Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Event: Saguaro Lake Classic-O
 

Phoenix Orienteering Club local event at Saguaro Lake, a nice area that suffers only from the 40 foot contours used on the map.

The Phoenix club is quite small, but the meet was well-run and the organizers very friendly and welcoming. This included a nice beginners' clinic, which was nice for Taka, my colleague at ASU, and his girlfriend Mariko. Ching-Hua and Matthias were there too, so we were a sizable group of non-regulars.

My orienteering left much to be desired. For the first few controls, it really felt like I could have done equally well with a blank map, especially in the control circles. The 40 foot contours meant that there were lots of large reentrants not on the map, and it seemed like complete guesswork to figure out which ones were mapped. After a while I adjusted to this and had a few good controls, but then massively screwed up the second to last one, again due to there being one reentrant on the map and six in real life.

Hmm, I am making it sound like all my mistakes were the fault of the map, but that's obviously not true. I should have adjusted better from the start and picked out large features in the distance that would obviously be on the map. Anyway, I enjoyed the orienteering, mainly due to the beautiful scenery and all the saguaros. I like saguaros.

Nice lunch with Ching-Hua and Matthias in the far-too-pretty-to-be-real town of Fountain Hills.

734/2000

C • Fountain Hills 1

Somehow I convinced myself that running back to my hotel from the airport after returning the rental car was a good idea. It wasn't. Phoenix isn't a nice place to run, or at least not the parts I ran through.

Humans spotted before crossing the river: 3
Strip clubs spotted before crossing the river: 6

C • You did what?! 12

Warmup and a dead man's shuffle of a cooldown

McDowell Mountain Frenzy trail race just outside of Phoenix.

There were 50km, 25km, 10mi, and 5km to choose from. I decided 10 miles was a good distance for me and signed up. The last two years' races had been won in 69 and 70 minutes, so I figured I should try to shoot for that. The drive over from Phoenix in the dark was pretty awesome: there was a full moon with a lunar eclipse going on, and I got to watch the moon gradually get more and more eclipsed as I drove over. Definitely the best view of an eclipse that I've ever had.

The race course was fun - one winding 10 mile loop, entirely single-track with lots of ups and downs and twists and turns, but not massive uphills or downhills. The 25km race started at 8am, and we started 15 minutes later. I ran off at the head of the pack (not a big pack - the 10 mile race probably had like 70 people max) with one other guy, and we quickly got away from everyone else. I settled behind this guy and stayed with him for the first two miles. We were pretty even on the flats, i gained a bit on the uphills, but he absolutely slaughtered me every time there was the slightest downhills. After the first couple of miles I decided that chasing him on the flats and ups was unsustainable, and dropped back.

I felt good and was catching and passing 25km runners the whole time, which made it easier to set little targets the entire way. Sometimes passing people with headphones was annoying, though, as they didn't hear me say "on your left, please." At around 7 miles I was trying to pass someone on a downhill when they suddenly moved right in front of me, and I slide off the trail and wiped out. No damage done, just some scrapes. Still, I somehow lost my rhythm there (maybe it's just an excuse) and could never really get going after that. The final mile was pretty brutal - trending uphill, with constant short downs and steep ups that were energy-sapping for me.

I finished in 69:29, good for second place, a whole four minutes behind the winner, an ASU track runner, whose goal for the season is to break 3:45 for the 1500m. This trail run was really fun, especially because of the fun, not-boring course, all the saguaros everywhere, the beautiful weather, and the moving targets presented by the 25km runners.

Mile splits
6:46
6:22
6:09 (oops)
6:59
6:32
6:53
6:59
6:41
7:02
7:22 (ouch)
1:45 (i guess the race was actually 10.25 miles)

C • Great run 3

Treadmill at the hotel gym in the morning.

C • 10M 1

In Phoenix. No sleep + lots of work = no training. :(

C • food 1

C • Coordinating Saguaro Lake 9

Intervals after work on a dirt part going around a soccer field on campus. Got faster as the workout went on. That was a good thing.

Rockgympa at the Davenport gym with Nathan. Felt dead after the weekend.

A quick game of one-on-one basketball against Nathan. The game featured, on both sides, far more enthusiasm than skill.

Dragging myself back home after the workout.

To Davenport College to meet Nathan, then up St.Ronan street and back along the base of East Rock and down Orange street.