Training Log Archive: wilsmith

A travel day. Bad night in the ER, so that's two terrible nights of sleep in a row. I got off call at 0800 and we were rolling by 0900. Long drive to Hamilton, with obligatory stop at IKEA along the way for some more bathroom fixtures (renovations continued the past 2 weeks) and some treats for the Franssons.

Arrived just in time for dinner - yummy - which means no time to train. Oh well; with the two nights of virtually nonexistent sleep followed by an immediate long drive south, training didn't feel like it would be that fun anyway. Sleep was much higher on the priority list.

ER on call, so zero training today.

What's worse, some various obstetrical emergencies last night ensured that I got only 2 hours of sleep in total. Nothing like crawling back into bed at 0600 after a long C-section, knowing that you're on for 24 hours starting at 0800....

A 4x4 session, good intensity, decent speed (about my 3000m pace). Much better than Tuesday, anyway.

For the above.

C • Timmins 1

The usual 4x4, which felt quite painful today. Good effort, but the pace was pretty slow. Still, only a limited amount of time left before the test races so planning to follow by training schedule quite seriously in the next 10 days. And today, a 4x4 was specified.

For the above.

Travel day. Well, I only arrived home at 0430 and was zonked so didn't have the heart or legs to run this day. In fact, after supper and getting Mia to bed, I was out like a light at 8 pm. I left the meet yesterday at 12:30, and drove non-stop for 14 hours solo (!). I had to stop for a 30-minute nap in New Liskeard, slurp back another large double-double, and then managed to do the final 2 hours home. What a relief to hit the sack, even if it was only for a couple of hours before getting up and going in to work....

West Point Classic Distance - M21

Another nice race on decent maps. Sure, the green is off any it is nowhere near as "crisp" as the WOC 1993 maps, but it was adequate for the day's tasks.

Feeling a bit sore for this one. And was wondering how I would fare physically - had I improved enough along my spring fitness curve to maintain a decent (i.e. not embarrassingly slow) pace for a long race after the two races on Saturday? On the drive down, I had been anticipating a middle distance of about 35 min, a sprint of 15 min, and a long of about 75 min. But based on how long we were out on Saturday, I knew we would be 80-90 minutes in this race....

Was late for the start - a late departure, a slightly longer drive to the meet, and general disorganization on my part meant I only got to the start a minute after I had been called up. Fortunately, they allowed me to get up to my proper line and I started on time, which was nice.

Raced this one pretty conservatively the whole way. Never felt physically bad, which was an excellent breakthrough. In fact, had I realized just how close I was to the lead (I was even still leading at #10), I would have been actually trying to move myself, rather than simply cruise. As it was, cruising speed was enough to place 3rd, only a minute out of first.

Dropped about 90 seconds on the first long leg (#12), by just not taking a really aggressive route and not willing to trust the trail system, which had been advertised as unreliable in the meet notes. I also climbed away from the lake in the beginning of the leg, rather than trying my luck along the edge of it (looked steep and green on the map, but it turns out it wasn't so bad and most of the other guys went this way). Was sucked into a bad error on #14, ended up way too close to the straight route, which included lots of unnecessary green and a green marsh crossing, plus an extra big climb. Can't believe I only lost 2 minutes there, but so say the splits. Otherwise, no real mistakes of much importance - maybe 30 sec each at numbers 2, 6, and 11.

Overall, a surprisingly good result. And encouraging to note the improved running endurance.

For the above.

Generally a very good weekend. This was to be my barometer for the upcoming test races in Ottawa. It was the first weekend this year that I was actually planning on "racing" - I had been considering the previous races as just a warm-up and a way to force myself back into running shape after a winter of alternative training. My goals for West Point were to show I could run at or near the top of the field - and I was hoping to be top-3 in each race.

In the end, a very bad technical performance in the middle distance cost me a podium spot, but the sprint was a nice result, and the long was also good. There was a lot of driving involved to get to this one - I went solo and thus spent a total of 38 hours behind the wheel. Ouch.

But, it was worth it. You can do oodles and oodles of training on your own, but you never really know how you will do in a race situation until you put yourself into a race situation and give it a go. My brain is getting back into gear, I feel psychologically prepared for Ottawa, and the physical side of things is coming along very nicely, thank you very much.

Physically, I feel pretty much at the same level as the other guys, and I know I am still at a more favorable spot along my improvement curve. And I know I will deliver solid navigation when the time comes.

There will be a decent number of guys trying out for the WOC team this year (again), and so at least two really good runners will have to sit this WOC out.... Will be interesting to see how we all fare in two weeks. Other than Jon Torrance this weekend, I really haven't raced anyone head-to-head this spring. Based on fitness and reliability, I expect Mike and Patrick to be in good form. After that, people will have to put together some solid results in order to earn a place on the team....