Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Hyannis for half marathon. Pacing sister; getting a warm up in, which was good since my legs felt a lot better at mile 2 than mile 1.

Fist long run on pavement. Went out kind of far back with my sister who had a 1:46 PR and was aiming for a 1:40. That is actually a good fast L1 pace for me. So I led at that pace, 7:30s with the wind, 7:50s in to it, breaking it for her when I could. Nice race, ocean views, and a lovely day. Feet hurt a little but no blisters, ankle a little swollen though but not bad. Sister and BF had a hotel which was key for a shower and a sauna and stretch. Happy with the time although we finished just over 1:40, legs felt good and no knee or ankle pain. Yet.

Sister had a 5 minute PR and came in top 100 women. Not bad for someone who had her first half two years ago in 2:15. Might be a BQ in her future.

Cool down waiting for the shower. Hurt but not too much. Then pizza!

Long pavement-trail-off trail run today. Train to Mattapan (52 minutes there, 38 back, #makingconnections) which isn't bad considering with typical weekend traffic it takes that long to drive to Blue Hills. 3ish mile run to the Blue Hills, then mostly trail running with a couple of off-trail segments following my map. Trying to ski-o navigate at other times: look at map, choose route, execute.

Found some hills, too, then ran back. A little ice and water but mostly dry. Fun!

Mostly on trails, a bit off.

Run back.

NP hills! Felt pretty okay, but pretty slow going down to stretch but not kill my legs. Nice to have push up and burpie spice today.

Spice

Just a run BU-Longfellow. Stretching the legs. This week is soreness week!

60 miles of running pre-Birkie in 2016. More than last year actually, but last year there was snow.

NP PR Day. I was not expecting to feel good or go fast since the last four days have been Birkie/drinking, travel, and Worlds. But I felt good out of the gate and ran the first half on PR pace.

But I could feel the races/Wisconsin catching up with me and I fell off the pace in to the last stairs. Still finished perfectly respectably, considering it was 11 hours after Worlds. Hoping we'll have similarly cool weather for the March and April PR days. April is a week and a half after Boston. Recovery!

Out to Weston in some light, wet snow on slushy conditions with a little fresh manmade in places. Weston conditions. So sad that this may well be the last race after last year when we went all the way through March.

Half the motivation for going was that my soft skis had mad fluoros on them from Birkie waxing. Of course, my legs/body was still kind of trashed. Not feeling fast.

Lined up about 10th because I did not feel speedy. Skis were fast but not rocket-fast (I think the spray stuff would have been the ticket today) and legs/body felt tired. Stayed with the pack for the first lap and then the Williams guy, John and Rob went ahead, with Tom falling off the back. I led a group with Frank et al and tried to catch Tom, but did not have the legs or the spirit to do it, so fell off this group on the last lap.

Then I had a nice hack down the hill to the car to run to another thing; don't people know not to schedule events on World Cup nights?

Birkie post-mortem: I realized this is the first year I've had to deal with injuries: lost a lot of the summer, several weeks in the fall and most of December to knee and ankle injuries. Not as much running. And then the Birkie wasn't my conditions (I much prefer 10º and soft, not icy/punchy/slushy and 35). So I did okay. This year? Injury prevention (stretching, maybe evil yoga) and strength. Maybe some of this Alex stuff.

C • hey 4

On the way back from Birkie we went to ski at Timberland. I'd never skied there, because it's 2/3 of the way to Birkie, but it's very, very nice, and I wish I had. Kind of glad I came up the "corkscrew" as it was a bit icy. Good coverage, old school grooming machines did well, although I did have to step over one downed tree. Skiing is so much fun, you guys!

Went to catch a bus to catch up with friends. Poor planning meant I had to run to catch said bus. Not a bad run!

Run around Telemark to check trail conditions on non-airport trails. Never froze. Trails got packed well and were somewhat icy, but promised variable conditions.

Out the trail a bit, and back. Very variable conditions. Some pole plant issues. Planned to take the start easy.

Birkie!

Okay, so, it's 40˚ overnight and the trail is, uh, mushy? How do you wax for that? All the fluoros, that's how. And rilling, and praying.

Then you say "well it's not my conditions, but I have to go for it." And you do.

Cool enough I didn't overheat, actually. But so much warmer than the usual Birkie frozen-hands-fest.

Anyway, went out pretty easy, skis were okay but not super quick. Pushed a little on the Power Lines—last time up that hill; I'll miss it—and settled in to a big group in to the woods. That broke apart around High Point and I skied with a smaller group (±8) for the next ways. A guy yelling at us going up towards OO called out places: about 165th. Which is too close to comfort.

But I didn't have too much oomph, and my skis weren't fast enough to break the pack, at least at that point. I was happy with my fueling, and fed pretty well at feeds and taking my water bottle filled with heed and maple syrup (needs less heed next time, eff that all, but the maple syrup is legit). No goo, no bonking. Not too bad!

Smaller group in to the hill section, a couple guys had skied off the front and a couple fell off the back. Mosquito Brook wasn't too bad and most of the trail was pretty well packed; my stiff skis were great when it was packed ice, and when it was slushy or soft much, much slower. Some squirrelly stuff but I stayed upright. Anyway, dirty through Fish Hatchery and then up the new hill, which is a grinder, but pretty nice overall. Bib 117 got a bit ahead of me, and we dropped the other guy who died on the hill.

I tried to catch 117 on the 77 Hill with no luck; I just didn't have the skis or the legs, which were pretty wobbly. I got caught by the top two first wavers on that hill, too, but couldn't get a ride quite where I needed to on to the lake. So, I got on to the lake on my own. In to the wind. With ice, slush and some water skiing.

117 said he passed 20 guys on the lake, and it shows, I struggled in to the wind and could see the back of the group ahead of me, but despite feeling pretty good could make no progress in to the wind. I was hoping that 200th place wasn't in that group! I came off the lake on my own and went up over the bridge and down Main Street all on my own. Pretty fun!

Then I turned around and watched for first wavers. There weren't many, and I figured I was close to the Elite Wave if not in it. Went to change, checked my phone. 167th? That seemed good. Started drinking and recording people for the Birkie Guide Podcast (oh, yes, indeedie) and rechecked my phone. 193rd? Yeah, that's more like it.

Well, that was okay. Dry clothes and lots of beer!

Pre-Birkie ski at Birkie Ridge. Very nice new trails with some climbing. Base was fine, but soft and slow. Question is whether it will freeze overnight.

5x2 at Weston with a few minutes of warm and cool. Felt pretty okay to go hard, tracks were pretty icy, too. Might be a good Birkie warmup?

Several laps of the stairs at Porter, taking some video footagery for the November Project workout that I'd come up with. It was, uh, pretty darned fun.

Several laps of the stairs at Porter, taking some video footagery for the November Project workout that I'd come up with. It was, uh, pretty darned fun.

Run to Harvard for MY November Project. No idea how it was going to go. But it went hilariously well. Even made the news and the real news.

Dithering around Weston with the fam. Decent skiing, anyway, for Weston. Did some repeats of a little hill. And then it will all melt away.

Skiing around Windblown with Alex, temperatures around 0. Pleasant enough, and very few people out there, with just enough snow, but cold, cold cold. We were planning for two hours and went in after 100 minutes. Of course, the temperature then rose 65º so eff that.

Scratchy times out at Great Brook but at least not Weston. Rocks and roots in places, but mostly decent skiing. Some of the bigger hills were closed, but still enough to get a decent ski in. Did some speeds on some hills, found a snowmobile trail to get some awkward skating in, and then got cold and went home. 9º and windy when I left.

Went out to "test the course" for Monday's fun in the subway. And the stairs at Porter, mostly.

Running hills on a very chilly morning. I was fine in a long sleeve t-shirt with a short sleeve over (wool, of course) and then put on dry clothes for the ride home.

Then I got very, very, very cold on the way home and was barely able to maneuver the key in to the door. Hooray?

Out late to Weston. Strava crapped out on my phone while there. Decent skiing, though.

Running a bit late, but, woo, snow! All the way out on the flats, nice soft conditions. Not the usual bike race on ice. That helps. Off to some dark to drop some water, then back to the start.

So, nearly everything in this race was good. First of all, it's nice to have fast skis. My soft skis are so friggin fast. Helps to have some fluoros on them from the weekend. Race started slow and chippy, but I jumped in to the front pack of 7. After the first lap, Tom and John jumped off the front, and a pack of five of us formed just behind them. I stayed near the back of this pack through the second lap (of four).

At the start of the third lap, I rolled up the first hill and then led the pack all the way around. It wasn't windy so there wasn't much draft, and we were pretty close to Tom and John. I got up within about 5 seconds of them but could neither close the gap nor break the pack.

Coming back on the flats on the final lap I began to get tired and Rob passed me with Frank on his heels. I was dogging pretty well—legs tired from the weekend—but we were almost done so I decided to keep the pace hard next to them. Then Frank stepped out from behind Rob to try to pass without looking and stepped right on my skis, which was not cool. I mean it's Weston and all, so you kind of expect that. But I was holding a line and he jumped right on front of me. Not cool at all.

By the time I got up, the pack was past. With the skis I had I probably would have won the group, but had to settle for gliding in a few seconds behind. I gave Frank a "you have to look where you're going" and he got all defensive and I didn't want to have that conversation because I apparently don't care as much as these guys, jesus. Then I skied a few laps to cool down. But, come on. If you step in front of someone at least apologize. It's an honest mistake, unless you get all defensive about it.

And that's Weston. Next time I just have to ski with Tom and John and not dael with it.

Slow skiing down, happy fun conditions made me less pissed off about getting tripped.

Oh, Strava, you are bad at elevation.

So be it. 30m becomes 20m, somehow. Warmed up with Collin with a short loop. Hard and fast. Good for skiing.

So, my legs were kind of shot.

Started too far back (or something; I think I could have pulled rank and started in the front line) again and had to pass people, so burned some matches. Felt good for the first 10k since it was sort of icy and fast. But the sun came out and slowed it down and my skis were slow.

Fell behind the pack I was with on towards Wirth Lake and felt pretty sluggish through the hills in Butler and Bog. Took a goo and Gatorade at the 394 feed (that's the feed where you cross Interstate 394; yes the Loppet is that awesome.) and felt better on to the lakes. Found a pack in to the wind across Cedar, and then stayed with said pack on to Isles.

On Isles we were about 150m behind a large pack, but I realized it was much faster to ski on the icy packed snow from the Luminary Loppet last night, and made up a lot of time leading another skier across that. We caught the pack on Calhoun and in to the wind got a ride. It was slow, and the other skier attacked and I followed and Scott Kyser was pulling the whole way and we broke the pack apart. I stayed with four guys through the hills there but didn't have a high gear back on to the lake, and fell behind most of them.

Of course, I raced more than anyone. And my skis were slow on the warm snow. If the race was 6 hours later once the front had come through, it would have been straight Weston conditions. 2:10 is not too bad for a 42k (winners in 1:51). My legs were shot and I had some dehydration cramps. Good deal!

So, Strava says I gained 260m. But when I go through Strava and add up the ups and downs, it comes out to 424m. I'm going with that.

Skiing around, testing wax. Wax tested. Tracks were solid, but variable, since the snow packed down and froze against the ground in places.

Damn the Loppet is fun. I'd forgotten that the Classic race is a mass start and got there late. I probably could have gone to the front but didn't want to be a dick, so I wormed my way in to the pack, starting well behind where I should have (including behind all the women, and I beat all but one, IOW if Ali had shown up she could have walked away with some cash money). Gun went off and I spent the first 2k passing people on the margins, then settled in to some groups. Saw some people I knew and put some time between them, skied in no man's land across Wirth Lake but it wasn't too windy.

Kick held up in to Butler and Bog, although there was more herringbone. Passed a few more people and latched on to a small group on to Brownie and Cedar. A guy passed us and we couldn't catch him, and I skied Isles with one other guy and we were then caught by and integrated in to a small pack for the bike race in to the wind on Calhoun. I took some pulls, probably too much, and then was dropped by the pack in Minikhada. Oh well.

Overall good kick except for the end, great conditions (20s, sunny, although breezy) and loads/heaps of fun. Under 2:30, 32nd, which is not too shabby for flying in and drinking the night before.

Then I had an hour to decompress before SKI-O!

Of course it was non-technical ski-o, especially with only a few inches of powder on the lakes, so it was ski in straight lines to he controls. A little route choice around the islands, and it felt good to ski with a map.

Or the excuse for skiing I was able to muster after the marathon and 1:30 to put on some dry clothes. Came second because my legs were shot. Good thing I'm done for the weekend. Oh, wait.

Flew out to Mpls* on a poor night of sleep. I had decided to ski the sprints because why not? Took the bus from where I am staying to the lakes, then skied down to the Loppet Village.

* Only a 1:30 mechanical delay on the way. I was listening to air traffic control on my headphones, natch. After a while of sitting back from the gate ATC called the plane and asked if we were moving. The captain said they had a fault and were troubleshooting. She gave them a minute to figure it out, but we were blocking several other planes in the alley and if we didn't figure it out we'd have to pull back to the gate.

Which we had to do. I was chatting with the guy next to me and said "yeah, we're going to have to pull back to gate to troubleshoot a mechanical issue." The the captain came on the PA and said the same thing. I'm a huge nerd.

Skied up and down the course a couple of times. It's short. And a little grassy on the hill.

Skiing around the lake to warm up. Then I went and found someone wearing CSU tights who won her age group sprint, and who goes to Macalester, and we talked about how Macalester should have a ski team and both running coaches want one because they lose recruits to schools with a ski team.

Ugh, I'm still bitter about this 12 years later.

So the sprint came. Only four people in my heat. But I was cold and not ready to go, and was on the outside of the first turn and didn't get a good place. Then I caught an edge trying to catch up. Oh, well, a nice donation to the Loppet Foundation.

Two very good things have happened re: this weekend:

1) It snowed. Not here, good god, it's 55˚ out (but might snow tomorrow?). But Minneapolis had a storm coming. First it looked like it might bring 4–6 inches, enough for the Loppet, but barely. Then it looked to go south for a couple of model runs, which would have been an interesting way to spend $400 on a ski weekend. Then it trended north (6–8") and when the storm hit, Minneapolis was in the epicenter. It wound up pivoting three deformation bands over Minneapolis, dropping a foot of fresh powder on the Loppet course (which already had a thin, icy base). Full marathon race course, plus the Ski-O will be quite Ski-O-able.

2) I went to wax my soft, fast, happy skis for the first time this year, because, we haven't had anywhere near the right or good enough conditions to use them (but this weekend they should be fast). I was pretty sure I was lazy last year and never put storage wax on them, but I took them out of the closet et voila, storage wax! I patted myself on the back for not being that lazy.

I signed up for the Loppet sprints at the last minute, because why not? That gives me four races in 40 hours. I don't expect to do well (#notasprinter) but maybe Weston training will be good for something. And I signed up for the Delta credit card because it will save me $100 of baggage fees in the next three weeks (and the $95 annual fee doesn't kick in until next year, anyway).

Relays with Alex! I forgot my watch and maybe she did to, but figure it took about 25 minutes of running time, with stretching and moving water in between. Felt pretty good with a jankle and having not run stairs in a while. Took the first set of sevens and a bunch of fives. We raced my sister's BF for a while (well, Alex raced him and I raced his partner), sort of. One of these days we'll drag my sister out of bed early to come to NP stadiums.

Four miles of warm up, some with poles. Surprisingly fast tonight, not slushy. Real Weston conditions. I don't do well in real Weston conditions. Of course, they were busy grooming right before the race to make more sugar/mashed potatoes (mashed sweet potatoes? Yum!).

Whoo boy fast. I started off with the pack but fell to the back of it pretty fast, and then got accordioned off the back. It was one of those days where wax helps, but staying up helps, too. My ankle felt a little weak, and I felt slow, so I fell off that group, and in to another, and in and out of it. Finished in a sprint, but pretty far down the totem pole.

Some cooling down. Still fast!