Training Log Archive: PG

Event: ROC - Rochester Map Adventure 2014
 

Rochester Map Adventure. Did the 5-hour version on a bike, mostly because it didn't seem a good idea to do it on foot just 6 days after the marathon, also partly just to have the bike experience -- did the 5-hour on foot last year -- and see how it compared.

It certainly was different. Much less stressful physically (though I suppose the proper answer to that is that I should have gone faster). Also more difficult to be coordinated, needed at least three hands, what with dealing with the questions and writing down the answers and holding on to the bike. One result was I only drank a little bit, maybe a quarter of the one bottle I was carrying, and ate about a dozen Cliff shots. Doing more required either coordination I didn't have, or more time stopped.

Screwed up the navigation a bunch. One in a macro sense, I had 15 minutes to plan, and didn't really do much other than fold the map to fit it in a map case and figure out which way I was starting off. Could easily have drawn out the whole route, but I was too lazy. So I think at various points I wasn't making the best route decisions. And then towards the end, getting short of time, and screwed up one route, cost several minutes I could have put to good use, right in downtown Rochester.

Energy was pretty good all the way, though I was getting a little lazy in the 3rd and 4th hours, maybe thinking I had plenty of time. By the time I realized I didn't, it was too late.

Anyway, there were 125 points. I think I got all but 4, plus I was 20 seconds late, so that costs one more. Tentative results had me in 3rd, but last time they checked the answers, with the results sometimes changing a good bit, and I think that is the plan this time too. So won't know for sure for a couple of days. But just a little bit disappointed in myself.

Otherwise it was quite glorious. A great tour of the city. A challenge to do the whole bike thing, dealing with curbs and one-way streets and traffic and traffic lights and potholes and a couple of parks where you had to stay off your bike and just a whole lot of times getting partway off and then back on. Sometimes you could figure the answer without stopping, just remember it until the next one or two, but most of the time you had to stop, to find the answer and/or to be able to read it. And then of course writing it down too.

But really really fun. And I don't think I broke the traffic laws more than once every couple of minutes, trying to be as law-abiding as I could, but no point being obsessive about it. But also no point in being stupid, and in that regard I don't remember anything even close to a close call. Which is good.

Thanks to Rick Lavine and Dick Detwiler for all their efforts to make this happen. And for ordering up such a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky.

A quick trip up and down South Sugarloaf just as it was getting dark. Legs back to feeling normal, no soreness and reasonable energy.

Phil's training at Mt. Tom. Nice evening for running, about 50F, and the legs felt surprisingly good. Got around the course reasonably well, but still seemed to take 3 or 4 falls, bust my compass, and get a good gash on my left palm. Guess I was due the last one as the gash on my right thumb is starting to heal up.

I suppose the upside of wounding myself in such a manner is that it keeps my from wasting time on the golf course, at least in the short term.

Nice course by Phil, cool that he organized it, as it was also a reason for a very pleasant with him, Ken, and Gail at Paradisio in Northampton. Training makes so much more sense if followed by a proper meal.

Hike up the road up South Sugarloaf, jog back down. Legs tired but not too sore.

Looked up my previous road marathon history --

1979 Foxboro, MA, DNF 22 miles (6:40 pace for 20 miles and then….)
1982 Sri Chinmoy, NH, 3:14:04 (died, big-time)
1987 Peace marathon, Boston area, DNF, 17 miles
1991 Hyannis, MA, 3:02:54 (close)
1991, Boston, 3:01:57 (closer)
1992, Hyannis, DNF, 13 miles
1993, Holyoke, MA, 3:16:02
1994, Cape Cod, MA, 3:07:25
1995, Boston, 2:57:34 (very pleasant surprise)
1995, Holyoke, 3:13:54
1996, Boston, 3:02:40

And also 13 trail marathons, best was Nipmuck, 3:37:57 in 1994, and worst was Pikes Peak, 5:08:33 in 1984.

Back home from Burlington.

Took a couple of hours after the finish yesterday to rejoin humanity. I'm sure I was very dehydrated, despite feeling like I was drinking quite a bit, but I was sweating the whole time. Always been a problem in warm/hot weather.

But there was still most of the afternoon left, so we went on an excursion I'd been hoping to do, drove down to Middlebury. First stop was at the Henry Sheldon Museum, they had some documents about my great-grandfather, but they were only available Thursdays and Fridays, so that will have to be another trip.

And then to the Porter Hospital, where I'd heard his portrait was on the wall. Found that, plus a nice plaque.

I've never been interested in family history, but I saw this story and that piqued my interest.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the town and the college mostly deserted, a stillness over the whole place. A really good trip to have made.

--------

And now in Litchfield. My guess is that not too many more trips here.

C • story 1

Burlington marathon?

Made it. :-)

First 10 felt really easy, then slowly got tired. Walked a lot the last 8 miles. 1:47 for the first half, 2:00 for the second.

And really beat now.

I think the time is right about where it should be. Could have been better, of course, but the best I could imagine doing at this point in my life is in the range of 3:40 to 3:45. Today I ran what felt like a really well controlled half, 1:47:30. Twenty years ago I used to be able to run even splits for a marathon, but that seems impossible now. So doing 1:59:50 for the second half seems OK. Not that it was fun, but it could have been a lot worse. Something in the 1:50 to 1:55 range might have been possible, but only if all the stars were aligned correctly.

And it was a little warm for my tastes. Not hot, for sure, but warm. Full sun the whole time, probably about 55F at the start and low 70s at the finish. Would have loved it to be cooler, but in late May the reality is that it could have been a whole lot hotter. So count my blessings.

And regarding the point of this little adventure, in addition to the obvious one of just another interesting life experience that I will remember much longer than most everything else I do, the point was to qualify for Boston next year. And with the very generous allowance they give in such matters to the 70-74 crowd, needing to run 4:25 or better, well, that goal was achieved with plenty of room to spare.

The downside of all that, of course, is that now I have to train for and run one more of these things. One an increasingly feeble pair of legs. But it will add a little motivation over the coming months, and that is not a bad thing.

Note -- added the Garmin track. Missed the split at 9 and at 26. If you put in on the automatic 1-mile splits, it's all a little off as it came up with a total distance of 26.4 miles.

Here's the data/map. A look at the speed graph shows how the walking breaks got more and more frequent. But it was the only way I was going to finish.

C • awesome! 3

Last bit of training before Sunday's marathon. Sure hope the legs feel better.

Don't know what to expect. Haven't done one of these (a road marathon) in 19 years. It seems like a finish time where the first number is a 3 ought to be possible, but it all depends on how the later miles go. A little too fast in the first half will cost a lot of time in the second half. We'll have to see how smart I can be.

And the overall training has been good, but not quite what it should have been. Would have been better without any orienteering this spring, but then why would I do that. But I've not done the mileage and the long runs in the last 4-6 weeks. Up until then the training was excellent.

So who knows. Just hope it is one of those days when the legs feel good.

C • Sunday's Marathon 21

Event: Western Mass training #5
 

Hanging controls for Wednesday evening training at Mt. Tom. 3.7 km course, 14 controls.

And then picking them back up a little bit later..

The usual stumbles and occasional fall. Unlucky once, a very minor fall, caught myself mostly with my hands, but one hand landed right on a dead log and I got speared at the base of my right thumb by a sharp little stub, what was left of a small branch. Rather deep gash. Don't think I did any lasting damage as the thumb still works, but it was bleeding quite profusely until I got it wrapped up.

And overall expended a little more energy that I wished. So there will be very little expended the next three days, and none at all tomorrow.

Short run in town. Definitely tapering.

In the morning, a fine trip up to Hanover for a round of golf with Mike Fritz. Lots of catching up to do, so while we certainly paid enough attention to the golf to finish every hole, the priority was clearly on the conversation. Maybe, as a result, the golf was not so bad. :-)

Wanted to do a little faster running (but not hard) at the Eaglebrook track, though not quite sure what. Ended up doing 5K, splits were 8:20, 7:45, 7:36, and 57. Just about right.

After a short break, just a little more, gently.

Early start for the drive home from DC, with two stops. First was at Arlington National Cemetery to visit the grave of Gail's dad. And then also the graves of her grandfather and grandmother. Beautiful peaceful early morning.

And then to Litchfield, managed to avoid the worst of the traffic. Mom is weaker than ever, though still somewhat alert. Don't think this will go on too much longer, but of course there is no way of knowing. Keeping our fingers crossed that the final journey, relatively smooth so far, will continue that way.

And then finally home. A wonderful trip.

Very nice outing. Snuck onto Ft. Belvoir to do a little tour of the golf course I used to frequent about 45 years ago. Brought back a few good memories. And then snuck back off again. :-)

Having a great time at my reunion.

Loop around Reston, staying on the major roads just to make sure I wouldn't get lost. Pleasant morning, breezy and cool for Virginia in May, but still had sweat pouring off me.

Route.

C • Hotel 8

Seems like we are on again for next Wednesday evening.

One of the nice things about doing this is the simplicity. Just one course. Don't worry about punching. Makes it easy.

On the other hand, the locals who are coming out are all athletic, so they seem to both be taking it seriously and having a good time. Thanks to Amy Lane for being our primary recruiter.

It also seems like many of them already have their weekends full with races of some sort, so it's easier for them to come midweek. Which can be done this time of year.

And they haven't yet learned how to complain. :-)

Short outing, all I had time for. Then the dentist (no cavities, for once), then drive to Virginia, stopping at a very nice restaurant in Havre de Grace for a quick dinner.

C • Havre de Grace 1

Event: Western Mass training #4
 

Getting back into the habit of running. Around both Sugarloafs from the S. Sugarloaf parking lot. Legs feeling little better.

Hanging controls for Wednesday training #4, this time at Earl's Trails. Just one course, 3.4 km, called "intermediate," nice not to have to live up to any predefined standards associated with the color scheme. And it seemed that everyone was just glad to be able to do some orienteering. And not at all concerned whether the course was too easy or too hard or maybe just right compared to what it might supposed to be.

Liberating…. :-)

Had about a dozen people. Very nice. And then Ken Sr., arriving late, picked them all up, so didn't have to go back out. Thanks!

And one of the guys beat Phil, much to his dismay. :-) Beat me too, though I have the slight excuse I was hanging them.

Legs were not so bad.

And then a very pleasant dinner afterwards with Phil and Steve and Gail. Makes it a proper training.

Roads in town. Felt like I hadn't run in a long time and not sure how the legs would feel. A bit of a struggle, but not as bad as I feared.

There will be another Wednesday evening O' training, this time at Earl's Trails, starting from the end of Chmura Road.

Meant to go longer but seemed to be lacking in energy, enthusiasm. So cut it short. See, I'm not always stupid. :-)

Not really sore after yesterday, just tired. Heel is still tender, but no worse. So time to start running again, at least modestly. And then hope for cool weather on the 25th.

--------------------------

And in the meantime, a trip to DC for my OCS (Officer Candidate School in combat engineering) reunion, 46 years after the fact. In relation to which, I got a small package in the mail a while ago, thought it was some token with regard to the reunion so I didn't open it right away. Finally opened it a couple of days ago, had a note and a rather small container inside.

Opened the latter first. It was an old-fashined compass contained in a circular brass case, unscrew the case and a compass inside. And engraved on the outside was "To: Lt. P. Gagarin. Best 1Sgt ever. Lt. R. Harris."

A bit of the back story. At OCS part of the training was in leadership, and so we each got a turn, or several turns, at the various positions. So for our platoon of about 40 there was a platoon leader, the one in charge, and a first sergeant, second in command, and four squad leaders.

I got named first sergeant for the second week there. They do everything they can to pile on the stress. You try to keep your head above water. I remember being glad to be chosen rather early in the process, a chance to stand out a bit. And I remember doing what I thought was a pretty good job for the week.

The problem is, for the life of me I don't remember R (Roger) Harris. Was he platoon leader that same week? Did I save his butt a few times?

Getting the compass seems to be both a wonderful thing, a memory on his part that way back in my early 20s, when I had little self-confidence and in general a poor self-image, that to someone else I seemed to have my act together so much that all these years later he has gone to such trouble to thank me.

And yet it is also such a sad thing, because I do not remember. Not at all. Not a clue who Roger is, or any memory of him at OCS, nor any memory of most everyone else there. It is just gone.

You want to hug the guy for the gesture. You also want to cry.

I expect it to be an interesting weekend.

Event: 36th Annual Billygoat Run
 

Billygoat map. Skipped #1. Other candidates were 11, 15, 18.

Billygoat at Baldwin Hill, presented very nicely by JJ. Other than the fact that it was on the warm side -- not hot, but definitely warm -- but I won't fault him for that. Very interesting and varied course, controls properly hung, lots of choices, couldn't ask for more.

Not a bad run. Navigation was good for the most part, despite really struggling to read the contours on the map. They were a little lighter brown than usual, but mainly my eyes are just getting a lot worse. Just a couple of small errors, recovered from both nicely, but always the sense that it would have been a lot easier were I able to access all the info on the map. (And I have a magnifier on my compass, use it some, but it disappeared somewhere in the first half of the course.)

Energy level ranged from OK at the start to tired before very long, to really tired after a while, to at the end barely able to keep moving forward unless it was gently downhill. Would have been very happy to have been done an hour earlier.

Company from Ernst on and off throughout the course, surprised to see him again at 12 as I thought he was gone for good. Also from Kseniya from 3 to 10, but then she ran away from me. Also from Balter for a little bit around 6-9, I assumed he had not skipped, but in fact he had. Also from Tim Parson and David Onkst from 12 on.

So struggling to keep up with Ernst and David and Tim from 12 in, managing for a long time, helped by a couple of better executions (at 17, and the route to 19) to catch back up, and failing finally only on the hill up to 21 where just keeping up a modest walk was all I could manage and they steadily pulled away. But I still took some satisfaction from making the effort.

But totally totally wasted by the finish.

Though it seemed the effort was good enough for 15th overall, 13th guy. Best in a long time. Makes a difference not having a dozen cadets in front of me.

Seemed like the course was harder than average, mainly because the terrain at Baldwin Hill demands precise navigation and offers few trails to speed one's passage. And the warm weather took its toll. But nice to see a bunch of runners making it in under 3:30. That is an accomplishment no matter what the year. And this year, even more so.

C • placing 1

Billygoat - Splits

Heel bruise is a little better, but still no running. Hopefully OK by Sunday.

First bike ride of the year, Old Deerfield - River Road. Some new pavement and the loop as a whole is pretty smooth. Wind out of the south, noticeably so. Legs felt good to start, should have as I haven't done anything for 4 days, but will probably feel beat up tomorrow.

Meanwhile marathon training has gone to hell….

But I want to do a little riding over the next 4 months as I am planning a century ride in early September.

Seems like there will be the fourth installment of Phil's Western Mass Wednesday evening training events, this one at Earl's Trails, starting from the end of Chmura Road. Limited to the first 24 people. Start at 6 pm, come a little before that. I'll set the course this time. One course of appropriate difficulty for everyone.

C • Limited to 24 4

Got home without much hassle.

Away for 4 nights. First was on a plane, maybe 2 hours sleep. Second on the floor of the Ross/Sam/Boris/Alli apartment in Uppsala, good night's sleep. Third was in the military tent at 10-mila, very cold, maybe 3 hours sleep. Fourth was at the airport in Stockholm on a rather comfortable bench, about 3 hours sleep. And added about 3 hours sleep on the plane home.

Not my usual standard, but worked just fine. Felt wide awake for my run Sunday morning (9 am start, 3 am Sunderland time), and then also wide awake to do about 3 hours of driving the van on the way back to Uppsala, and then also wide awake on the not quite 4 hours drive back from the Newark airport. So it all seemed to work. Two key points -- really good earplugs, and not obsessing about jet lag or what time it was back home or whatever. The body can adapt if you just let it.

I seem to have picked up my first injury in quite some time, a bruise under my left heel. I think I did it in the finish chute, there were a couple of downhill parts on somewhat rocky ground, and I think I caught one wrong. Didn't notice anything until walking some in the airport Sunday night when it seemed quite sore, and I've been hobbling since then. Would be nice if it started to mellow out before too long. And glad I was just starting a Euro O' tour. Going out for a run today would require a lot of vitamin I.

There are a lot of really good photos that Kenny took, including our team shot after it was over --



Front row from left: Ian, Ken, Ali, Peter
Back row from left: Giacomo, Boris, Matthias, Brendan, Greg, Ross

An incredibly smart and fun and talented bunch of people to be on a team with.

My map from 10mila (click on map for a larger image). Only navigation problems were #1, just above it, and #17, just to the left. But I was being pretty careful and stopping as needed to take careful looks at the map.

Time to head home, though first had to buy a Swedish book to read, Lyckliga Gatan by Liza Marklund. And also check my weight on the baggage scale. Not good.

C • Weight 8

Final 10-mila placing was 145th out of 328 teams. Fantastic!

In anticipation of early morning flights tomorrow, I'm spending the night at Arlanda (with a nice couch already claimed) with teammates Ian, Mr. AttackPoint, and Mr. Catching Features. Couldn't ask for better company….

A little more about the 10-mila trip.

This was an attempt to rectify the 2008 trip to 10-mila where we DQ'd on the tenth and last leg when Will used Billygoat rules and skipped a control he was probably within 50 meters of. Though it was only partly that, because the other part, and I'd guess the more significant part, was that it just very much a good experience to gather up a bunch of folks, make a commitment 6 months in advance, and then show up in the center of the O' universe for one of the biggest events in the O' world and have at it.

I'd been on a Jukola trip in 2006 and the 10-mila trip in 2008, both a lot of fun, so when Boris circulated the idea last fall, I signed up right away. Though I really had my doubts that it made sense any more for me to be on the team. At some point I offered my spot to Alex, but by then she had other plans. So it seemed I was going.

In 2008 we had had a few problems with the orienteering, mistakes here and there, and our placing among the 300+ teams was in the mid- to low-200s most of the night, and would have ended right about 200th had we been legit. So that was our expectation for this time, hopefully/maybe better than 200th, with making the top half of the field of 330 teams and matching our team number (#165) giving the same stretch goal that seemed quite impossible.

And the primary overriding goal was not to DQ.

Our running order was a bit wacko, determined by who was old and slow (me), who was out of shape (Boris), who was willing or unwilling to go out at night, who was maybe arriving too late to run an early leg (Ali) -- all matched up against the schedule of course lengths which had, among other things, the shortest leg that would definitely be in the daylight being the last leg, so yours truly was running anchor, Giacomo running lead-off, and Ian, Matthias, Brendan, and Kenny running the long night legs with Kenny getting 17 km.

Giacomo was brilliant, just 7 minutes back, 159th place (not quite like the US relay champs, though maybe someday?). And that set the tone. No bad mistakes the whole way, placings that surpassed our expectations at every exchange.

Boris ran second, no mistakes, changed over in 174th to Ian just as it was getting dark. Ian was very solid, came back after 13 km in 156th place. Next were Matthias, back in 170th, Brendan in 168th, then Kenny the traditional long night leg, out for two and a half hours and back in 164th as it was getting light. And still no bad mistakes.

Next was Biggins, back in 164th just as he started, handed over to Ali for the 13 km 8th leg which she crushed in 98 minutes, picking up 12 spots, and Ross out on the 9th leg, 15.3 km which he smoked in 1:51, moving up another 12 spots so we were now 140th. Not that I knew it because I was already off in the mass start with the herd.

I was clearly the weak link on the team, so the goal was to not make it any worse by being stupid. I figured I'd cost us 20 places, at least. But a good run, a tenth and final thumbs up from the official as the e-punch was downloaded, and a few hours later when all the results processing was done, and we were in 145th. Amazing.

Had we gotten better? Have the Swedes just gotten worse? Did adding a women to our team account for the difference. What gives?

I don't know. But I do know that everyone ran with the right mindset for relay racing -- that any individual can't win the race but you sure can lose it. And so the feeling was that everyone should run within themselves, stay cool, stay calm, and for sure check your codes. I don't know how much time we lost to mistakes over the 15 and a half hours, I'd be surprised if it was much over 15 minutes total. It sure wasn't very much.

We tend to have little appreciation for relays in the USA. There is often a feeling of not wanting to have others rely on you, not wanting to let others down. But orienteering, so often very much an individual sport, can also be a wonderful team sport, with its own set of challenges and its own set of memories. You just have to be willing to give it a chance.

C • Great piece 1

Tiomila leg 10, 85 km, forked. Very good run. As for everyone on our CSU team. very cool and a lot of fun.

Started in the mass start. Not just the mass start for leg 10 runners, but also any leg 9, 8, 7, even a few 6 runners who had not yet started. Since the timeline was fairly tight -- only about 1/3 of the teams avoided the mass start for their leg 10 runners -- there were lots of people.

As I said, very good run. Not my best physical effort, but good orienteering, missed only 2 controls and those just 20 meters to the side and corrected right away. Rest were spiked dead on. Some controls were rather easy, but some certainly were not.

Would have been a minute or two faster if I had not been overly diligent about checking control codes. But really really did not want to make a mistake.

Amusing finish in retrospect. Great cheering from the CSU crew as I came into view about 300 meters from the end, plus a guy chasing me down at the end (and passing me just before the finish), but both obviously spurred to run a good bit faster at the end, including all the way up the last hill. Team ended up in the final results -- times adjusted for the mass start data -- beating three other teams by less than 30 seconds. And it turned out that I only lost about 5 positions, less than the 20 I was expecting. Nice not to let the team down.

C • Very Cool! 10

Event: 10Mila
 

In Sweden, off to Uppsala, then to find Ross's and Sam's place. So far ao good.

Easy/short run around Uppsala. Very pleasant out now that most of the snow has melted. Sure was a lot of snow in Norway when we flew over.

Seven of the team are here (Boris, Ross, Ian, Brendan, Ken, Biggins, myself), with Giacomo racing this afternoon farther south, and Ali and Matthias arriving tomorrow.

The odds of my starting in the mass start seem pretty good. To avoid it, the first 9 will have to cover 106 km in less than 13 hours and 10 minutes, or 7:27 per km. And a good chunk of that at night. But anything is possible.