Training Log Archive: ebuckley

In to work via bus and link.

Took the link to Richmond Heights where I bought a new cord for my dryer at Home Depot and a clove of garlic at Whole Foods where a cheerful salesperson insisted that I try some of their Coffee Gelato, so I did. Then ran home.

Walked to bus stop, then from Grand station to work. Also back to Grand station.

C • Forest 44 5

After stopping at the grocery store (no pork chops this time), I decided my legs felt good enough to jog the rest of the way home.

Warmup on a short course at West Tyson (1:10).

Tyson Test Loop (1:10). Not sure if any useful information was gleaned as I've already been in the woods a few times and my legs were off from yesterday. Still, the time would indicate that there's nothing fundamentally wrong with technique or fitness - just a lot of polishing to do.

C • US Park Service relations 12

Setting the controls for Parkpalooza at the Arch (1:3). Yaya came along and "helped."

Control pickup. Left Yaya back at the pond to save time. Didn't quite work ou that way because she got herself soaked and I had to spend time cleaning her up. Still caught the train in time to meet Kate and get out to New Town for the evening race.

Parkpalooza was a modest success. 148 people stopped at the tent. About half that went out on the course. About half those did the entire course. More importantly, we've built a bridge with the National Park Service. Prospects are very good for using the venue for meets in the future.

C • Arch map? 4

Warmup. No water provided at the start which sucked since I hadn't brought any. I don't think it affected my performance, but it's just a silly detail to overlook.

Very lame effort at the New Town 5K. Only 20 seconds slower than last year and still good enough to repeat winning M40, but the difference in the two races couldn't be more pronounced. Last year I was coming back from surgery and won by running one of my best tactical races ever. This year I had good legs but ran a completely boneheaded race. Started a bit too hard, backed way off to go through the first mile in 6:06 and then forgot to get back on the gas once I recovered. It felt like I was going OK, but I just haven't been training pace lately. Second mile was a rather embarassing 6:21. That split jolted me awake and knocked out mile 3 in 5:50, so the legs were clearly up for a better run. I guess I need to resume my track work if I care about running well in road races.

Mapping the Arch grounds. I don't usually wait until 16 hours before an event to begin field checking, but I was pretty sure the engineering base map had given me what I needed. Fortunately, things were even better than I had hoped - the southern section had seen some construction since the engineering map was last updated, but what I got off the aerials was quite adequate so only minimal updates.

Finally got back on the wagon with respect to non-car commuting. In to work via bus and link.

Back from work, taking the bus to the grocery store. Cauliflower on sale for $1.50 a head! Had florets on the list, but the full head was too much of a deal to resist. Problem was that it pretty much filled up my pack, so I had to hand carry the pork chops. Since they were the thin-sliced variety, I had to hold them out level so they didn't bunch up in the shrink-wrapped tray. Running through the burbs carrying pork chops like a waiter - might be a new PR for dorkiness (and that bar is already pretty high). The fact that there were a bunch of skateboard punks all slackered-out in the parking lot helped drive the point home.

C • think that might be a new O... 1

My first time biking at Quail Ridge. A bit of a haul out there for just a few miles of tame single track. Most of it is pretty basic hard pack. The eastern side is more technical, but it's all really loose stone which is my least favorite surface. I probably won't make the trip again just to ride there, but might stop in on the way to/from Cuivre River.

That said, it is a nice park and if you include the paved path, the trail network is dense enough that you can ride things in different orders so it doesn't feel like you're just doing the same thing over and over again. Plus, a hundred minutes spinning on easy terrain was pretty much exactly what my legs needed today. So fine!

5x400@88 200R. Yesterday's run didn't leave much room for a dial in (tomorrow would put it right in the recovery trough and any later would be righton top of the race). The scheduling was further complicated by the fact that I was up all night coding a silly little VBA app (yuck!) that for some reason absolutely had to be done by today. Anyway, I did manage to get over to the track after dinner, 26 hours after a stiff tempo run and 38 hours since sleeping to knock out some hot laps. Felt OK (although I may think otherwise after 3K at that pace), and when the first five were right on target, I decided I'd done enough.

Lower lot to the tracks in 24 minutes to warmup and a short warmdown on the connector trail.

Figured yesterday's excess might serve as a sort of carbo load and with a full 5 days to recover before New Town (it's an evening start), I might as well take advantage of it.

PR back from the tracks to the Tyson trailhead on the Chubb. Not sure what my old best was, but I'm quite sure it didn't start with "23:". Not an all-out effort, but pretty close. Haven't pushed like that in a while and the effort felt good.

A very fine day to run in the woods, so I made sure I had my bag packed with all my O gear. The only problem was that any workout activities were going to be preceeded by the Mid County Mom's picnic. As Kate is the web site administrator for this group (and therefore, the more or less supreme ruler as there are no real officers and without the website, the group wouldn't exist), this was not an optional event. That's fine, it's a great group of folks. The only problem is that whenever they meet in physical space, there are always large quantities of food and alcohol involved. (I'm told this is not true of the weekday playdates for the kids, but I don't attend those).

So, there I am at the picnic eating, talking, eating, drinking, eating, checking on Yaya, eating, and finally I decide I've made my appearance and can go. Kate's fine with that and I drive out to Babler. I actually get all the way to the park before admitting that I am waaaaaaaay to full to run. I step out of the car and jog around the parking lot to be sure. Yup. No way I can run like this. I could go for a map hike, but I'm not really in the mood. In fact, I'm feeling pretty sick, so I go home and take a nap. A couple hours later I take Yaya over to the school so she can practice riding her bike (she's pretty much got it, but still wrecks enough that we're sticking to grass).

After putting her to bed, I'm finally feeling like I can run, so I get in the standard easy jog round the hood. A fitting cap to a rather lousy workout week.

Warmup.

4x1250m@10-11:00 control picking approx 6:00 R at Rockwoods Range 1:15. Roughly tempo effort. Nav was fairly clean given the pace except for the second one that had a lot of light green. 20 more sessions like this and I might start feeling like I know what I'm doing with a map in my hand again.

A light rain began falling during the last interval and running back through the woods afterwards it was coming down in buckets, so my plan of following with a short MTB ride went out the window. (The Dogwood is a pretty tough trail and I'm sure a lone rider wouldn't have done much damage, but I avoid it on a matter of principal - some of the local trails have been really wrecked by folks who don't know when to say when.)

C • Woods intervals 5

Feeling fine, but decided to spend the time with the family instead of riding today.

I seem to have dodged the bullet - the cold is not moving down into my lungs. Went for a light run down to the Arch at lunch. Riverfront drive is underwater, as are the first few steps up to the Arch. I wasn't planning on using the lower section of the park for the meet next weekend anyway.

By afternoon, I felt up to some light exercise, so I got out on Forest 44 (1:15). Not a particularly arduous course by Forest 44 standards, which is to say it was pretty arduous. Fortunately, the thick stuff came early on while I was still getting warmed up, so I was able to run OK for the second half.

Not quite as bad.

Yup, I'm sick all right.

Warmup. Still raining.

Green long course at Country Lane Woods (1:10). Explanation of course selection to follow. Felt like I was getting my mojo back on this one. Still nowhere near last year's peak, but definitely running and reading the map more comfortably. Lost a fair bit of time getting through the marshes around 7. Second again to Gabe.

50 straight hours of rain certainly does affect behavior and not always in ways that are entirely rational. The most predictable consequence was that the meet attendance was quite low. That's too bad because (with the exception of sprint 2 on Friday, which was a bit bogus) the courses were quite fine: challenging, interesting, and fun. This last point is no small thing in Chicago's terrain. The course setters really used the maps well to keep us out of the nasty stuff. Of course, there was no avoiding the water, but all the streams and marshes that were mapped as crossable were, in fact, crossable.

Another predictable outcome was that the meet crew decided that trying to salvage the southeastern loop on the red long course (which was accessed via a tunnel that was now submerged) was more effort than it was worth and just jettisoned the loop. That made the red and green courses about the same length and green looked more interesting so most of the competitors switched to green.

Less expected, and less fortunate for me, was the onset of a cold. Not a knockout blow, but definitely feeling it coming on. I had intended to get in a long day in the terrain, but decided to call it quits right after the meet.

On the more bizarre end, I observed a woman trying to clear water from her driveway with a snow shovel. She did not appear to be having much success as the driveway was lower than her yard and the lawn certainly wasn't going to soak anything more up.

And, finally, does bad weather translate to bad spelling? Saw an electric sign saying that a flooded road would be closed until "Wensedy 9/17". Wensedy? If you don't have enough enough room for the full word, what's wrong with the standard "Wed"? Maybe one could justify Wensday, since that at least makes phoenetic sense.

Warmup. Crazy amounts of rain - some sort of record for Chicago.

Middle course at Deer Grove (1:10). Just a ridiculously horrible run. After third control I decided to stop "racing" and decided try to figure out what I was or wasn't doing that was causing all the problems. Never figured it out, although I did very much enjoy the course (set by Olaru). Realized I was taking a ridiculously long time so skipped the last couple controls so I'd have time to do the sprint.

Sprint. Still rougher than I'd like, but a huge improvement over the earlier session. Second to Gabe Svobodny.

Event: Chicago's Big Blue O Fest
 

20 minute warmup, 4 more jogging to the start, a long jog from the finish of sprint 1 to the start of sprint 2, and then back to the registration area.

I've rarely presented myself at a start line in such a bad state. Not nearly enough sleep this week and, for reasons that are not at all obvious to me, the G has been dropping like a stone. The sleep is particularly troubling because I've been getting to bed by 10, I just can't seem to sleep much past 3. Had to stop a few times on the drive up to Chicago because I was getting tired. Despite all that, once I started running I felt fairly good and alert.

Sprint #1 at Busse South (1:10). Rather woodsy; trail routes were viable, but straight was faster in most cases (no small feat to set such legs in this park). Between the rain and the late afternoon hour, it was hard to read the map in the woods. A few bobbles, but generally happy with the run. Second to Maricel Olaru.

Sprint 2. Everybody thought this was the "runner's" course, but it ended up biting a lot more folks than the first. ePunch box at the finish was missing, so the official time was taken off control 9. As a result, I'm not sure what my official time or place were. Fairly sloppy run for me; not sure why because I wasn't pushing.

Another easy day with 5 races coming up this weekend. A few laps around CC Lake in the 60.

At Castlewood, first half on the flood plain, then the ridge trails. Judicious use of the inner ring kept this ride sufficiently easy to qualify as active rest. Trails were in great shape.

Two sprint courses at Kirkwood Park (1:3750), about 12 minutes each, run at roughly tempo effort with 4 minutes recovery. Ran in shorts, which was taking a chance. Woods were actually pretty open; just a few small scratches plus one good gash from my first big face plant of the season.

The Kirkwood High CC team was also out training. Nothing like having a bunch of teenagers around to put your 45-year-old legs in perspective. Well, let's see how fast they're going after 50 miles! Oh, yeah, I forgot: only washed up old guys run ultras.

Warmup riding over to the Page Extension in the 60. Then 5 times up the climb from the Katy to the parking area full-on in the 68 (splits 61, 64, 59, 58, 57 seconds) with a bit over 3 minutes recovery while I rode back down to the trail on River Rd.

Last time up was followed immediately by 20 minutes in the 119. Turned it without too much trouble on the bike path (flat), keeping the cadence in the mid-70's. Decided that if such a short session was going to count as my big gear ride for the month, I needed to throw in at least some easy hills, so I finished through Old Farm, which was a grunt to say the least. As I don't have an 11-tooth cog, that wraps up the progression for the year.

Two control picking courses, about 40 minutes each at Rockwoods Range (1:15), at what was supposed to be race pace. The thick vegetation knocked me off that a bit - still not comforatble back in the woods after nearly 6 months off from serious training. Legs were soft again, most notably on the uphills. Given the current G readings, that's a bit surprising. Given that I got in to Pere Marquette, it's a bit alarming. Need to get those puppies back.

Cold, foggy morning. Fog burned off about an hour into it which left me a bit overdressed, but not terribly so. Felt a little flat for no reason I can think of. Went over to St. Charles to ride the Mississippi flood plain for a change. Of course, it looks exactly like the Missouri flood plain, so it wasn't much of a change. Did perk up a bit and spent most of the ride in the big ring, but no major pushes.

In to work.

Back from work. The forcast was for it to get sunny and warm up, but niether happened. As a result, it was chilly on the ride home for the first time since last spring. Nice to put some pressure on the pedals without immediatly getting salt in the eyes.

Gustav finally showed up, definitely in need of some Gu or something because there's hardly any wind, just a steady rain all day. A light workout would have been good, but it was my work from home day, so I decided to just blow it off and not leave the house.

In happier news, I received a 1:500 engineering survey of the Arch grounds. 1-foot contours, every tree, every step, every bench, every fire hydrant. Couldn't ask for a much better base map. I might be able to field check the entire grounds in a day (although I'll probably do it in multiple short sessions after work).

For a storm with a Swedish name, I'm none to impressed with Gustav's performance in the terrain. Sure, a terror on the high seas, but he boomed New Orleans, Houston, and most of the refineries. Now he's late to St. Louis and appears to be missing way left. The bottom line: I should have brought my bike to Castlewood because the trails were in perfect shape.

But, anticipating a deluge, I had planned to run the trails instead, so that's what I did. Still fun, but I was wishing I had the bike (especially on Roller Coaster).

Powerline to Katy to Bangert Island and back. Locked the shock out on the powerline to make it a bit more interesting. When I got to the island, I was miffed that I couldn't get the front wheel to bite. Then I remembered the shock was still locked.

Lots of trees down on the north loop; must be from the storms 2 weeks ago because the trail was clear before that. Shouldered the bike for a while, but decided it wasn't worth it just to get in the last 400m of single track. Rode a couple extra laps on the south loop.

AOWN moment (and a first for me): hit a groundhog on the bike. The dumb little beast was completely clear when he decided to reverse course and ran right back in front of me. Hopped the front wheel over him, but clipped him pretty good with the rear. He was running without much of a limp when I looked back, so I think he's OK.

C • Rodents and bikes 3

Certainly could have trained today, but a relaxing family day seemed in order.