Training Log Archive: ebuckley

Warmup. Almost missed the start because the potty line was kinda long. Foot and ankle still hurting, but not slowing me down any.

Possum Trot XI. Not a particularly bad run, but less than hoped for. I wasn't able to stay with the leaders even for a few controls. Once in the main pack (roughly 4th-12th places) I shared the lead with Tom Carr, Justin Bakken, and a few others. Things stayed together until the late skips and then Tom and I found ourselves alone duking it out for 4th. It was no contest - I didn't have the legs to match Tom in the fields. One bright spot: moved up two more points closer to the top of the All Time Standings. Still a few years away (if ever) from the top spot, but moving the right direction.

C • all time standings 2

Possum Trot - Splits

Event: Possum Trot Weekend
 

Warmup. My left foot and ankle were complaining a lot more than I expected from last weekend's encounter with the barb wire fence. I loosened my shoe and got it to where I could run, but I didn't want to risk making things worse. I decided I'd just run today's event easy.

Pre-Possum at Woodridge (OK 1:10). Interesting course set some time ago by Kenny Walker Jr. Would have been fun to run it hard, but it was best I took it easy. Still boomed a control when I was planning some routes and lost track of how far I'd run along the edge of a field. A lot of running through high grass which was fun (might have been less so if I'd been really pushing).

Restin up for the Trot.

In to work. Frosty again. G-value is way too low for the Trot. Will have to remember to eat during the race (something I've not had to do in past years).

Kate was in a good mood last night, so it seemed like a good time to talk about the schedule for next spring. A few changes, but the general plan of doing 1 out-of-town meet per month is still on. Most notably, the Navigator Cup is out because she has a trip planned for that weekend. I'm also waffling on Boston. I'd love to do it, but it comes at such a bad time (blowing away roughly six weeks of the prime O season, including the ROC meet). I think if I'm serious about continuing my O progress this year, I'm going to have to put it off for a year. That means I'll need to run another qualifier. Possibly Little Rock on 3/2. Another option would be to wait until fall (Milwaukee?) when I'd pick up another age group. I'm comfortably under the qualifying standard, but picking up some hardware in the qualifier is always nice.

Back home via Old Bonhomme.

Not nearly as cold this morning, but a stiff breeze still gave the air some bite.

2x8K@12:00 4:00R then home in the big ring.

With the Trot coming up and the weather taking a big turn for the better, I decided to use the bike again. Rode the loop that's closed to cars on the east side of Tower Grove. Probably just a bit off the pace for tempo intervals; I'd like to think my 1-hour speed is more like 1:25/K, but it was close enough (and I may be wrong about my 40K time, too, as I haven't ridden one in over two years).

In to work. Various reports put the temperature anywhere between 24 and 30F. I'm going with the 24.

C • That works... 4

Legs feel fine, but my feet and ankles are still a little banged up from Saturday, so I decided to get in some quality on the bike rather than run. After stopping in at Webster Groves Subaru to get some more info on fixing the WRX, I wandered around mid-county hitting the gas every time the road tilted upward. Most of the hills are less than 20m tall, but after jamming a dozen of them, you start to feel it.

Meant to combine some control picking at Rockwoods Range with picking up the 4 remaining markers from the last 3rd Thursday race, but when I got there I realized I'd left the map at home. Fortunately, I know Rockwoods well enough to run off trail using the big features, so at least I got the terrain running value out of the workout. Also, since the controls were all on Yellow-level locations, I was able to find them from memory without too much trouble.