Training Log Archive: syd

Not as bad as expected.

Fun trail run around Birds Hill and Argo.

BF got me a sweet new watch. Love it!

C • Which one! 2

Paddled on the Huron with BF, W4J and Mr. W. W4J graciously allowed us to use the SS Fragile Flower. Beautiful afternoon to be out on the water.

Fun gravel ride with W4J, BF, Cris and Maria. Poured for a while near the end...seems to be a trend lately. Legs were feeling really good.

Felt like I was running through mud for the first mile, but my legs came around.

Recovery ride! Legs are definitely feeling better, just don't really have any power yet.

Event: MI Titanium Tri
 

Swim (2 loops)

Started off at 7 a.m. in one wave with all the full athletes. Water temp was 77.7, so I was able to wear my wetsuit! The swim went pretty well. I started a little too far forward in the pack, so I got passed by quite a few swimmers on the first stretch, but after about a half of the first lap everyone had settled in and it calmed down. Finished my first loop in 42 min, which was right where I wanted to be. Never felt too tired, but I did slow down a little on the second loop. Exited the water at the same time as the first half athlete (they started an hour later).

Bike (2 loops)

The bike was a big out and back with a small loop on the end. It was pretty windy, so there was a nice tailwind on the way out…but that meant a not very fun headwind on the way back. A lot of half athletes passed me on the first loop. I just tried to do my own thing, I didn’t want to get sucked into a fast pace since I still had another lap to go. I did pass a few back on the hills headed back to the turnaround, so that gave me a bit of a boost. It started raining around mile 52, and was pouring by the time I got to the turn around. Those last few miles felt like they took forever. Finished the first loop in 3:20, really close to my goal time. I psyched myself up for the second loop by getting really excited about going from a headwind into the driving rain to a tailwind with the rain.

Started looking for BF after the turnaround and saw him about 5 mi (?) back. It rained for a few more miles and then petered out. Whew. The second loop was definitely more difficult. I was able to see someone for most of the lap, but there were far less people around. Stopped once at mile 70 to stretch, probably only 2-3 min. I was skeptical of the bottle exchanges, but now I’m a fan, it was so convenient. Headed back into the wind was when I really started feeling my legs. I didn’t want to push, since I knew I still had a lot left, so I just chugged along. I got rained on once more. Turned a corner up a hill into the wind and into a downpour. Ugh. It was raining so hard it stung. Luckily that only lasted for a few minutes and that was the last time it rained. Leapfrogged a couple guys on the last stretch. I’d pass them on the ups and they’d pass me back on the downs.

Run (4 loops)

This run was so much harder than I ever could have imagined. My strategy going in was to run a comfortable/fast pace from the start since I knew I was going to run out of steam. Then hopefully the initial faster miles could balance out the slower miles later on. First loop I felt good, 9:15 pace, maybe a little too speedy? Continued to feel good through half of the second loop. On the way back I started walking at the aid stations, but I still kept up a decent pace (9:56). And then my legs ran out of steam. It suddenly made sense why I saw so many people walking. At this point it took everything I had in me to keep up a jog, if I was moving faster than a 12 min/mi pace I was happy. I walked by each aid station, finished eating and then started running again whenever I could muster the mental strength to force my legs into motion. The positive side of moving so slowly was my stomach was fine with eating anything. I had oranges and bananas, which were awesome, lots of Gatorade. Accidentally grabbed pickle juice once thinking it was Gatorade, that was pretty gross. Lap 3 was mentally the toughest, mainly because I knew I still had to go back out one more time. Lap 4 was physically the most difficult, but it was a lot easier mentally knowing I was so close to the end.

Overall, I’m super excited that I finished and really happy with my time. Splits and results:

Swim 1:27:23
T1 4:42
Bike 6:59:14
T2 5:12
Run 4:51:05
TOTAL 13:27:39

32/83 overall
9/19 women
2/2 age group

They had recently stoned/oiled the first part of Pontiac Trail, so that wasn't very fun. Rest of the ride was nice.

C • FYI, they just did it to 3

100 ez
1500 (30:08)
50 ez

It's been a long time since we biked this route. Forgot how enjoyable it is.

Successfully avoided the rain showers! Did hit a fair number of stop lights, but it could have been a lot worse. Kept it easy. There was a crazy headwind on the way back.

Went right into a run. Took about a mile to settle in to a good rhythm, legs felt good.

Went at our usual time and all the lanes were full! Will keep that in mind when CCRB is closed in the future.

50 ez
50
100
250
500 x2 (9:45, 9:44)
250
100
50
50 ez

Comfortable trot along the B2B trail.

One loop of Trout Lake. No wetsuit.

Hopped right on our bikes and did a loop around ILRA. Fun ride :)

Couldn't finish any 11/11-, but had fun.

Event: Green Corn Moon ROGAINE
 

Green Corn Moon Rogaine

Watch continually dropped satellites, so I gave up on tracking after a couple hours. Distance is 2x straight line.

Check-in started at 4, so I had 2 hrs with the map. The map was so small, it was printed on just a single 8.5x11 sheet of paper. Looking at the layout, there were a high density of points near the start/finish that looked pretty easy, mostly on trails, so I opted to save those for the end. The plan was to hit 2 high pointers in the northern section, head S through the narrow part of the park, grab the S points CW and then back up to finish the N section.

Had a rough start. Got a little confused by the trails through the disc golf course so I ended up climbing all the way up the hill just past 76 first (I had planned to hit 83 first to ease into the hills....). I had a lot of trouble seeing the first few flags. Walked right past it before seeing someone else punch and realizing where it was. Also struggled with 83. Again, just couldn't see the flag. I was in the right spot, but didn't have a lot of confidence, so I re-attacked and found it. Whew. Things started looking up after that. Just had to brush off the navigation cobwebs I guess.

No trouble with any of the points as I went S to 75. As I was headed down the hill to 70 it got pretty dark, so I paused to put on my headlamp. Turned out I was just in a thick area, it didn't get full dark for a while, but I could still use my light to look for the controls. The reflectors were so much easier to see than the flags. One of the only times I looked forward to the dark.

My night navigation went really smoothly. Almost all my bearings were spot on. Ended up going down the wrong spur to 80, but I realized my mistake and found the correct spur without losing much time. After getting 73 I got a little worried about time, so when I passed 33 and saw a group of 6-7 people stumbling around in the woods I decided to just drop it. Also dropped 31. Wanted to save enough time at the end to grab the higher point CPs in the N section.

Made it back to the N part of the map with ~45 min to go. The points were all on trails, so they were quick and easy. All went really smoothly. Dropped 60 because I didn't think I had enough time. Finished with a few minutes to spare....I probably could've made it to 60. Oh well. Pretty happy with how I did. Navigation started off rusty, but by half way through I was feeling really good.

Beat BF by 20 points :) 3rd solo and 5th (?) overall.

76, 83, 52, 71, 53, 61, 75, 41, 70, 62, 57, 40, 80, 65, 73, 43, 44, 63, 32, 56, 45

Asked Ed for some open water swimming suggestions and he did not disappoint. Checked out Trout Lake at ILRA. It was a suprisingly enjoyable swim. No weeds, the water was quite warm. Didn't wear my wetsuit, in case the water is too warm for it at the race. I was amazed at the number of other people we saw training for swimming there. Would definitely go back in the future.

Felt a little better than our last 18 miler, but not much. Knee was acting up at mile 5, but we stopped to stretch and I never felt it again. Last long run!!! Let the taper begin :)