Training Log Archive: cmorse

Felt like a good run in the woods today, and unfortunately, advanced courses at Pawtuckaway with the rough footing underfoot and very technical (for me at least) navigation, usually mean my pace is not much of a running pace. So I scanned the maps and decided that orange looked like a nice runnable course - a bit longer than a sprint, but likely doable at a good pace. And it was.... a very enjoyable run in the woods - short enough that I didn't run out of gas and controls on the easy side so I didn't have to spend an inordinate amount of time deciphering the map detail. I did pull up short on a couple of controls (I think my mind was in sprint mode and thinking more of a 5000 scale map) and one control was definitely mishung. It was apparently also on an advanced course and George concurred it was hung on and unmapped boulder a contour line below the mapped control boulder. But a very fine time on a gorgeous day.

Ran most of the white course in reverse after doing my course to see if I could run into Jackson and Anna - who were doing white together, but first time doing a course without an adult shadow. Never found them, but eventually ran into Ellen and Hayden (also on white) who said that they already had finished. As it turns out they had finished before me, but the finish crew hadn't taken the stub out of the box for posting yet (I snuck a peek to verify they were still on the course and not off climbing rocks somewhere.) They did quite well, a tad over 30 minutes with no difficulties - travelling together I'm sure they didn't run much, if any of the course so its good to see solid navigation from them. Also helps that they know Pawtuckaway well (that portion of it anyway) from going to camping weekend every year.

Event: UNO Annual Camping Weekend
 

Didn't feel I had enough stamina for Red, and didn't feel like navigating the Devil's armpit (as JJ calls it) so opted for a shorter green course. Ran ok for maybe 10 minutes, then things degenerated to a walk (combination of fatigue and visibility issues). Fairly clean (some hunting in the circle due to rain blindness) but not fast at all. Once I cleared #9, it was mostly trails so I ran quite well the last kilometer or so.

White course with Jackson (and Hayden in tow). A few issues focusing on the map early on, but then Jackson got into a groove and due to Hayden being particularly pokey, at #5 I described the rest of the course to Jackson which gave him the confidence to go out and solo the remainder without input. So Hayden and I walked/jogged after Jackson back to the finish.

Hayden & I did Canoe O and got 10 of 14 controls on the water in 50 minutes (all except 1, 9, 13 & 14) then beached the boat and I told Hayden to take the paddle to the finish and wait for me, at which point I took off at a max effort sprint to grab the land control #9 (above the main beach) and then back through the finish and out to grab #1 which was tough to locate from on shore, but I eventually got it after pulling up short. Sprinted back to the finish to come in at 60:34 which is technically overtime, but depending upon how they score it, probably only take penalty controls for each 'full' minute over time. A great effort and lots of fun.

Dark, wet, wet and more wet. Were first out to main parking lot and decided to go for the knoll in the woods hoping holy water or other beneficial stuff might be there. Got to the veg boundary and it stared back menacingly at us in the pouring rain and we decided against it even though the control was only like 25 meters into the woods. Decided to go get controls in open areas instead. Got vamped, then wandered for a quite a while and the only souls we came across were the candy vamps (can't vamp them). Not many lights in the woods. Headed back toward the pavilion and finally got another victim team to vamp and we managed to get another control before calling it a night. Due to the heavy rain the vampire O was abbreviated (sprint version) and there were also only 13 teams out there (versus 50-60 on a good year) so it was a really different event from normal dry years. Still fun and a positive sign as that the kids wanted to stay and do the vampire O even in the pouring rain (and the alternate option presented to them was to go back to the hotel and swim in the indoor pool/hot tub since we opted not to camp due to the forecast this year). Very encouraging indeed.....

day off - first day off in three weeks - needed to do some laundry before packing for Pawtuckaway - decided I might as well add another set of sweaty running clothes to the wash if I was doing it anyway and snuck out the door for a quick run after the boys were on the bus.

Nothing outstanding - nice temps but humid. Got about 9 minutes into the run and realized a likely reason my runs haven't been terribly fast is that my stride was pretty short (more than a shuffle, but not a strong stride) and my turnover was pretty feeble. So I notched it up to a broad stride and better turnover to the turnaround at Hare Road - exactly a minute, so I turned around and decided I'd do a few more max effort 1 minute 'intervals' on the way back. Coasted for a couple minutes between efforts - 2 more max efforts on the dirt road, the final one was back on pavement and wasn't as intense so its only a level 4. Overall time is about the same as if I just cruised at level 3, but at least I can get my body used to the faster pace in small bits...

afternoon ride to far end of lake w/ Hayden. Knees kind of achy, but they were achy on yesterday's run too. Could be Lyme, could be lack of exercise, could just be old age (Brickeritis?)

C • Knees 1

Hot & Lethargic. The loop at Shafran, CCW. No energy whatsoever, so just tried to move at an even, but slow pace.

to/from the LODFP