Training Log Archive: maprunner

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.