 9D. It is night when I am done with the tempo runs and I am tired, but I still add two more. It is easier to run fast instead of going slowly to get home.

6x 3.5-4 min. tempo runs (maybe a 4.5 out of 5) on the dirt trail. I see that I maintain the speed on the small hills, the twists and turns and the few logs which break the rhythm.
2x 3.5-4 min. tempo runs, one uphill, one on the road.

An extended variation of the 7k loop, with more trails, therefor it is somewhat slower. I took it easy after running a lot in the woods at the Junior Camp and the HVO local meet.

I kept thinking about Spike's question, how to get the right level of nervousness (as he calls it) before an event. Nervousness means excitement, means attention, means realizing that something important is coming up. Too much of it might mess up the race, while too much quietness and calm leaves the mind sleepy and slow. A certain kind of edge is needed. I get in good mental shape, when I thoroughly warm up fro about 30 minutes, running, sprinting, jogging, some martial arts practice, including some attacks, punches and fight exercises, then calming down, breathing and warming up more.