Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Not sure how to log this since it's a lot of hours and not that much to show for it. But had a good hike around the Whites. With other people so assuredly nothing too fast. But it was good to stretch out the legs and my calves don't hurt like mofos anymore. This = good! Lots of mud, some hills, some gnarly stream crossings where I put hill bounding to good use, and good weather to boot. So excited for some epic long trail runs and/or logging a hut traverse.

Anyhow, on the way home I followed a NH State Trooper for 20 miles and then followed him in to a Subway. Mmm, food. I said, jokingly, "hey, I've been following you since Conway" as we waited in line. He asked what the Billygoat was. Turns out he was an orienteer and a biathlete in the army, and we talked about O (he asked if we still used punches, and I said once in a while, yes, and explained E-punching) and biathlon and hiking and Anchorage and, yeah, if you get pulled over by Officer Turner up near Conway just ask him about his time doing O and you'll probably get off with a warning. Not that I tried that—he drove off back up north.

Easy run with Em in Portland. It was pretty muggy but at least not too hot. Didn't feel great and my calves are still wicked tight, so running down the hill at the Eastern Proms wasn't much fun for hill repeats. Oh, well.

De facto rest day. Slept in through NP (thought about checking the time when I first had a pre-wake up, but thought better of it) and then it was dumping rain all afternoon. Plus I wound up sleeping 12 hours so I think the good old body needed some rest. Need to get some good training in soon, though.

Event: CSU Park-O #8: Fresh Pond
 

Okay, can someone explain what the time-looking numbers next to recently updated favorite logs mean?

C • time looking numbers? 2

Running really late, I left home after 6 to run to O. My calves were wicked sore, and I figured the run there might stretch them out. Might not. I wound up running pretty fast the whole way and had to catch my breath and cool down when I got there. But it did mean that I was a little looser to start the race a few minutes later.

I won an O race! I went in not knowing how ducky my legs felt, but they didn't cramp up. I did my best to stay ahead of the map, and not make mistakes, and take time to figure out my route if unsure, and took most of the legs, and made no big mistakes, only some bobbles and hesitations. Exciting. Sure, it's an O that people like Ian and Brendan didn't show up to, but I'll takes what I can gets.

Controls:

1 I ran a little to the left running down the path and then cut back through the yellow once I got the map oriented. -3?
2 Pretty well spiked going down the trail, saw it from a ways away.
3 Went up to the path and around the yellow and then over the crest of the hill. Knew where the control would be and let it loose on the pavement
4 Looked ahead on the map and planned to all-out sprint and try to punch cleanly to win the control. Won the short leg by 19% (4 secs; previous control was a 9 second win but a much longer leg)
5 Went right hugging the fence and found the tree
6 Up Fresh Pond Parkway, then past 14
7 Definitely better to stay up; I almost went down and noticed the route choice (and the runner ahead of me, so, yeah)
8 Almost caught up with Ben at the control, but he beat me by 1 second by going a bit more haphazardly down through the brush; I went around on a trail before leaping logs. I heard him run across the boulder field and then did myself. Crunch!
9 Crushed this control by 10 secs/%. I'd eyeballed it earlier and did the decent thing and ran straight up the hill figuring I could attack off the fence when I got to it. Worked very well; Ben went a bit left and came around the other side of the fence.
10 Figuring/hoping the control was on this side of the fence. Not so good at reading the clue sheet. Was right. Phew.
11 Missed the trail option and went to the right of the fence. I think the trail might have been faster since it led straight to the control. -10?
12 Lost time on an O segment. I hesitated a bit and too the trail to the barely junction. Attacked well, but not fast. -10
13 Slowed a little in the web of trails but came out in the right place
14 Got scared for a second that I'd mispunched 6 since 6, 13 and 14 are all on the same field. Might have hesitated a bit on the run
15 Spent some time on the run over looking for trails. Wound up backtracking 10m and jumping in to the woods and right on to the trail. Dumb luck?
Finish Ran fast, and arced my hand up like a windmill and right in to the control in stride.

So, yeah, pretty much everything went right. When there's not too much navigation I can run pretty fast, and this was the case tonight. Last year my subpar races put me in to a position to do well at Pine Banks. This year, uh, I don't think I'll be the first one in.

Ran home a slightly different way. MUCH slower. 10 min miles, but made it.

Advanced - Splits

Major negative splits at NP today. I think I ran the first 11 sections in 9, the middle 15 in 15 minutes and the last 11 in 11. It was pretty warm, though. And I was going hard on the ups; several times people passed me who were going at an average rate but not running the ups (but not almost stumbling the downs) but that's not the point of stairs, is it?

Anyway, Strava gets wicked messed up when you go to the south side of the stadium and lose satellites in the sky, so it was hard to figure out exactly when I was where. Maybe I need a garmin and to take splits on every stadium. Ugh.

One "deck" = 208 sit-ups and 208 push-ups. Been really bad about taking advantage of the nice weather this week, though. Which means I'll be running in the rain.

Biking to/from meetings all day today. Logged 34 miles in total, on the MTB including a bit off trail (long story). 18 in a row coming home from Billerica I'm counting here; the others were hodgepodge to/from trains and meetings. Lovely day to be outside. A little wiped for a planned run; if I don't drink/eat too much at Bike Bash I might get out for a leg spin this evening though.

Glad I went to/from NP today. Ran to the bikes, then biked to work, stashed my stuff and ran to the Pine Street Inn, and from there to core. One little downpour kept us cool, but it's wicked muggy for a few more hours at least. Now, will the rain pass please before I need to go home?

A few sprints, then 30 each secs of burpees, pushups, planks, mountain climbers and lunges, x4. Hopefully won't be super sore after this. Then to work, on time!