Training Log Archive: jcolleran

Today was time trials day: we do (a little short of a) 5k on the Friday of the first week of practice to measure our time from last year at the start. We got 45 min to warm up and I did a 10 min run (1 mile warm up) and then stretched out. Then I kept jogging around until start. Then the 2.7 mile trek began and seemed a lot easier than years previous. Turns out it was, I shaved two minutes flat off my time from last year!! After that we did a 10 min cool down on the field and I got about .6 miles off that.

Smoke finally cleared a little and we got to do a run outside. We warmed up by running to the entrance of the park (about 1.4 miles). Then we stretched. Then we did a 20 min into the park and then 20 min back. Then we ran back out of the park (another 1.4 miles) as a cool down. Then we stretched some more and did a 2 min plank.

Due to terrible air conditions because of smoke, all practices were pushed inside. So instead of running we did a 4 station workout. First we spent 15 minutes warming up around the gym, running laps. Then we did some light stretching. Then we had a station of ladders and calf raises, a station of running around the gym at a elevated pace, a station of ab workout, and finally a hip strengthening workout. Then we cooled down for 20 min at "watershed" pace.

Warm up before the relay was a bit interesting. I have never done a legit, full-scale relay before and it was a bit intimidating. I was second leg and didn't know when my partner would come in so I started my warm-up just after the first leg starters. I did my warm up run and stretching but after she hadn't come in when I expected I continued to run and jog around.

I had a little bit of a rough start orientating myself and trying to figure out which side of the map to start on, how to fold it and see the description sheet, and where to run from the start triangle. After that got finished, I looked at the trail network and the forest. The map is a lot like home with difficult trail networks and hard to run through forest. It was all about choosing when the forest would be quicker. I had very little mistakes but it felt a little slower. This map was more hilly and has a lot of ups and downs. The animals on the map were really easy to use and helpful when navigating. Overall this course was really fun and technically easier for me.

Relay - Junior Women Leg 2 - Splits

Warm up before middle race at NAOC. Required to be in quarantine at 9:50 so warmed up around the pond in quarantine. Did a nice warm up mile and then stretched out my sore muscles from the long.

I was feeling very nervous the day before and the start of this race which screwed up my whole race. I got 1st the day before and the expectations were very high and I had more competition. My first 3 controls actually flew by as well as getting to the general area of 4. Once in the area, I started to get confused on my exact location which screwed me up and when I saw one of my competitors that started way after me, I began to freak out. I eventually found 4 but it was a 18 min mistake and it was only 20 meters from where I originally was (but when I got into my head, I convinced myself I was wrong). I got 5 and to the area of 6 pretty easy as well. Finding 6 proved to be more of a challenge, costing me a couple of minutes. Then 7 was easy and on my way to 8, I had another mental breakdown where not fully understanding the hill I was on and why there were so many hills around me, I kept retracing my steps and trying again to no prevail. Eventually, I went out to a trail and came in from the north and my control was very close to where I was on my first try (again). Went until 11 and lost a few seconds finding 11, but I was in the right general area. 12 was so close but the negative topography threw me off and I went too far down instead of going up. So after spending 5 min on 12, I sprinted to 13 and then the finish. I was not happy and broke down into tears but when looking at the results, I was the first one to come in and later learned everyone had a bad race. It felt better knowing I had a better race than others, even if mine was crap. Moral of the race: don't get in your head if something bad happens and keep powering through because the results are never finalized.

NAOC Middle & WRE - C-9 - Splits

NAOC long was the first race experience with the negative topography. I felt very physically slow but I made little mistakes. I had a lot of good route choices, sometimes I was 10 meters off the control but that was seconds of relocation. The vegetation was very hard to run through and made the long legs very tiring. Overall, I came in tired and felt slow but the slow and precise technique proved to be the right choice as I came in 15 min before my next competitor and the others disqualified due to mistakes.

NAOC Long & WRE - C-8b - Splits

Event: NAOC 2018
 

First fully day in Yukon Territory, Canada for NAOC and started the day off by going to the model course and checking out the map and the terrain. Things I noticed: light green is runnable, its easy to see through the forest, its a lot of negative topography, and big features are easy to identify. I spent about 30 min looking around, running to controls, and testing the new area.