Training Log Archive: maprunner

I tweaked my left foot yesterday. It only hurts a bit when I walk (a bruise? a sprain?) but I decided to give it a few days off just in case. So I spent a few minutes on the rower.

The plan for today was to hang markers at Bluffwoods for next week's Possum Trot (which I could log as combined terrain and hill training for the week). And right on schedule, yesterday's sunny 45 degree weather turned to lower 30s and snow--how appropriate. Mike S, Dick N and I each hung a few markers. It was nice to be in the woods, in the beginning. Then the wet snowy conditions got the better of me. Hands and feet were soaked and frozen. It was hard to tie the marker at my last stop. Ran hard on the way to the finish, just to warm up.

I know how to fix the wet, cold feet (if I can remember where I packed my neoprene socks) but I don't know how to fix wet, cold hands. I wear polypro glove liners, which are just the right weight for most winter runs. I suppose I could carry a dry spare pair, but when they get wet, what then?

Fortunately, Nancy was clairvoyant, and had given Dick a thermos of hot water and packets of hot cocoa (plus Peeps for me :) Thank you Nancy--a hot drink at the end of today's run was so perfect.

Today is the end of my "6 hour" training week, but I'm a few minutes short. Question of the day: how anal do I want to be? Shall I row for 15:01 to meet my time? Adjust yesterday's entry to 30:01 (which we would be somewhat legit) or do nothing ?????

Mike and went to JCCC to vet the course. We were out longer than this, but this is about right for my effort. I walked/jogged between controls, with lots of stops to check map, review control location, hang tapes, etc. The course is coming along, though it probably should have been done by now. I guess the only real deadline is 1 pm next Saturday :)

On our way to the Jayhawks game. My boss gave us two tickets, in the front row! Never sat courtside before.

Long slow jog on the river trail in Lawrence. Very nice to run someplace (relatively) new for me, and to enjoy the beautiful day with just me and Mike out there.

Followed by another wonderful dinner at mom and Ron's. Usual diverse mix of family and friends from different backgrounds. This year we had a new guest from Senegal, which meant there were people from 4 continents at dinner. Have to find an Aussie and a South American for next year :) Great conversation all around; especially nice to hear the foreigners talk enthusiastically about Obama.

I'm trying to be good. Trying to walk past the Peeps in the grocery store. Tomorrow I will eat too much already; why add the Peeps temptation? But then I came home today to find a special package on the front steps from "Peepaholics R Us" in Peepsville PE. The package contained the full Christmas selection, including a flavor I had never seen (gasp!). The sugar cookies are very good, unfortunately :) Note that the sugar cookie variety are already consumed, and I have absolutely no regrets. Yum.

Many thanks to my (almost) anonymous donor (who sent it from ZIP code 52806)

C • Oops 2

Took advantage of the warm weather to walk around JCCC at lunch time. Making some suggested changes to the course (thanks Nadim!)

C • Welcome 1

Long flat course at SMP. It was fun, for a change, to run a course that someone else designed and taped (thanks Mike!). A good course that takes one through the nicest woods available. Tough woods navigation in the beginning; long legs at the end.

I wasn't trying to run at race pace this time. Lots of stops to alter clothing, or take a drink. Definitely felt better moving through the woods; definitely need to practice moving smoothly through the controls. Huge mistake finding 9; then got totally turned round and took three (!) tries to leave 9 in the correct direction. Ugh.

The goal of these long runs is to increase endurance. If I understand correctly, I can't change my VO2 max much, but I should be able to push out my lactate threshold. We'll see.

Special AOWN moment: I scared up what must certainly be the trophy buck of SMP. Most deer are scrawny rats; he was solid, wide and beautiful, with a large rack. Nice to have seen him.

End of a long weekend of training, so I treated myself to a massage followed by several hours of lying around watching the Giants.

long flats 3 - Splits

Local PTOC meet at Tall Oaks. I wanted to run a "middle" course, so I chose orange. Big mistake. One, the course was easier than I expected, so it was too short to count as a middle. But the bigger mistake was my mind-set. I treated it like a local orange course, and was mentally out of it. I mean, getting confused by trail junctions? Misreading clue descriptions? Thinking about running fast, instead of reading the map. I made mistake after mistake. Ugly.

After I finished the orange course, I decided to try to salvage the day (mentally) and add more time on my feet. So ran the yellow course, pushing the pace a bit.

So, I met my physical goal for the day, but obviously it was a waste of time in terms of O training. Need to learn from this mistake.

Sprint at Bonner tonight. I knew it wouldn't be a record pace. Hard to run a straight line at night, with limited distance vision. Also had to stop a few times in the beginning to warm up my hands and wipe my nose. Also tired at the end of a work week. Cold air was hard to breathe. Pushed sometimes, walked sometimes. But still a hard effort, as part of my three-event weekend.

Bonner Park - Splits

Went to JCCC to watch Mike and Nadim run my KS champs course. Good feedback from both; some minor tweaks should make everything right on. The "winning time" also seems to be right. Followed by a very nice dinner with good conversation.

House Update:
weeks on the market: 7
total number of showings: 6
Mike and I talked about pulling the house off the market and starting over inthe spring. But our realtor suggested dropping the price to generate more showings. We agreed to try that for two more weeks.

C • Kansas Champs 1

at SMP after work. Freaked out the mountain bikers with my bright light, and the fact that I would just run in the woods whenever our paths crossed (instead of standing quietly at the edge of the trail). Beautiful night; 60 degrees and clear skies.

at SMP after work. Legs are beginning to get used to hill repeats, so they didn't feel too bad tonight. First run with my new jacket. I used to buy cheap (ie Walmart) jackets for winter O in the woods. But those jackets don't breathe. Decided to spend some money on a real running jacket (still bought one on sale). Yes, it will get torn, eventually. But if I stay warm and dry for two seasons, it's worth the money. Jacket was a bit warm for the uphills, but perfect when I got to the top (windy) and was jogging back down. Love the pit zips.

Made it home in time to shower and eat before "Gavin and Stacey". Tidy.

First complete run of this year's Wyandotte test loop. Took it pretty easy, because I was still tired from the past week. Also, don't want to push the pace the first day; makes it too hard to improve on subsequent runs :) Nice sunny day, but no bald eagle sightings.

This year's course it not a true orienteering course. It's meant to be a physical challenge. Up and over several hills. Legs 2-11 are all in the woods. In general, the woods are rough (what else is new?) The plan is to use this course to build woods endurance. By January, the GA woods should be a piece of cake.

short hills 3 - Splits

Well, I didn't expect the week to go like this. Between stress on my body, and my mind, I just couldn't manage much training.

Strange work week. For once, my low-maintenance, just 8-5, easy job required me to work overtime on a massive, important project with a tight deadline (aside: why do Midwesterners work 8-5 while the people on the coast work 9-5? I remember when I first moved here, and someone told me the work day was 8-5, I thought they were playing a joke on me.) First time in years that I had to work on a weekend (I don't miss lab work.) I think most of the work stress came because this is not the type of project where I excel. It required lots of tedious data review. I was really afraid to make a mistake.

When I get stressed, I curl up on the couch and eat comfort foods. When Mike gets stressed, he feels the need to move around outside. Wish I could be like Mike.

But then, the project is over (letters were mailed to the customers today) and tomorrow is another day.

C • stress 5

House Update:
number of weeks on market: 6
total number of showings: 5
number of neighbors who came to open house: 6

C • neighbors 1

at SMP after work. I was dressed just right for 50 degrees and light rain. Had the right equipment, too. Didn't mind being alone and seeing big eyes (deer) yellow eyes (opossum) and high eyes (raccoon up a tree). Took it easy and hiked around for a while. When I got back to the car, I had my annual "explain why I'm running around the woods at night" conversation with a park ranger.

a few hill repeats. Legs were burning tonight.

Did some course setting/vetting for the Kansas Champs course today. The map is only one mile from my office, so I can do this at lunch time. Sweet.

at Smithville, for a change of pace. First cold day of the season, so I was running around the house looking for gloves, headband, running jacket, etc. Good thing we went to the storage shed last weekend to dig out my winter O gear. It was weird to feel cold again at the start of the run, and wonder if I was dressed appropriately. Actually, I had dressed just right (for me; Valerie would have been too hot:). More people out than I expected, including some other trail runners. Legs felt good, and I enjoyed being outside. Also saw a beautiful red fox.

C • Dressing warmly 1

House Update
weeks on the market: 5
total number of showings: 3
Realtor previews: 2
open house this Sunday

at SMP after work. First night O session of the year. I stayed in the woods for two reasons: tonight's training was all about improving movement through the woods and the wind was _fierce_ out in the open. It was lots of fun to be back in the woods, freaking out the deer.

at SMP after work. The only good thing about tonight was the temp: 72 degrees. Otherwise, the legs felt like crap and mentally I was just out of it. Can't blame it on long lines at the polls; I voted weeks ago by absentee ballot. Maybe some day we'll live in a civilized state like Kansas, which allowed voting any time in the last two weeks.

Need some help with this race name discussion. Non-OKers are welcome to participate.

Hiking around at Wyandotte, setting my third annual hills test loop. This one will be very hilly, and maybe a bit boring. Today was another spectacular fall day, sunny and warm. It was hard to remember to think what this course would feel like when the weather is cold and snowy. My legs were tired, so I took it very easy today.

Event: Fleming Park - Day Event
 

I have a tendency to treat local events as practice, and don't usually push myself very hard. And that can be a good thing, if I'm trying to just train and build stamina. But it can also lead to sloppy O technique, and doesn't test my ability to think when tired.

So today, I decided to drop down to the orange course and push the pace. I knew I couldn't go the distance on a green or red course, in these thick woods and temps in the 70s.

It was a good plan. Forced me to remind myself to try to run through the woods and tall grass, even if I couldn't always do it. And I sometimes walked up hills, but started to jog again as soon as I reached the top.

Out of practice with reading the map as I left the control, to plan the next route. Also was a bit sloppy with knowing the control feature. Things to work on this season.

Rewarded myself by stopping by the grocery store to buy Halloween candy at 75% off. I was VERY tempted to buy up all the Peeps (there were about 8 packages left) but I didn't. After all, the Christmas Peeps should be on the shelves later this week :)