Training Log Archive: Charlie

Event: West Point A-meet
 

Middle Green Y course at WP. Pretty good run, focused and in good contact. Minor difficulty with # 1, pulled a little left and high by all the rocks, but saw the bag to the side as I began to go past it. Left around the pond, maybe not best, but then pulled a bit right near the end, seeing a mapped boulder that re-directed me back. A couple of folks there, faster on the downhill to 3, then a little right of line under the really big rock, but right on from there to 4. Slow below the marsh and up the hill to 5, stopping to check an unmapped re-entrant just before the right one. 6 and 7 pretty easy. 8 was easy, too, although I hooked around from the top of the cliff because I thought it looked like an easier descent. 9 I was fooled a bit by seeing three big bare rock knolls where I was expecting two, so I went above and by before hooking into it. 10 was my only big mistake. Drifted right between the knolls one set over, then corrected past the flag, standing there for a while thinking it ought to be right in front of me until finally turning around to see it behind me. 11 was easy and I could see it from a distance. 12 easy to find, but hard to get down to. heading right to the trail was best. Out of gas and moving slowly up the slope to 13, but right on it. The rest was easy. Good the finish was streamered, as it was mapped in the wrong place.

My route.

Sprint at Round Mt. Reasonably uneventful. A little trouble following the trail from 4 to 5, a little lack of focus at 7 that looking at the compass fixed, then arrived at 9 at the same time as Bill Shannon, who asked where 8 was. My concentration apparently went right out the window as I danced off entirely the wrong direction before eventually reconciling my balky compass with reality and turning around. Two minute error on a 2k course - not so good.

My route.

Middle Green Y - Splits

Sprint O/Br/G - Splits

150 3rd graders today for their field trip to our property. We have been doing this since Zack was in kindergarten, although it has developed over the years. Kids arrive in 3 waves, stay 2 1/2 hours. Three speakers along the way: me at the old bear den, telling about logging and bears, Jay Kaplan the head of the local nature center at the bridge at Big Down Marsh, telling about birds and general aquatic habitat. 12 pairs of GBH nesting on the pond this year. Then back to the little pond for more aquatic habitat with Margery Winters. I was pretty much hustling around from 8 until 1, marking the route, putting out signs, transporting the pond speakers, turning off fences, talking to kids, etc.

The beavers are hard at work. Something needs to be done. A beautiful day, fun to have all the kids.

C • Concern for environment 2

a few sets of bench presses in the gym with Zack. He wasn't too into it, today, so we didn't hang around long. And a set of pullups and a set of dips.

3 K warm up, including some fast pickups. First pickup at around 1:55, working down to 1:45 for the last one, maybe 6th or 7th overall.

Then rested 5 minutes and went for a PR at 1000. Not too hard to get a PR since I didn't have a prior time, but I leaned into it anyway. Certainly inspired by chitownclark, who has been racking up a lot of PRs.

3:39.3, good for 75th percentile, which I think is my best percentile rank.

Split pace by 200 m segment

1:49.5
1:48.2
1:49.5
1:50.7
1:49.7

oxygen debt was setting in the last 300 or so.

at the gym in town. Not too hard. Some jump rope and general warming up, then Turkish get ups and box jumping. Not really too strenuous. Finished up running a mile with Jillian.

at the gym in town. Not too hard. Some jump rope and general warming up, then Turkish get ups and box jumping. Not really too strenuous. Finished up running a mile with Jillian.

brisk walk down to the bridge and back with Sassy, with a break at the bridge to remove yesterday's beaver works, or at least the sticks. I'll come back with a shovel to get the veggie matter. The tractor does a nice job, but I would like to keep its activity to a minimum while the trails are soft.

As far as I got before a phone call I had to take - not even a minute. After the phone call I ran out of time. Will try again later. Lots of DOMS from the crossfit workout the other day. I thought rowing might loosen it up, but it will apparently take at least a full minute.

Still sore in my quads, forearms and stomach, but a pretty good effort. No point in trying for a PR today. I wouldn't have made it. Getting pretty humid today, which reminds me why rowing has been a winter sport for me. Sweating profusely by the end.

Splits:

4:21.8
4:17:4
4:11.1
4:09.6
4:03.1

21:02.9 Roughly 17 even at 4000, and thought briefly about a big push to get under 21, but it didn't seem like a worthwhile idea.

My quads do feel a little looser after rowing.

C • Rowing PR's 4

Had a bunch of different plans today, but the sun came out and it was so nice. Off to McLean Game Refuge, in such a state of excitement that I forgot my forerunner, but I don't really need the track. I've been there many times. I didn't know what to expect, and my legs were a little tender from all the squats yesterday. I decided to put a little effort into it, and thought maybe a 52 would be achievable. I was getting tired, but just kept going. My time was more than a minute faster than my best time last year. Amazing!

So where did that come from?
- lost a few pounds, but not that many.
- lots of time off from running is restful
- re-dedication to crossfit and rowing
- generally better hamstring health
- the vagaries of random performance variation

Perhaps a little of all of them. But I'm convinced enough that I'll keep rowing.

A little AP research reveals that this appears to be my 3rd fastest time on this run in the last several years. Best was 46:29 in Sept '09, followed by 47:10 in Nov '08.

C • methane 4

Very nice visit from Lyn W, who came to wish Rhonda well and bring some goodies. Delicious pumpkin soup and homemade bread. We all went for a pleasant walk on a warm afternoon, part of Rhonda's rehab.

1/2 hour of laurel wrangling, working on a new trail segment through a particularly dense patch. Stress relieving.

I got shanghaied to lead primary school parents on a walk to the Big Down marsh in anticipation of the earth day festivities here on Friday for the 3rd graders. Rhonda is still doing her loops around the upper trail, but not feeling up to hoofing it down to the pond.

That was fine, if a little rainy. Bad news was at the bridge, where the beavers have taken advantage of the rainy spring to expand their domain, to the point where the trail is under water on the way to the bridge. This is unacceptable. Something has to give. I'd like to take the backhoe down there, but the trail is pretty soft, so I'll just attack for now with a pick mattock, and plot revenge next winter.

C • The usual tactic is to buil... 4

workout of the day from the website. 8 rounds each of 4 exercises. 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. Pullups, pushups, situps, squats. Pullups and pushups much too hard for me. Started off ok, but fatigued quickly. Last three sets of pullups I was jumping. Last three sets of pushups from my knees. Situps and squats ok, although my legs got wobbly toward the end. Total reps: 47 pullups, 57 pushups, 71 situps, 98 squats.

Rhonda still on the mend. She was walking loops around our upper trail, two at a time. Maybe 5 miles worth today, not fast.

Had a lot of exercise ideas, but Zack and I did yard work instead. Vacuumed and mulched a lot of leaves. Ideally that would have been done last fall, but I didn't beat the snow. Then we power washed the leave vac, and finally some brush mowing of tall grasses that Rhonda likes to leave for the winter but clean up in the spring.