Training Log Archive: maprunner

Walking around the trails at SMP while Mike and Nadim ran. Knee is a bit sore from yesterday, so I took it really easy tonight.

Nice meal with good company afterwards.

C • Thanks for the birthday greeti... 1

Hiking on the trails at Wyandotte, to break in my new hiking shoes. Although they needed no breaking; they felt great right from the beginning. My feet were a little bit hot, but that won't be a problem in Iceland !

Felt good to be moving again. Wore a neoprene knee brace, and felt fine. Only one or two twinges the whole time.

C • Salomon shoes 1

I'm finishing my rest week. Frankly, I needed it mentally, more than physically. But it was good to rest my knee. I iced it morning, noon and night, and it stopped aching after two days. Still felt a twinge every now and then, so I'll take it easy next week, too. Walking and other training, but no running yet. This means I will have to take it slow at the Long O in August, but that's OK. It will be a good training run instead.

Well, I tried. For the past month or so, I've had all the classic symptoms of runner's knee (patellofemoral syndrome). I did everything I was suppossed to do: ice and ibuprofen; not running for a few days if it hurt; quad strengthening exercises; started wearing orthotics and a neoprene knee brace (when I ran). Everything was going pretty well. On Saturday, I only felt a twinge in my right knee once or twice during a one hour run; on Sunday felt great, no twinge at all.

But, when I stood up to leave work yesterday, my knee was really aching, all over, and I was stiff to walk. It still aches. This is the first time my knee has hurt while doing nothing. A sign that it is time to stop. So I'm joining the countless others on the IR list, and will stop running for a little while.

Anyone have an ellipse machine they could lend me ? :(

C • Bummer 2

a slow steady jog on the trails at PNS.

I needed to practice running fast while reading the map. My recent O training has either been slow technical map reading, or fast re-runs of previous courses. So I drew a course through the open areas at SMP, and ran at almost race pace. I was pleased with my navigation and map reading (granted, SMP is not the most technical map) on the run. It was also nice conditions: a cool rain at the beginning, and then a bit of sun.

C • SMP 3

at SMP after work. Felt pretty good, and saw two other trail runners, which is rare. And I was able to do a slow jog and keep my HR under 155, even in the heat and humidity. I couldn't do that a month ago. Improved fitness or form? My guess is improved running efficiency.

Last day of the NYTC, at Rockhouse Mountain. I re-ran a brown course, from the team trial relays a few years ago. In that event, I went out with Gail, and promptly screwed up badly. My goal today was to be slow and clean, especially on #2 and #3, which were my biggest mistakes the first time around. The weather was nice and cool, but the woods were a bit crappy, with lots of blueberry.

But I finally had some confidence in these woods, after three days. I took my time to double check myself at each control (there were no tapes or markers) but I was sure I was in the right spot. On Saturday, I could have easily convinced myself I was right, when I wasn't. I was clean through the whole course, with one notable exception, which was not my fault (Really! Read on!)

I finished with a field "finish chute" sprint: Weeee!!! What a great end to the weekend. This whole trip was a lot of fun.

Now, for my mistake. It was due to my AOWN moment. I was running along a trail from 5 to 6, when I suddenly saw a large black bear, about 50 meters ahead on the trail. My first reaction was "Cool!" And I stood there for a second or two, just watching. I had been running on grass, so the bear hadn't heard me. But then I thought, "Oh, I'm supposed to scare it away". I waved my arms and shouted; it saw me and turned tail into the woods. At that point I changed my plan of attacking #6 from the trail, and I headed right into the woods, away from the bear.

Found #6, and then thought "Oh no,I have to go back to the trail to get to #7". Don't know why I thought that; it wasn't true, but I obviously had bear on my mind. So I headed back to the trail, shouting out and making noises the whole time. I frequently talk to myself in the woods, but this was the first time I was trying to be overheard! I hit the trail, and took off running very fast. After a minute or two, I finally remembered to look at the map, and noticed that I was now taking a very circuitous route to #7. Oh well. It was pretty wild to have seen the bear; now I'm _almost_ as cool as Charlie :)

I did a map hike, as I made my way to the start triangle. Tried to read ahead, and also think what the rock features would look like, before I got there. Good practice.

Control picking course at Hogencamp. Mike and I had planned to train on our own, but we pulled into the Lake Skinati parking lot just behind Greg Balter, et. al. Greg had set a training course, consisting of two maps. Each map had four loops. I did 3 and 1/3 loops of the first map. This was technical orienteering, very tough, so I walked the whole way. I got bettter at reading the map as I moved through the course, which was good. It was a lot of fun to be out in the woods, and to have other orienteers running around at the same time.

Physical conditions were not as nice as yesterday: much hotter, and lots more blueberry. I'm amazed whenever I see other orienteers running through the blueberry. I wonder if I will ever be strong enough to actually run a blueberry-filled course at Harriman ????

Walking back to the car, along the trail and road. Feet were hurting, knee was hurting, and I was hungry and thirsty. My brain was dead, so no more map reading on the return trip.

NYTC training weekend

Day one of the New York Training Camp (NYTC), at Surebridge. Mike drew me a course, and very nicely went ahead to hang tapes. Unfortunately for me, he set a typical green course, and my brain could only handle an orange :) I should remember that it takes me a day or two to get back into reading Harriman maps, and asked Mike to set an easier (or a contol picking?) course.

But it was wonderful to be back in the woods, and doing real orienteering again. I had been feeling mentally drained during my recent training; I wasn't having any fun. Today was fun.

Things that I need to work on:
1. read ahead 100 meters
2. better at reading my contour level on the side of the hill
3. look further ahead

Things that went well:
1. able to move up and down the hills
2. I stopped sooner, and relocated sooner, when needed

C • All I can say... 2

At Sar-Ko-Par. It was cooler after the afternoon storms, but very muggy. And I felt really blah as I warmed up. I didn't feel like I was pushing very hard (even walked and took a drink during one leg), but I chopped almost a minute off my previous time.

My legs are pretty tired after several days in a row; knees are acting up again. Time to give them a day or two of rest, especially since this weekend is going to be a long training weekend.

sprint - Splits

VO2 max calculation: 42.45

a pleasant morning. Started with a bit of Wimbledon, then Mike served a "French" breakfast of sparkling water, Brie and bread, in honor of the start of Le Tour.

Eventually got my act together, and went to PNS. The temp was high, but the humidity wasn't too bad, so I felt OK. It's nice to have a little place to run in the shade.

Now, back to Le Tour....

I remembered my shoes today, so I went up and down the big hill at Wyandotte. Sticky heat and lots of cobwebs made it really pleasant :(

Brought a change of clothes to work, and planed to go to Wyandotte. But, I forgot to bring any shoes, so it was another night in the basement.

Sprint O training on the KU campus. Just as we started, the tornado sirens started to go off. I kept running but started to think about which building I could run into, if needed. At that point, Mike showed up and we decided to stop. I trust his judgment on tornado weather; even after 14 years here, I'm still not used to reading the signs in the clouds.

But then we thought we should continue, but stick together. The changing weather made it interesting; high winds almost blew me through a tunnel between buildings. The temps dropped 10-15 degrees, which was great, but it was still very humid.

It was fun orienteering, and good practice reading the map on the run. Unfortunately, I discovered at the end that I had DQ;d, because I was at the wrong walkway junction at #13. I should have known; I stopped, looked around, and said, This doesn't look right. Should have listened, but instead I just pushed on.