Training Log Archive: BorisGr

Jogging to the start

Alli and I met Kenny at Swanson Road, the location of yesterday's QOC local event. Alli went off to run the orange course, while Kenny and I did head-to-head intervals on the red course. Each interval consisted of 2-3 controls, with 1 control at jogging speed as rest. We took turns mass starting or giving each other 15-second head starts on the intervals. It was a lot of fun and got me to push harder than I would have during a local event. The woods were very nice in a lot of places, and the map was occasionally sketchy but mostly good. Good training, probably my last O-session before the US Long and Middle Champs next weekend.

Event: QOC Swanson Road
 

Xplore DC Urban Adventure Race??
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/xplore-washington-dc-u...

From home to the start of the 5km.

A road race 5km in Rock Creek Park. It was a very small race, with probably around 50 people running, but it was close to home, so I was excited to run it and see how my fitness compared to a month ago, when I ran 19:25 on a flat course in Columbus. This course was much hillier than I had anticipated - the Garmin measured 60m of climb, all on the way back. We started down a steep hill that gradually leveled out, and then turned around and ran back up, meaning that every kilometer was slower than the one before.

I opened conservatively on the downhill and was in about 10th place at the end of the steep part, with the top two guys far out front. I gradually picked off a few people on the flat and gradual uphill, and was in 4th as the steep climb started, just behind the leading woman. I felt strong on the hill and passed her in the finish. She, however, overran the turnaround point by 25 meters or so, and so probably actually beat me.

Alli surprised me by showing up to cheer at the last part of the hill, which was really motivating!

So the time still wasn't very fast, but it was faster than a month ago on a tougher course, so I feel like my shape is gradually improving from the low point it hit last winter after Africa.

C • Nice! 1

Back home with Alli after the race.

Xplore DC Urban Adventure Race with team Chelsea's Chargers

Alli and I did this urban adventure race / puzzle hunt in DC with our friends Laura and Shawna. The race consisted of solving clues to get to checkpoint locations, and then performing small challenges at the checkpoints. We got the list of clues after figuring out where the starting spot was based on pictures of DC locations. We got the 10 clues and divided them up, each of us solving 2-3 and plotting them on a map of the city. After that we planned a route and decided to run to at least the first few (we ended up running the whole way) - public transport was also allowed, but did not seem as effective.

The checkpoints were mostly in cool locations around the downtown DC area, including the Air and Space Museum, the White House, the Watergate, the the World War II Memorial, and so on. At the checkpoints, we had to take pictures of ourselves, usually with a particular landmark in the background, or with strangers that we coerced into doing something (at the White House Christmas tree, we had to get two strangers to sing a Christmas song with us on video. Alli and Shawna were really good at talking to strangers. I would have been terrible at this.) Once we had the picture or video, we had to send it to the race organizers via an app. We then got nearly-instant feedback on whether we got credit for the checkpoint. The technology worked surprisingly well.

We had a lot of fun, saw a bunch of the city, and worked well as a team. We ended up in 4th place, which was pretty cool. I would definitely do a race like this again.

C • Sounds familiar 4

Training in Prince William Forest Park, partly with Alli and partly by myself. I was very hungry and came back to the car to eat some sandwiches in the middle of the course. All the spiderwebs I ate in the woods did not seem to provide sufficient nutrition...

Long run from home. I ran south along Rock Creek, and then turned onto the C&O Canal trail. Nice trail, right along the Potomac too. Took a bit longer on the way back, as Rock Creek was closed just south of the zoo due to a police investigation.

Warmup through the zoo. Saw a lion, a tiger, a gorilla, and some really cute gibbons.

Threshold run. The plan was to run at 4:05/km pace, the hope was to go a bit faster. Tired legs today, so did not manage faster, but did end up averaging 4:05. Felt like a tough workout.

Cooldown.

I just accepted a position on Senator Franken's education team for this year. I start Monday. I am thrilled!

C • Congrats! 15

A recovery run with Alli through the zoo in the evening. Not much beastly activity, though we did get to watch some misbehaving elephants get scolded by the zookeepers. Really nice, pleasant run.