Training Log Archive: Spike

Jogging at Wyandotte. Similar pace to last Sunday (very easy) but a bit hilly. Felt ok.

Running at Wyandotte reminded me that I hadn't written anything in response to Lisa's comment about beer cans. So here goes:

I figure there are 5 general "types" of people who spend time off the beaten path at Wyandotte:

1. Runners/orienteers
2. Horseback riders
3. Hunters/fishers/mushroom collecters
4. People who like to sit in the forest and drink beer
5. Others (which includes sub groups, like hobos)

My guess is that types 1 and 2 rarely drink beer in the forest. Types 3 and 5 have an occassional beer (and tend to prefer Bud). Type 4 prefer whatever is cheapest at the nearest liquor store (which tends to be Bud Light). I'm guessing that type 3 say things like, "I like fishin, Bud, and Dale Junior - and I hate Jeff Gordon." Type 3 and 5 generally don't trash the forest, but now and then they do throw a can into the woods. Type 4 say things like, "man, I drank 8 beers last night." Type 4 drop the can as soon as it is finished.

C • Wondering which types are m... 5

After doing about 75 minutes of sprint map field checking at JCCC...

Nice long warm up. I wanted to make sure that I ran long enough that my left leg would tighten up if it was going to tighten up. It didn't. Good news.

C • What do Spike and 60 Minute... 2

Mary designed a sprint course for me on the JCCC map. I ran at an honest effort, but felt slow. Slower than usual, in fact. Still, it was a good thing to do and a lot of fun.

An easy jog, wondering if I should take the day completely off and be extra careful with the left leg. Turns out it felt fine and I had no trouble.

Ran on the river trail, a bit on a deer trail, a bit in the forest, and a bit on the levee. By the end, my left lower leg was tight. It wasn't the same as the calf, but it was the same leg. I'm guessing I'd favored the calf a little and ended up stressing the Achilles tendon.

Ran on the river trail in Lawrence. After warming up, I ran for 10 minutes at an honest effort. It didn't feel fast, but it was definitely a move in the right direction.

Very easy pace at Wyandotte. I made an effort to keep the session as flat as possible (which actually takes some effort at Wyandotte, especially if you don't want to run on the roads).

For part of the time, I kept track of the littered beer cans in the park (keeping track of the brand). Bud Light has a firm lead in the "litter share." Interestingly, Bud cans (not Bud Light) seemed to only appear as singles. Most of the beer cans in the forest were in groups of 3-6 cans. Bud's were always alone. As I jogged, I developed various hypotheses about this issue.

Noticed a few snow flakes falling from the sky during the run. That was unexpected. The temp was plenty warm (maybe 40) at ground level, but I guess it must have been cold up in the clouds.

When I got home I was psyched to see that both of my Omanager team finished in the top 10 of today's race.

C • Share your hypotheses! 1

About 1.5 hours of field checking at JCCC. We've split the basemap into 5 bits - me, Mike S., Dick, Paul, and Kelly. The base map is quite good. I'm hoping that despite having 5 different mappers, it won't be much trouble to get a reasonably consistent map.

Easy jogging to warm up.

A sprint course on the JCCC base map. I felt like I was working hard and moving slow.

Short run on the river trails.

At the half way point (15 minutes in) I realized I'd broken the 3 hour week - something I hadn't done since the first full week of February. That's pretty bad. On the other hand, the time off for illness seems to have been the solution to the knee problem that had bothered me since July.

On the river trail. Slow pace, felt so-so but then started to feel better the last 10 or 15 minutes. I'll take that as a good sign.

When I got home I discovered OToday (1/2008) in my mailbox.

C • The Madness Begins 2

A short, slow jog on the river trails. I'm waiting for my legs to start to feel a bit better...I wonder how long it'll be before that happens?

C • When 1

I drew a fairly long course at JCCC and ran it at an easy pace, mostly looking at various problems we'll need to solve when we do the fieldchecking. First thing I need to do is re-read the sprint map standards.

I gave my calf two days off and I took it very easy today. I shuffled around PNS. The calf felt ok.

The trails were a bit muddy and slippery on the uphills (last nights snow had melted) and I walked the steepest uphill section.

Calf felt stiff after about 10 minutes. I'd planned a short run, but cut it a bit shorter.

Very warm today - low 70s - brought out the crowds in downtown Lawrence and on the river trail. Most amusing river trail sighting was a guy mountain biking AND smoking a cigarette.

Easy pace on the KU campus map.

The first part of the KU campus sprint course at an honest effort. Fun, but I didn't feel strong.

My left calf tightened up by the end.

Quickroute version of the sprint O':

http://okansas.blogspot.com/2008/03/spring-quickro...

A slow trail run at Wyandotte. I started on the Hobo Trail. The footing was sketchy. Most of the trail was sloppy mud, but the spots that didn't get direct sun were frozen with bits of snow and ice. I wore running shoes instead of O' shoes. O' shoes would have made more sense.

Felt ok. I'm still not 100 percent.

C • It sounds like your body ha... 1

PTOC red course at Blue and Gray. I felt about as expected - not too terrible but far from normal. Bob Lane set the course and was pretty nice to us. He put the controls on big features that you could usually get to without much crappy forest. He also gave us plenty of options to avoid the forest and, mostly, to avoid the trails. With some warm weather last weekend the horse trails (nearly every trail in the park) got lots of traffic. Then the last few days of cold weather made the hoof prints like rocks.

My Quickroute track:

http://okansas.blogspot.com/2008/03/blue-and-gray-...

I planned to run and loaded gear in my car this a.m. But, I'd expected a temp around 40...not 20 with a howling north wind and a bit of snow. I'm not prepared.

C • Did you forget a hat again? 2

Another easy jog on the river trail. It felt better. I forgot to bring a hat. A hat would have been nice as a cold wind kept the temp a bit low.

Jogging on the river trails in Lawrence. I could have used a hat. Yesterday was 70s and warm, today was upper 20s and a cold wind.

I felt odd - worn out from being sick, I guess.

This was the first workout of the year that didn't involve any orienteering. That'd be pretty impressive if I'd been doing much training the last couple of months.

Some easy jogging.

A bit of a course at Wyandotte.

I'm still not quite right, but I felt like a little run would be ok. I guess it was. I certainly feel weak, but the run doesn't seem to have made me feel any worse.

Really warm - low 70s.