Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Back for the Voyageur. Feeling pretty decent this year, flew up on Friday, got to sleep pretty early, woke up 3 minutes before the 4:30 alarm.

Off at 6, lovely morning. Had a nice run down along the bike path, and then out along the river. No falls on the rocky section, through the aid, and jogging the flats and false flats in 8s. Down the drops and climbs whee, and up the then, powerlines. Powerlines out weren't too bad early on, and then it was off to the Munger Trail when PINCH got stung in the back by a bee. So did a bunch of others around me. That turned up the adrenaline, ran through the feed, grabbed something, and just kept running. Was not terribly pleased with that, and felt it for several miles.

Running with a guy who says he always runs an even race, that we'd get to the turn in under 4, which sounded good to me. He said the year before he'd turned in 3:45 and finished in under 8, which sounded great. "You get 70 extra seconds a mile." Yeah, I'll need a bit more than that. But he dragged me along the gradual down, and the gradual up, and I put a lot of time on last year's time in to the turn. 3:45 on the button. 20 minutes faster than last year. A bit cooler, and feeling pretty okay.

Got ice there and slogged up, some running, some walking. Got passed by another guy and trailed him up the hill (and the guy who'd been leading) and two more by the top, but passed someone else. Running in 15th place or so. Ran back through the hills, drinking enough, feeling cool enough, keeping some time between me and the couple of guys behind (one, in red shorts, I'd seen back and forth several times). They'd killed the bees, so we made it through there, and got on to the power lines again. This time it was hot. Slogged up the first couple, leading a guy by a bit, and then the side of my ankle in my shoe began to hurt. A lot. I stopped, Rolled down the sock. the padding had uncovered a sharp plastic edge and things were unhappy. I was not happy. I rolled down my sock and stuffed the lace thingy in there and figured I'd make it to the next rest stop, maybe, and get something. But there were a lot of power lines to go. I guess I've put several hundred miles on those Salomons.

There was a guy at the top of the next hill taking photos. I asked if he had … anything I might be able to use. mole skin? Athletic tape? I was thinking of taking off my nipple tape and using that. But he had an extra cotton sock. I stuffed it in my shoe, cinched it up and … it worked! I could run! It felt fine. My ankle wasn't all wobbly! It cost five minutes or so, but I tore off down the hill. House money.

Through the aid, and I was still running at 38. Watch on low battery, quit in the same place as last year after 7:30. Need to get that fixed maybe. But that was fine; I was running 10s, or so, on the false flats and walking the uphills, but there were mostly just false flats to go. I was a minute or two in front of a couple of guys who I saw at the feeds, including when my watch quit with 6 miles to go. But I had a secret weapon. Came in to that feed and got some gatorade, ice, pickles and … rocket fuel. 100mg caffeine goo. Might not sleep tonight, but I had goo. Started running and didn't turn back. Ran the last 5.8 miles in 1:02, including the tricky bits.

The last feed was kind of a junk show. First, the woman running the feed had two maybe seven- or eight-year-old kids dealing with getting people ice. Now I will point out that Voyageur is amazingly-well-appointed, and the aid stations are extremely well-run: by mile 35 when you're getting pretty dead they say "what do you need" and then give you whatever you ask for. But eight-year-old kids have the attention span of gnats, and aren't that good at following directions. So I had to wait a bit, which wasn't a problem, but might become one in a bit when there would be 10 people in the feed at the same time. Then we got to a swing bridge where people watch people run the rapids below, and apparently just crowd the bridge. So I had to run across and say "excuse me" a bunch while people sort of figured out how to get out of the way. So that was interesting.

Hit the last three miles, running most of it except the uphill bits and the very rocky bits. At first, I heard a lot of cheering, but realized it was probably for the kayakers, but didn't want to take chances. Ran along, on caffeine, singing songs, and worried there was someone behind me, and feeling almost good. Hit the pavement, started counting steps (watch long since dead), didn't have any company behind me, and ran in to the finish. 16th overall (last year 48th) and 8:23, 59 minutes faster than last year. Cooler helped. Sock held up to keep the shoe from borking. Next guy came in about five minutes later. And they have showers. It's not quite a cold river, but pretty nice.

This is a fun race. Everything hurts.

C • Nice run, Ari! 7

10 loops of the PR, in 33 minutes. Was late. Also 50m tomorrow. Nice and cool at least.

NP stuff and core/strength

Pre-Voyageur note.

I signed up for Voyageur again. 2016 I was on very little training and no taper. 2017 I was in better shape, coming off not dying and a couple of 50ks in the spring, and did better. Still, more miles this summer. June-July running miles:

2016: 68, 92 = 160
2017: 130, 88 = 218
2018: 146, 120 = 266

That's actually a big difference. And I will probably get a few more miles in this week.

Going back to last year, when I finished in 9:22, there are some things I can improve on:

* I should do better on hydration, especially early on, when it's cool.
* I should make sure to eat enough; I did okay on this last year.
* I should remember body glide.
* Most importantly, I should begin cooling early. Last year, it took me to about mile 30 to figure out cooling. Once I begin getting a wee bit hot, I should start throwing ice in my singlet and hat. It should be a few degrees cooler this year than last (mid-70s, last year was around 80; too bad it's not Thursday when it will be 65) but that's still warm enough! Some warm runs this summer probably will help acclimating, but this mornings track in the heat didn't.

Goals:

Very reach goal: finish before my watch dies, which seems to be about 7:30. Anyone have suggestions on how to make a garmin with an older battery last a bit longer? (Not going to bring the phone along even though it could Strava the whole thing.)
Reach goal: 8:00. Everything would have to go perfectly for that, but still, it's 10 minute miles (well, a bit under)
Attainable goal: 9:00
Goal: No long-term injuries

Run to track and strides.

Intervals. Workout was 8-8-16-16-8-8, with each pair getting faster. Since I am tapering, I skipped one of the 16s, and ran the second pair of 8s not much faster. But I did at least drop below 3:00 on the last one.

Interstitials were mainly stopping and drinking water. It was sticky and warm in the sun today (although I hear Boston has been worse and I am not missing that at all). Then ran home.

Ran out to the Osterman lighthouse, then along the lake, which was still super wavy (which has been keeping us coolish, although June lake breeze >>> late July lake breeze) and then to the Foster lighthouse, which had waves crashing over the breakwater which made for fun running, and not to Wilson because tapering.

Oh, right, I'm running a 50 miler on Saturday.