Training Log Archive: Yvonne

Setting controls (NE locations plus EZ ones around lake) w/ a couple O&Bs to help hubby w/ firewood...which actually wasn't totally necessary because Parks provided a whole bunch. Wow, so sweet!!

Nice turnout and a bunch of new members. Only one sweep of the course so distance/# of controls seemed about right. S'mores were enjoyed. Nobody was impaled by thorns. A good day!

Setting controls @ Broemmelsiek - all of southern and eastern plus the far north side. Plucked out 5 good-sized blackberry thorns that were embedded in my scalp. Got the suspicious "is everything OK ma'am??" question from ranger as I was pounding in 34's stake right @ dusk. He seemed fine w/ the explanation. He's prob heard it all.

Early trainer spin w/ some intervals.

Trash/recycle hauling plus extra laps around yard. Distance est.

Finishing up field checking/tape hanging @ Broemmelsiek. Decided to ditch a key location from the S part of the park due to thick woods and a preponderance of Honey Locust, aka "thorns of death" trees. Got a decent laceration on my arm from one. They're everywhere!

May have to add a few more control locations. Goal is to tempt a sweep for the top runners but not w/ out great risk. Don't think I'm there yet.

C • honey locust 2

C • Sweep 2

C • Clearing the course (afterwards) 2

Keeping Christmas cookies in check!

- Hip & forearm strengthening/flexibility
- 10 pushups x5
- 8 Power Wheel rollouts x4

Oh yeah, I'm directing a meet next week. Guess I should start planning. Field checking & hanging tapes @ Broemmelsiek. 1m contours were disorienting @ 1st, but adjusted quickly. It's a pretty nice LiDAR map w/ some additional vegetation detail thrown in - getting close to a real O' map.

Laps @ Rec Plex pool while rest of fam stayed in leisure pool. Then a couple jumps off the 3m platform.

Stick and puck @ Lindenwood w/ the whole fam. Oh, my skating is so rusty and my son's skating/puck handling is far, far superior. Which thrills me to no end!!!

KM level 1 and 2.

@ gym:

- WU
- 2 min., 90 sec, 60 sec., and 30 sec. all out intervals followed by equal duration of rest.
- 10 min spin
- repeat interval sequence
- CD

Uninspiring trainer spin.

KM class during the day. Meeting schedule allowed it.

Unlimited classes allowed this week since next week the gym is closed -- so I am trying to fit in AMAP. Ground fighting class (jiu jitsu stuff).

Trainer spin w/ some intervals.

From work, O&B on Clark Trail. Surprisingly icy pavement in parking lot, delightful on trail. No watch so est. time/dist. Felt strong on hills. Intended to do full loop but cut short by several calls, one of which was hubby who was stuck in traffic on 70 coming home from Jeff City. Omen of things to come......

"Adventure drive" attempting to pick up kiddos. Left work early @ 4PM. Hwy D was already shut down from serious accidents so I took DD. Mega snail pace. Witnessed 4 cars sliding into ditches. Ended up abandoning my car w/ a controlled slide off the road in a safe-ish flat spot then went to check on stranded mini-van w/ mom & 4 kids huddled inside.

Roads were 100% undriveable so options were: 1. stay in cars all night until roads thawed - no way the salt trucks would be able to negotiate DD or; 2. hike home on foot (they lived close to me). Decided to hike.

They were poorly outfitted so I gave the 7th grader (in shorts) my jeans to wear, the 5 yr old a hat and other stuff, and passed out my car flashlights. I also had a stash of snacks and a bike bottle w/ not too old water. I was in great shape gear-wise wearing trail running stuff and long down coat. Phew.

These folks were not accustomed to winter cross-country travel @ night so I have to hand it to them for being brave. DD is quite rugged in spots w/ some wooded ravines and 'old field' sections. Crossing any type of pavement was treacherous - wished we all had Icebugs. Very slow going.

We were concerned about the 5 yr old getting hypothermic so we dropped her and mom off @ Sorenson Kennels (who were very welcoming). I continued on w/ older kids. Along the way there were @ least 20 other cars off the road, some flipped, some on their sides, 4WD trucks/jeeps, etc. Carnage! Wasn't able to get my kids - school was in quasi lockdown mode w/ nearly 200 students/teachers stranded. At least they were safe and having a ball w/ non-stop movies, pizza, etc. Hubby finally got home from Jeff. City @ 1AM and managed to get them.

Side note: hike took 3 hours, but I only logged 2 due to slow pace & stop @ Sorenson.

C • wow! what an epic. glad yo... 4

KM level 1 and 2 classes. Careful w/ the R arm - getting it checked out tomorrow by my fav sports/ortho doc.

Hip strengthening/flexibility plus a few Power Wheel roll-outs.

Trash/recycle hauling plus extra. Slow 1st mile when pulling bins then picked it up a little and did laps around the yard. Moon was so bright - no headlamp needed!

Trainer spin.

Event: Pere Marquette Endurance Trail Run
 

Break in the day for a few hours - trail run @ nearby U. of Tenn. Arboretum. Wide woodsy trails and plenty of climb available. Ironically reminiscent of PM S.P. Beautiful sunny but chilly day.

From hotel, trotted over to gym. Why not? Spin bike:
- WU
- 5 min hard/5 min recover
- 3 min hard/ 3 min recover; x4
- Spin/cool down
Not my best effort, but still decent. Different type of bike than I'm used to so took some fiddling to set up properly.

X2: jump rope combos, 90 sec plank, heavy bag free work, 15 pushups

Kinda bummed to be missing PMETR, but my transferred entry went to a good cause. It went to THE Justin Stewart (PMETR winner past 2 yrs & stair climber extraordinaire). He is trying to break 50 min. again this year. !!!!! WOW. Guess he didn't make registration b4 it closed so I'm glad he gets to run. Will be silently cheering him and everyone else on while sitting in meetings tomorrow. Good luck everyone!

C • breaking 50 10

Hip strengthening/flexibility.

Early trainer spin. Pulling the ol' traveling parent switcheroo this afternoon - hubby driving home from Jeff City where he's been for a few days while I'm in the air en route to Knoxville. Risky because you never know when you'll get the "your kid puked, come get them asap" call from school. Thankful for my in laws!

Biz trip to Oak Ridge, TN. Atomic City! 24hr Golds Gym 2 blocks from hotel so made use of my membership.

3 rounds of:
- Jump rope combos (3 min.)
- Hip adduction/abduction
- 15 pushups
- Heavy bag free work (3 min.)
Yes, I packed my jrope and boxing gloves.

Early trainer spin.

The 1 day of the year I can legitimately log work time. Annual inspection of SE Drainage, quarry & wellfield. Rugged woods travel & 1 part hiking/1 part O' since I thumbed along w/ USGS map & compass. Out for most of the day but snail pace - so only logged a portion of time.

Indoor climbing @ Climb So Ill w/ the kiddos -- we were there for at least 3 hours but I only spent mere minutes climbing due to my bum R arm. The forearm supinator muscles were already screwed up from Krav & it seems the paddling yesterday added insult to injury. So I assisted kids w/ the auto belays & took tons of pics & videos. They had a total blast.

Event: Osprey Packs Castlewood 8-Hr AR
 

Castlewood 8hr:
It's hard to know how to describe this race -- so many emotions...

I was grateful that Emily found me a fantastic teammate @ the 11th hour (Garrison). I barely knew him and was aware of his *ample* talents, but it seemed we had similar expectations for the day and that's always a good place to start.

From The Legends, we took off on the opening run (~3 mi) @ a good clip (for me anyway) & I made use of the tow when the incline increased so we ended up running the entire uphill and stayed steady downhill into the transition. @ Allenton, we jumped into the canoe and tried to set a decent pace on the Meramec (~6 mi). I'm well aware that my good upper body strength in other sports I train in does NOT equate to strong paddling. Ugh, my shoulders and R arm were killing me! Some teams passed us but we passed a couple too.

@ the Route 66 V.C., we transitioned to the bike & took off into West Tyson. When we got to CP6, we realized we hadn't punched CP5 @ the transition area. Oops! No biggie, we turned around & motored back.

That's when we saw our Alpine Shop friends transitioning. Earlier in the day, Mike had mentioned that he hoped we might be able to race w/ them a bit and I was totally in favor of that plan. This was the golden opportunity! We left the transition area 6 strong to tackle the treats of West Tyson. I can't believe I used to ride those trails regularly -- my goal for today was to simply keep my body intact. We rode/hiked/bikewhacked (~2 mi) our way up to the picnic table then hit the O' course together.

Since Mike shouldered my team's navigational responsibilities (quite well, I might add), I was really enjoying the no-pressure woods time and reflecting on how privileged I felt to be spending this time w/ friends. We shared a lot of laughs and crazy race stories from the past. I thought about all the O' time I've spent in West Tyson w/ David, the incredible skills he has, and all that he has taught me about navigation and racing over the years. We moved @ an even pace and very efficiently -- pretty much spiking every control.

We got back to the bikes and carefully picked our way down the hill, across the Meramec w/ bikes in boats, & then rode through Route 66 S.P. & the final miles. The pace felt quite speedy as we knocked out the final CPs & made our way back to The Legends. David and Mary led the train followed by Jeff and Carrie. I really appreciated a couple hand slings from Mike on the final hills.

Winning 2P co-ed was a total surprise - I thought for sure 1 or 2 of the other division teams were ahead of us. Hanging out in the cozy/plush country club was a real treat! At the end of the award ceremony, Emily mentioned David's struggles and it brought back everything I had been thinking about earlier. Lots of emotion -- and very few dry eyes @ our table.

In terms of race organization, Emily really knocked it out of park. The start/finish venue was totally delightful, the paddle/woods volunteers were superb, the course was fast & fun, & all checkpoints were perfectly placed. Plus -- orienteering in West Tyson -- what's not to love?! So many first-timers...awesome!!

Fuel/hydration report:
Fuel - 1 gel & some chews = 350 cal
Water - carried 64 oz in bladder & 24 oz in bike bottle, but only consumed 27 oz for the day. Terrible!
Way light on the cals and not nearly enough H2O (saying nothing of lugging the weight around all day). Didn't seem to affect me too badly, but NOT ideal.

C • Great race! 5

KM level 1 and 2 classes. Paul is stepping up the intensity in these which is just fine with me. Legitimately sweaty the whole time.

Fighting off the crud that is going through our house like wildfire. Felt pretty icky the last couple days but much better today. My voice is still raspy but that seems to be it.