Training Log Archive: ken

Event: QOC Little Bennett NightO
 

Short warmup. I was distracted beforehand playing with camera and also headlamp+headcam setup. I had ordered a gopro chest mount, which was on the way and supposed to arrive friday, but I got notified this morning that it was "lost" in transit. I worked out some way to thread the headlamp mount through the top strap of the headcam mount in a way that both seemed to stay on and pointed the right way.

Forgot to hit my watch at the start, probably because I turned on the headcam right then instead. Figured that out near the first control. The ground was pretty wet, but for the most part the snow had melted from the forest. The soft ground was nice to my knee, which didn't bother me. Caught up to Ryan at 4, he is actually faster than me and kept up on the trail all the way until 5, where I found Jon a bit tangled in thorns. Ran away from them after that. Got into some junk after 8, but mostly cruised along pretty well until 10, when I had planned to cross the reentrant and then come off the ridge top into the control, but in reality the ridge was pretty diffuse and I didn't actually make it to the top, so came in too low. There were a few other runners down there, and because some of the previous controls (2/3/6) had felt odd in terms of vertical position, I continued anyway even though it seemed too far. Relocated on a lower set of rocks within view of the stream, about 2 mins lost. Saw Jon again on the way out of 10, coming from below. Smooth again to the finish, lots of fun.

Got scratched up quite a bit on the legs. I wore my 3/4 team tights since I can put the battery nicely into the pocket where it doesn't bounce around, and avoid messing with a separate battery harness. But the o-socks always slip down to expose my upper shins. It turns out I had the light on low during the warmup, and left it that way for the whole race. Not really a problem since I often use low on purpose, though it might have helped in a few places. It might have helped the video, which turned out mostly dark. You can often see things at the center of the beam, but not enough to be useful.

I seem to almost always get an upset stomach for a few hours after racing in the evening. This time was no exception. I will need to experiment with before/during/after food/drink variations.

Night Long Advanced - Splits

this is helping my knee

Event: QOC Patapsco Avalon
 

Ultra-long course at Avalon. I was looking for some pain ahead of the trials, so this was just what the doctor ordered. The course was somewhat adventure-y but at least it was all good training. My run was mostly good, I took a silly route to 2, and missed 13 when I got carried away running downhill to far. Time lost shown on 14 is for re-tying my right shoe. I had purposely tied both somewhat loosely, to go easy on my heels, but after a while it felt like I was going to get blisters on the ball of the foot. better after retying. I was under some time pressure to get home, so I left right away without stretching or cooldown. quads tightened up in the car, especially the left one, enough that it made my knee hurt for the rest of the day. Eddie won most of the splits, and finished more than 8 mins ahead.

Ultra Long - Splits