Training Log Archive: dlevine

Singles with Danny.

First game: Led 14-6, but let off the gas and trailed 16-18. Led 20-18 before choking and losing the last three points. 20-21.
Second game: Led 13-0 before Danny got real hot and tied it at 16. I trailed 18-20 before finding my soul. 21-20.
Third game: I'd never had a match this close before, but I really tried to focus. I trailed 3-4, but took about two out of every three points after that to win going away 21-12.

Warm up for Polar Bear #3 - with Walt

Glad I wore my trail shoes as the surface is very loose and covered with snow.

A rough time. It was cold and I was over-layered and I never really hit my stride. I took off my gloves at 0.75 miles and my toque at 2. I then dropped my toque at 2.2, but it was picked up and turned in to lost-and-found. The woman who found it caught me at 2.4 and we ran together to about 3.1 when a friend of hers passed us and carried her along. I slogged on with my "positive splits" and eventually began to see the gap to her closing. Ultimately, I had little in the tank at the end and she got me by 3 seconds.

9:06, 9:54, 9:55, 10:07, and 10:00

Payne

A meeting ran late so we had to squeeze in what we could.

First game: 15-12, very close the whole way. No one led by more than 3.
Second game: 11-9, trailed 2-6 before leading 9-6.

Random @ 15

Shorter routine to make up for almost a month off of weights...

Singles with Danny

First game: Tied at 1, 3, 4, 8, 12, 14, and 15 before I developed exhaustion and an inexplicable inability to hit even the easiest shots back to the front wall. Lost 15-21.

Second game: Still out of it, fell behind 2-6. Then I got a couple of lucky serves and caught my second wind and it was all over. Led 20-6 before winning 21-9.

Third game: Steadily pulled away before tiring a bit at the end and winning 21-12.

Lighter stuff this morning and I took my time. Only tough stuff was the snowbank by the mailbox...

We didn't have any big storms this week, but a week of 1-2 and 2-3 inch storms will add up.

Cutthroat with Steve and Danny

I was held up in a meeting so they go to play singles (and get both loose and tired) before I joined the fray.

Game 1: Generally close, but I pulled ahead a bit and then held on for a 21-16-18 win.
Game 2: Steve started hot and led 4-16-4. We came back to make the score look respectable, but he won 12-21-9.
Game 3: I got hot and won 21-5-4.
Game 4: Danny got hot serving and led 2-3-11, but we came back to make it 9-9-11. Then I got hot and it was over 21-9-12.

BUT, I twisted my back too much and there is now a not near my coccyx that is fairly painful. Even treated it(!) last night.

Cutthroat with Steve and Danny

First match was an all-time great one. Started slow and trailed 0-4-8 as Danny couldn't be beaten. During that stretch he hit the deck to make at play and then got up for the next volley no less than five times; once twice on the same point - that he eventually won. Thankfully, he tired and after a while it was 14-14-14. We went on slowly and in fact the server lost thirteen rallies in a row at 17-16-17. We were tied at 18 before Danny won 18-18-21.

Second match was tied at 3 and at 6 when I ran off 9 serves in a row. Then another spell of no scoring for 10 points before I led 20-7-9. It all got very slow again as the server could never score, but eventually I won 21-8-14.

We weren't even going to play a third match, but after a rest we each goaded the other into it. Steve dominated leading 2-17-1 before we began a late, and futile comeback. Steve won 9-21-6.

Final score for the night: 48-47-41. Way competitive. I'm just as glad that I can't work out tomorrow anyway. (Have to be in Jamestown at 8 a.m., will be back 5:30-6 and have a 6:30-9 meeting on campus.)

...before the second Polar Bear race...

Polar Bear Series #2: 5 km at Pitt-Bradford, about 25F with some breeze; snow was falling, but there was some brief sunshine, too; roads were wet but otherwise fine.

Went out what must have been a bit faster than last time, but I felt good. I did start my watch this time, but missed the 1-mile mark. Hit the 2-mile mark at 17:58. Felt okay as I headed on to campus and hit the "turnaround point" (really a long curve) in good shape. True or not, I had convinced myself that it was downwind from there and that I could pick up the pace and still make it in. I began to pass some folks, squeezing between a pair of runners and the cop car at the last intersection. With about 200m to go, I really tried to real in folks in front of me and passed four of them! Final split was 9:09 (for the last 1.1 miles).

I think this is a PR for me (not that that means much since I think that I've now run nine 5K events).

4-6 inches all around the house; mostly light, but there was still enough of it to feel it afterward.

Doubles with Jerry, Danny, and Steve

I got there late and Danny had dominated Jerry and Steve at cutthroat, so Jerry (the weakest) picked Danny as his partner. Although some games were close (we trailed the second one 1-7), the evening was not.

15-11, 15-9, 15-7, 15-9, 15-8.

Versus Steve

Easily the most intense match of the year. (And it's likely to retain that title for the next 362 days; it was easily in the top 2 of 2010.)

Each game went about the same way: tough, close play before my youth and superior conditioning let me score a bunch in a row to win it.

Game 1: Trailed 2-7, but tied it at 7; trailed 7-12, but tied it at 13; won 21-15.
Game 2: Repeated ties until 9-9; won 21-12.
Game 3: Tied at 3, 6, and 9 before I won 21-12.

From 6-6 to 9-9, Danny was watching (before playing in the "second shift") and said that it was the most intense match he'd seen in a long time.

Warm-up for the Polar Bear race...

Polar Bear Series #1

Rough race; thirty-six hours earlier I had been body surfing in Hawaii and I hadn't slept real well on the return flight. Felt tired (as in "go to sleep" rather than as in "I can't take any more of this pace") throughout the race. Jet lag sucks.

Based upon my finish time and my last two splits, I ran the first mile in 8:58. Second mile was 9:35. Third "mile" was 9:52 (8:58 equivalent). Finished well back in the pack, but at least I was awake.

(Edit 1/3: after getting official finish time)

Cleaning up some messes that accumulated while we were in Hawaii.