Training Log Archive: pwentz3l

Social ski with Andrei. Legs felt bad the first 100 meters. Knee specifically, but it warmed up, despite the cold and all was OK.

Did the Julia loop.

C • y's HR 1

Meant to go out for a double loop, but decided to bag it early in order to see AP go for the single season rushing record.

Hyland trails are in good shape with respect to coverage. Very fast today. I felt a bit tippy at first as I was accustomed to the slower fresh snow. Fast lap for me, followed by 5 shallow hill repeats with no poles.

Mix of a day. Up at 7 to carpool with Dana to her meetup groups ski. She called at 7:20 to report in sick... so I hopped back in bed and woke up at 11.... that never happens.

I texted Andrei to see if he wanted to ski, knowing he had the night shift last night so was still asleep. Clark texted and wanted to run, so a change of plans. In the meantime, my neighbor calls and wants to know if I can teach her to wax her skis real quick. Real quick... no.

Anyway, Clark and I played tug of war shouting back and forth witha 10' gap as I tried to coax him faster and he tried to slow me down just a little. Good run. I think I needed a rest day.

A much more intense skiing experience with Foxshadow. Feeling the effects from my work out hiatus over the holiday. Back at it now though.

C • either you are getting fals... 3

A ski with my neighbor, who is a new employee at the Loppet Foundation. She can't ski to save her life. She reminds me of myself 5-6 years ago, only a bit more timid.

wirth is in pretty good shape considering. The front nine was a little icy, but skiable. The man made loop is awesome. No rock skis needed. They tell me that the bog and eloise butler are both in great shape.

Fun social trail run with Bryon Powell from irunfar.com Great temp, no wind and snow falling. Perfect. Some good O and AR chat with Stephen R. and Foxshadow.

Loppet Nordic Racing ski club practice. A little more area open to ski.

1.5 degree incline
.5 mile at 6 MPH
1.5 mile at 7 MPH
1.5 mile at 7.5 MPH
.5 mile at 8 MPH
0 incline
.75 mile at 7 MPH
.25 at 6 MPH

We played the #1 team in the league last night, and came out with a 2-0 win. Hard fought, fast and fun. The team made minimal mistakes and everyone stepped up. Hopefully we get the same result during playoffs!

Lunch ski. Snow was much faster, but I was with two colleagues who are slower. We stopped, talked, skied slow. felt good. I focused on balance and technique, and my two Strava Segments. One big hill on the South and what I hope to be able to double pole by the end of the season in the North. Ran in to my neighbor, the instructor, who gave my two coworkers some tips. He told me I looked good, when I focused.... Grass showing in spots. Not sure if we will be able to ski next week...

C • Nice GPS track. Is the tra... 4

I noticed after soccer yesterday that the inflated bursa that has been present on the front of my knee for over 9 months, went away over the course of the soccer game. Reason for concern? I'm hopeful, but not confident, that it won't return.

Drills drills drills with the LNR. Single sticking for 10 minutes, double poling for 10 minutes. 15 minutes no poles skate at level 3. 15 minutes of double pole at level 3. Warm up and cool downs.

The Loppet Foundation isn't too happy with the City of Minneapolis. One of their employees ruined the trails with the Piston Bully. He was only certified to use the snow mobile....

C • Drills 4

First long ski of the year. Form was at 60%, fitness at 50%.... Hyland is in OK shape. A few spots showing. I am afraid that it may be un-skiable this weekend on the north facing slopes. Snow was slow, which is probably a blessing currently as it allows me to focus on balance and form.

I need to figure out what is up with the HR monitor. Why bother wearing it if is going to tell me I am past my zone 5 for a quarter of the workout.

Well.... officially on the bottom of the bracket. We have played all teams and not met the measure once. Still good fun. Perspective.

4-0 win for cooter's garage. Fun game, even though we started a little short. Strangely winded early in the game.

Fun run around the Bass lake trail up in Ely after skiing turned out to be a bust. We had a fun scenic run that got a little dicey due to the new snow over rocks and ice.

Tough Persyn III up in Ely. Started with a 3 mile dodge ball, orienteering, poem writing, shot slamming run. Good fun. Slightly outperformed the midpoint. Didn't hurt the shoulder in dodge ball or fall flat on my face on the ice, so I consider it a win.

C • poem writing?????? 2

Tough Person III

Log haul, Caber toss, Wood identification Duathlon, Frozen hand knot challenge and log splitting. Good fun. I think I ended up 5th overall.

First day of LNR training. I showed up right at 6:30 to learn that the gathering location had changed, so I sprinted there, and learned that instead of dry land training, we were going to ski.... So, sprinted to the car, got my skis, and went to the small patch of snow and we did double poling and single sticking for 30 minutes. Back to running shoes where we did hill bounding for another 30 minutes plus.

Yikes.... we suck again... 5-1 loss. Thought we had a chance to beat this team. We may go winless the entire season.

Good showing by our team. I finally had what I would consider a decent game. Good hustle and no major mistakes. 2 goals in the mix out of the 6 by our team. One was twice deflected, the other was a clean shot. I think we won 6-1.

Tom came and filled in a gap. It would have been a different affair with 0 subs.

For a long race, this is not the way to start....

First control.... BOOM. 18 minutes on a 6 minute control. I wasn't on the map very well when we first entered the woods and way overestimated the distance traveled. I should have gone NW when I saw the first minor dip in the terrain, but continued North, going through several ups and downs before even finding the first control. I then settled down a bit, reoriented and went on my way. 2-6 was easy.

7... an early route choice flip flop. Head straight and deal with the elevation, or go around. How about start in one direction and then change your mind. I started direct, then changed and went NE. A little too far E, but made it to the trail... or linear mud feature. My split for this was almost mid pack. Surprising... Picked up Nadim at this point and raced with him through 17. We flip flopped for a few controls. Him leading, then me, then him. We settled down on the road run to 15 and had a nice chat.

8 Opted for the road route, but I think the lake may have been quicker.
9 Opted for the lake route. Legs tired leaving this control.
10 a little bit of a road run, then jumped on the spur and bombed down the hill after seeing the control from 300+ meters away.
11 Great attack plan. Went down through the reentrant and climbed up through the saddle, but then the terrain played nasty tricks on me.... and had to hit the trail to reorient.
12-14 I got in front of Nadim for a few controls.
15... long run. Legs starting to feel sluggish. No issues finding it or 16.
17 Opted for trails, which was probably not smart. It was a slog through the slop. Eventually went XC and sped up a bit.
18. Got dropped by Nadim. Ran in to expresso who had a few choice words for the course designer and said he was bailing. I fell in the creek. Nice to get the shoulders wet.... Was a little mis-oriented in the creek bottom, then got my head on straight and took the good route North. Easy find, and did the same for 19. While punching 19, here comes Nadim from behind. I leapfrogged him somewhere in there.
Nice route back to 20. Again dropped by Nadim. No nav issues until the last 100 meters. I aimed a bit off, and ended up a lot off...
21... for some reason, these flat areas were miserable for me. I got stuck in the green hash and wouldn't stay on bearing. Found the trail, found the vegetation boundary and 21 was no issue once the first 50% of the route was done.
Easy run to pick up the last two controls on the way in.

Nav obviously wasn't super great, but I think I lost more to fitness. Will work on that. Ended up 3rd, 66 minutes behind the winner, and 6 minutes behind Nadim... who I thought was in a different age group. 4 dnf's in the age group helped my standings I am sure. Perseverance....

US_Ultralong_2012_7 Red - Splits

Not the best outing for me. followed to #1 which was allowed. Same to #2, although the gap the fast guys were opening was already growing. #3 and 4, no issues, but the hills are starting to be a bit of a drag. Every control is 100' down and back up. I leave 4, and I am off of my line too far to the left. Can't see the features as the brush is real thick... map shows white. Can''t figure it out, must have gone too far, so I turn back and return to the prior hill.... nothing. Realize I hadn't gone far enough. Yikes. Sorry team...

Back on course, I have to execute a long leg. Have a good plan and executed it fine.... until the last 100 meters. GPS shows I was headed right at the control, then veered to the east, missing the control and wandering around the vague depressions for a bit. Sorry team.

The next 3-4 are tricky. All on the wide ridge with minor depressions. Found them easily enough, but was surprised by a few. Not good orienteering. Felt like a church basement bingo.

Off the ridge, back to the vicinity of #1. Find it with no issues, then a moderate distance leg to the last tricky control... and I can't maintain a straight line. sorry Team...

Limp in for 6th place on the relay. Well behind #5, but still middle of the pack. Tom outperforms the rest of us with 4th on his leg. Molly and Biz are both 7th, but much closer to the leaders than I was. Still good fun in the woods. Burrrr filled woods.

Green - Splits