Training Log Archive: RLShadow

Ellison Wetlands run with Anne. Even though the pace was slow, the effort wasn't insignificant, which I think means that I've done very little in the way of hill workouts recently.

Easy run on the Hojack trail, with the dogs. Trail getting a bit muddy in spots, but nothing impassable. Klem to Lake and back.

Webster "4.4" mile race (actual distance was, and has always been, shorter than the stated 4.4 miles).

We went as a foursome: Anne, her 24-year old son Thom, my 24-year old son Greg, and I. Thom and Greg are not even semi-serious runners, but they've been doing some running for fitness lately, so they wanted to try the race.

The race has gotten huge (1600 runners this year, when counting the 4.4 mile and 2.5 mile entrants) -- way too big for the facilities (parking, width of the roads, etc.). Anne and I lost touch with our sons as we were warming up, so we didn't start out together. We picked a spot that seemed to be around a third of the way back in the starting pack. Greg and Thom told us later that they were at the very back (even though we told them to start mid-pack). Even where Anne and I started, we walked for at least a minute before we could run at all, and even then, we were picking out way past people for nearly the first mile. I was still passing people consistently several miles into the race. Then when the 2.5 mile people merged in with us on Woodhull Road, it became even more congested.



My time of 33:07 was measured from when I crossed the starting line; it was 20 seconds to get to the start line.

Anne finished around 36 minutes, and our sons ran the whole race together, finishing around 37 minutes. Greg and Thom said they were passing people (and picking there way around them) from the beginning to the end of the race, so I'm sure they would have had a better time if they had listened to their parental units and not started at the back of the pack.

Splits (which show how congested the first mile was):

Mile 1: 9:00/mile
Mile 2: 7:47/mile
Mile 3: 7:36/mile
Last 1.18 miles: 7:22/mile

Drove down to Fleet Feet this afternoon to pick up bib numbers and shirts for the Webster race on Thursday. Combined the trip there with a run on the canal path. Started at Clover and Monroe, took the old canal path to the main canal, then ran east to the RR trestle near Pittsford, and back. Weather was decent starting out, but quickly turned unpleasant (winds picked up, there was some rain and some snow). Generally a very lazy pace, but threw in one segment of 0.7 miles at 7:50 pace.

Another attempt at an interval workout. On Woodland Lane (my street) this time.

10x400 meters, average 1:42. Real slow. Too cold for intervals in my mind, but that's not much of an excuse. Probably not having done intervals to any extent for the last 4-5 months, along with getting old and slow :) , are the main reasons.

1.9 mile warmup, 1.3 mile cooldown.

C • Starting is good 1

Mid-afternoon run on the Rt 104 bike path, which was for the most part free of snow. Fairly cold, but very little wind, so it was pleasant.

Intervals on the Hojack Trail, but pretty pathetic. It shows that I haven't done intervals (or really any sort of fast running) in a long time. Did 7x400m in times ranging from 1:41 to 1:48. I do think that the speed was hurt a little bit by being on a path rather than on solid pavement, but that couldn't have been more than 5 seconds.

Intend to try again later this week. Trying to develop at least a minute amount of speed for the Webster Thanksgiving day race. This feels like last-minute cramming for a test ...

Hojack Trail, with the dogs on a cool, windy day with scattered snow flurries. The Hojack provided decent shelter from the wind, though, so it was tolerable. The dogs enjoyed the cool day. Fairly fast pace, by my very slow standards.

Short mid-afternoon run from home.

Late afternoon run from Fleet Feet. I made a stop there to turn in the entries to the Webster Thanksgiving Day race for me and for my son, Greg, who has never been much of a runner, although he claims he's been doing some running this year. We'll see how he does ...

Ran down Monroe to Edgewood, to the canal, east on the canal, past Clover, to where the old Erie Canal path joined the main canal path. Took old Erie path north to where it came out on Clover near Monroe. Then took Monroe back to Fleet Feet.

Whiting Road nature trails. First run since 50K. Legs felt fine; energy felt very low.

Walking dogs (our two plus the neighbor's) at Ellison Wetlands (short loop), with Cheryl.

Dog walk, on Hojack Trail, from Klem Rd to about a quarter mile past Drumm Rd and back. Working on recovering from 50K yesterday. Legs felt better this afternoon than they did this morning, at least.

Mendon 50K trail run. Distance reported in log is slightly higher than 50K, and is from the Forerunner. I am pretty sure that someone wheeled the course a number of years ago, and found it to be slightly longer than 10K, so I think this slight overage makes sense.

This was the toughest race I can ever remember doing. It doesn't help that I was under-trained for it -- within the last 6 weeks or so, my two longest runs have been around 16 miles each, and those were on flat terrain. Not real good preparation for a 31 mile, extremely hilly, race.

I knew I was undertrained so I tried to start out at what seemed to be a very conservative pace -- around 1:13 to 1:15 for the first 3 loops. Then my pace dropped dramatically -- the 4th and 5th loops were both around 1:25. It was really all I could do to finish. I was walking every uphill for the last 2 loops, even some fairly short ones.

Anne came along as my pacer for the last 2 loops and I don't think I would have persevered without a pacer along.

The climb, calculated from the Mendon O map contour lines, is 1100 feet per 10K loop, or 5500 feet for the 50K course.

I would say the lesson learned is to not take hilly trail ultras lightly. It sounds so obvious now, but for some reason, it wasn't obvious when I made the decision to attempt it!

C • Nice Effort 2

Walking our two dogs, plus the neighbor's dog that we're dogsitting for, over to Finn Park and back, with Cheryl. Fortunately, no hunters were observed in the park (bow hunting is allowed in Finn Park, and a couple of other places in Webster, before 10 am and after 3 pm, M-F; we got there right at 3 pm).

Easy run on the Genesee River Trail, from Charlotte to Lake Ave and back.

Late afternoon run, from home to the Rt. 104 bike path at Maple; out to North Ponds Park, did the loop around the ponds, then back.

Camp Pinewood Green course. I've not been real crazy about Pinewood before, so I haven't made an effort to get to any meets there for quite a few years. I liked it today, better than I had remembered, even though I didn't do all that great (but not terrible either).

No huge mistakes, but a few small to medium ones, and a lot of places where I was just plain moving too slowly, even though I wasn't lost.

Once I punched in at the start and looked at my map for 10 seconds or so, I concluded that the best route to #1 was back through the starting area, past the finish area and the "Go" control, and right past my 12th control. I still think that was the best route, but I have to say, it was a little disconcerting, because I was thinking that this just doesn't feel right, and was wondering if I was making some major error in judgment right off the bat. I found #1 with no problem, and it didn't take that long.

No real problems going to #2, took a fairly direct route, I just seemed to be moving slowly and continually checking my map to make sure I knew where I was. I came in a bit to the right, maybe 50 meters, but didn't lose much time in the circle. Followed the stream to the end, then took a bearing to #3; no problem, just moving slowly, again. Direct bearing to #4, then out to the trail for a short run, and into #5, again no problem.

Back out to the trail, then to the main N-S trail for about 100 meters, then headed in to the uncrossable swamp to follow it around to the N tip which was the attack point. Found #6 with no problem, but then had some difficulties going 6-7, which was a fairly short leg.

I found out later that there had been map updates posted, which I didn't see or else I didn't bother reading, that said that this area (near #6) was much thicker than mapped. That's for sure.

Going from 6 out to the trail looked like it should be a mix of white and light green, but there were a lot of trees down and it was nearly impassable. That caused me to veer way right of the line, and I apparently didn't realize I was that far off. When I got to the trail, I thought I had an attack point to head to #7, but I was actually about 100 m east of where I thought I was. I headed in the direction that I thought #7 was in, and fortunately was pace counting so I realized when I had gone far enough and things weren't looking right that I should bail out right away, rather than hunt around. Back to the trail, finally found the right attack point, and found #7 OK on the second try. Probably lost 5-6 minutes.

No problem on #8, just slow moving again. Nor on #9, or #10. For #10, I took a somewhat longer, but faster and safer, road-trail route once I got to this one cabin area. Had problems leaving #10; wasn't concentrating, thought it would be easier than it was, and got mixed up on some trails. Probably only lost 1-2 minutes, but totally needless. Eventually got to #11 with no problem, after the initial confusion. From 11-12, no real problems except I didn't take the most efficient route and as always, I just wasn't moving as fast as I could have been through the light green.

I finished with plenty left in the tank, which is a good indication that I have to find a way to move faster, while still avoiding major errors (which I was happy to have been able to do).

C • Correct on 1... 2