Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Ow.

After being very tired yesterday, I slept a lot and was ready to go today. A full slate of activities back-to-back-to-back meant I would be running in the morning. Which is fine. Great!

Headed out across the Longfellow, L1 with traffic light fartlek. Felt really good. Down Comm Ave to Kenmore and I ran in to BU passing time. The sidewalks were Manhattan crowded. I was able to get around people, by alternating running along the street, jumping curbs, and at times going on the building side of the sidewalk, which required jumping over small fences along the entrances to buildings. Mostly little chains, maybe a foot of the ground. NBD.

Until I caught my toe on one. That was a BD. My face met the pavement, along with my shoulder and knee. Nothing felt broken, but a couple of BU EMTs (apparently I fell right by the BU EMT training area) had a first aid kit there, and had called Boston EMS. I wasn't really about to argue with them, since it was clear there was a good deal of blood. Split my lip, chipped a tooth, and got a proper gash on my chin/cheek. Lots of blood.

So it was off in the ambulance to the BI, and then in to the ER. A lot more conscious than last time! I got cleaned out and stitched up, with the help of local anesthetic, and released about three hours later. I'm fine, but I'm a mess. Given all the stupid stuff I do, it only figures this sort of thing would happen running through BU on a weekday morning.

Whoops.

C • But ! 3

Skiing loops of Weston before and after race. Lots of traffic out, not a great warmup. Snow not bad for 60˚ during the day.

HRM being weird. I was not at 204 today.

Started out and the pace seemed subdued, but I got pushed off the back of the pack and then lost it as the pace picked up and my skis and legs weren't ready. So I got thrown in to no man's land, and skied there for a while. During the third lap I realized the chase pack was closing on me, so I spent the entire fourth lap keeping them at bay, successfully, but it hurt.

On registration day, my department has an ice cream social. And there's always too much ice cream.

I felt bad about gorging myself without running, so I went for a run first. Then had three bowls of ice cream, and then made a sundae to take to my sister. Sugar high!

So.

I signed up for the 33k skate marathon, figuring I'd get in to Boston mid-afternoon, go to sleep around 7 (winter is so much easier for jet lag because you don't have to try to sleep in sunlight), leave Boston around 4:30, and drive north to Craftsbury, basically recovering half of the jet lag.

And it worked! Bed at 7:30, wake up at 4:15, out the door at 4:45 and … my car didn't start. I'd tried to start the car the day before and it worked, but then didn't. Well, shit. One car came by in the next 30 minutes. I was about to pack it in when my neighbor poked his head out the door. Had I woken him up? No, he was headed to the airport. He gave me a jump, and I drove north, with a chance to make the start.

3:22 to Craftsbury, including a stop for gas.

I got to the Center at 8:53, put on boots and race suit, ran to get my bib, ran back and was at the start as the horn sounded. At 8:59. I yelled at Ed and pointed at the clock. He said it was under starters' orders. I was started by about 9:01 chasing down the field as Amy slightly heckled me.

I passed four guys looping the field, got in the woods, and then there was no way in hell I was about to ski 33k with a liter of water in my bladder. So I pulled off the trail in to 4" of powder and rectified that situation. Then passed those guys again.

I was well in to L3 passing people, but had no one to pace off of, so I felt like I was going faster than I was. Sometimes I'd catch a group and hang on, and sometimes I'd have to wait for a moment to pass or remind myself I should be going faster. Finished in 2:00, but with 3 or 4 minutes of late/pee time at the start, and another few minutes, probably, of not having anyone to ski/draft off of.

But I had what I wanted, a long L3 effort three weeks before the Birkie.

On the list this week: getting a new car battery.

Two little skis to at least get close to the 1:1 ratio, which might be able to be overriden if you make it to a marathon. Which I did.

Fun skiing through the powder on some of the race trails, so perfect for tele turns. Then later down the first part of the Highland Connector, which was in perfect shape. A bit too tired to do a big long ski, and I did ski 70k last week.

Not only is all running in Venezia orienteering, it's all ski orienteering minus the skiing. You basically have a narrow maze. You then have to figure out your routes based on the widths of the trails (roads) and make route choices and then run. Just walking around Venice is armchair ski-o, and I took full advantage, navigating with a map (or on the sparse street signs). And still got lost!

On this run, I had some extra fun with the route choices because of acqua alta; a couple of times I got to a flooded street and had to take another route choice.

Not a great week of training, but a good time in Venice. Not a ton of training, but a lot of walking, close to 10 miles a day.