Training Log Archive: dlevine

It was to be Ryan's last night and Jerry really needed a third, so I relented and showed up. That said, even though it was cutthroat, I outscored them 60-37 and didn't need to shower when I got home. Foot didn't seem to mind but it still wants time off.

Canadian Nationals Long

Foot felt good at the start. Spiked #1, then bobbled #2 in the circle. On the long leg, I got fooled into believing that there was a land bridge between the lakes near the OOB, but apparently I did the rest okay. I then left #3 making a big error, going south(!) and then cutting over to the road south of the swamp. Went through the next five pretty well. Did the first 750 m of the next leg well, but botched the hill just south of those same lakes. On the trail to #9, my foot really began to ache. Went high to #11 and just tried to survive coming in. I beat a few folks and am happy with my performance considering my health/conditioning. The foot definitely wants a few days off.

Long Course 7b - Splits

Canadian Nationals Middle

Really tried to stretch foot. But, just to show I'm stupid, I ran in brand new shoes. Hoped to run more or less clean, but slow.

Fine to #1 and #2. I suppose that I got a bit "fancy" going to #3 and the "reward" was a return trip to #2 and an 8.5 minute error. The rest of the course was mostly clean and I didn't even record an error when I went via trail to #8 and lost my shoe in some sole-sucking muck. My foot didn't really hurt until the final uphill and "sprint" in.

Finished in the middle of the pack and was reasonably happy with that.

Even better, the shoes were great and the foot felt much better. Alas, after I went to clean the shoes, I found a tear right along the stitching line and had to return them. Shout out to the O-Store folks who couldn't have been nicer about the whole thing!

Middle Course 7b - Splits

Event: 2013 Nationals (Hamilton, CANADA)
 

Canadian Nationals Sprint

With a injured (and hurting) foot, I was looking to be slow, but mentally sharp and see if the foot would hold up so that I could start on Saturday and Sunday. Combine this with the fact that this was my first campus/urban sprint in several years and my expectations were low.

Slow out of the box, but I got to #1 before hitting my first dead-end staircase on the way to #2. At #3, I was passed by the guy one minute behind me as I had failed to read "bottom of" staircase. Went around the wrong building to #5 and then was mostly clean until #10 when I went to the wrong tree even though I had already seen the flag on the way to #9. Path to #11 (was this good?) and left around the building to #13 although I got bumped by somebody doing the same at high speed as I cut back to #14. Was blocked by soccer equipment and lost time to #17 and then watched as three of the five people in my "pack" cut across the soccer field (OOB) on the way to #19.

All in all, I was reasonably pleased with the result even though I was very close to the bottom of the standings. I'd like to do it when my foot didn't ache. Interestingly, my only split in the top half was the leg that was entirely in the woods (#18). I took that as a good sign for the weekend.

Sadly, my foot ached all night and I slept very poorly as a result.

Sprint Course 5a - Splits