Training Log Archive: Gswede

And thanks to some needed encouragement by Peggy, the Gswede Control Challenge is on!

Let's get the Senior Team a coach to give it the direction it needs. To clarify, I see a thriving senior team as necessary to junior development. A senior national team should be the top level of a country's sport and I think it can be discouraging for many new juniors to "graduate" to the senior team and learn that they now have to train, work, compete, and figure it all out on their own. In addition, the senior team can be role models for the juniors on how to handle work-life-training balance. But we do need a bit of direction ourselves.

It won't take much to get better than where we're at now. We've got the talent. We've got the terrain. And, most importantly, we've got loads of enthusiasm. So let's get a coach.

Summarizing:

Gswede Control Challenge
1. You pledge an amount per control -- 50 cents, 25 cents, 10 cents -- and I am motivated to train even more.

2. Each control I punch in training and competition from November 26th until January 31st counts except for control pick exercises that count as half.

3. I will post the official count after each training session and race on my log.

4. You support a national team with a clear goal for your donation and motivate a national team member who is training his heart out in the wintry Pocono landscape.

5. You can pledge by either commenting on my log or sending me an email at swederunner154 (at) gmail.com. I'll keep track of everything in an Excel sheet.

Thanks again, Peggy, for prodding me to do this.

If we don't reach the goal of $2,000, then the funds will be used to support our biannual training camps. Let's go!

A nice long walk to loosen up the legs. Considered a strength workout, but recovery is really important. Especially after pushing harder than I expected to yesterday.

Event: Dirty Bird 15k Trail
 

Dirty Bird 30k

1st. Didn't mean to run that fast, but I had a road runner with me for a lot of this and he was flying. I checked and it looks the ran a 1:10 half marathon in Philly a bit ago. He was fast on the flats, but couldn't handle the downhills where I was able to catch up after he put 30sec on me and then pass him.

He stuck with me until the top of the hill at the water tower on the second loop. He said his blood sugar dropped a lot after that, so he ended up coming in almost 20 minutes after me.

He was a really cool guy who actually went to East Stroudsburg University. Hopefully I can get him to come out for more trail running in the future.

Course wasn't too technical, but overall really muddy. A few steep downhills, but nothing crazy. Overall a pretty fast course.

Lots of blueberry and a bit rougher vegetation in general. Pretty diffuse especially with a KP map. Certainly a useful place to train, but it will take some adjustments. I only explored about half of the whole preserve today. Will get to other side of the road next.

Took this at an easy pace because that's what the training plan called for and I wanted to feel confident on a new map. Got tired towards the end from working through all the blueberry. Yum.

17 minutes from home.

I decided I really wanted to opt outside today by exploring a bit more of the trails over on the NJ side of the Gap. Really fun. Looking forward to some long runs out there.

The same Turkey Trot as last year, but I wasn't in as good of shape as last year and they made the course longer for some reason.

I wasn't really sure what I'd be capable of today. So I said I'd go out at a hard tempo pace, turn it up the last two k, and see where I ended up. 2nd place overall, although there weren't many fast people out there. I got a solid workout at the very least. 17:22 through 5k and 27:45 through 8k. But the best news is that my Achilles feels good, really good.

This race sets a good baseline for the coming season. Now I have to build off this and stay healthy.

Beautiful morning out on the levee.

It looks like there are too many great areas for me to train on in the coming year. I haven't had this problem before.

Then just the opportunities for collaboration with local organizations. I went to a cafe yesterday to work and got to talking with the very friendly people there, both employees and patrons, and they all seemed really intrigued by orienteering. How many summer camps in this area would like to have a map, even if it's just an enhanced KP map? And maybe the juniors who come out to train next June could have summer "scholarships" if they train here and teach orienteering classes at local camps? Loads of thoughts. Going to keep exploring possibilities.

The fact is that this area is great for orienteering and we can take that and run with it.

Easy run up Mount Minsi

Saw a bald eagle on the morning jog along the Brodhead. Good to see they're reestablishing in the area.

Easy run on the Levee Trail with Ian. A great option for easy runs.

And a new map: https://photos.app.goo.gl/35hqgsYw2NroFKTt8

It's here 30 minutes from Eburg: https://goo.gl/maps/L86JpdWFchS2

Looks like there's plenty of rhododendron out there, but also some really fun usable areas.