Training Log Archive: ebuckleyIn the 31 days ending Dec 31, 2009:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday Dec 31, 2009 #
Event: OCIN New Year's O' Festival
Terrain (Trail) 1:03:00 [2]
shoes: Icebugs
Tyson side of the Chubb plus the connector. A bit goopy in spots although things were freezing quickly on the return trip.
Note
Went over to Bill's and we partied like it was 1999. We didn't realize it until the end of the evening, but every wine we opened (including the sparkling cider for the kids!) was from the 1990's. I provided the New Year's Toast ('99 Laurant Perrier Brut), which I would have been proud of serving except that Bill busted out 4 (!) reds, all of which were good, two of which were very, very good. As usual, I came away from a dinner over there feeling not worthy, but it sure was a fun time had by all.
I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, but I really need to get back to training tomorrow.
I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, but I really need to get back to training tomorrow.
Wednesday Dec 30, 2009 #
Skating (Ice) 20:00 [2]
Took Yaya skating. Time only counts when I was skating by myself since she's still pretty wobbly.
Tuesday Dec 29, 2009 #
Running (Road) 27:00 [2]
shoes: 2140 White
With everything frozen rock solid, I felt confident going for a morning run in road shoes. Mostly clear pavement with some patches of snow; grip was fine throughout. The ever-present central IL wind was mild, so the single-digit temps were quite tolerable. Actually, a rather pleasant run as the sun rose into a completely clear sky.
Sunday Dec 27, 2009 #
Note
Enough fresh snow that running in regular road shoes was ill-advised and I didn't bring my icebugs. Snowball fight with Yaya will have to do for exercise today.
Saturday Dec 26, 2009 #
Running (Road) 22:00 [2]
shoes: 2140 White
Easy jog round my Sister-In-Law's hood in Champaign.
Friday Dec 25, 2009 #
Running (Road) 38:00 [2]
shoes: 2140 White
Easy jog round the hood on what passes for a White Christams round here. No snow when we got up, but by noon I measured a full 3mm on the deck. I'll confess that I cheated a bit and measured where it looked deepest.
My favorite present so far is that my foot and leg seem to be OK right now. I can't really complain; I've been very injury free the last few years, but I'd sure like to stay that way.
My favorite present so far is that my foot and leg seem to be OK right now. I can't really complain; I've been very injury free the last few years, but I'd sure like to stay that way.
Thursday Dec 24, 2009 #
Note
This is starting to piss me off. Foot feels fine, or at least no worse than yesterday morning - still a slight twinge in the heel. However, this morning I was walking Yaya through her morning TKD practice and pulled something in my quad demonstrating a kick. If I don't get moving soon, Boston is going to be a training run.
Wednesday Dec 23, 2009 #
Running (Road) 19:00 [2]
shoes: 2140 White
Decided it's time to see how the heel feels. Sort of easy jog round the hood, although the legs were a bit restless (went through the first mile in 6:50 then backed off a bit). No pain while running; we'll see how it feels in the morning. Pretty sure it is the plantar, but I think the rest has done a lot to limit the damage. If it lights up in the morning, I'll start treating it like a real injury. For now, I'm just considering this extended recovery.
Tuesday Dec 22, 2009 #
Tae Kwon Do (Technique) 30:00 [3]
Family class with Yaya. She has her red belt now and is actually acting like it. Maybe something's clicked.
Monday Dec 21, 2009 #
Mapping (Woods) 3:30:00 [1] ***
Finished up the Hawn mapping for the A-meet. Nice enough day that I got over my envy of Bill, who was down there on the really nice day last Thursday. Mostly trail updates, but a few vegetation boundaries have moved as well. Lots of storm damage, but almost all of it was isolated trees so easy to get around. Weird; usually they come down in bunches. Woods are going to be lightening fast.
Sunday Dec 20, 2009 #
Note
Yaya has been complaining that we haven't ridden on a train for a while so I took her on the link to do some shopping. Wouldn't ordinarily go anywhere near a mall the Sunday before Christmas, but I figured that she might find the crowds exciting and since I didn't really have much to get it wouldn't stress me out.
Turns out, it wasn't even that crowded. Seemed like a normal weekend volume to me. I suppose some of that is "the economy", but even if you're buying fewer and cheaper presents, you still have to buy them somewhere. With web presentations getting increasingly useful and retail salespeople getting increasingly clueless, I have to wonder how much longer retail shopping will continue, at least in it's current form. At any rate, if today was any indication, there will be a few less retail stores in business come January.
Turns out, it wasn't even that crowded. Seemed like a normal weekend volume to me. I suppose some of that is "the economy", but even if you're buying fewer and cheaper presents, you still have to buy them somewhere. With web presentations getting increasingly useful and retail salespeople getting increasingly clueless, I have to wonder how much longer retail shopping will continue, at least in it's current form. At any rate, if today was any indication, there will be a few less retail stores in business come January.
Saturday Dec 19, 2009 #
Mapping (Park) 21:00 [2]
Jogged around spot checking a few things for Late Night Drunken O.
Tae Kwon Do (Technique) 45:00 [3]
Guess most folks had some shopping to do - I was the only one to show for midday class, so I got a private lesson with Master Lee. Great session. Did a bunch of work on crescent kicks and the improvement was significant.
Orienteering (Park/Night) 22:00 [2] ***
13c shoes: Icebugs
Settng the "controls" for LNDO.
Orienteering race (Park/Night) 22:00 [3] ***
13c shoes: Icebugs
Late Night Drunken O. Not as buzzed as in past years and probably a good thing since the cops showed up halfway through. Would have been done a few minutes sooner, if I hadn't had to explain to them that Night-O is not a crime. Of course, they were only out because some nut set off an explosive about 2 minutes into the event and since we were the ones running around with headlamps, we were prime suspects.
Started with a 10 and 7, so the obvious play was to get a King high straight flush (hitting 9-K-J-Q) and then get the Ace if it was still there. Bill outstrpinted me into the Q, but he wanted the heart and I needed the daimond, so I had my hand. The dark green was really nasty so I went around hitting 6, 5, 10, 7, 8 en route to the Ace (the diamond was still there!) so I had a lock on at least a tie. After my chat with the fuzz, I hit 2, 3, 4, but the cards were all gone by then. Jeff wound up with the next best hand with another K-high straight flush. Not sure what David had, but it wasn't good enough. Final death match: 6-3 for me.
Map.
Started with a 10 and 7, so the obvious play was to get a King high straight flush (hitting 9-K-J-Q) and then get the Ace if it was still there. Bill outstrpinted me into the Q, but he wanted the heart and I needed the daimond, so I had my hand. The dark green was really nasty so I went around hitting 6, 5, 10, 7, 8 en route to the Ace (the diamond was still there!) so I had a lock on at least a tie. After my chat with the fuzz, I hit 2, 3, 4, but the cards were all gone by then. Jeff wound up with the next best hand with another K-high straight flush. Not sure what David had, but it wasn't good enough. Final death match: 6-3 for me.
Map.
Friday Dec 18, 2009 #
Cycling (Road) 1:44:00 [2]
shoes: Bike:Kona Hardtail
Midday jaunt over to CC Lake hoping the trails would still be frozen, but they weren't. Recalling last January's debacle with melting mud under wet leaves, I hopped back on the road and just did some errands.
Thursday Dec 17, 2009 #
Note
weight:177lbs (rest day)
Original plan was to go down to Hawn to finish the mapping and the day was even better than the forecast. Unfortunately, this would have been a very bad day to take off at work. They would have let me, but I would have come back to a mess. And tomorrow it's supposed to rain. Sigh.
Wednesday Dec 16, 2009 #
Tae Kwon Do (Technique) 30:00 [3]
(rest day)
Family class with Yaya.
Tuesday Dec 15, 2009 #
Note
(rest day)
Feeling a bit nicked up. Nothing serious, but lots of things either hurt or feel tired. I'm going to hold off on the marathon prep for another week or so and try to get everything back to full health. 18 would be better, but I think 15 weeks of really good prep will be a lot better than the full schedule with reservations.
Tae Kwon Do (Technique) 30:00 [3]
Family calss with Yaya.
Monday Dec 14, 2009 #
Note
(rest day)
And since inquiring minds have asked, we'll go ahead and publish the FINAL DEATH MATCH RESULTS for 2009. With David skipping the Trot, I'm up 2 (5-3) with only one event remaining, so it's a lock. Can't believe we only raced together 8 times this year. It used to be 20-30.
Sunday Dec 13, 2009 #
Running (Road) 27:00 [2]
shoes: 2140 White
Pre-dawn shuffle to try to get some life back into my legs for the Trot. First few minutes were really bad, then things started to work a bit better. BTW, the shoulder isn't hurting much and it's certainly not stopping me from doing anything, so the injury flag is going off.
Terrain (Grass) 15:00 [2]
shoes: Jalas Black
Warmup.
Orienteering race (Woods) 2:06:40 [3] ***
28c shoes: Jalas Black
Possum Trot at Knob Noster (1:10).
Well, one question answered: running a goat event on dead legs really isn't much fun.
Since I couldn't hang with the early pace (I think I was around 15th to the first control), I skipped early, hoping to pick up one of the leaders after the pace had eased. Hooked up with Tom Carr at #8 and we ran pretty much the rest of the course together. Made up for the slow pace with some pretty accurate nav. Biggest mistake was probably around a minute when we missed right crossing a ridge. Tom had a skip in hand which he saved for the end and got third. Best result for him, I believe. I came in only four minutes later, but three others finished in that time. 7th is the worst for me in a long time.
Still, that's three long events in a row with rock solid nav. Furthermore, while I might have expected to place higher in better circumstances, there were no shockers ahead of me - all pretty solid competitors. So, I can't say I'm too unhappy with the result. And it was certainly worth it to bust an hour again at PM. Even being fresh, I wasn't going the threaten Mook's 1:50 winning time. Race report to follow.
Well, one question answered: running a goat event on dead legs really isn't much fun.
Since I couldn't hang with the early pace (I think I was around 15th to the first control), I skipped early, hoping to pick up one of the leaders after the pace had eased. Hooked up with Tom Carr at #8 and we ran pretty much the rest of the course together. Made up for the slow pace with some pretty accurate nav. Biggest mistake was probably around a minute when we missed right crossing a ridge. Tom had a skip in hand which he saved for the end and got third. Best result for him, I believe. I came in only four minutes later, but three others finished in that time. 7th is the worst for me in a long time.
Still, that's three long events in a row with rock solid nav. Furthermore, while I might have expected to place higher in better circumstances, there were no shockers ahead of me - all pretty solid competitors. So, I can't say I'm too unhappy with the result. And it was certainly worth it to bust an hour again at PM. Even being fresh, I wasn't going the threaten Mook's 1:50 winning time. Race report to follow.
Terrain (Grass) 28:00 [2]
shoes: Jalas Black
Figured my only chance of even being able to walk tomorrow was to get in a decent warmdown. Left heel is pretty tender. Not sure if it's a bruise or the plantar, but I'd better take it easy for a few days.
Saturday Dec 12, 2009 #
Event: Possum Trot XIII Weekend
Terrain (Mix) 40:00 [2]
(injured) shoes: Reebok spikes
First warmup. Timed it perfectly except that I had the start time wrong. Thought the start area looked a bit tranquil for a race that was supposed to start in 10 minutes. Found out it was really 40 minutes. That was actually a good thing because when I checked out the Goat Cliff trail, I found it had a lot of ice and the spikes weren't going to cut it. I had time to go back to our room and get my Icebugs.
Terrain (Trail) 20:00 [2]
shoes: Icebugs
2nd warmup. This time there were a lot more people hanging around when I showed up at the start line.
Terrain race (Trail) 59:25 [5] 7.8 mi (7:37 / mi)
ahr:166 max:182 shoes: Icebugs
Pere Marquette. Conditions were very fast, probably even faster than last year. Most of the top runners set best times. Not me, of course, 'cause I'm sorta chubby these days. Adjusting for condions I was probably about 90 seconds off last year's PR. That seems about right for 10 pounds heavy on a hilly 1-hour course. However, I did manage to not embarass the race organizers who had the audacity to seed me 9th - I finished 11th, 1st M45-49.
This was the most solo running I've ever done at PM. Was completely alone after the 2nd climb. A guy caught and passed me right before climb 3, but he faded back on the hill. He closed back up going into climb 4, but again faded back. Then he really came hard on the big descent to the finish and I thought he had me for sure but he lost it big time on the ice at the bottom. He wasn't hurt and still managed to finish just 3 seconds behind me. Although the IceBugs are by far the heaviest shoes I've ever worn for this race, today they saved me a place.
This was the most solo running I've ever done at PM. Was completely alone after the 2nd climb. A guy caught and passed me right before climb 3, but he faded back on the hill. He closed back up going into climb 4, but again faded back. Then he really came hard on the big descent to the finish and I thought he had me for sure but he lost it big time on the ice at the bottom. He wasn't hurt and still managed to finish just 3 seconds behind me. Although the IceBugs are by far the heaviest shoes I've ever worn for this race, today they saved me a place.
Terrain (m) 30:00 [2]
shoes: Icebugs
Longish warmdown on the hope that maybe I could keep my legs from getting too gunked up for tomorrow. As of this writing (6PM), it looks like the Trot is going to be mighty tough. At least it's Knob Noster and not Bluffwoods.
Friday Dec 11, 2009 #
Running (Road) 19:00 [2]
(injured) shoes: 2140 White
Easy jog before leaving for Pere Marquette. Rather crazy day at work had us leaving later than planned (but still before dinner). Then, we got about 500m from the house before I realized I had a flat tire. Rather auspicious start to the weekend, but I got it back home and we switched to Kate's car. Good thing Bill is driving to the Trot.
Thursday Dec 10, 2009 #
Tae Kwon Do (Technique) 30:00 [3]
weight:179lbs (injured)
Yes, that really is the G these days. What a disgrace. Family class with Yaya. Shoulder feels better each day, so I felt like I could go harder as long as I didn't punch hard with my right.
Wednesday Dec 9, 2009 #
Running (Road) 30:00 [2]
(injured) shoes: 2140 White
Morning jog in fairly nasty conditions; high winds and ice pellets.
Tae Kwon Do (Technique) 30:00 [2]
Family class with Yaya. Took it easy so I wouldn't aggrevate the shoulder.
Running (Track) 47:00 [3]
shoes: Grid A2
8x400@92 100R. Considerably colder than this morning, but more comfortable since there was no precipitation and a bit less wind.
So the plan was to just train through Pere Marquette and save some legs for the Trot. Then I checked my seed. 9. No, that can't possibly be right. I looked up the times for 10-20. Yup, all slower than me (at least they were in 2007 & 2008). It's only an improvement of 4 places from last year's result, but the fact that my bib number will have just a single digit suddenly has me wanting to defend my honor (I'm not harboring any delusions about defending my honor at the Trot, despite the fact I'll be wearing #1 there).
So, out to the track for a proper dial in. 95 would have been more correct, but the first 12 minutes of PM are uphill, so it pays to take it out just a bit hard (but not too hard). Felt fine, but of course the track is flat. I'm so fat right now I really can't imagine breaking the hour again. I don't expect to finish in the top 10, but I'd like to stay in the mid-teens so I was sure of getting wave 0 again next year.
So the plan was to just train through Pere Marquette and save some legs for the Trot. Then I checked my seed. 9. No, that can't possibly be right. I looked up the times for 10-20. Yup, all slower than me (at least they were in 2007 & 2008). It's only an improvement of 4 places from last year's result, but the fact that my bib number will have just a single digit suddenly has me wanting to defend my honor (I'm not harboring any delusions about defending my honor at the Trot, despite the fact I'll be wearing #1 there).
So, out to the track for a proper dial in. 95 would have been more correct, but the first 12 minutes of PM are uphill, so it pays to take it out just a bit hard (but not too hard). Felt fine, but of course the track is flat. I'm so fat right now I really can't imagine breaking the hour again. I don't expect to finish in the top 10, but I'd like to stay in the mid-teens so I was sure of getting wave 0 again next year.
Tuesday Dec 8, 2009 #
Running (Road) 42:00 [2]
(injured) shoes: 2140 White
Once again, felt fine, but slower than it should be. Not quite sure why I'm suddenly running 30s/mi off pace, but I'd better fix it in the next 4 days or Pere Marquette is not going to be anywhere near an hour.
Monday Dec 7, 2009 #
Running (Road) 32:00 [2]
(injured) shoes: 2140 White
Easy morning jog round the hood.
Terrain (Trail) 1:19:00 [3]
shoes: Icebugs
Duck(U)@20:44. Felt easy, but I guess that's because I was running too slow. Tempo should be a minute faster than this. On my way back, I did a mile@6:20 on the HS track to try to reset my pace feel.
Sunday Dec 6, 2009 #
Note
(injured) (rest day)
Shoulder is usable, but definitely not right. Didn't bother with a sling, but I did keep my hand in my pocket whenever I was standing to take the pressure off it. Other than that, everything is fine.
Would have liked to get a ride in, but didn't want to risk a fall that might re-injure the shoulder. Went for a hike with Yaya at Castlewood which was a lot of fun for both of us.
Would have liked to get a ride in, but didn't want to risk a fall that might re-injure the shoulder. Went for a hike with Yaya at Castlewood which was a lot of fun for both of us.
Saturday Dec 5, 2009 #
Event: Castlewood 8 Hour
Terrain race (Mix) 14:05 [2] *
1c shoes: Icebugs
Castlewood 8-hour (which turned out to be a lot shorter than 8 hours) with Yvonne. 17F at start, but the first leg was a hilly road run to the punch card pickup, so we had no trouble staying warm once we were underway. Ran easy because Yvonne is coming back from a hamstring inury. We were pretty much at the back of the field and then were the only team to take what seemed to me a rather obvious route through the woods up the big climb and ended up being among the top 20 teams (of 100) at that card pickup. Guess lots of people were just on autopilot and ran the road the whole way.
Orienteering race (Woods) 1:31:22 [3] ***
15c (injured) shoes: Icebugs
A pretty decent O course by adventure race standards. All controls at least Orange difficulty and 4-5 advanced. Greensfelder map (1:15). The sun had been up for 10 minutes by the time we started the loop, so there was no need for headlamps. Fairly clean, modest pace so as to not aggrevate Yvonnes hamstring, but I give it a 3 because I was towing her up the hills, and there were a LOT of hills (good thing she's back to her pre-pregnancy weight!)
On punching #7 (which was on the tip of a spur so steep that there you had to hang from a tree limb while punching) I reached back to pull myself up and pulled my right arm out of its socket. Figured that was the end of the race for us, but after a couple minutes I moved it and the shouler went back in (with a rather audible pop). It felt OK, so we decided to continue. Finished the section in 5th place, about 10 minutes behind the lead team.
On punching #7 (which was on the tip of a spur so steep that there you had to hang from a tree limb while punching) I reached back to pull myself up and pulled my right arm out of its socket. Figured that was the end of the race for us, but after a couple minutes I moved it and the shouler went back in (with a rather audible pop). It felt OK, so we decided to continue. Finished the section in 5th place, about 10 minutes behind the lead team.
C • Wow 2
Cycling race (Road) 1:03:55 [3] *
3c shoes: Bike:Kona Hardtail
At transition we plotter the remainder of the course. That went fast enough, but then it seemed to take longer than it should have to get going. Just dumb stuff like putting the pack on and then remembering I wanted to take my waterproof pants off, etc. Anyway, I don't think we lost any places, but there were quite a few teams in transition by the time we got out on the bikes.
Bike leg was straightforward, but I couldn't find my clue sheet when we got to the middle control and it wasn't obvious from where i'd drawn the circle. Next team showed up about 5 minutes later and we followed them into the control. No harm done, but pretty embarassing. Again rated a 3 because I was pushing Yvonne on the climbs (we didn't have the two set up because we thought the biking would be all singletrack).
Bike leg was straightforward, but I couldn't find my clue sheet when we got to the middle control and it wasn't obvious from where i'd drawn the circle. Next team showed up about 5 minutes later and we followed them into the control. No harm done, but pretty embarassing. Again rated a 3 because I was pushing Yvonne on the climbs (we didn't have the two set up because we thought the biking would be all singletrack).
FatTire race (Trail) 27:39 [2] **
4c shoes: Bike:Kona Hardtail
Then we got to the actual singletrack, which was basically just an out-and-back on Al Foster/Stinging Nettle using an aerial photo. Temps were warming, but the trail was still frozen, so it was quick going.
Paddling race (Canoe) 1:18:40 [3] **
2c
One upstream control which required some map reading, then the big push downstream to the takeout at Castlewood. Yvonne was apologetic for being out of form, but I thought we made good time. Not sure what the winning split was, but Bushwacker only took a couple minutes out of us (catching us right at the end) and they're a decent paddling team.
FatTire (Trail) 52:47 [2] *
5c shoes: Bike:Kona Hardtail
After unloading the bikes, hauling the boats all the way to the parking lot, and getting through the gear check, we tackled the final bike loop. Straightforward navigation made even more so by the fact that I have the Castlewood trail network completely memorized. Caught Bushwacker a mile from the finish when they had a mechanical.
5th overall - 1st 2-person co-ed. Nice return to racing for Yvonne and a lot of fun for me (even if was only half the workout I was expecting).
5th overall - 1st 2-person co-ed. Nice return to racing for Yvonne and a lot of fun for me (even if was only half the workout I was expecting).
Friday Dec 4, 2009 #
Terrain (Trail) 41:00 [2]
shoes: Icebugs
Easy morning jog on the powerline. Super frosty! There were real live snowflakes in the air. Not many, mind you, and none of them seemed in any great hurry to hit the ground, but they were real live snowflakes and not ice pellets.
Thursday Dec 3, 2009 #
Running (Road) 33:00 [2]
(rest day) shoes: 2140 White
Like clockwork, right after the 3-hour, the weather turns to winter. It would be in time for the Trot even if the Trot was on it's normal weekend, although I hear it's supposed to warm up some in the next few days. Anyway, the millimeter of ice pellets that fell last night almost had me wishing I hadn't sold all those skis. That's a very fine base for these parts. I'm sure the downhillers have their stuff loaded into their cars so they're ready to pounce during the 1 hour between when frozen stuff falls and when it melts.
Anyway, it all melted as soon as the sun came up, so I just went for an easy jog round the hood. Legs felt really soft and I have no idea why.
Anyway, it all melted as soon as the sun came up, so I just went for an easy jog round the hood. Legs felt really soft and I have no idea why.
Wednesday Dec 2, 2009 #
FatTire (Trail) 1:03:00 [2]
shoes: Bike:Kona Hardtail
Morning ride at CC Lake.
Tuesday Dec 1, 2009 #
Running (Road) 54:00 [2]
shoes: 2140 White
Easy evening jog round the hood.