Training Log Archive: Andrew Feucht

Run commute. Work>Train Station>Edmonds Train Station>Gym>Park and ride. Distance and time a guess. I felt very comfortable after a bit of a break. I was up Main St. hill in Edmonds very comfortably. It use to require more concentration on my part.

Event: Port Orchard Street Scramble
 

Recreational ride with my daughter Emily on the BGT. Nice day. Funny riding so slow. Emily had a great time riding, stopping for the tire swing at the park and stopping in at the Bothell Arts fair. She started to get tired on the "uphills".

MAN Night run. Very easy run first lap. Ran with Ken, his son Jaden and Chase. We picked it up for the second loop, but still kept it very easy/conversational pace. Legs are a bit tired, but it felt good to get them running again. I can't wait for some more easy training miles.

Mountains to Sound Mt. Bike Leg. New start format. We did not start at Hyak due to the tunnel closure. Instead we started at exit 38, went up the trail for 5 miles and then turned around and came back 12 miles to Rattlesnake (the usual TA). I probably finished 30-35 overall. The cyclocross and road bike riders smoked this section. At the turn around, the lead guy must have had 4 minutes on us in the first 26 minutes of the race. Very impressive.

I was a bit off. I was struggling to find the right gear combo and was passed by too many folks on the climbing portion. I made up some lost ground on the way back down. My bike is pretty fast. I put in a solid effort and worked hard to keep in contact with a good pace line. Passed off to Chase putting him in good position for the road bike leg. He hit that section hard and took 10+ minutes off his time from last year.

What happened next almost ended our day..... I went to grab the extra "hide a key" and it was not in position!!! All the gear was in the car. I had no key. Mind realing, I remembered using the key in the past week or two and thought I put it back. Was it in the car? It had to be. With some good thinking and ingenuity that would have made MacGyver jealous I broke into the car. I took the radio antenna off, bent it 120 degrees, slid it in the side windows, caught the lock and viola, popped the window. I have to thank Mike Turk for helping me a ton as we worked through this situation. Back in business, I rushed to the kayak TA.

Mountains to Sound Kayak Leg. Chase came flying off the bike. He did really well. Problem was that while waiting we saw quite a number of pairs teams come through ahead of us (maybe 6-7 teams in all). I was chatting with the 3rd place team last year (John and Ian) and mentioned that the competion was certainly higher than the prior year. I told John that we "just needed to hunt them down". It was clear what needed to happen.

Once in the boat, I settled into a reasonably fast cadence. I was in my 18' see kayak. Not a racing ski. However, I was determined to make it work. I passed two double kayaks, one double canoe, and 5 singles. Two of the singles were in our division, score! I worked hard to keep my stroke rate up and put everything I had on the line. I did not want leave anything on the course. I found that I was putting in 5 strokes to every 4 strokes for other boats and in one case 4 strokes for every 3 strokes for other boats. This was encouraging, as I am convinced that more strokes means I am faster. I believe I took 6 minutes off my prior best times.

I am feeling a bit worked in the core a day later. This is a reminder that I should get out and really paddle hard at least once a week. I could really benefit from the upper body workout.

Mountains to Sound - run. We started this run behind two other pairs teams. The first was ~11 minutes ahead of us with the other ~8 minutes ahead. What was behind us was uncertain. We were in this position because Chase threw down his best M2S half marathon. Chase's time was better than my half marathon PR and it came after he did 46 miles on the bike! I am humbled. He past two other pairs teams on the run and a total of 6(?) runners. We were moving up! This is where having a well rounded pairs teams matters. We were not the fastest in any of the legs, just very solid and consistent. The different disciplines and length of the race was starting to shift the balance in our favor.

I flew out of the shoot after the hand off and quickly settled into my 7.5 minute pace. It was a respectable pace - hard, but not killer, and something I knew I could hold for ~45 mintues. I knew there was nobody ahead of me for a bit, but did not know if someone was on my heels. The Freemont Solstice festival was in full swing and there were people everywhere. I did a lot of zig zagging through the crowd, caught a whiff of some second hand "Herb" smoke and said, ahh Fremont. Once out of that mess, I hit the 2 mile marker right on 7.5 minute pace, I picked things up just a hair so as to hit mile 4 under 29:40. Two miles to go. There were a few stretches of long course here and I could sneak a peak over my shoulder to discover that I was all alone. Nobody was on my heels. Sweet, just relax and keep a steady pace. I came up on a guy after nearly 5 miles alone! He was with a team that I passed on the paddle (canoeers - nice guys). I mentioned this to him and we had a laugh. He said that this would be the last time we passed his team, as he was certainly not going to keep up with me. On to the finish. I finished feeling very comfortable and relaxed.

I was very stoked with our finish time - 7 hours, 19 minutes. We finished 50 minutes faster than last year!!! We had an excellent race. We worked our way through the field and scored a second place finish in the Open Pairs category. We were the thrid pairs team in - one excellent husband and wife pair came in before us. One Iron Solo also beat us and finished in the top 10. Hats off to them! We were 12th overall out of 100+ teams. Very good, expecially given that most teams are 5 or 6 person teams.

C • Good job on the strong race... 2

Event: 2009 Pacific Northwest Orienteering Festival