Training Log Archive: Spike

I felt reasonably good when I work up this morning, so I went to work. As the day went, I felt better and better. I didn't have an appetite at lunch but forced myself to eat a sandwich and some yogurt. Then I began feeling better and better.

On the way home from work I did a map walk (~2K) with a KP map of a streamway park in DeSoto. And when I got home I mowed the lawn.

I'll take one more day of rest and then should be back to chasing Cristina-bot (much as the Royals chase the Red Sox).

Also, I wrote about some budget and tax stuff on FB last week and the issue got some coverage in the paper today:

http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/town_talk/2017/jul...

Dave and Bethany came to Lawrence for a visit this weekend. That was great.

Unfortunately, I haven't been well and have spent most of the time sleeping and feeling crummy. I'm feeling better, but not anywhere near normal, now (Sunday afternoon).

Biking to/from the paved football field on West Campus.

Running, including some on Half-Ulrik's Hill. I planned to do more, but my stupid right leg felt tight and I decided it was best to stop and go home.

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A day off. That was probably a good thing because my right leg is a bit sore and has been since Sunday night. I also spent my time after work selling my old 2003 Toyota Matrix. That's definitely not an old man's car. I sold it to Blair and it is surprisingly satisfying to know that it will be hauling mountain bikes and kayaks.

MTB on the roads and gravel of west campus. I did several Half-Ulrik's.

When I got home I spent some time cleaning out the old car. I sweated a lot. It is not so nice to be outside right now.

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C • Osage orange 2

Easy jogging at Lexington Lake ( a new JoCo park just west of DeSoto ). Lots off spider webs and downed trees on the trails. Hot when out in the open. It'll be worth mapping, but nothing special. It'll also be a convenient place for a run on the way home from work.

I started my new job today. So far, so good.

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C • so far, so good 7

Sunflower State Games. Fritz set the course on a brand new map. It was fun to run on a new map and in an area I'd never been to.

Warm, but not nearly as bad as it was yesterday.

I put on my cooling vest after I ran and it felt very nice. The idea is to use it before a race, but I was in a bit of a hurry to get warmed up and started.

Remider - buy a sweat band. On these summer races I get a lot of sweat in my eyes.

I ran ok. I got a little behind with the map reading at the pass through at 10 and had to come to a stop to make sense of the pass through. I also started feeling slow/tired on the way to 12. I ran into a tree on the way to 15 when I was looking at the map. That hurt a little. I was lucky that I hit the tree with my shoulder instead of head on.

I think most of my route choices were ok. I'll do some analysis and measuring to see if I missed anything. I didn't see the option on 5 of continuing west out of 4 on the little path. I didn't notice it on the map. When I was coming to 4 I saw the path in the terrain, but I had already decided to turn around and retrace my steps out of 4 (and I figured it was an out-of-bounds area). I also didn't see the left route on 5-6, or I saw it but all of those uncrossable walls made me worried that I wouldn't be able to get through and I figured I didn't want to spend much time making the decision when the right route seemed reasonable.

5

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=spi...

Jogging around to warm up.

Bonner Park orienteering with GPS track and some explanation/narration:

https://youtu.be/GVkS8nkakt4

Lawrence, KS (66047)
Fair
100°F (feels like 112°F)

That's enough to keep me from running or biking today. I did manage to spend a bit over half an hour doing yard work.

I also worked on a little sewing project. I got really hot while biking yesterday (100F and "feels like" 111). And, I got worn out doing yard work today. And, I spotted some Tour De France riders warming up with cooling vests. So, I made a cooling vest.

I got 3 of those blue ice packs at the nearby CVS. Two are 4x10 inches and one was about 10X10 inches. I found a ragged old short sleeve shirt. I sewed pockets inside the shirt to hold the ice packs. The small ones are on the front and the large one is on my upper back. I chopped off the collar and most of the sleeves (making it a bit more vest-like). I'm testing it out right now, sitting in a chair and wrapped in the ice packs. It is quite nice.

I think I will make a few alternations to make the shirt fit a little tighter so that the ice packs are held tighter against me.

C • Ice hat 4

Pre-breakfast jog on west campus. Temp was 78F at 6:30 a.m. but there was a little bit of a breeze and it felt pretty comfortable in the shade.

I saw a couple of interesting birds - an Orchard Oriole and several Scissor Tailed Flycatchers. We're at the north edge of the normal areas you see the Scissor Tailed Flycatchers.

Today is the last day of my between-jobs week. It sure has gone quickly.

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After lunch and a few errands, I had to relax a bit. This non-working life is surprisingly busy (though it ends on Monday).

I decided to hit the blue trail at Clinton and started from Lake Henry. It was fun and I felt like my technique was a bit better than last time at Clinton. I still struggle with roots and rocks on uphills.

I got a bit overheated after about 35 minutes and did a little rest and then biked the last bit slower. The weather when I started with 100F with a "heat index" of 111.

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Easy jog on west campus before breakfast. Yesterday's morning run felt fine, but today felt like a chore. Still, I'm glad I got some running. We're in a "heat advisory" so anything outdoors is a chore. Might try to do some easy MTB riding in the late afternoon.

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MTB on the river trails. As I pulled into the parking lot the radio announcer said that the temp was 100F at the Lawrence airport. But on a bike, taking it fairly easily, and in the shade on the trails it wasn't too bad.

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I shuffled around on west campus before breakfast (and while the temps were still reasonable).

An interesting editorial today:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2017/jul/19/editorial...

I wish they'd recognize the $900,000/year in on-going savings that came out of the performance audit of solid waste.

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C • Letter to the editor? 4

Hot out there when I biked at Clinton. I haven't been on the MTB trails out there in a long time. I was on the blue trail from the trail head to the stream crossing, then turned around and rode back to Lake Henry, then took roads back to the car. At the turn around I spotted a Belted Kingfisher, so that was pretty nice.

The blue trail is a bit technical, with roots and rocks. There are a few spots where I got off the bike. There were a couple of times when I got a bit out of control, but not so bad that I crashed.

I had lunch with Pam at Free State. That was nice. I know they were glad to see her. Pam and Dad used to eat there every Friday (if they were in town). Pam hadn't been back since Dad died. Alex was glad to see her. FSB is also the last place where I talked with Dad. We had lunch there a couple of weeks before he died.

Also, I got the car registered. I didn't realize that a sale within the family requires no sales tax. That was a very pleasant surprise (and another form, "affidavit of relationship," to complete).

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I guess today is a bit like what it would be to be retired. Though I probably spent more $ than I will when I'm retired.

I started the day with breakfast with the state auditor. Always fun to chat with him. I also grabbed an espresso at La Prima Tazza and took a look at the Norwegiann "Veiledning til o-tekniske tester oh evaluating på klubbnivå."

Next, I hit the river trails on the MTB. I was a bit surprised how many cars were at the trail head at 9:30 on a weekday morning. The excitement of the morning was that a high school kid training for the upcoming cross country season was lost on the trail. He'd started running at 7 a.m. and wasn't yet back. A few folks were out looking for him. I spotted him on the trail heading back after I'd biked about 1.5 miles out the trail. I checked to make sure he was ok and I had the impressing he was fine, but tired of everyone asking if he was the lost runner and if he knew the way back. I'm not sure how you get lost on the river trail...

Biking felt pretty good. It helped to be out before it was super hot and that the trail is in the shade of the forest. I think the heat advisory started around noon and will run through the rest of the week.

After lunch, I took some steps to register the old man car. I discovered I need another form signed by Pam - "affidavit of relationship." That form means there's no sales tax, so it is pretty important and will save a load of cash.

I also watched a bit of the RedbullTV coverage of the MTB world cup in Andora, did some final sewing on the latest O' pants, watched Maja Alm run the 3000m on the track, and updated AP.

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A post shared by @okansas on Jul 18, 2017 at 7:21am PDT

C • getting old 3

Short and slow run on the trails at Clinton.

I start my new job a week from today, so I'm enjoying a week off. Spent the morning do some lidar-for-basemaps instructions for local mappers (Gene, Dick, Paul and Reta). I think it went ok, but I learned a few things that will make it go smoother if we do it again. We had lunch at the 23rd Street Brewery.

After lunch, I worked on a new pair of O' pants and nearly finished them. We've got some lighter weight supplex. It is a good weight for O' pants. But, the white is very thin. It reminds me of the older see-through O' pants that the Finnish team used to wear.

Also, the paper finally reported my job change. The article went online earlier today and about 5:30 I had a call with the reporter who is writing the story. I guess they'll update it for the web and have a fuller story in print.

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Jogged around on the trails at Clinton before it got too hot. I cut the run a bit short because my legs didn't want to run and I figured I could get home in time to watch the last hour+ of the Tour De France.

I saw Kara and Matt on the trail, but didn't chat with them other than saying "hey."

I'll probably get out on the river trails on the MTB later today. I need more training minutes to get Cristina-bot quiet.

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MTB on the river trails. It was hot out, but not too terrible in the shade.

Near the end I stopped and chatted with a guy who was wearing rubber boots, gloves and a long sleeved black jacket. It turns out he was a grad student from Iowa State working on a project for his doctoral dissertation. He was collecting data on snails. He showed me how he collected the data on a phone (so he'd have photos with GPS coordinates). He was also taking soil samples. He showed me a "tiger snail" that he was looking at.

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PTOC sprint at Bonner Park.

I boomed 8. I was a little unsure as I got near the control and must have been looking at the map when I should have glanced around. If I'd looked up, I think I'd have spotted the marker.

I warmed up on the way to the first control. I should have done a 10 minute jog. Not because I needed it. But when I checked my email and Cristina-bot was hassling me about being 23 minutes behind and it'd be nice to be logging another 10 minutes.

A nice bonus...Reta brought fresh picked cucumbers from her garden. They should be perfect for the gazpacho I'm about to make.

I drove the old man car. It is nice, especially for cruising along on the highway.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=spi...

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C • Old man car 4

Short run. Hot and humid at the start. A storm was clearly headed in. When it arrived, the temp dropped and it felt pretty nice.

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A post shared by @okansas on Jul 13, 2017 at 5:49pm PDT

C • Awesome 9

Work commute.

My front tire was flat when I was ready to bike home. I walked over to Sunflower and bought a new tube. I replaced the tube and was going to use the bike station at City Hall (a place with a pump and some tools attached to a stand by cables) to pump up the tire. But, the pump was bad. I walked back to Sunflower with the wheel and borrowed a floor pump, pumped up the tire, walked back to work, replaced the tire, and biked home.

Hot and humid. I think the heat advisory is ending this evening. Maybe it'll be better tomorrow.

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Row, row. I had some sort of idea about going for a short jog, but the "heat advisory" was enough reason to stay indoors.

On the way home from work I got a Ktag for my old-man car. They have Ktags at The Merc. That seems strange, but it is convenient.

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Work commute. When I got home I put a new tube in the flat MTB tire.

It was hot and humid.

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On the river trails in the heat of the mid-afternoon. The river trails are about as pleasant as you can get when the heat and humidity are high.

About 400 meters from the parking lot I had a flat. It was one of those flats where you hear a hissing sound and the tire immediately goes flat. I knew I was close to the end, so I just walked it back to the car. I was going to change the tube at the car before driving home. But, my spare tube is labelled "slow leak." I'll pick up a new tube tomorrow and keep the "slow leak" tube as an emergency back up...or maybe I should get two new tubes tomorrow.

1

C • Buy 4 tubes. 4

Trail run at Clinton. There seemed to be some sort of event going on, but I don't think the Trailhawks race is until next weekend. Maybe it was a Trailnerds event.

The first 30 minutes felt bad, but I figured things might get better and they did. I kept up a slow, easy pace and started feeling ok.

I got out the door early-ish, before it got too hot.

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Next up for today - visiting the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration:

http://www.clydemonastery.org/

Shuffled around on West Campus. Hot out there, but still good to get out and move around.

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Work commute. When I got home, I rested a bit and then mowed the lawn. Hot out there.

1

I followed a good bit of the women's WOC race today. I was especially interested in Marianne Andersen and was glad to see her run so well. That inspired me to look up some old notes I had about her training from 10 years ago.

I'm not sure how much training she did in 2005, but in 2006 she trained 950 hours. For 2007, her plan was to train less than she'd done the previous two years (so we can guess that she trained maybe ~900 hours in 2005). In 2007, she cut back the training hours to about 860. That's a lot of training. That's also probably why she was so good back then. I suppose that sort of training may also be why she didn't run a WOC or world cup race in 2011-2016.

A rough estimate is that she trained 900 + 950 + 860 for the period of 2005-2007. That works out to an average of about 2.5 hours per day for 3 years. Some of her training was skiing and biking, but a load of it was running.

Just the work commute.

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If you understand Swedish, this is nicely done: http://www.svenskorientering.se/Grenar/Orientering...

C • Cool 5

MTB on the bike path, roads and some gravel. Nice day - mostly cloudy and not too hot. I was tired at the end. When I got home I opened a bottle of Coke and drank it. It was good.

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A mini-adventure. Mary and I drove down to Fort Scott to check out Gunn Park. I made a quick base map - KP lidar + trails shown on OSM. I had a MTB trail map that looked ok and showed some trails not otherwise shown on OSM.

I jogged around on the trails, checking things out. The forest was mostly nice. That was a big surprise. The contours were steep in places with some interesting shapes and features. There's also a flood plain area. The middle of the park is open with some scattered trees, two ponds, and some park features (like shelters). The MTB trail network is more interesting than I'd initially expected. They've expanded a bit compared to the MTB map I'd found. There are also some short cuts that make it more interesting and would give some route choice options if you did MTBO.

The area would make a nice map, but it is 90 minutes to drive from Lawrence. That's too far to make it useful for us. On the other hand, it might be fun to make a rough map and use it just for fun. There's a small campground in the middle of the map...maybe drive down there some Saturday morning, do some training and exploring, camp overnight, do some more training and exploring, and then drive home.

When we got home, I added trails from my GPS tracks.

2

C • Bourbon County 2

MTB on roads and single track. I biked over to the river trails and did a lap. The trail was in good shape (I skipped the Mud Creek bit because of high water to get there).

My technique on the trail felt a bit off. I wasn't going into corners at the right speed (sometimes too fast, but sometimes too slow).

I biked in the heat of the day and I felt the heat.

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I woke up early and decided to get in a little jog before settling in to watch the WOC sprint relay and enjoy a cup of coffee.

I jogged through a little sprint-ish course that Mary designed a month or so ago on an enlarged version of the neighborhood map that shows Holcom Park. The map was a tiny map from last year (I think) and was made at 1:10,000. It doesn't show what you'd expect on a sprint map.

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MTB on bike paths and roads - from home to Clinton SP and around the park a bit. Fun.

I got out a bit late after watching the WOC coverage (worked fine for me, no problems) and some of the TDF coverage.

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