Training Log Archive: piutepro

West Point Red X, day one. Many hills, not much choice of how to get around it, rather how to get on top of them in a decent, no cliff and boulder clustered way. Over to #1 it's greener and rockier than mapped. Well, got to get used to it. Go around hill, can't figure #2 and drop five minutes in a non-exisiting yellow open on non existing rock. I aim back to the big cliff and there is sits, nicely tucked away.

After this map exploration my navigation is alright, somewhat slow until I switch to the WP help mode: Ignore the details and read the contours. After the race I secretly wonder, if Swampfox never intended for us to be in this area. It is at the edge of the previous Round Pound and Popolopen maps, now joined to one map. Maybe he knew that nobody would go within 100 or 200 m of the edge of the map. But now we do.

Anyway. Kept moving around hills or at least spread the climb. Drop down on #9 somewhat low, recover and go back. Have nice route across the rattlesnake cliffs to #12. Downhill to finish some less direct route respectively the road would be faster.

I estimate about 8 minute possible improvement with better routes and a more precise approach to #2.

West Point Sprint. Nice sprint in the afternoon. Find a good flow. I hesitate before #6, see too much rock, hit trail, bypass #6 and see #7. They are only 50m apart, so it the adventure adds a mere 30 seconds. 9-10 I am reluctant to cross the field, go through gate on SW corner, find the fence on the other side crossable. Could be maybe 1-2 minutes faster, or with fresh legs even more.

A good sprint, with the fresh commentaries by the commissioner minus 10 pounds of sugar. Among the advanced and mature population of the sprint I did fine, some of the young guns ruthlessly displayed their speed.

Run the start, warm-up before regular course and sprint course.

West Point Sprint (Team fundraiser) - Splits

Red-1X - Splits

The Happy Monkey loop down on the river. No frozen turkeys on the trees, only tenderly jubilating spring birds getting ready for another day of cajoling over the river and sucking in juicy bugs before tending to their egg wrapped birdlings.

I spent the day e-mailing as HVO president du jour (or de la semaine, how ever long my tour of duty will go on before a popular movement will end the kingship). Late in the afternoon I finally get back to real work and move through a part of my book with a vengeance. I guess decisiveness is contagious.

The toe is still staging its own revolution. Running went fine, but now it is buzzing the bad way again. Hope it comes to its senses and runs with me tomorrow. People need toes to run, not only brains.

Easy map run, work on the contours, cliffs and rock features. It is more a map walk, I am sluggish and feel the 82 degree heat. So I figure I spend time on detailed map reading and not wasting any energy to get me going fast.

No trails, all hillsides, climb or drop. Guess I want to get ready for the WP mountain climbing courses.

Beautiful fresh green, young fern backlight by the sun, fresh leaves popping out, changing the perception of the woods completely.

My right toe hurts after I return. Must have hit a rock or something. Weird. Need ice, cold, ice. Maybe Wyoming snow?

Relax, breathe, stretch back and the legs. Leave the toe alone, pack it in a chunk of fresh imported polar ice.

Easy run in light rain, with the western horizon in red glow like yesterday. Swampfox's turkey BBQ seems to continue. Maybe the turkeys are really tough and need to be grilled for 48 hours.

8x 3 min. (or less) tempo run with one minute of easy running in between. Spike probably would call that young man intervals, fine with me. I felt a considerable improvement on the weekend, so I continue doing them. It is still fun to do.

The sky is burning in evanescent deep red. It is in the west, which means it is not Brooklyn burning, but Swampfox roasting a turkey. As it is well known, Wyoming is in the extreme western, therefor the southern hemisphere, so Thanksgiving is right around the corner.

Run to and from Dennings Point, the peninsula at the Hudson River plus running between tempo runs. There used to be a brick factory right at the neck of the island. Now the island is overgrown with second growth forest/jungle. They are building the Hudson river research center in the old factory. I don't know how long it will be quiet to run there.

Relaxing and rebuilding after the intense run. I felt good and get used to the speed. Still, some stretching and loosening up helps after the tempo runs.

Easy run at sunset, the Hudson River is absolutely calm, a silver mirror in the crisp Spring light. I stretch and breathe and relax for some time before running back up home.

Relax and shake out the stiff muscles from yesterday. I enjoy the view across the river towards Newburgh. A peaceful after race day, I take it easy and run to recover.

US long-0 champs at Thacher State Park. I have a good run, some route choices could be better. The legs feel much better than yesterday. I sense some speed on the trails, the pay-off of the tempo runs. I am glad to find that at my tender age (49 as of today) I can improve my speed.

A pleasant weekend, with a better race on Sunday. I enjoy the long race. There is room for improvement on the map. The course setting and control pick-up of the last week was a lot of time on the map, but in at a slower speed and many hours in the woods. Exhausting for the body, like the almost four hours in the woods on Wednesday. Race map reading is fast, just a glance and a decision. As course setter I have to check all the elements. As Spike comments later, 'you got to change your mental attitude for the race'. Right.

I meet Max, a sweet boy with a hearty appetite for bananas and dirt diving. I sort some gravel rocks with him and we also have a course review together. He is understands the route choices right away and points them out on the map. So far he seems to like orienteering. Definitely a better choice than becoming president, the other option when growing up in Washington.

C • Meeting 1

I run away from the camp, along the road, to do a thorough warm up. 20 minutes of steady running, some martial arts, stretching, than more running. I need time to wake up. The body seems slow and resists running. I keep running, since I know after 20 minutes or so I feel better.

Red Y 2 - Splits