Training Log Archive: cedarcreek

Midnight Night O' at Gov Bebb! w00t!

Our annual midnight O' at Gov Bebb. Almost didn't go. Forced myself at the last minute, and forgot my LED headlamp and my new GPS toy. I did remember my handheld scuba light, though. It's pretty shocking how much I missed having a light on my head when I was punching. (I'm planning to buy a big headlamp, eventually, and to make one, soon, but I wasn't able to finish it in time.) The course was a lot of fun. I got beat by two adventure racers by about 1 minute. (It's not hard to beat me if you're fit.) Dick was 5 minutes over because he dropped his map when he fell in a reentrant, realized it a few minutes later, and had to go back. He did clean the course, which is pretty cool. It was about 26 degF, but I guessed 40. Go figure. It was also 90 percent humidity, and I finished soaking wet---my hair was like I stepped out of a shower. I didn't feel cold or hot at any time, which is amazing to me. I love Night O. I need to run some proper point-to-point events, though.

Ran (a little) and walked (a lot) at Sharon Woods. I'm thinking of doing a sprint event there on Feb 4th. I did most of the fun stuff, but I didn't have on shoes for the slopes. I also did a fair bit of standing there looking at the map while turning in a circle. Awesome day in the park.

Postscript: It's 8 hours later, and I am sore sore sore.

Started taking antibiotics. Something really exotic, I think. I've got the most sore throat I've ever had. The weird thing, is that it's migrated forward from my tonsils. That freaked me out a little, so I went right to the doctor. (As I'm writing this, it's two days later, and I've improved a lot.)

It was about 14degF (-10C), and I *did not* want to run tonight. But I felt so good, I made myself do it. My face got really cold, and I'm really glad I only spent 20 minutes out there. It's cold even in the house, because I haven't put up the weatherstripping I got last week. I also finished my stuck-in-one-gear-20-minute loop in 19 minutes, which I'm calling my PR. Instead of the "Killer Bee Test Loop", I should call this my "OOSFM Loop", for "Out of shape fat man loop". I think the two races on Saturday (where I'd run as much as I could, and walk as little as possible) helped with getting my leg speed up some. After one solid week of cold weather training, my biggest surprise is how easily I'm able to handle the cold. One week ago, I almost stopped after 200 and 300m because of breathing the cold air. It still bugs me, but not nearly as much. I'm also figuring out how much to wear. I still need some work on this, because I'm planning some longer runs in a few weeks, and I want to be dressed right for them. Route: http://tinyurl.com/abfxv

MVOC Night-O in Dayton plus an OCIN Day-O at Friedlander

Brown Course at Camp Friedlander. (The clue sheet says 2.79, so that would be 13.3min/km.) I ran the Pig Sprint there in the spring, and I didn't realize the sprint map was just a small part of a bigger 1:10,000 map. There was a red course with 6+km, but I was planning to run the MVOC night O', so I chose Brown. It was just as steep as the Pig, but with a lot more grip (and some snow and ice). It was an event organized by a JrROTC program as a local JrROTC Championships, and OCIN handles the maps, courses, and most of the volunteers, so I was a typist at the Excel spreadsheet for 2 or so hours. Had a blast.

MVOC Night O' at Cricket Holler Scout Camp near Dayton. I wasn't able to finish my headlamp, so I ran (again) with my Scuba light with 8-C batteries. Night-O is a lot more fun with a freakin' big light. And without vampires and without scrooges to steal your punchcard. (I don't get to do night-O enough to make that fun.) This one did have an interesting twist, though. You could get them all, and finish normally, if you took less than 60 minutes. If you took longer, that was okay, because...After the director blew a big air horn 4 times (at the 60 minute point), you could "Search and Destroy" by collecting controls. This is the best part: The two events are scored separately. If you bring back a punched card, you get them as your score (I guess without the time, only the number of controls punched). You also get a separate score for the number of actual controls you collect. The only problem with this was that one group of competitors (interestingly) (and apparently, because we're not sure) was untying the markers and hiding them *and* collecting them before the 60 minute mark. I found them all, even though 3 had been thrown or otherwise tampered with. Others were not as lucky. I placed one on the ground at the right spot, and tied another to a branch. The third was tied, but not in a normal way, sort of hidden, so---I don't know. One group I know spent ten minutes looking for one of the controls that was "collected" early. (We suspect one particular group because they were walking (we're sure), and they somehow managed to collect two distant controls separated by 500m, and complained about another one 300m away from either of those two. It didn't affect me (well maybe 2 minutes), but we still felt violated, and mad. In Orienteering, there are some things you just don't do. I got second. Mike Minium beat me. He was affected about 4 minutes. His light is a really tight spot, but it seems pretty weak to me, so I probably had an advantage on him because of that. He normally beats me by a much bigger margin. The placements were mostly easy, and there were mostly trails, so the few times I had to go off-trail, I was pretty sloppy. I was pretty lucky, though, and I had only a few minutes of issues due to sloppiness. The first time, I ran right into a big cliff, and was stuck going right when left would've been better. In this case, though, I swear the map was off, and I spiked it, if you can claim that when you're still 50m from where you think it is. The other time I got right and didn't notice it. This one is where I lost the 2 minutes, maybe even 3.

Postscript: After thinking about it for a day, I think the group that collected the controls early must be different from the group (or campers) who tampered with the controls. I need to rethink my comments...

PIcking up two controls during the search-and-destroy.

After yesterday's workout, I woke up sore, which is mostly just embarrassing. I thought I'd do another easy workout tonight so I'll be rested for the two events on Saturday. It was about 32degF, with a thin layer of snow over spotty ice. I felt much better starting off, even faster, but I wore down during the last 1km or so. Just to fully disclose how slow I am, my first mile was 11:30 or so. This is the fourth time I've run my 20 minute loop within 5 seconds of 20 minutes. It's pretty weird, but I think it's related to my leg speed note from last night---I'm stuck in one leg speed. What I didn't say yesterday was that the reason I want higher leg speed soon is because I find this ultraslow running pounds my joints. If I can get over the hump, I can get a much lighter foot strike, and it seems easier on the body. I felt a lot better than any of the last four runs, so I hope that's proof of improvement. Wore a little thicker fleece, and got too hot. I wore thin leather TIG gloves---probably won't do that again. (Yeah, I weld, but I'm no welder.)

It was about 38degF tonight. It is so much easier to run when it's above freezing. I wore the same thing I have been, and I was pretty sweaty when I finished. I wore some thin kevlar knit gloves, but I took them off for the last 10 minutes or so. (Yeah, I still haven't looked for my winter stuff.) I feel like a slug, because my primary motivation tonight was to try out my new toy. I bought a Garmin Forerunner 201, which is a GPS with the primary purpose of keeping track of your distance, time, and pace. Because I am an idiot, I set it up for metric units. It's cool to run faster than 10 min/km, until you realize how slow that is running on the road. I was struggling along at 8min/km, which I know is really slow. I'll do the math later. When I did a lot of running (by my standard) in the summer of 2004, I built up a base of this ultraslow running, mostly because I just couldn't get my leg speed any faster. After I got a very small base, I actually did a speed workout on a track, just so I could get over the leg-speed hump and actually run reasonable speeds. Right now my goals are just to get out there as much as possible. If I start to see some endurance building, I might throw in a leg speed workout (in a month or two, let's say). My four-month goal right now is the Raleigh ARDF Championships right after the Flying Pig A-Meet. I want to be able to run the whole time, and I want to be able to run fast for one minute on, four minutes off (running during the off, but not fast). I suppose I should read up on some training lingo, too...

P.S. I edited my distance down 200m. I started the instant the GPS locked, and somehow it locked 200m East of my actual position. It figured it out about a minute later, so there is an unexplained 200m skip in my track, that may or may not have been counted.

20 minutes on the same route as last week. Again, I ate before I ran, but this time I felt much stronger. It was still plodding, but I did stride out a few times. Interestingly, I was able to keep running up the two mild hills. I'd guess it was 20 degrees. The crisp, cold air was very unpleasant when I started, but it got better. I had the urge to cough towards the end. Same clothing as last Tuesday, except a short-sleeve shirt under the fleece, and thin leather gloves---still looking for my winter gear. I was a little too cold the whole time. I need a tiny bit more wind protection on top. Beautiful night to run: A very bright moon, reflecting off snow-covered ground. Didn't need a light the whole time. My biggest problem---I need to run more loggable events.

Postscript: Two minor issues. My right ankle is a bit sore. Maybe 2 months ago I noticed a little soreness after I pushed pretty hard on some rough Mt. Airy trails during a 2m ARDF. During that event, the ankle was a bit unstable on the bumpy trail, but I didn't turn it. I really haven't mentioned it before, but it's been sore on-and-off since it bottomed-out hard toes-up at Vasquez Rocks in Dec 2003. (I hope that makes sense.) The other is a sore spot on the back of my left thigh. It's almost like a knot in the middle of my hamstring. I drive two hours a day, and sit most of the rest of the time, so a clot is not out-of-the-question. I'll keep an eye on it.

Like many attackpointers, I've been reading training logs of people who apparently have no motivation issues whatsoever concerning exercising in the cold air, on icy cold dark nights, et cetera et cetera. I want to be one of those people, but every time I get the chance, I lift the blanket as I lie on the couch, and decide to just stay there. I've done that basically nine days in a row. Over the weekend, my only goal was to exercise one hour. I didn't do it. On Monday, I said, "I'm going home, changing, and before I can even look at a TV, a computer, or a pillow, I'm going out that door." Didn't happen. So all day today I was thinking, "There is not a warm day in sight" (on the 7-day model). "There is no hope of exercise unless you get out that door, in the cold, dark air, and run for 20 minutes." You know, baby steps. Previously to prevent this, I've used the excuse that I didn't have the "right" stuff to wear. I don't know where my wicking gloves are, or my windproof pants. But on the way home, I was thinking, "You know, it's only 20 minutes. I could wear 100% cotton head-to-toe, and maybe I'd be a little cold when I came in, but I'd warm up in a few minutes. It's not like I'm going out in the woods in 33 degree rain for an afternoon. So I got home, took my niece shopping for an hour, dropped my nephew off at basketball for 2 hours while I bought groceries and some weatherstripping for the house. I got home at 9:20 or so, and my nephew wanted food. I ordered pizza (the groceries are for tomorrow), picked it up a little after 10pm, and ate three pieces. All the time I was saying to myself, "There will be no excuses tonight. You are running. No matter what. No matter how late, how cold, how much you vomit that pizza you just ate, YOU are running tonight." So that's what I did. I went out the door at 11pm exactly, in cotton sweat pants, a fleece jacket, and nomex gloves, and ran 20 minutes, almost exactly. It's not much, but it's a start. I felt sloggy the whole way. Probably that pizza.