Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Unexpectedly wound up spending the night at George and Leslie's, and then took them to Oakland Airport on my way home.

Mills College, Oakland, CA. U.S. Sprint Champs. Brown 1.95 km, 50m climb. Start 10:29. Partly cloudy, a little muggy. 7:42 mins/km (8:03 adjusted for climb).

Completed the sweep, again first overall on Brown, by over 3 minutes. Just tried to stay within myself. Made no mistakes, never stopped running except a couple times had to walk up stairs (plus one exception noted below). Never needed to slow down to read the map, though I was never pushing the pace to the limit. Very satisfying, of course, to do this well.

Note: GPS track is way off for this run. For instance, it shows me crossing over to the E side of the street going to #1, which I certainly didn't do.

Was able to have each leg completely planned before I got to it (except of course for #1). Only lost a few secs here and there: #8, stopped to check that grass I was about to cross wasn't out of bounds (it wasn't); #5, slowed to check that what looked like it should have been olive green wasn't (it wasn't, but I went around it anyway), and also took the ramp down just E of that instead of going diagonally down the stairs; #11, swung a little wide. Also, leaving #12, at the top of the stairs intended to go NW, but looked that way and saw a wall of vegetation, so instead took the path SW - an intentional decision to be safe, but it cost maybe 10 seconds. Great run, though having run here once before made it seem fairly easy. Might have been 30 secs slower if I hadn't run here before.

[Orienteering race]

Warm up: 9 min, ~0.8 mi. A little tight the first couple of minutes, but then felt good. A couple of 100m strides at the end.

Cool down: 6 mins, ~0.4 mi.

Brown Sprint - Splits

Morgan Territory, U.S. Long Champs. Long Brown-X 4.45 km, 250 m (I calculate 270). 12:34/km (9:37 adjusted for climb). Start at 11:58. Sunny, nice, not as warm as yesterday.

Again first over all on Brown-X, this time by several minutes. Was amazingly strong out there today. They probably should've given me a PED test.

Strategy for today was essentially diametrically opposite to yesterday, as for a Long I didn't want to risk being tired at the end and making a sizable mistake. So, plan was to minimize effort for the first half of the race by avoiding climb even if it meant more distance and by taking safer routes so as to avoid wandering around. Did just that, getting to #5 with no mistakes and feeling pretty fresh. Was surprised to learn later that I was already in first place by #4. Took a little too much risk for #5 and #6, but fortunately both worked out fine. A very minor bobble on #7, and then really started putting out the effort. Even surprised myself with how strong I was for the last third of the race. Felt like I could have run another km or two. An extremely satisfying run.

[Orienteering race]

C • PEDs? 1

Warm up: After shuttle ride, 1500m, 100m climb. Mostly with Graeme Ackland, and some with Greg Balter, then Sergey Velichko.

Cool down: Walk back to assembly area with George and Leslie, and Walter. 900m and some climb.

Brown X Long - Splits

Event: US Individual Championships (M/L/S)
 

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching and strength exercises.
Tapered off on the strength exercises as the week progressed.

Morgan Territory. U.S. Middle Champs. 3.1 km, 140m climb. 10:38 min/km (9:14 adjusted for climb). Start 12:30. First overall on Brown X.

Intentionally went out faster than usual, trying to capitalize on the sprint-O training I've been doing. Nailed the first 8, really pushing it, with the fastest split on 7 of those. But I guess brain started tiring then. Inexcusable 50 sec error on 9, nearly 4 min error on 11, though still had leading split on 10 and 13 and second on 12. Fortunate that I managed to hold on to the lead.

Without the 4 min error, adjusted-for-climb pace was 8:06, essentially the same as I did two days later in the Sprint.

1. After the T-intersection of the fire roads, the map shows an indistinct trail heading in the direction of #1. However, didn't see this on the map because it was covered by the red line - but also didn't see it in the terrain, so no harm done. Soon did see a quite distinct trail a bit to my left, so thinking that it was the one heading to #1, hopped on it. But as it started to go uphill a bit, I realized it was the trail a little further west. No problem, that one was also headed pretty close to #1, so stayed on it, keeping my eyes right, and soon saw the bag.

3. Initial thought was to run along the top of the ridge, but once near #2, realized that would be too rocky, so went a few meters to the right than ran keeping the rocky stuff on my left.

6. Had to walk the last 80m uphill, legs feeling quite tired.

7, 8. Kept pushing anyway. Didn't know this until much later, but had covered the first 2.1 km, 95m climb, in 18:42 and had a 3:16 lead.

9. Ran essentially due S to where the ditch meets the trail, then headed up on the trail, noting that I should stay on the trail until the top of the rise. I think at that point I started working out the details of the next leg; when my attention returned to the present, I was at the top of a rise ("What, already?!" I thought), so turned right. Within 10 secs, with nothing making sense, realized I had left the trail far too early, at the top of the spur N of the broken fence. Corrected from there. 50 second error.

11. After another fastest-split on 10, the wheels came off as I headed for 11. I was confused almost immediately as I saw a big drop off to my right. I had intentionally gone a bit right to make sure I didn't go straight up the reentrant heading SW, but had I overdone it and drifted to the edge of the hill? Attempted to correct by going left, and then thought I was in the reentrant W of the control when in fact I was in the one to the E. Very stupidly ran around in a big circle like a madman, turning back to the W when I saw the fence to the E. Finally recognized that I was in the big clearing with the vegetation in the middle, just WSW of the control, and so finally got there. Nearly 4 minutes lost.

12, 13. Managed to run two more good legs. Was very fortunate that my early lead enabled me to stay in front despite the large error at 11.

[Orienteering race]

C • Congratulations! 2

Walk to start, mostly with George.

Warm up back and forth on road near start. Felt ready, though not quite as good as I felt on Wednesday. Definitely feeling some anxiety.

Brown-X Middle - Splits

Feeling very rested.

Front of house. Warm up jog in my new Salomon Speedcross 3's, which arrived in the nick of time. Could've gone much faster. Seems like a very long time since I felt this good prior to a meet.

556, 509

Temp in the high 50's, and suddenly it feels warm. Could be high 70's at MT. So now I can worry about it being too hot ;-)

[Easy distance]

Cool down

Casual walk around the Oracle lagoon.

Oops: forgot to beware the Ides of March.