Training Log Archive: bishop22

Took the day off, since I just made a cameo appearance at XC practice, before heading home to prepare for attending the first MNF game in Buffalo in 13 years. Zach (who has not been alive for MNF in Buffalo) and Chelsea went with me, but they traded seats so they could sit with Coolean.

What a punch in the gut at the end. But this was one of the most exciting games I've attended. If the Brokeback's FG misses at the end, it would probably rank close to the top 3 (obviously behind the Comeback and the OT win over the Jets for the division title and Fandemonium that ensued), but since they lost, it ranks behind the back-to-back comeback games in '89 or so (Broncos maybe, and the Raiders) and the Rams Mon night game, and probably a few others.

This is the first game where I have been on my feet for every single play.

C • Edwards or Losman 6

Event: Hudson Highlander 2007
 

Hudson Highlander.

Started out with an unfortunate incident - did some damage to my left big toe right at the start (Peter posted map here) - caught it on a rock somehow and it was pretty sore. As I soon discovered, it was fine on level ground, but very painful when it had to flex on rocks. On the way to 1, I was only able to check off the real big features (like the lake and the creek), but for the second half, I could see JJ at the head of a train, so I was confident the pack was doing OK. I couldn't make sense of the contours near the control, but there was a major trail not too far past it, so I knew missing wouldn't be too bad. Hit the trail to head towards 2. I wanted to stay on it for a long time, but JJ left it and Samantha and Hillary decided to, also, so I had to hit the terrain. As we started to get in the neighborhood, JJ was headed left and the Saegers were going right. There were 2 of them, and only 1 JJ, and I thought the open fields meant we were too far left, so I went right. We found John F and Jeff S floundering up above, but relocated and headed back S to the flag. C3 was straight, C4 had a nice hilltop to guide the way, for both I was again behind Sam and Hill. For 5, I slowed down 1 spur too early, but they kept going, and I was at the right height. On the way to 6, I got ahead of them on the way to the road, at which point I decided to take the trail around to the right - not sure if they went the same way. They got by me on the way to 7, and I followed them on the trail towards 8. They decided to leave the trail before the last downhill, so I did as well, although I had planned on running it all the way to the parking lot. They got ahead of me on the rocky climb to the road - my toe was quite sore during every rocky stretch, but especially uphills. I was able to essentially catch up during the road run.

The trail run started with a rocky uphill section, so they opened up a sizable lead (20+ seconds), but I was able to catch back up when the rocks became less numerous. We then went by JJ, Joe B and someone else. At this point, we hit a very nice section of trail, and I was feeling good, so I moved ahead by a chunk. Then we hit some more rocks, and it was the beginning of the end. I cramped pretty severely on the inside of my thigh when I tried to avoid a rock with my left foot. I had to walk for a bit and the girls went zipping by me. Eventually it recovered, but they had gotten out of sight, at least 30 seconds ahead, so I pushed it and was able to catch back up, just before the end.

I took a little longer at the aid station, trying to choke down 1/3 of a Powerbar, but the next O section (Peter's map) started on a trail and I was able to catch up again, but we left the trail at a rocky reentrant and it was all over. After I lost contact, I tried to hit the little sections of mapped trail that were available, and I did hit parts of them, but spent way too much time in the mountain laurel. The only good thing was that the second little section of trail seemed to go on longer than mapped and I was able to easily follow the swamp around to the bag. On the way to 12, I saw the girls again as they were headed from 15-16. Very depressing. Somehow, I didn't really notice the swampy area to the left and was trying to key off the contours. I came to a stop trying to relocate, when I heard someone to the left - it was JJ moving at a nice clip, so I thought he had a bead on the control. It wasn't until we hit the trail that I realized he had already punched, so back I went. Bernie and some others (cadets?) were arriving from the other direction, so I was near them for the next 3 control, my slowness from toe pain and cramping were offset by cleaner navigating. Until 16. They went right, while I chose to go left. I got hung up in too much green, then over corrected back to the right, until I was able to relocate from the clearing a bit before the control. 17 went smoothly. For 18, I chose to stay left any time I saw green ahead of me, then cut back and went off the tip of the last swamp, catching back up to a couple guys. They went left around the hill, I went right, so I didn't see them again. I assume I did too much zig-zagging. I was able to run up the road.

I took my time at the final aid station. Jon T was already done. John F did some pouring for me - not sure how many cups I ended up drinking, but it was too little, too late. I walked almost all of the last map, but still managed to get hopelessly lost on the way to 2 (21?). Had to go N to the clearing to try again. Came back just as a small pack, including Phil B, was closing in. I jogged most of the trails thru the camp area and across the field for the uphill attack. I don't remember 4. Took the trail most of the way to 5, left where a couple of others did. If I had been alone, I would have gone all the way to the road, to be safe. Tried to go mostly straight to 6, which meant hitting a nasty section of undergrowth about halfway there (but at least I was sure where I was). Went off the bend in the road to get to 7. Took almost identical route as Peter to 8, still with Phil. Did some jogging on the trails on the way to 9. Left the road on the little trail left of the buildings. And a rare downhill finish was much appreciated.

My toe is a bit discolored between the knuckle and the foot, but I guess I won't pay to have it looked at, since they probably wouldn't really do anything for it anyway. I think running on non-rocky services should be OK.

HH XII - Splits

BFLO Meet at Emery Park. Can't go XC @ Geneseo.

Running around the course during the Geneseo Relay Invitational. Boys did 5 x 1.5 miles, then the girls did the same, then there was a co-ed relay (2 boys / 2 girls). So, I got to run around during all 14 legs, and there was just enough running to be done to wear myself out a bit before the Highlander tomorrow.

Nate led off the boys relay, and turned in a decent performance, 8:17 for the hilly loop. Chelsea had a decent time, 10:00, but a great race. She went 2nd, and Megan gave her a bit of a lead against Brighton and Rush-Henrietta, a couple of very good teams. The Brighton girl made a run at Chelsea and almost caught her, but faded about halfway thru the loop. The R-H girl kept coming, closing within a second or two when they hit the last hill with about 200m to go, and Chelsea powered up the hill to pull ahead by over 10 seconds.

Nate's heel was acting up, so he had to sit out the co-ed relay. Chelsea went third, and I think had us in 3rd, but Brighton still had a boy running, and Megan only had about a 1 minute lead, so he walked her down.

Some easy running, some with Coach Brust, while the team was out for their easy run - finished up with 4 strides.

Had tickets for the Sabres opener tonight, but I couldn't answer the bell, since a long weekend starts at 5:15am tomorrow.

Intervals with the team at Mendon Ponds Park, site of our next dual meet (and the County meet).

We warmed up on the first 2 miles of the course, plus a bit (17:59). Did 5 x 1000m from the 2nd big tree after leaving the driveway near the 2-mile mark to 8m before a water cover just after the 3rd driveway along the road. So, the odd intervals were net uphill and the even were net downhill. Nate averaged 23 seconds faster than me. I think Kenny kept up with him. Chris loafed the first one, then kept up with Pat and Wade, not far behind. Marcin usually beat me; Dan and Josh were close.

I was a little disappointed that the top 3 freshmen started out at about a jog. Eric picked it up afterwards, but the others... let's just say that Chelsea and Clare should not be able to catch them, especially from almost 30 seconds back.

3:55, 3:51, 4:01, 3:52, 4:05

Recovery averaged 3:40, with about 2:30 of that jogging.

7:52 jogging after the last one, to cheer the other groups on, and gather the troops for a w/dn on the last part of the course and around for a bit (12:01).

Lost 3 of 4 to the first place team. Gave away late leads in 2 of the three losses. Added Mike Reitz who is a nice raw talent. We should be able to improve quickly enough to make the playoffs.

Easy run around Webster Park during practice. Included another tour of the terrain in the unmapped eastern part of the park.

Run was cut short when Chris arrived with 10-count 'em-10 pizzas for the team, in recognition of their performance at McQuaid and their effort, down a couple of key players yesterday.

Ran part of the Mendon West course before the XC meet (12 min), then ran around during the 2 varsity races (too busy to watch the modified race), and finished up with a jog plus some tempo running after the meet, to pick up some cones and flags (18:24 - about 5 at tempo pace). Running around during the race was a lot of fun - I get to do some terrain running on this course, and I beat other coaches to a couple of vantage points, since they stayed on the trails.

The meet didn't go as well as we had hoped. Brianna was a no-show, and we lost to Gates 27-28. She would have clinched that victory. As it was, we almost pulled it off. Megan came close to winning her first race ever, but was outkicked by a Gates girl. One rookie, Alaina, wasn't quite able to hold off a Gates girl, and another rookie, Janelle, thought that the finish line was at the start line, but there is really about 75m to go at that point. I think she stopped, and got passed by Gates' 5th girl (she was our 6th girl and could have displaced and been the tiebreaker). I did have fun playing with a girl's head when Chelsea had caught her with less than a mile to go. I like to think the "8th man" helped set up Ashley to catch the girl as well, and almost win the meet.

The boys got overly excited early on, and Nico and Chris took off with the leader, even though they would have done well to finish in the top 10. Unfortunately, Nate went with them, and 2 others were in 6th and 7th at the 600m mark. By the time they made it up the long, steep hill to the mile mark, it was clear they would fade. They ended up hanging on admirably, but it was not good enough to hold off Gates (and Arcadia was out of the question, but they were a stretch goal anyway).

The good thing is that the times were quicker than I expected, for the most part. And coming off of McQuaid, I had expected a bit of a tougher race. So, I think we are still looking good towards our year-end goals.