Training Log Archive: Anna

Very happy with my course.
Started out badly when I cut into the woods early, even though my pace count hadn't run out, and I didn't see the gully. I had to run through all these annoying little ditches. I had overlooked the distinct vegetation on my left where I was supposed to cut in.

Followed the gully up the hill and went to 2.
Read contours on my bearing to 3.
Went around the ditch ends on my way to 4.
Went around the gullies starting out to 5, then ran next to the gully before I got to the ditch.
Ran around the ditches and down the spur to 6. The hill bothered me on the way back out. I ran next to the trail to the road and took that to 7.

It was lucky I ran the road to 8, because the Armstrongs' car key fell out of my pocket twice, and I picked it up and didn't put it in my pocket again.
I aimed to the left for the go control so I could just follow the streamers to it. That footing was really bad, and I couldn't really run fast until the finish chute.

C • Relay? 7

1-Didn't go through the woods with everyone else; I had planned to take the road all the way (bad route), but then the rough open looked really crossable and made a better route.
2-went back out to the road and tried to count the little campsites. I think Guy went faster by going almost straight.
3-went on the road again. Better choice than it was on 2, since there was a longer way to run. I'll have to see the splits, but it worked well for me since I probably wouldn't've run as fast through the woods.
4-took the ditches down the hill, then followed the trail till I saw the right reentrant. Hesitated a bit, until I saw the huge earth bank on my left.
5-was running with one other person; I think everyone else went through the saddle, which saved about 8m of climb. Then we hit the trail and saw the gully. Everyone else went straight up, and I went around. They got there first.
6-ran the trail to the stream bank and struggled down it. Struggled up the other side and took advantage of little plants to pull up on.
7-went straight
8-went straight
9-went to the left of the gully before the trail. went down the ridge and hesitated along the way because I was nervous. Shouldn't have since I had such an obvious catching feature. Those plants by the marker were hard to run through.
10-gained on the people ahead of me climbing the hill.
11-crossed the stream and stayed in the woods since I didn't want to go through the finish area.
12-used my compass to know when to turn off the road
13-everyone went a different way from me. I ran on the road and took a bearing.
14-took a rough bearing.

This was a very intense race for me. It was very fast, and it was motivating to see the people I was racing. I was exhausted by the time I was done, and I had trouble finding Nick's map.

Sprint O/Br/Green - Splits

Event: Flying Pig X (OCIN)
 

Big contours were familiar to me, but not the slippery gullies. Coming out of 2, I climbed the spur while someone else climbed a ditch, and I was amazed at how much slower I got up the side of the gully.

To 4, I took the road to the junction while I practiced reading ahead. Then I took a bearing and was able to leave the control quickly with a plan. Crossed the stream, then had a nice trail run.

Ran trail on first half of 6, left on a bearing then was confused when I was on a skinny little ridge. Then I saw my marker was down and hopped off to my left, but I still couldn't make the contours match what I thought I was seeing on the ground. I kept going and saw the marker off to my left.

Quickly ran to road, where I made the rest of my plan: run the trail to the corner of the parking lot, aim for the tip of the first gully, then run to the tip of the 2nd gully. I left the parking lot and was on a pace count, but I did not know how many paces it was to the first gully. By the time I started to get worried, I saw a marker. I ran to it, and it was my number 8. I took a short bearing and hit 7 easily. I ended up with a 5:06 on the leg, which was a reasonable time; I think I may have lost a minute.

Then I got careless on my way to number 8, since I'd already been there and because of the shortness of the leg. This time, I was not pace counting. I was running with someone else, and I was trying not to get left behind. If he was on my course, he punched without me realizing. I ended up too far left and hit a trail before the downhill to the stream started. I stood for awhile trying to look at the trails, but they were confusing me. Then, I finally only payed attention to the direction of the trail in front of me. I took a bearing and started to see countours again, and I found my marker. I probably lost about 3 min. This will be easier to judge when the splits get posted.

Ran to the trail, ran down the spur from right before the trail bend, saw Mike and Nadim running from different directions to my rootstock. I was able to follow Mike up the horrible slippery hill instead of trying to keep track of where the marker was while also trying to climb.

We had the same idea for my 10, which was cross the ditch and take the trail to the marker, having bypassed the trail bends that looked like bunny-rabbit ears. I saw him catch sight of the marker, which made me able to run to it without hesitation.

While they were running off really fast from the control, I was confused about if I should use the trail at all to the next marker. I should've just ignored it, since I wasted so much time debating about it. I ended up just taking a bearing. I had a pretty obvious thicket to find, with a trail as a catching feature behind it. It didn't cause me any problems.

Finally, I took a rough bearing to the field where the go control was. I was worried about missing it, but I looked right and saw the grass from far away; a slight adjustment was all I needed, and it cost me a minimal amount of time.

Overall, this was a successful course, but 7 and 8 reminded me that I can never let my guard down on what seems like a simple leg.

Ran slow on the first 700 since my legs felt sore and tired, but I picked it up on the last 2 laps and actually kicked noticably. (My coaches say I never kick and am always expressionless when I race.) There was a blue girl I was trying to catch, and I was gaining. If I'd started going really hard with 300 to go, I could've caught her; I need to work on running fast whether or not I think I'll catch someone.
I didn't cough during the race, but for about 15 min. afterwards, my throat was burning badly and making me miserable. I loaded up on cough drops, and it felt better.

C • Great times! You done got fast... 1

It was completely dark during this race. They made us go after the 4x4 since they think sprinters are more important than us. There was a little ATV they had headlights on and pointed them at the finish.
At first I was mad they were running the boys and the girls together, but then I realized I was the only girl. I kept getting confused on what lap I was on, but I was mad that Crowe kept reading my total time and not the split for each individual lap. I ran with Screech for the first 3 laps, but then he left me. I don't think I was running as hard as I could've, since I really didn't feel competitive since nobody was around me. I felt like I ran our old FPP tempo run harder than this. I did run a hard last lap, though, but I didn't exhaust myself. Laurie, Andy, and Ali are always dead tired after they run, and I feel guilty if I'm the first one to suggest a cooldown.

cough a lot better during the run, still had a sore throat. cough came back later.
legs felt better than yesterday, can't tell if I'm completely recovered.

Warmup felt kind of fast w/ Brian and Andy. After the workout, I felt horrible and dropped behind even Sydney on an already slow cooldown.

Was supposed to be 400, 800, 1200, 1600, then go back down. I didn't hit any of my times except the 1600, and Crowe told me to quit after the 2nd 1200.
90, 3:24, 5:28, 7:00, 5:30 (approx.)
Brian didn't have a good workout either. Maybe if I'd realized it was more than we normally do, I would've felt better, but I had a cough on the short intervals and tired legs. I was definitely not feeling as good as normal, but I don't know how much was just psychological.
I remember feeling bad after the GA meet, too. Maybe I'm not used to running over hills and rocks without stopping to rest.

Went to track when I thought practice was, but only Brian was there. I was only planning to warm up and stretch, so we ran 4 laps, stretched, and went home. Raining.

My legs were kind of burning on the uphills, but not too bad. It was hard to pick where to step on both the uphills and the downhills.

2 quick controls, not a lot of climb.