Training Log Archive: maprunner

Not so good today. Lost focus, and lots of time, on two controls. Was very tired by the end. Beautiful day to be out in the woods, though. Track, map and more details later.

Edit: My route

4: I planned to cut through the saddle to the north of where I actually ended up (couldn't figure out why I was in such crappy woods, and hit the trail further south than I expected. But didn't really get it until I downloaded my track). Left the trail to attack the control, but I couldn't differentiate the thicket from the rest of the green. Wandered around in the crap, and then took a good look at the map, and finally saw the little stream in the circle. So I looked for the stream and followed it into the control.

6: I was surprised that this was down, instead of up (this should have been a hint that I was getting sloppy). But I slowed down when I realized I didn't know exactly where I was. Stopped and looked around, and luckily saw a flash of orange to my left. At this point, another (fast female) orienteer passed by me, and she had missed the control. I felt smug that I had seen it and she hadn't. DING! Big sign that Mary is about to make a mistake.

7. I thought 7 was further away from the base of the hill, so I decided to just go straight at it. Duh! Wandered too far, finally had to go back to the hill and re-trace my steps. Saw lots of orienteers coming towards me, so I knew I was getting close. Finally made it to the big mucky marsh, but was rewarded with a person at the water stop who handed me a cup of water! How novel!

Rest of the course was OK, but slow. I was really tired at the end, stumbling over my own feet, and had a hard time keeping a straight line. Was pretty bummed at the finish, that I had two big mistakes, which I know are problems for me (wandering; and being affected by others) but I only seem to recognize AFTER the fact. Must learn to stop and adjust right after they occur!

C • Pt 1 2

Long Green X - Splits

Event: 2014 US Nationals
 

Sprint course. Focus was good, although I made a few small bobbles here and there. But overall, this was a very consistent race, which is what I wanted. So consistent, in fact, that the AP splits say I lost no time, not even a single second :) I'll take it.

Edit: My route. I had a few bobbles but I guess I kept a consistent speed throughout the race.

Sprint Green - Splits

Shoulder is acting up a bit today. Probably a combination of yesterday's tough PT plus weights, and a lot of immobility today. Stretching felt good.

woo hoo, moving on up to 3 lb weights :)

Easy day, getting ready for the weekend. I have no expectations for my own performance in terms of placing. My only goal is three clean races. Which will be very hard, given my recent track record. But I have been working on my focus, and techniques to deal with distractions. And now I'm ready to put them into action. So, we shall see.

One unexpected wrinkle: I may have to deal with fatigue. I had originally been booked on a 1:30 pm flight out of KC (yeah for sleeping in!) which went through Chicago onto Rochester. Arrive at 6 pm, with plenty of time to prepare for the weekend. But 10 minutes ago I got an email from Southwest: they cancelled my flight! Ugh! Only re-booking option for tomorrow (Fri options were too late) was to leave at 7:30 AM, and fly through Orlando! That makes it a 7 hour travel day, instead of 4. This sucks.

C • suckage 9

Huge wind out of the south, meant I felt like I was hardly pedaling up the Kasold hill

Visited my PT today. The shoulder is progressing nicely; we're dropping down to once-a week visits next week.

I told him about my hamstring woes, and he said it sounded as if the problem was in my back somewhere, just manifesting in the hamstring. He did a through assessment and we concluded:
weak left glute
stiff back
So he gave me some more stretches and exercises to help those issues. I was relieved to hear that the hamstring was not really bad (although I guessed that, it didn't hurt today at all). I'm also relieved that I can compete this weekend and not worry about potential further damage.

So I took a look at who will be running in F50 this weekend (champs eligible). I don't know much about Keg or Laurie Collinsworth. And I don't know Jackie Novkova. I'm looking forward to seeing Kissy, Heidi, Smoke, Eileen and Oslug again. (Will miss Linear Ice, barb, smittyo and pegggyd, among others).

So, who is the favorite for the wins? My money is on Eileen. Your thoughts?

C • Wins 17

Kansas Senior Olympics.

I had signed up (months ago) to run the 100m and 50m. I knew that I was not in sprint shape (no practice this summer) so I never planned to sprint all out. But I thought, since my shoulder is getting better, that I might try to run as fast as I could.

Until yesterday, when the hamstring started acting up again. I'd rather stay healthy for the upcoming O meets.

Just FYI, I pulled half of a contact out of my eye this morning. No idea if the other half was still in, but I suspected it was. That explains the pain I felt yesterday.

The event information was severely lacking, and I had no idea what time I was running. All I knew was that the races started at 10, so I showed up about 9 am. Finally saw the start list: 100m: 11:15. 50m: 2:30 pm. Ugh! decided not to spend the whole day in Topeka just for the 50m.

Walked a bit to warm up, just to prevent any further injuries. Then I stretched and did some jogging on the field. Then I tried a few sprint-like steps to see how the hamstring reacted: not good. So, no fast running today.

Which was scary, because there were 4 women registered for age 50-54! Would I make the qualification for next year's nationals? Talked to the other women and found out that one of them was from Missouri. Whew, I was safe!

As we are called to the line, my "half contact" acted up and my eye hurt like hell and started tearing. Great! Why me? Two days in a row, at exactly the wrong time?

So I jogged 100 m with my eye tearing and unable to see. My hamstring felt fine, and I finished in 25.6 seconds, in 4th place of course. But I am now eligible to compete in the national senior games in Minneapolis next July (The winner of my age group was 19 seconds; I could've dominated if I wasn't injured :)

Came home and iced the hamstring, just to be extra cautious. It will be interesting to see how it feels next weekend. (Edit: yes, I did remove the half contact, right after the race.)

C • the good news is 2