Training Log Archive: kissy

Despite being sick, SF was feeling rambunctious by the afternoon, and I had to agree to cut up a cantaloupe in order to get him to be good. That SF!

I went for a very nice and relaxed run up at Happy Jack in the late afternoon sun. The weather was spectacular, the air was clear, and the light was amazing. I just ran at a relaxed pace and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Finally!

Another in a long line of races that I'm not too, too happy with. I had a late start, so heard some people griping at the finish that there were so many chances for parallel errors. I told myself that maybe slower and careful was the strategy of the day. Unfortunately, I didn't keep that in my head for very long, and totally blew the first control. I was pretty depressed, but figured I'll keep pushing. I knew what the top time was that I had to beat, so I aimed for that. My next controls went really well, and I felt like I was making up some time. I stuck to pace counting and looking at my compass every 10 seconds or so. I could tell I had a good possibility of making the time I needed as I was heading to the 7th (of 9) controls. But, of course, that was the last thing I should have been thinking about as I proceeded to miss that control. I ran with everything I had left into 8 and 9, but it wasn't enough. Oh well, another lesson learned.

I got back to the hotel to find a SF who was still not feeling so well. And, after deciding that I had had my share of less-than-satisfying runs here, I decided that enough was enough, and suggested we just head home to Laramie. After some thought, Mikell concurred, so we hopped in our faithful white truck and headed north to the land of cowboys...and swampfoxes. The End.

C • oh no! 6

Slept in a bit after a late night, spent a leisurely morning with Troy and Brooke, and then off to Woodland Park. Checked in to the slightly sketchy Country Lodge hotel and headed off to Florissant. Fortunately, we got there 10 minutes before the Visitor's Center closed. Unfortunately, the whole park now closes at 5:00. :-( Made a trip on roads north of Lake George to survey the damage from the Hayman fire...pretty scary. SF was feeling off and on all day, with a scratchy throat and low energy.

Another not-so-stellar run. Between having a bad light and not seeing well at night, anyway, and...oh, yea...I missed a lot of the controls, it didn't go so well. Hopefully Friday will be better.

Definitely a better outing than yesterday's. After a morning spent exploring the Curecanti NRA and The Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, we headed back to Gunnison to get in some riding. As we got closer to Gunnison, we couldn't help but notice the ominous black clouds and lightning strikes over Crested Butte. It was a good thing we didn't go back there today. We *did* go to Hartman Rocks, which were basically right behind our hotel...so convenient. The initial ascent up the outside of the "ring of rocks" was a little brutal, but once we were up and "inside" the ring, it was really nice. A mish-mash of singletrack and jeep trails, through sage fields and over slickrock. It reminded me a little bit of Moab in some places. The only bad/scary part was a nasty, head-banging spill by Mikell. It smashed his camera, but his helmet seems to have done its job, thank goodness. Outside of that badness, it was a fun ride. Especially when followed up by "Fish Taco Tuesday" at Gunnison Brewery. Yum!

C • Gunnison Brewery 3

It had rained all night, so we were skeptical about getting in any riding today. We still drove up to Crested Butte and were told that, yes, indeed, the trails were too muddy. However, there was one loop, south of town, that should be okay because much of it is on sandy roads, so we headed there. The ride was basically up a jeep road, then up to the top of the ridge, and then down the ridge/spur to a paved road, and back up to the car. Well, I didn't even make it as far as the turn up to the top of the ridge. My legs felt as dead as they did yesterday during the race. I was not having any fun at all, so I told Mikell I was just going to head back to the truck and wait for him while he finished the ride. On my way back, I could see why I was tired. It took 38 minutes to get up to my turnaround point, and about half that (20 mins) to get back down. It didn't seem like we were climbing that much, but I guess we were.

Day 2 at Peaceful Valley; Red course. Well, this was a pretty dismal outing. Mikell and I volunteered to be pre-runners, so we started at 7:20 or so. I think this was just a bad beginning for a bad day because I couldn't get any of my normal routine things done before we went out. By the time I was heading across a field to the 4th control, I realized my legs were shot from yesterday and that today was going to be a very long day. On top of that, I bobbled 8 of 17 controls, with two of them totally bad misses. The one good thing I did was stuff a power gel in my pocket right before I went out, thinking I might need it since I wasn't going to have breakfast. I ate that on the way to #7, and at least my energy picked up on the last half of the course. Unfortunately, my brain power was still lagging. Oh, well, it was a nice course and some fun terrain.

Now we're in Gunnison, CO, for a few days of mountain bike riding in Crested Butte. That should be fun.

C • We went to 1

Day 2 Red - Splits

Day 1 at Peaceful Valley; Red course. My plan for today was to not waste any time at the controls, since there were 18 of them. I wanted to see the control and as I was running to it, get my compass set for the next leg and start getting my plan ready. It worked pretty well. It was also good that I hit each control pretty cleanly, with just maybe a minute of total hesitations. I started out fairly quickly, but by the last third of the course, I could feel that I wasn't charging quite as hard. I think it was a combo of the heat and the sometimes mentally-challenging aspect of getting across those huge prairies. But overall, a good day.

Day 1 Red - Splits

Event: 2007 USOF Convention and Colorado 5-Days
 

After a day of mixed weather, we made it out to Blair Picnic area for a mountain bike ride through Veadauwoo. It started out with some pretty rocky trails, which resulted in a nice-sized lump on my knee after smashing into a rock. After that, it was a nice ride down a valley, and then a climb up to a double-track trail/road. For the finish, we went down a dirt road, a hard top road, and finished on a washboard dirt road, in the rain. It was a great ride and I felt good...even my hurt little toe.

C • Fun 1