Training Log Archive: kissy

Body Pump

A lap around Wash Park. Not my best effort, but I think it was because I ran too soon after drinking a cup of tea.

The good news, though, is that the office that I've been working in for the past week and a half has been in a transition mode because everyone is moving to a new, smaller building. So small, it seems, that it doesn't have room for me, and I have to be a "Virtual Office" worker now (i.e., work from home everyday)!

C • working from home 3

Barre class

A nice ride around Laramie on a beautiful day. Who could have imagined 71F and bright blue skies on Oct. 25 in Laramie?!? So fine.

Trail run from the Headquarters parking lot. I started going down Crow Creek, then crossed over and ran on a parallel trail for a bit. I knew I had to go up to get to the Headquarters trail which I was going to take back to the truck. I started going up a valley on what I thought was the ski trail, but it kind of petered out amongst a lot of downed trees. So I went up on the side hill to get out of the mess, but that got junky, too, and I got pushed too far south. Found an old road bed, which worked fine until it started going downhill, so I ventured off-trail again, still heading up. I eventually found a trail and figured out which one it was and then knew that it went up and intersected the Headquarters trail.

The only problem was that this "detour" had taken me a bit of time, and it was starting to get dark. I didn't particularly want to head back to the creek, where I knew it would be darker, so I headed up and got onto the HQ trail. It was pretty dusky and getting difficult to see every rock in the trail. Plus, I started to think about bears. So, I ran very fast. In the end, a pretty good workout.

C • and bears 2

This year, Colorado mailed out ballots to every registered voter in the state, 2 weeks before Election Day. It was the first such use of widespread mail-in ballots in a major election, and I think it's great. In celebration, Graham, Tanner, Taylor (Tanner's girlfriend), and I spent the evening discussing/debating the candidates and the propositions. We went on-line to clarify any issues and answer any questions, and listened to each other's views. It was a fabulous display of the democratic process and, at the end of the evening, resulted in 3 ballot packages ready to be delivered to the local ballot box. (Graham needed a little more time to decide on a few of the issues.)

Barre class

First day of work! It was wonderful.

My knees (both of them) were still pretty sore and tired today, so took another easy day and went to a restorative yoga class. It felt really good...stretching everything out.

I finally have my marching orders! Four months after I was first offered this job, I've finally gotten the official word that I am to report at 9:00 a.m. on Monday. Despite this being a wild and crazy ride, I'm pretty excited about getting back into the working world.

C • Yay!!! 7

I did something to my left knee in the sprint, and it's been a little achy since then. I could feel it as I was walking around Toronto, and it hasn't gotten measurably better. So, I thought it best to take an easy ride around Wash Park to try to loosen things up, get the blood flowing through the knee, and be close to home in case it hurt too much. It did not hurt too much, but it was a little painful when I put weight on it the few times I experimented with getting out of the saddle. I think it's just an overuse soreness since this is the knee that has no ACL. Maybe the pavement running was not so great for it.

I drove back to Toronto after watching the incredibly exciting sprint relay. Unfortunately, what should have been a 4 hour drive took about 6 hours. I must remember to never, ever drive on the 401 again. Ever! It's like I-95 in Virginia but much worse.

Finally made it to my hotel in downtown Toronto. The area looked a little sketchy at night, but I thought it might look better in the daylight. Um, not so much. I spent about 5 hours looking around the city on Tuesday, and that was probably 4 hours too many. Sorry, Toronto, but I don't think you're my kind of town. There was construction going on everywhere, with lanes shutting down and entire roads closed. And you can't turn left anywhere! I was pretty happy to get back to Denver.

Overall, though, I had a fantastic weekend! I'm so glad I made that last minute decision to go. The courses and maps were a lot of fun. I hung out with my favorite folks...Peter and Gail! I had the most fabulous of roommates...Charlie, Rhonda, Jeff and Judy...in an absolutely gorgeous house on the Ottawa River, with views of the Gatineau hills. So fine.

C • Hwy 401 7

NAOC 2014. F45+ Sprint Champs. Arnprior.

And thus endeth my string of good runs. :-(

I will be the first to admit, and have on all occasions, that I am not a sprinter. But, I still enjoy them. This, however, I did not enjoy so much.

Right from the start, my legs felt tired and heavy. I'm not a big fan of pavement running, but I felt like I held my own, according to the splits. Because the route choices crossed back on each other a few times, I saw the women who started right behind me catching up, which I expected. I also passed Laurie Collinsworth, who started 2 minutes ahead of me on the way to #5...she ran past the little fenced in trail. And the other ladies hadn't caught me yet, so of course, I started thinking, "Hey, you're doing okay." I need to stop thinking that because it appears to always lead to trouble!

After #6, we entered the woods, to a control that was *right there*, not far into the woods at all. But I neglected to remember that as I floundered around, going much further into the woods than I should have, checking out every other rootstock out there, bouncing between the two trails...basically doing everything wrong. Even when I told myself to go back out to the school to relocate, I didn't force myself to do it. Argh, argh, argh!! Finally, I pretty much just stumbled upon it. At least 9 minutes lost.

After that, things went back to normal. I had a bad route choice to #9, I missed that first trail, but the rest were good. I even did great in the arena. And even though I know I'm not a sprinter, I was so disappointed with myself for losing my concentration. Without that error, I would have ended up about where I would have thought in the results. Oh, well.

Sprint - Course 3 - Splits

NAOC 2014. F45+ Long Champs. Carp Ridge - Hidden Meadow Farm

The first thing I did was to check out the Finish set up...it was exactly the same as for the Middle...good. I had a late start, so I had plenty of time to get ready. I knew I just needed to do what I did yesterday, but a teensy bit better.

And it did go better. I was good to #1 and #2...luckily I saw the trail option to #1, which many people did not and it cost them. I messed up a little to #3. I miscalculated where I came out on the power line, thinking I was further east than I was, so I decided to cut the corner. I remembered those woods from yesterday, and thought they were open. Well, I really wasn't cutting the corner, ended up in crappy woods and then had to cross a very wet marsh. Finally realized what I had done, and soldiered on. The rest of that leg went pretty well, but the trails at the end got confusing, and I hit the control before I thought I was going to. Lucky.

My next error was going to #6. Again, the trail network coming out of #5 was confusing, and I ended up following the wrong trail too far SE. I wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but after the trails at #3 and then this, I told myself to forget the trails and just run on compass. I headed back towards #5, relocated on some big cliffs and was off and running again.

The last few controls were fine. #8 was right next to one of our last controls from the Middle, so that helped. And, I did not run right by the last control today, so I ended up in 3rd! So, so happy!!

C • Congratulations! :) 2

Long - Course 6 - Splits

I am currently in the Comfort Inn in Port Hope. It's about a 3 hour drive tomorrow (today) to the meet site, with an 11:46 start. I should be fine... famous last words.

C • Go, kissy! 6

NAOC 2014, F45+ Middle, Carp Ridge North.

I drove up from Port Hope in the morning, and it took longer than I thought it would, so had to rush when I finally got there. Picked up my registration packet, got my info swapped out for Peggy's, quickly changed and ran to the start. Made it with a few minutes to spare. So, no time to check out the Finish set up, which would have made a difference.

Having not been on the model or even had a chance to look at the maps, I was definitely plunging into terra incognito. Maybe that helped in that I wasn't scared of what might happen. And, I actually could read the map and features just fine. Pretty much everything clicked as I ran along. I did have noticeable problems at #9 -- I was right on top of it, misread the feature and headed to the left for a bit. I saw Jeff Saeger there, too, and knew he was on my course. We both stopped at the end of the hill, looked at our maps, realized what we had done, and turned and sprinted back to the control. It was kind of funny.

I found #10 just fine, but managed to get caught up in the crown of branches of a fallen tree and fell a total of 3 times without making any progress towards the control. Jeff noticed and commented on my clumsiness. Finally extricated myself and moved on.

I was doing so well, that after I punched in at #11, I thought to myself, "Hey, this is a really good run!" And that was the kiss of death. I managed to lose at least a minute on #12 (had to check out every other control in the area, even the one in the pit and the one in the reentrant because, you know, they *could* have been hilltops) and a minute on #13, the final control...on a trail at the beginning of the finish chute!! I ran right past it, didn't check the code, thinking my control was further down the trail. It was not. So, I stopped, looked again at my map, turned around and saw the control way back there, cursed, and then ran back. Drats! Those two controls for sure dropped me off the podium.

After I had a chance to study my course and routes afterwards though, I realized it wasn't as clean a run as I had thought, and I lucked out in a few spots. I knew I had to be cleaner for the Long and redeem myself.

Middle - Course 6a - Splits

Body Pump class

Barre class

All of my good karma from the trip out is gone. Stuck on a plane on the Ohare tarmac. Not sure when I'll get home. Luckily I heard from my new job and I won't actually start for a few days. At this rate, I wonder if I'll ever start.

C • So we'll see you at the Nor... 19

Letchworth State Park. Middle Champs. Green X

This was my worst race of the weekend, navigationally speaking. I was not precise enough in the circle and lost time on almost every control, hesitating or not going directly to the control. I think I was feeling some pressure to continue to do well, and it made me feel a bit too frantic. Luckily, I was still pushing hard enough to take another win...just 19 seconds over Mary Jones...phew!

On my way to #1, I saw 3 other women on my course looking for the control in an area that was just halfway along the route. That made me slow down and question where I was...I mean 3 other people had stopped here. But since I was pace counting, I knew I was no where near the control yet, so I kept running, never 100% sure that I was correct until I hit the big stream right before the control.

Hesitated after I saw #2 since the description said "foot of hill" but the control was definitely on the top. Passed too high on #3, but looked back and saw someone punching into the control, so went back. Good route choice along the pond/marsh to #4, but then thought the control was in the big marshy reentrant. Stopped at the base, looked up the reentrant, but didn't see anything. Trying to figure it out when I saw a crowd of folks punch in at the control in the tiny reentrant. Ugh!

Bad route choice to #5 had me clawing my way out of the gully. Decided to stay low on the spur to #6, but was too low. Hit the big reentrant and had to climb to the control. #7 was good...finally! Had a 1 second hesitation at #8 when I saw another control on the power line tower, but looked right and saw my control. Had a slight hesitation at #9 when I read the description as "vegetation boundary" (as did Sharon), and could only see a wide open low area and a small knoll. Checked the control code, saw it was mine, and thought "alrighty then".

Luckily, the final small loop went great, so I didn't lose anymore time there. And, once again, I lost 2(!) places in the finish chute. I really need to work on my sprinting speed.

C • Finish chute 1

Middle Green X - Splits

Letchworth State Park. US Long Champs. Green X



Another good run. I felt good out in the woods, and only made a few mistakes. The first was on the way to #1 when I plunged into some green stuff and got nervous. I talked myself out of panicking and got back on track. The other mistake was on #5. I didn't execute my route choice very well. I should have headed straight up the hill and then run along the top of the ridge. Instead, I contoured along a very steep hill and then hit the top in a vague area. It took me a little bit to figure it out. Probably about 3 minutes.

This was a fun course, especially the last few controls when you could run pretty fast on the flat terrain. Like yesterday, I dropped a placing right at the end. Need to get faster in the finish chute.

Long Green X - Splits

Event: 2014 US Nationals
 

US Sprint Champs, Genesee Valley Park



So, this was a lot of fun. I really didn't know what to expect since I am really not a sprinter, but I knew I wanted a much better race than my last sprint at NAOC in DVOA, which was a complete disaster. So, I spent some time in the weeks leading up to today studying the old map and studying Google Earth. I think that really helped because I felt like I knew the park before I even set foot in it.

I also wanted to pace myself so I wouldn't be dying at the end. It looks like I followed that plan, according to my splits, but I still felt like I was dying. I guess other people were just dying a little more.

I didn't have any big mistakes, just a few hesitations, especially at 16, which I almost ran right past, and a less than optimal route to 15 through some of the green stuff. Pretty happy with this race, though. :-)

Sprint Green - Splits

Barre class