Training Log Archive: GlenT

Pre-emptive calorie burn.

Down the road and back. Shorts and T-shirt weather!

Updated entries for last weekend's races.

Up the road and back. Low 50's - a lot warmer than the last week or so has been.

Lots of shoulder work ("rows" from plank position, one arm flys with foot on same side lifted, lift hand from down-dog position and touch opposite leg, side elbow planks, and more). Gonna feel it tomorrow.

Rode about 6 pseudo miles. 90-100 cadence at level 7.

Rings.

US Ultra Long Champs - Green. At Fountainhead Regional Park near Clifton, VA. 11.8km straight line distance with 445m climb. Very nice course by Nadim Ahmed with several long route choice legs, including one across a very complex mountain bike trail network. Temperatures in the upper 30's and overcast so OK for running but cold for the volunteers. Mass start at 0915 (originally scheduled for 0900 but there was a glitch with the buses to the remote start).

I had a good run with only a few relatively small mistakes. With the mass start, I was with others much of the time, which of course helps with both the navigation and motivation. With Spike and PG for most of the first loop (through #7, the first food stop) with occasional sightings of Stefan, Angelica and Izzy - turns out that this was the "lead pack". Later caught (and passed) by Pavlina and TomO after the second food stop.

With the crowd through #4 then Spike headed left up the ridge and PG opted for the low route. I took the ridge to the high point and then headed fairly straight to 5 across two reentrants. I think Spike took the trails around the top of the reentrants. He and PG had identical splits, I was 9 sec slower.

After the food stop I lost the crowd because I headed directly into the woods which were a bit slow with deadfall and then some mountain laurel near the streambed. Eventually took the trail around to approach the control but probably lost about 2:30 on this leg. On my own for 9 - 11 (except for a cadet who zoomed by on the way to 9 and then was standing two reentrants beyond where 9 was as I headed to 10).

On the long leg to 12 across the mountain bike trail network TomO appeared (having made a substantial error early in the course) and by the time we got to 12 Pavlina and Izzy were around. I made about a 1 minute error early on the way to 12 heading up a reentrant 90 degrees off the way I should have been going. I found the arms of the lake very useful on this leg as a check of exactly where I was.

With the second pack to 14 but then I started to fade and slowed substantially. There didn't seem to be anyone close behind (other than a couple of cadets who were fast but not very accurate) so figured just plodding in the rest of the course would be a good strategy. As I approached control 15 I caught a glimpse of PG on the way to 16 (I think with the TomO, Pavlina and Izzy pack - or in their wake). There was nothing left in the legs to do any chasing, so I didn't try. Bobbled a few minutes on 16 when I left the trail at an earlier stream crossing than I should have.

Ended up 2nd in M60 and 11th overall on Green (although two cadets DSQ'd themselves for using the OOB road near the end of the course). A very enjoyable course but physically taxing. Good way to finish up the Fall O season.

UltraLong Championships - Green - Splits

Walk to the start with an occasional jog. Plus some running back and forth on the trail to warm up a bit more.

Middle distance course at Hemlock Overlook Park near Clifton, VA. Green X course. Good course by Tom Nolan, finding some technical legs in an area without a lot of technical stuff.

Two significant errors. Made a 90 degree error approaching control 3 from the ditch junction west of the control. Corrected when things didn't look right but over a minute lost. Had a concentration lapse on the way to 9 and stopped one reentrant short. Eventually relocated on control 7. Over 4 minutes lost on this one. Nearly six minutes of error on a 33 minute course. Ugh. Still managed 4th in M60.

Middle - Green X - Splits

Event: QOC Long Day's Night
 

Up the ski slope to the start.

US Night-O Champs on Oregon Ridge map (near Cockeysville, MD). Very open woods in spur and reentrant terrain. Very nice course by Jan Merka with the right level of difficulty and good use of the terrain. Had a very good run with probably less than 3 minutes total errors. Missed 4 high and had to come back to it. Hesitated on the way to 7 and took a slightly less optimum route choice to 8 (crossed the pipeline and randown the spur rather than taking the pipeline further). 1st in M60, about 5th overall on Green X. Cold (low 30's) and dark, of course. SL 5.7km. (Note: Didn't start the FR until control 1 so added ~650m to the distance and used my official total time.)

Night Championships - Green X - Splits

Running around the neighborhood. Hints of the Polar Vortex approaching, but still about 50 degrees warmer than Laramie.

Added details for Sat and Sun Troll Cup runs.

Another run in shorts in November. Looks like this'll be it however.

Walk/jog from parking to arena to start and then back from arena to parking.

C • Nice runs! 2

Troll Cup Green Day 2. Another fine course, this one by Magnus Bjorkman, using the western part of the map with some slight overlap with areas we were in yesterday, but traveling the opposite direction. Temperature was in the low 40's, so very good for running once you got started.

A chase start, so Peter, Tim and I started within a 16 second window. Kristin and Pia were about 2 minutes behind but we never saw them out on the course. By the first control Peter, Tim and I were together. Going to control 4 Tim and I drifted high to the left and Peter got ahead by 30 seconds or so, but not out of sight. We were all together again by control 7 and stayed that way through 10, although Peter took the trail route to 9. Going to 11, Tim went left (staying high but with more green) while Peter and I went down (to the right) and then climbed on the trail which led right to the control. Tim and I arrived at 11 at the same time, with Peter a few seconds behind. Ernst, who had started about 5 minutes ahead of us, also appeared as we punched 11. So the pack was now 4, three of us M60's. The next leg was a very nice route choice leg to get around a large area of green. Peter headed right (back down the trail we had used to approach 11) while Tim, Ernst and I headed left. I managed to stay with them until 12 (where Tim's navigation saved both Ernst and me from doom in a sea of green). Ernst and Tim then started to pull away as I faded a bit (and certainly don't have the speed to keep up with Ernst). I was by myself from 13 until the finish but the navigation was pretty straightforward and I had no issues. I was quite happy to not end up in a foot race to the finish since 15-16-Fin was about 500m of trail run. Peter's route to 12 was about a minute slower so he was behind and I ended up 2nd in M60 behind Ernst.

I really enjoyed the head-to-head racing but I certainly was aided navigationally by Peter and Tim more than I helped them. Good to see how fast I really can run in the woods. I think that doing this course alone I would have taken 5 - 10 minutes longer.

Thanks to NEOC for a well organized event with fine courses on a very good map in great orienteering terrain. Looking forward to running some more on this map.

(Note that the AP splits are just for Day 2 whereas placing is based on the two day total time. With the chase start format, that means placing is determined by the order runners cross the Finish line.)

Green - Splits

Event: NEOC: 2014 Troll Cup
 

Walk/jog from parking to arena to start and then back from arena to parking.

NEOC Troll Cup in Townsend State Forest. Newly re-mapped area with lots of contour detail (with 2.5m interval) and lots of green, so technically challenging since the green often cut down the visibility. I found the map to be quite good with just about the right level of detail (at least what I could see while moving). The green was well mapped and useful for navigating. Nice course by Dean Sturdevant, although I found it a bit odd that controls 4 and 7 were so close that 4 was useful as an attack point for 7 (I suppose just trying to use a relatively open area with good contour detail).

I had a very good run, even with errors on 4,5 and 7 and some hesitation on 6. All the errors were small since I sensed them quickly and then was able to relocate correctly. On 4 I attacked at the wrong angle from a boulder with a flag on it (#10 on the next day's course) and then was distracted by tp and Bo who were on the 7-8 leg. Headed back to the boulder and did it correctly. Didn't climb enough while heading to 5 but properly read the reentrant and vegetation SW of 5 and corrected. Went too far around the green going to 7. Probably about 3 minutes total lost on the whole 4-7 loop. For the rest of the course I don't think I could have done any better in terms of route choice and execution, so pretty happy with that. Finished 4th on Green, 3rd in M60. 13 seconds behind PG, 3 seconds ahead of tp, so lots of good company for the chase start on Day 2.

Green - Splits

Another November "run in shorts" day, maybe the last one for a while. A multi-county run.

November and 61F. Up a hill, back down a hill.

Event: WCOC Bethel Schools Sprint
 

Event: EMPO - Wakpominee Scout Reservation
 

Red course at Wakpominee (6.0 km SL, 240m of climb). Nice course by Frank Boscoe - quite technical in parts. Lost about 3 minutes on #4 searching too high in the rocks and about 2 minutes on #7 (a short leg) when I misread a rootstock and got a little confused. Otherwise hit them all pretty well (getting lucky on #5 when I spotted the bag from about 80 meters away). Caught up to David Hunter as we were searching for #6 and we raced most of the rest of the course - good practice for chase and mass starts. Being November, it was 40F and overcast but the sprinkles held off until we were picking up controls. Thanks to Frank for setting this up.

Picking up 3 controls.

Red - Splits