Training Log Archive: PGIn the 28 days ending Feb 28, 2006:
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| We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday Feb 28, 2006 #
trail running 58:20 [3]
weight:138lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Usual trails, a couple of inches of snow had fallen over the weekend so it was a little slippery, plus I was taking it easy, not sure how my hip would be. Planned on 30 minutes, but things felt ok so I ended up doing almost an hour. Just a touch sore afterwards.
Monday Feb 27, 2006 #
Note
Long day, up early to catch a plane, then working late to try and catch up. Hip flexor feeling better.
I have to think part of the reason for running well over the weekend was weighing a few pounds less than in recent years. It makes a difference. Though thanks to a fine run by Hammer on Saturday, I didn't quite make my goal of within 20% of the winner. But I got 800+ points on the IOF ranking system, better than the roughly 400 I got last year in Alabama. Irrelevant, but sorta cool.
Good to see Eric win on Sunday. He said at the finish that his goal was not to lose a single leg to me (I'd beaten him on three legs the day before), and he beat me on every single one. If that's what it takes to get him to run well, I'm happy to be the target. But I know Hammer had the potential to run at least a few minutes faster, and I hope Eric did too.
I have to think part of the reason for running well over the weekend was weighing a few pounds less than in recent years. It makes a difference. Though thanks to a fine run by Hammer on Saturday, I didn't quite make my goal of within 20% of the winner. But I got 800+ points on the IOF ranking system, better than the roughly 400 I got last year in Alabama. Irrelevant, but sorta cool.
Good to see Eric win on Sunday. He said at the finish that his goal was not to lose a single leg to me (I'd beaten him on three legs the day before), and he beat me on every single one. If that's what it takes to get him to run well, I'm happy to be the target. But I know Hammer had the potential to run at least a few minutes faster, and I hope Eric did too.
Sunday Feb 26, 2006 #
orienteering race 1:35:06 [4] 15.7 km (6:03 / km)
shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
Last day in Florida, classic distance. A really fine run, errors less than a minute, good physical effort all the way.
Got a break with the weather -- rain overnight to pack down the sand a little, then cool (upper 50s?) and windy when running. Tried to pace myself properly, felt good for about 75 minutes, then struggling a bit for the last 20 but hanging in there. It helped that I caught up to Jeremy Colgan with about 15 minutes to go, kept me moving better. Left hip flexer started complaining at about 65 minutes, sore afterwards, but not terrible.
Best was Eric, a few seconds ahead of Waddington, both about 82 1/2, then James 89, William 90. Not sure who else was ahead of me; I just nosed out several guys (Magnus, Tom, Randy, Greg) who obviously missed some. Really pleased with the result.
Got a break with the weather -- rain overnight to pack down the sand a little, then cool (upper 50s?) and windy when running. Tried to pace myself properly, felt good for about 75 minutes, then struggling a bit for the last 20 but hanging in there. It helped that I caught up to Jeremy Colgan with about 15 minutes to go, kept me moving better. Left hip flexer started complaining at about 65 minutes, sore afterwards, but not terrible.
Best was Eric, a few seconds ahead of Waddington, both about 82 1/2, then James 89, William 90. Not sure who else was ahead of me; I just nosed out several guys (Magnus, Tom, Randy, Greg) who obviously missed some. Really pleased with the result.
trail running 10:00 [2]
shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
Late leaving for the start so I had to run a bunch. Clearly didn't hurt.
Saturday Feb 25, 2006 #
orienteering race 35:20 [4] 6.2 km (5:42 / km)
shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
WRE event in Florida. Similar to yesterday though a little more green on maybe a quarter of the course. Another real good run, maybe 30-40 seconds missed, most on one control where I was off line leaving and spent a little time correcting my line (and double-checking that I had it right). Ran as hard as I could, felt like a running race in the sense of counting down the miles/kilometers -- I started struggling with the pace after about 20 minutes, more so after 25 or 30, and had to keep telling myself, just hang in there for another 15/10/5 minutes. Very pleased with the result -- Waddington was best with 29:38, next were Eric and James, both 32+, so 35+ was very respectable. It's reward time for doing good training and getting the valueof the G to a multi-year low.
16 km tomorrow. Sure as hell is going to be at a lot slower pace, plus Vlad is promising to introduce us to all the nasty vegetation that we've been avoiding yesterday and today. But the weekend already qualifies as a success.
16 km tomorrow. Sure as hell is going to be at a lot slower pace, plus Vlad is promising to introduce us to all the nasty vegetation that we've been avoiding yesterday and today. But the weekend already qualifies as a success.
trail running 8:00 [3]
shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
Same experience warming up as yesterday, felt very sluggish for the first couple of minutes, then progressively better.
Friday Feb 24, 2006 #
Event: US Team Fundraiser
orienteering race 16:10 [4] 2.9 km (5:34 / km)
shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
Sprint at the Florida A mmet. Good run, good effort.
Up at 3:30 am to get to Boston to catch a plane to Orlando. Didn't think we'd make our starts -- we could have started late, but it's both more fun and also an advantage to have folks starting just before and after. Got to the meet site with 20 minutes to spare, a fast change, enough warm-up and then time to go.
Orienteering was easy -- very good visibility, subtle but good contours, the "woods" (sparse trees, a variety of not bad ground vegetation all on a very sandy soil) were fast. So the idea was to run as fast and as straight as possible.
This may have been the first time I've ever beaten my age (age vs. minutes per 10 km), certainly a while since my kilometer time had started with a 5.
Up at 3:30 am to get to Boston to catch a plane to Orlando. Didn't think we'd make our starts -- we could have started late, but it's both more fun and also an advantage to have folks starting just before and after. Got to the meet site with 20 minutes to spare, a fast change, enough warm-up and then time to go.
Orienteering was easy -- very good visibility, subtle but good contours, the "woods" (sparse trees, a variety of not bad ground vegetation all on a very sandy soil) were fast. So the idea was to run as fast and as straight as possible.
This may have been the first time I've ever beaten my age (age vs. minutes per 10 km), certainly a while since my kilometer time had started with a 5.
trail running 8:00 [2]
shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
Warm-up. First couple minutes felt terrible, but then the heart got going and I felt a lot better.
Wednesday Feb 22, 2006 #
trail running 54:55 [3]
weight:136.5lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Usual trails, relaxed pace. Felt not so good the first half, depleted, as if my blood sugar was low, then no problem the second half.
Nothing tomorrow, then orienteering for the wekend. The plan is to focus on good orienteering, let the running take care of itself. We'll see.
Nothing tomorrow, then orienteering for the wekend. The plan is to focus on good orienteering, let the running take care of itself. We'll see.
Tuesday Feb 21, 2006 #
trail running 1:04:06 [3]
weight:137lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Same as last Friday, relaxed pace, trying not to do any hard beathing. Success!
Monday Feb 20, 2006 #
trail running 1:03:42 [3]
weight:137lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Back on Greenfield ridge, different selection of trails than usual, a bit more hills. Legs felt a little sluggish.
More dogs and their owners out due to the holiday I suppose. All well-behaved, which is not usually the case.
More dogs and their owners out due to the holiday I suppose. All well-behaved, which is not usually the case.
Sunday Feb 19, 2006 #
trail running 1:00:34 [3]
rhr:47 weight:137lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Went over to run the snowmobile trails in Montague, not that I expected any snow, but I figured the cold weather the last couple of days would at least have solidified the normal wet spots. And that turned out to be the case, footing was fine. Legs felt good but didn't push the pace, just out to run for an hour. Only downside was the cold, biting wind, which has been missing most of this winter.
Saw one other person, an old guy out for a walk. Saw him from a ways off, he had his back to me so I yelled (I don't like to get real close unannounced in case the person is carrying a gun and does a Cheney on me), but he didn't hear me, so I yelled again as I was getting closer. He turned and saw me and as I was passing he said, "An old man, still running, huh," and then, "Way to go." And of course I had been thinking, he's an old man out for a walk on a cold and windy day, good for him.
Little did he know that I'd be running M21 next weekend because they refuse to put M60 (along with M35) on the Blue course.... :-)
Saw one other person, an old guy out for a walk. Saw him from a ways off, he had his back to me so I yelled (I don't like to get real close unannounced in case the person is carrying a gun and does a Cheney on me), but he didn't hear me, so I yelled again as I was getting closer. He turned and saw me and as I was passing he said, "An old man, still running, huh," and then, "Way to go." And of course I had been thinking, he's an old man out for a walk on a cold and windy day, good for him.
Little did he know that I'd be running M21 next weekend because they refuse to put M60 (along with M35) on the Blue course.... :-)
Friday Feb 17, 2006 #
trail running 1:00:19 [4]
weight:137lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Same route as yesterday with Phil, except starting/finishing at the Body Shop, which adds about 3 to 4 minutes. Normal pace at first, then good hard pace for about 30 minutes before easing up at the end.
Interesting weather. A front came through about noon, very dark, winds howling, but by my usual starting time of 1 pm it was sunny but still very windy. Most of the trails I run are on the lee side of the ridge, but the last little loop was along the top of the ridge for several minutes. I'm not sure if the winds were what you would call on-cliff or off-cliff (like on-shore or off-shore at the coast), but had they blown me away, as they seemed quite capable of doing, I would have just tumbled down the hillside to my left instead of off the cliffs to my right. So I quite enjoyed it. The rest of the time it was just another pleasant "winter" day.
Interesting weather. A front came through about noon, very dark, winds howling, but by my usual starting time of 1 pm it was sunny but still very windy. Most of the trails I run are on the lee side of the ridge, but the last little loop was along the top of the ridge for several minutes. I'm not sure if the winds were what you would call on-cliff or off-cliff (like on-shore or off-shore at the coast), but had they blown me away, as they seemed quite capable of doing, I would have just tumbled down the hillside to my left instead of off the cliffs to my right. So I quite enjoyed it. The rest of the time it was just another pleasant "winter" day.
Thursday Feb 16, 2006 #
trail running 1:01:06 [3] 6.3 mi (9:42 / mi)
rhr:49 weight:138lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Nice run with Phil on the usual trails. Start was set for 1 pm sharp and he surprised me by arriving by 1:05, an unexpected promptness... :-) Trails were mostly bare, a touch of mud, very fine for mid-February. Almost makes things too easy.
Very strange day at work, felt like the few days just before April 15 when all the people who have issues they don't want to deal with show up. Today it seemed that lots of cases didn't get resolved, missing information of one form or another, plus one poor women age 58 who took a bunch of money out of an annuity she had in an IRA because her "financial advisor" assured there would be no penalty, plus taxes were taken out (all of 2.5%!), but the jerk meant there would be no penalty (i.e. surrender fee) from the annuity company, not no penalty from the IRS. So she wasn't happy to have to owe a couple thousand dollars. And with any luck she fired the guy when she got home.
Very strange day at work, felt like the few days just before April 15 when all the people who have issues they don't want to deal with show up. Today it seemed that lots of cases didn't get resolved, missing information of one form or another, plus one poor women age 58 who took a bunch of money out of an annuity she had in an IRA because her "financial advisor" assured there would be no penalty, plus taxes were taken out (all of 2.5%!), but the jerk meant there would be no penalty (i.e. surrender fee) from the annuity company, not no penalty from the IRS. So she wasn't happy to have to owe a couple thousand dollars. And with any luck she fired the guy when she got home.
Wednesday Feb 15, 2006 #
road running 55:52 [3] 6.8 mi (8:13 / mi)
weight:138lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
With Dave, a little further than last week, relaxed pace.
Tuesday Feb 14, 2006 #
trail running 1:13:06 [3]
weight:138.5lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Usual trails, a mix of snow, slush, and a bit of bare ground, nice day, fine run.
Thought I was going to get home earlier than usual this evening, didn't have an appointment at 7pm as usual, the ladies figured it was a Valentine's day thing, everyone wanted to be going out to dinner. But then a guy called, said he'd come in. He wasn't going anywhere on V-day, turned out his wife of 45 years died two weeks ago after a painful battle with cancer. He was in tears much of the hour -- we spent maybe 20 minutes dealing with the taxes and the rest of the time talking about "life." Interesting evening.
Thought I was going to get home earlier than usual this evening, didn't have an appointment at 7pm as usual, the ladies figured it was a Valentine's day thing, everyone wanted to be going out to dinner. But then a guy called, said he'd come in. He wasn't going anywhere on V-day, turned out his wife of 45 years died two weeks ago after a painful battle with cancer. He was in tears much of the hour -- we spent maybe 20 minutes dealing with the taxes and the rest of the time talking about "life." Interesting evening.
C • wow 3
Monday Feb 13, 2006 #
trail running 56:54 [3]
weight:138lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Usual trails on Greenfield ridge. About 3" of new snow from the storm (they got over 20" about 30 miles south of us, we got the better part of that deal!), more slipping and sliding in places than I expected but still just fine for running.Spent most of the run thinking about tax issues, which is not what I usually do -- the runs are great for getting me thinking about something else -- but the hour went by quickly nevertheless.
Saturday Feb 11, 2006 #
speed golf 1:13:46 [3] 8.35 mi (8:50 / mi)
weight:139lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
36 holes of speed golf, well, hold the golf. Been thinking of doing this for a while, finally got around to it. Ran the front 9 to warm up, then the back 9 and front 9 at a hard pace on the even holes and recovering on the odd ones, and then finished off with the back nine again. Good fun, a different perspective on the golf course and a nice variation on the intervals. Splits for the 9s were 19:10, 16:45, 17:40, 18:50. Went from the white tees, definitely more work going hard on the even holes, included all the par 5s. Route (18 holes).
Had the place to myself except for one women I saw walking. Before she had spotted me, I saw her reach in a pocket at one point and then toss a golf ball out on the fairway, and then just move on, leaving the ball behind. Which explained the 6 or 8 balls I had already seen on other parts of the course, but why was she doing it? To appease the golf gods after a bad year, or an offering in hopes of a good year to come? Does she do this all the time? She seemed pleasant enough when I said hello, but something weird was definitely going on.
Had the place to myself except for one women I saw walking. Before she had spotted me, I saw her reach in a pocket at one point and then toss a golf ball out on the fairway, and then just move on, leaving the ball behind. Which explained the 6 or 8 balls I had already seen on other parts of the course, but why was she doing it? To appease the golf gods after a bad year, or an offering in hopes of a good year to come? Does she do this all the time? She seemed pleasant enough when I said hello, but something weird was definitely going on.
Friday Feb 10, 2006 #
trail running 1:07:50 [3]
weight:138lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
A little colder, 20s, bit of a wind, still pretty nice. Legs a little sluggish, not too bad, didn't push the pace, also checked out a couple of trails I hadn't been on, dead-enders into civilization.
Spent a good part of the run thinking about relay foolishness, and wondering if Kenny was secretly keeping a log of how much time folks spent at AttackPoint (that might be a bit embarrassing), and also wondering why Cristina has nearly naked pictures of Bob Lux -- well, at least it's a much younger Bob Lux -- on her web page....
No answers to any of that, but the next thing I knew the run was over.
Spent a good part of the run thinking about relay foolishness, and wondering if Kenny was secretly keeping a log of how much time folks spent at AttackPoint (that might be a bit embarrassing), and also wondering why Cristina has nearly naked pictures of Bob Lux -- well, at least it's a much younger Bob Lux -- on her web page....
No answers to any of that, but the next thing I knew the run was over.
Thursday Feb 9, 2006 #
trail running 1:10:41 [3]
weight:138.5lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Trails on Greenfield ridge. Good steady effort, trying to run light as opposed to running hard, result was a good time for the hour loop (when's there is some snow/ice) of 52:35, plus did another loop to stay out a little longer. A good workout, a little tired by the end.
Supposed to be snow coming over the weekend. Bummer, it's been a great winter for running.
Supposed to be snow coming over the weekend. Bummer, it's been a great winter for running.
Wednesday Feb 8, 2006 #
road running 38:46 [3] 4.7 mi (8:15 / mi)
weight:138.5lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
With Dave, loop via Wildwood, Adams, Lovers Lane, and Bernardston Roads, a little quicker than last week.
Tuesday Feb 7, 2006 #
trail running 1:11:05 [3]
weight:139lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
On Greenfield ridge. Nice day but very windy, only really noticed it when I was on top of the ridge (seldom) and the last 3 minutes out on the road and straight into the wind. Glad I hadn't spent the whole time like that.
Explored a little bit of new territory, managed to add a few small hills to my usual dose. Got to start doing even more hills.
Explored a little bit of new territory, managed to add a few small hills to my usual dose. Got to start doing even more hills.
Monday Feb 6, 2006 #
trail running 1:04:30 [3]
weight:139lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
On Greenfield ridge, 99 percent bare ground and just a few damp spots (nothing like yesterday), really fine, especially because most of the time I was on the east slopes of the ridge and nicely protected from the stiff breeze from the west. Just the last 3 minutes were into the wind, from where I get out of the woods to the Body Shoppe, enough to make me very glad the whole run wasn't out on the roads.
I spent a few minutes thinking about Spike. He summarized his January training on his blog and he is training really well, both with regard to volume and specificity, better than almost all on AP (others who are training well include Boris, Sandra, Samantha, Pavlina though she doesn't put it on AP, and even Waddington for the Canucks....).
Anyway, I sent him a note saying that the only thing that he wasn't doing was losing some weight, that that could make him a lot faster. And he replied that he had lost some since his trip to Mongolia when he had put some on. So, back to today's run, I started thinking, just how chubby was he post-Mongolia? And I'd guess about 180. And maybe 175 now. And he ought to be 160. (Well, he really ought to be 150-155, but let's be real.) At 160 he could make the WOC team. But as good as his motivation and discipline is to train, it doesn't seem to make it to the dining room. So I guess I'll just have to keep beating him. Maybe that will give him some motivation. :-)
I spent a few minutes thinking about Spike. He summarized his January training on his blog and he is training really well, both with regard to volume and specificity, better than almost all on AP (others who are training well include Boris, Sandra, Samantha, Pavlina though she doesn't put it on AP, and even Waddington for the Canucks....).
Anyway, I sent him a note saying that the only thing that he wasn't doing was losing some weight, that that could make him a lot faster. And he replied that he had lost some since his trip to Mongolia when he had put some on. So, back to today's run, I started thinking, just how chubby was he post-Mongolia? And I'd guess about 180. And maybe 175 now. And he ought to be 160. (Well, he really ought to be 150-155, but let's be real.) At 160 he could make the WOC team. But as good as his motivation and discipline is to train, it doesn't seem to make it to the dining room. So I guess I'll just have to keep beating him. Maybe that will give him some motivation. :-)
C • Weight 30
Sunday Feb 5, 2006 #
trail running 1:31:15 [3]
weight:139lbs shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
With Phil in Montague and Wendell, on a section of the M&M trail that I probaly hadn't been on for 10 years. It used to take just about 2 hours and we did it in 1:31, not that we were running fast -- just we hit this low spot where it was flooded and the urge to turn back at that point was irresistable. So we skipped the last long descent (and more importantly, the first long climb on the way back).
More heavy rain last night and this trail was soaking wet. Within a few minutes the feet were soaking wet, but we continued to try to avoid the worst of the water, though I'm not sure why. Legs felt ok, nothing special, the uphills were all work, though at the end I still had something left. Which is what you want. But I've got to start pushing the longer efforts out into the 2-hour range.
A decent week of training despite working long hours. Will have to see if I can keep it up.
More heavy rain last night and this trail was soaking wet. Within a few minutes the feet were soaking wet, but we continued to try to avoid the worst of the water, though I'm not sure why. Legs felt ok, nothing special, the uphills were all work, though at the end I still had something left. Which is what you want. But I've got to start pushing the longer efforts out into the 2-hour range.
A decent week of training despite working long hours. Will have to see if I can keep it up.
Friday Feb 3, 2006 #
trail running 55:16 [3]
weight:139.5lbs shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
The winter hour loop on Greenfield ridge, lots of bare ground after another heavy rain, maybe 80% bare, so the loop doesn't take an hour. Plus I put in about 10-15 minutes of a good hard effort.
Got lucky that the rain ended just before I headed out, at most there was a light drizzle. And everything drains well with no frost in the ground, so feet stayed pretty dry. Got to appreciate these small things when I can.
Got lucky that the rain ended just before I headed out, at most there was a light drizzle. And everything drains well with no frost in the ground, so feet stayed pretty dry. Got to appreciate these small things when I can.
Thursday Feb 2, 2006 #
trail running 1:22:27 [3]
weight:140lbs shoes: Air Max Trail 09/05
Back to the usual trails in Greenfield. Amazing day for February 2nd -- all the local groundhogs saw their shadow, and were probably out in just shorts and a t-shirt. Which would have suited me too. Upper 40s and sunny and I started off with my usual 2 long-sleeve shirts. That lasted about 10 minutes until one of them came off, and I was still plenty warm enough the rest of the way. One of those days when you can really enjoy global warming.
Wednesday Feb 1, 2006 #
road running 40:22 [3]
weight:139.5lbs shoes: Pegasus 10/05
Road loop north of Greenfield with Dave, an old friend who I hadn't run with for a while. The run went by in a flash, spent the whole time talking -- he's scheduled for prostrate surgery at the end of the month, so there was a lot to talk about.