Training Log Archive: maprunner

I wanted to be out for 2 hours today. With the heavy rains all weekend, I knew the trails at Clinton and the River would be a mess. Thought about running on the levee, but that is too boring. Settled on a campus run. Mike drew me some easy courses on several maps, which really helped pass the time. I'm giving myself credit for 30 min of orienteering.

It was raining and cool when I started, ended up windy but sunny. Legs are tired after after two days of running on hard surfaces.

One last try for a 30 min 5k on my test loop. It was raining all day, but the rain was predicted to be lighter around 1:00. So out I went. Legs were more tired than I would have expected, and it was tough getting up the hill. Once I was up top, I noticed that the wind had picked up. a lot. It was coming out of the west, so I was alternating a tailwind/headwind in the 3rd k. The heavy winds helped a bit heading down the hill but really helped in the last k as I was running east. I just concentrated on letting my legs go as fast as the wind was pushing me.

Still couldn't make 30 minutes, but it was a slight improvement over my time earlier this week. This was the last practice; the race is next week.

I blame my slower times this year (compared to last) on a few extra pounds. And reduced estrogen. Starting to see the effects on my muscles. I need to research how other women deal with this. Although I suppose there is not much research data available on post-menopausal athletes :)

C • hormones 5

Tired legs meant tough workout tonight.

Second try for a 30 min 5k. This sucked. My legs were dead from yesterday. For the first time, I had to walk a bit on the big hill. And once more on a flat section. And a third time on the last gradual rise. It was tough every part of the way and I was not having fun. I knew I wouldn't make 30 minutes, but I decided to push it and try to get 32 minutes. And I killed myself to do it.

C • Good HTFU training 3

Worked at home today, so I had the chance to ride at lunchtime. Windy today.

Some sprint drills at Holcom. They had painted some lines on the field (for rugby?) and I tried to use them. But I was running into the sun and they were hard to see. Finally picked some other landmarks to use. Felt slow today. I'm worried that I won't be ready for my races in June.

OK event at the Overlook. I worked registration/beginners instructions, then went out. It was a beautiful day, but my mind and body were just not into it.(Got home at 5 pm yesterday, still a bit jet-lagged). I made a huge tactical error right at the beginning. I saw 228-223-229, so that's what I set out to do. Only as I was heading to 223 did I see that I should go to 229 first and that the road was much better option. Ran with Fritz for awhile in here, and the head-to-head prompted us both to take some crazy shortcuts through the woods. The rest was a nice straight run, with some occasional stops to take photos of the participants (lots of ideas on AP threads about publicity, prompted me to think about post-event Facebook).

Turnout was a bit low but did include some first-timers and relative newbies, as well as the old reliables. Nice lunch after with Gene, Dick, Paul and Fritz.

This was supposed to be a 5k run at 6min/k pace. But I had a long day at work and I was feeling some jet lag, so it just wasn't happening. I was really struggling after 2 k, so I decided to try to keep the pace but cut back to a 4K run. Almost made it.
Followed by a lovely dinner at a quaint seafood place on the docks. Ended with a fine whisky. There are some perks to business travel.

C • business trip workouts 4

Fun social outing at work. Outdoor games: archery and clay shooting. This was the first time I ever fired a gun. Did better at the shooting than the archery. Large, fun group of colleagues made it a great night out.

Short jaunt between work and dinner. True golf fans will be impressed and appalled by where I ran tonight. (I had permission; the trail crosses the golf course. They warn you that you may get hit by a golf ball). It was nice to see the sea.

Rode my bike to campus and did some sprint training. Legs are really tired from Thursday and Saturday, so I thought this would be good mental practice.

I also made it tougher by drawing a whole bunch of fake walls and fences on the map. My plan was to go hard-ish for 3 or 4 controls, walk to one control, repeat. I had a hard time reading the map details on the run. It is also surprisingly hard to run around fake walls. I was forced to look at other nearby features, which was very good practice.



Needed to get in a long day today, and especially some O, since I don't know when I'll have time to exercise this week. Work trip to Scotland begins at 6 am tomorrow and doesn't end till 5 pm on Saturday.

I messed up this 5K run. I planned to run 30-31 minute 5k. but I didn't have my pace displayed on my Garmin. Also, I warmed up for a few minutes, and just hit the lap button when I started, but I didn't know what time I started. As I ran, the automatic 1k counter went off twice each K. I couldn't figure it out. Unfortunately, I looked at the first number (which was pretty fast) and I believed it. I didn't feel like I was pushing very hard, but my legs did get pretty tired by the end. I thought I had run just under 30 minutes. But when I got home I was disappointed to see the time. I guess I should have looked at the second k time, which would have told meI needed to speed up. This is not where I wanted to be with only 3 weeks to go.

My trainer wasn't available this week, so I had to try to push myself tonight. I worked out in our basement, and my heaviest weight is only 10 lbs, so I did more reps. I suppose I could have gone to the gym and worked out on my own...

One minute drills on west campus. I couldn't make it to one minute on the 3rd or 4th rep. Even my arms were screaming on the 4th rep. Tough training, but necessary. Only 2 months till racing season begins.

Took a planned vacation day from work. Got a lot done around the house, ran some errands, and then went for a short, flat bike ride. Any slight uphill was tough on my quads.

Sprint 1, Columbus urban

Legs were really tired, but I did a nice long warmup, so I was ready to run as fast as I could.

Woo, this was fun. Lots of fun buildings, alleyways, etc. I felt pretty good, and I enjoyed the feeling of racing a sprint on an unknown map. I was with Shin and a woman for a lot of the middle f the course, which messed me up a bit. I have to get better at ignoring people. I had planned to leave 12 to the north, but they both went to the south. I had a hard time reading all the walls on the run (crossable/uncrossable). I also convinced myself that the way to the north was blocked, so I stupidly followed them and lost a lot of time.

Pushed hard towards the finish and then had a total brain fart. I passed the two Go controls, but somehow thought they were the finish controls. Went way passed them before I convinced myself I was wrong (seeing the big building in front of my was a bad sign). This was a huge mistake.

But I was really pleased with how well I ran most of this course. And I had lots of fun. I only wish I had taken a few seconds to appreciate the buildings as I passed them (they were all just gray blobs to me :)

C • Walls 13

Sprint 2, Columbus parkland

I spent the 2 hours between races sitting with my legs up, but I knew it was no good. My legs were fried, and there was nothing left in the tank. This was an easy sprint and I didn't make any time mistakes (according to AP) but made some questionable route choices. From 2 to3, I never saw the option of running through the yellow, and instead, walked through the mud and muck along the pond.

I pushed as hard as I could, but I was running in slow motion. I couldn't even sprint in the finish chute :)

C • Park Sprint 8

OCIN_Flying_Pig_2017_Sunday_Urban1_5 Green - Splits

OCIN_Flying_Pig_Sunday_MillRace2_5 Green - Splits

Flying Pig: Long

Ooh, this one hurt. Physically and mentally.

I wish I had thought more carefully about running a long hilly course the day before two sprints. I should I signed up for the brown course, instead of green. But I decided to soldier through. My goal was to keep moving, even if it was a slow pace.

I did a decent job of navigating through the first 7 controls. Maybe should have a taken a slightly different route or two, but no real errors. Except 5, which I don't count as my error. It was mapped as a depression in the white woods, on the edge of some green. It was actually smack in the middle of the green and quite hidden. A total bingo control that I only found (on the third pass) because other folks were nearby.

I was with a man and a woman as we approached 7. I checked my code and then looked at my map to plan my next leg. Straight down the hill, along the stream, towards 9. I got a bit cocky here, and said, ooh, I'm going to punch and leave this control without stopping, jog straight down the hill. I didn't realize, until I downloaded, that I had just moved my thumb from 7 to 8.

Got to the area of "9" and nothing made sense. Wandered a bit and finally decided I had to go back to the big stream, Found the trail and relocated. Was shocked that I was so far away from 9 but still didn't figure it out.

After 9, I forced myself to go straight up the big hill to 10. I was really tired and hot by now, and still had a long way to go. But now my goal was to be under 2 hours. Up the hill to 11, GlenT passed me and said: "last hill". Ha! Still plenty more hills and even small rises felt like hell now. Even the two steps up to download were uncomfortable.

And then I found out I had skipped 8. Needless to say, I was really pissed at myself. This was a new one for me, I had never made this particular mistake before (mistaking which control I was leaving). I was also pissed that I had just spent two long physical hours in the woods for no reason. As I said, this one hurt.

OCIN_Flying_Pig_2017_Saturday_Long_5 Green - Splits

Event: OCIN Flying Pig XXI
 

Night O champs, F50, 1st place of 2

I was really looking forward to this race since I love night O and I tend to be better at it than my peers (or just more experienced?) It was also a flat area, which always helps:)

However, I was not looking forward to starting at 10 pm (which is past my usual bedtime). I was also not looking forward to 6.6 k through woods that had standing water and lots of deadfall (I was told by the folks who had run in the day time).

Pretty easy start through. For 3, I thought I could cut through the woods, but I messed this up. I was more cautious going to 4, so AP says I lost some time here.

Gained some more confidence in the woods for 5 and 6, then blew 7 pretty badly. Obviously did not follow my compass (which was one of the things I was trying to do better this weekend). Stopped when I saw the road, which is a good thing for me. Found a trail and thought I knew where I was, but the trail was going in directions that didn't make sense. Turns out I was very close to the control, but I didn't know it. I thought it was wiser to relocate from the road., which worked. I was spooked now, and took the long way around from now on, even when it wasn't necessary.

11 was awful. Trails were standing water or shoe-sucking mud. And the area around the control was crappy vegetation. I lost a lot of time and motivation on this control.

As I left 11, I looked at my watch and saw how much more course I still had to do. I seriously thought about packing it in, this was not as much fun as I had hoped it would be. But I decided it would be a good test to see if I could stick it out, so I did,

14 was funny. As I approached the control, I saw a flash of reflective tape in the distance and headed towards it. Then I noticed many more controls, in someone's arms. They were picking up controls! I panicked and looked at my watch. I thought the time limit was 3 hours?? I accosted the two people picking up the markers and asked if I still had time, They gently pointed out that they were picking up daytime markers. Oops! My apologies for the false accusation. And then I had to turn around and go back to my control, which I had passed in my haste.

I was getting really tired now and anxious to finish. It was no fun to look for 16 (tree in woods) at night, so I just got to the edge of the green and threw my headlamp around until I saw the reflective tape.

I was so happy to finish and jump in the car. We still had an hour drive to the hotel. Got to bed around 1:30 am.

I made some mistakes out there, but overall, it was a better run than I first thought. I relocated when I made mistakes and kept up a good pace for the second half of the course. I was not tired at the end, I was still able to run on the roads.

C • tree in the woods 2

OCIN_Flying_Pig_2017_5 - Green Night - Splits

Plan was to run a 32:30 5K today. But when I got to work, I had an email with an invite to dinner that night (near work, many miles from home). We had been trying to arrange this dinner for awhile, so I wanted to go. So, how to do both? Go to Target at lunchtime to buy some running gear (which I needed anyway) and some cheap running shoes (I had been running in O shoes).

I went to Corporate Woods to run on the trails there. I hadn't been on these trails in probably 18 years (Mike and I used to rollerblade here all the time). I felt like Nadim!

I used MpaMyRun on my phone since I didn't have my Garmin. It was hard to pace myself (trying for 6:30 k) and I was running a bit too fast. I got near the halfway point when my phone shut down. I've been having battery issues lately. The battery is charged one minute, shuts down the next. Ugh!

I got confused as I returned to the starting point, and stopped a bit too soon. Ran some more through the parking lots looking for my car. I was out for ~35 minutes.

Dancin' fool

Next Sunday is the Flying Pig sprints. Two in one day. After the Long race on Saturday. So I decided to duplicate those conditions this weekend. My starts for the sprints are 2.5 hours apart. So I ran two sprints today, 2.5 hours apart.

Mike drew me a course for Sprint 1. I decide to share my track with him live (on Garmin) to add a bit of pressure to myself. Course was fun, and shorter than I expected, so it was nice to see the finish on the map.

Second sprint was on West Campus. This was course I had designed in 2015. It was fun to run it myself. Mike tracked me again. I tried to run all the way up the hill but couldn't make it.

We are starting to plan our trip to Chile, for April 2018. My AP friends provided lots of good tips when we were planning our New Zealand trip. What can you suggest for Chile?

C • Z&J 1

Ft Leavenworth BingO race. Mike and I drove up with Sandy. This is a score adventure race, where you are given a BingO card and have to find those markers. You could choose to make an X on your card, do the outside box, or the whole card. I planned to do the outside box. I saw that I had markers on the southern and northern ends, but I thought it was do-able in the 90 minutes we had planned. But I forgot that this is 1:15,000 map.

Navigation was fine (I had been to many of these locations before) but energy and motivation levels varied. It was tough to do all the road running in the southern part. I saw how far I had gotten in 50 minutes, and decided not to get the 3 northern markers. I also considered skipping 15, but I had never been there before, so down I went. I expected that I could cut through the woods there, but no dice. Heavy vegetation and a deep stream. I was with Sandy and Gene at this point (or at least, I saw them. They were moving much faster than I).