Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Much less today than hoped for, but really dead after yesterday. Some GI issues on the way down, and then a slow, unloggable but very nice hike with my parents later. Good practice running downhill, though!

Ran out to put out controls. But what if I eff it up? "It's easy," said Alex, "you just find the streamer. So I found the streamers, then found Alex, who put out the wrong controls, and then ran back to the start. Easy, peasy.

And then, the race. Started well, took trails and spiked the first control ahead of people. Did fine for 2 and 3, then Alex got stung by a bee and I ran through greenbriar and lost contact and went to the wrong outcrop, and it took me a while to find 4. And 5, when I couldn't find the stone wall.

6 I knew where it was from setting, and 7 as well, so I orienteered right from 6 to 7 and … there was no control there. There was a streamer, sure, but no control. The streamer had a number written on it. It looked new. It was at a rock. No control. I would have crushed the control, but it wasn't there.

There were some short coursers looking for it too, so I explained that it should be here, that I put it in, and then I triangulated off of the outcrop and a rock and hilltop. The streamer was in the right place. The control wasn't.

I figured the rest of the starters had just run past it (most had, someone found it in the wrong place) and went to look for it. I'd remembered more green to the north of it when I set it out. I wandered around for a while, and almost reattached from where I'd attached when setting it out, and found the control. Right under a streamer. I picked it up and marched it angrily to the right location and then ran off, having lost 10 minutes, and frazzled. Someone hadn't taken down last year's streamers, and someone assured me that all I'd have to do is find the streamers, and they were maybe 50m apart, but through dense green and since it was the first I put out the route to the correct location went right by the incorrect one. Great.

8 was a mistake partially because I ran left and partially because I punched and then relocated the control. 9 was easy on trails. 10 I ran towards 11 and then back to 10 and then got lost in the green and then relocated down the stone wall. 11 and 12 was good O using landmarks and a compass. Not fast at this point. But in approximately the right direction. 13 I lost contact for a long while, and wandered for 10 minutes, finally finding the big rock (3m!) the control was behind. Not that the size was on my clue sheet because I'd borrowed Ed's arm band and didn't get the penciled in clues. Then I ran to the end and had a childish temper tantrum, sort of, in jest.

A croo member of mine from Lakes last fall was short-staffed at Greenleaf and I went up to help. Putting something in the fridge at Lonesome I saw the Lone* croo with a litter, having just carried a 260 pound guy down the trail there. Back on the other side the litter party had relocated to carry a woman with an ankle injury down the OBP. And it was 80 degrees and foliage: everyone was hiking, cars down the highway half a mile, and 1000 goofers on the ridge. 5 SARs in the Pemi alone.

Ran up to help out, either on the carry or at the hut. Johannes was also helping out at the hut or, as it turned out, carrying a woman down the mountain. I offered a hand and they had her splinted and packaged and we (me, Johannes, Elliot from the hut, a 20-year-old Dartmouth Crew kid and 15 Pemi SAR and Fish and Game guys and gals) carried the woman down.

It wasn't the worst carry. It was light out. It was dry, and the trail was relatively wide. Most of the hikers had gotten by before the carry, which meant that only 15 or 20 would come by when we stopped and there was space, not 100. Johannes was on top of things, he'd been the initial respondent and the woman was very helpful (and Johannes very reassuring). A 120 pound cooperative patient makes for a carry that goes more than 1 mph, especially downhill!

Always amazed at how much volunteer manpower it takes to carry a litter down a trail. Good on the Pemi SAR and F&G guys for a busy day.

And back up to the hut. 1.5 headlamps for three people. I had my overnight pack with beer, Johannes the SAR bag and Elliot the litter on a packboard, so we made up a motley crew. The over-under on the number of people we'd see on the trail (set by Johannes) was 50, and we almost made it. 46 People coming down after dark. Jeebus.

We had enough light to move at a decent pace, with one or two crumps, and made it up for dinner leftovers. Mmm. Dinner leftovers. And beer.

9/27/14 - long - Splits

Running over in Brookline. There were apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah, and I borrowed my parents' shofar. Everyone said "aren't you out of breath" but the trick is that it doesn't take much air. Circular breathing on a shofar is much easier than through a double reed (less pressure).

Oh, ran too. Fun.

Not that it means anything, but last year my stadium time in October was 27:00, after a month of huge volume (65 hours in four weeks in September) in the huts. This year, less than three days after my first 50k, my time was 28:30, including a couple of minutes stopped and stretching, and some major positive splits. Hopefully this means I'm stronger?

Yesterday midday I verbaled for today's NP. On Twitter. Publicly.

In the evening Alex asked me if I wanted to go run O in the fells in the morning. It seemed like a great idea, but I had verbaled. So I had to go.

Anyway, it was cool, the sun wasn't up; a great day for a PR. Unfortunately my legs were not quite feeling it. I ran the first 10 sections well within a PR time, going down the big steps well, and in time that would shoot me towards 20 minutes (my PR is 25:30 but I run hard up to make it a strength workout which is not the fastest way to go, so there's time to gain both down and up). Cardio-wise, I felt pretty good, but my legs pretty quickly went jello, and I started taking the little stairs down, and then stretched for a while.

Finished respectably. Hopefully end of October will be a good day.

C • Legs feeling it 1

Stretch out run. Still feeling the 50k, but it's not too bad.