Training Log Archive: cmorse

Event: UNO - Ahern SP Sprint Double Header
 

Nice sprint by Jim A. Good blend of route choices with some very fast trail options, nothing requiring bashing through any serious green (at least I avoided all things green). Beat Ernst by a minute or so I think.

Second sprint - another fine course, except I messed up #2 - not seeing my large 3m cliff and getting pulled left by another large cliff which was farther than my control - got there, scratched my head momentarily and then turned around seeing both my cliff and bag off in distance - probably 40-45s loss on this one. And a decisive mistake as Ernst beat me by a handful of seconds on this course. And no appreciable sprint points as the meet attendance was pretty scarce - only other folks I knew were the Bundschuhs, Bob Lux and Peter Anderson, but I think the latter was only doing a yellow course with his family, and not sprinting. A nice outing in the woods though..

Shadowing Jackson on a very fine white course - who did pretty well, but only really ran 3 or 4 legs, walked most of the others. 3rd control he hit quite easily but didn't read clue properly (nor listen to me as I told him what side of rocky knoll was to be found on before we got there) and he spent perhaps a minute searching all around before finding the flag closest to the trail. - Then straight into the lake after finishing for a nice end to the day. Jackson swam for about an hour before we headed out of town to avoid the post-Louden NASCAR traffic.

Mount Kinsman - North and South Peaks via Mt Kinsman Trail with Jackson. Gorgeous weather starting out, but Jackson seriously dragging - thought we might have to bail at the half mile mark as he was apparently quite tired from yesterday. But we trodded onward, he consuming an entire box of granola bars before we neared the summit ridge and me cajoling him to drink lots. Clouded over when we finally got to the summit of N Kinsman, then over to S. Kinsman for some lunch. Weather looking really ominous and reports of a front coming in. Thunder in the distance so we didn't linger long and retraced our steps to N Kinsman and back down - an hour and a half later the sun came out and the heat/humidity kicked right up to make it somewhat oppressive in the final hour (late afternoon on the west side of the ridge). Jackson getting quite tired and stumbling a bit, but managed to get back down in just over 8 hours total. His longest day yet (time, mileage and total elevation) and a fine job. Then over to the Wild Ammonoosuc in Bath for a bit of a swim, then back to our camp at Wildwoods CG.

after dinner walk around campgroun and across street by river and picnic area. Then retired to the tent for round of Scrabble before bed.

Late afternoon climb from Moosilauke Ravine Lodge - up via Gorge Brook Trail, down via Carriage Rd (and S Peak) and Snapper Trails. Trails and summit to ourselves in sunny, early evening conditions with a stiff westerly breeze. Down just about dark.

Happy Trails Buddy...

Owen - 1994-2009

Hangin' in Jackson Hole, WY - Oct 1995

Earlier this morning Owen, undoubtedly the most noble goat ever to grace a Billygoat T-shirt (2001 Gay City), passed away at the ripe old age of 15. He will be laid to rest with the cremated remains of his brother Teewinot who passed away in February of 2007.

Flat Tops Wilderness, CO - Oct 1995

Owen, Teewinot & Ellen on the Approach Trail to the Cathedral Group (Grand Teton, Mt Owen & Mt Teewinot), Moose, WY - Oct 1995

C • condolences 7

Event: WCOC BBQ, Sprints, Meeting at DeWeese Farm
 

Started out by doing Sprint A shadowing Jackson. Decent job, but tended not to be looking for controls carefully enough and went by a few.

Then went out and ran the A sprint without compass. Doesn't really count since I had jogged it with Jackson, but nailed everything cleanly and felt pretty good all the way around. Pretty much just used the map to remind myself which control was next, then ran the leg on memory.

Ran before Jackson this time, so it counted. Clean all the way around except hesitated a little before #8 since I've messed up in this area before and it felt like I had run the correct distance, but I had to go a little further - but I was dead on. Only real route choice was on #13, went south around the enclosure and up through the white - a fine choice. JJ had warned me about the Urtica on #14, but I saw no reason to go over the knoll.

Since I haven't actually done any orienteering this season - it felt really nice to be running in the woods with a map in hand. Seeing as how the Sprint Champs are the same weekend as the 100 miler I'm signed up for, and don't really feel prepared to even complete, I think I may bow out of that endeavor and do the sprint/ultralong champs instead. Peter suggested that I was a smart guy - and this seems the smarter course of action at this point.

And then out to shadow Jackson on the B course - another decent outing, but still overrunning a couple - including following JJ on one, and then chasing Evalin near the end - he saw Evalin coming back out, but then wasn't paying attention to his control and ran past it to another one on the 'crutches' course. Figured it out ok.

Sprint A - Splits

Sprint B - Splits

Event: NEOC: Forest Park Sprints and Picnic
 

So Bruce called yesterday to see if I was interested in doing 22 miles this AM - same route we did about a month ago. I said fine, as long as he was willing to walk all the hills and run a moderate pace on the rest. He was fine with that, and since we were starting/finishing from his house, if my pace was too slow, he could just run ahead and finish up before me.

So off we went at 4:45, just getting light but raining (what else) and we set off walking up the hill from his house. Seemed odd to be walking from the start, but that was the plan and we stuck with it... So we walked all the hills, and tossed in a number of walking breaks on the rail trail between Andover and Bolton Notch (which trends very slightly up hill over a number of miles. Eating and drinking regularly, but by around mile 17 or so, I could tell my stomach was not emptying as it had that full, sloshy feel to it. When we got to Valley Falls, I told Bruce to run on since there was a lot of up to do on Hatch Hill.

I finished a little less than an hour slower than last time, my stomach didn't absorb food/drink any better and my body actually hurts a lot more - particularly my hips/pelvis are really achy - not sure what that's about - I'm going to assume lyme related - but basically I feel like a big breakfast of leftover pasta and, to take Peters cue, a nap. So that's just what I plan to do at this insane hour of 9:30 in the morning...

C • Well, I guess all my sugges... 2

Post nap review - definitely something odd going on. My whole pelvic area feeling very achy following run/nap - doesn't feel muscular, but deep in the joints. A dull ache was evident from early on in the run, but I've had something similar before, but it never became bothersome. And I can't see how changing things up and walking hills today could have been a part of it. I do a lot of walking (just not in races, at least early on) and have had no problem.

Other things that were different today - didn't eat before hand, but began using a new gel and water from the start - gel has electrolytes and amino acids, so it wasn't lack of those. Just plain water to wash it down with - didn't seem to be any issues there. Just by later in the run it didn't appear to be going into my system - just sitting in the stomach. No nausea or other complaints, but then I wasn't out long enough to overfill the stomach either.

got a pretty good headache going this afternoon as well. Maybe its some sort of arthritic condition exacerbated by all this crappy weather.... Oh well, enough ruminating, on to some more productive work.

Evening walk w/ Jackson - brisk pace - thermometer said 69, but felt chilly...

C • Saw Eddie Alibozek on Satur... 7

Got in late last night, so with a 4:30am start, and mostly paved roads, I opted to bow out of this mornings run. Maybe I'll go for a run this afternoon if I get a chance...

quick walk after work with Jackson - up to 140 and back, then down SLR toward the lake a little - gorgeous evening, not enough time for any more..

Happy Feet fun run - 1km official loop (paved trail), I ran 5 easy loops, boys claimed to have run 6, I think they just did 5 though... Nice day...

Bruce, Mark & Scott planning on 50m tomorrow AM - I might join them at 4:30 for the first 18 or so, then I've got to be off to work...

Looking at the Nipmuck Grand Tree results, I see my time as good for 66 points, which is a couple better than my AP ranking points (64). So the time was pretty much 'on par' for me...

Bruce and Mark said they were going to run at Soapstone today at 5, so I got up and went up to join them for part of it. But no one there, so I did the airport run, over the mountain and down the dirt road to Ellington Airport and back. About halfway through the run, it occurred to me that perhaps they meant 5PM, not AM. But 5AM is when I usually run with those guys, so it was a decent guess. Or maybe they just blew me off and slept in... Anyway, I had to get to work, so I kept it at a pretty decent pace, ran the entire way back up the mountain. Will try Peters walk:run suggestion another time...

time/dist/climb all estimates. GPS kept losing signal - at one point it claimed I was running at 40+ km/hr - and not just a momentary blip, this was over a minute - but I think it had lost signal for quite a bit before I looked at it and was thus averaging my pace over a very short time interval.

after dinner walk with Jackson and Hayden

Went for a walk with Jackson from TIS over to Crandalls, up around by the lodge, spent a bit of time by the pond watching wildlife, then back to TIS and then off to pick up Anna from Art Club...

Pretty tired today, didn't sleep too well last night, but no soreness of any sort. I really expected things to be somewhat delicate going down stairs this AM, but nothing..... Probably still a bit of dehydration...

C • I'd guess you would be sore... 4

Event: Nipmuck Marathon
 

Nice day for a trail race - went in with an optimistic goal of breaking my previous best of 4:15, so I decided I'd shoot for going under 4 hours. Met up with Mark and Bruce and managed to get ahead of most of the crowd, quickly settling into a small group behind the lead pack, but ahead of the bulk of runners - conveniently avoiding the necessity of having to pass people in the early miles.

I had printed out goal times for each aid station, but conveniently forgot them but had a rough idea of time for the turnarounds. Off to a good steady pace right around 9 min/mile. Felt good, drinking well and all that good stuff - right on target at the turnaround and again at the halfway point - then the wheels began to come unglued.

Grabbed a couple cups of gatorade (or some other green sport drink) that was poorly mixed and it didn't sit well, kind of made my stomach queasy. Continued on but around mile 15 my legs started to get that dead feeling. I let Mark on ahead (we had dropped Bruce back around mile 8). Due to my queasy stomach, I skipped anything more than a bottle refill (water only) at the next couple aid stations (bad idea) and really started to run out of gas. Started drinking coke and some small finger food beyond there but the damage seems to have been done. Looking at my splits post race, I really started to fall off the pace, doing quite a bit of walking at times.

Down to the turnaround about 14 minutes behind schedule and it never improved from there. A bit of cramping commenced around mile 22, and tried a little more sport drink at 24. 100m into the woods past that aid station it was time to void the stomach - all fluid, but LOTS of it. Quite apparent that my body hadn't absorbed much fluid (or carbs, or electrolytes) in quite some time. From there on out it was slow going, getting passed by a lot of folks that were quite some distance behind. Lots of cramping and walking funny on the hills. Rolled into the finish at 4:50 almost an hour past goal and 35 minutes past my PR.

Oh well - I finished, and no major issues other than being totally devoid of energy and the cramping, which should pass quickly. But I do need to experiment and find something that my body tolerates and gets absorbed. It wasn't that hot (70's) so I don't think I can blame the heat - stomach just got stupid on me. But it did that at Pinelands too, albeit a bit later in the race.

Here's the splits - first column is my goal, second column is actual.

Rt 74 - missed
Marsh Rd - 37 / 36
Turnaround - 56 / 54
Marsh Rd - 1:15 / 1:12
Rt 74 - 1:43 / 1:38
Half - 1:53 / 1:50
Oakes Rd - 2:15 / 2:16
Westford/Eastford Rd - 2:42 / 2:49
Boston Hollow - 2:56 / 3:10
Westford/Eastford - 3:11 / 3:32
Oakes Rd - 3:31 / 4:09
Finish - 4:00 / 4:50

C • Vitalyte 2

Afternoon walk w/ Jackson...

C • You going to Gay City tomor... 3