Training Log Archive: smittyo

US Long Distance Championships at Fishtrap Lake, WA. This terrain was quite rocky and had a lot of fairly high grass making it difficult to run safely. It was also high visibility and a nice, long course likely to favor running ability. After my nice results yesterday, I made a conscious decision early in the course today not to push it. I just moved at a pace that felt comfortable and safe and didn't expect to have stellar results. Technically, it was a pretty good day. I lost some time at number 5 because I wasn't clear on what the circle was around and didn't look at the description carefully enough. Wandered around looking between every set of rocks I could find. Once I noticed that one of the boulders of interest was only 1 m high, I found the correct spot quickly. According to my split analysis I also lost significant time at number 11. This seems to be poor route choice. I swung left to get pretty close to the lake. It was farther out of the way than necessary and probably slower running. I also was unsuccessful in executing my intended route to number 17. I planned to go to the North side of the marsh and above the little areas of green. The marshes were not nearly as easy to discern as it seemed and I got pulled further south by other's routes. Ended up going south around the marsh instead once I figured out what I had done. As expected, my results were quite a bit farther down the list today due to my slow pace.

Green X Long - Splits

Event: US Sprint/Middle/Long Championships
 

US Middle Course Champs at Moses Lake Sand Dunes. This was quite a technical area with lots of controls on the course. It was very hot and there was only one water stop in the middle of the course, so I felt crappy for at least half of the time - needing more water. It really slowed me down in the last portion of the course. Nevertheless, I managed to keep my head screwed on straight and was pretty clean. The emphasis was on minor terrain details and that's something I'm generally pretty good at reading. Although I was unhappy with my time and felt it was slow, the heat affected everyone and my placing was quite good. GOLD medal in F45+, 4th overall on the course, beating many of the F20's.

Model event at Moses Lake Sand Dunes. Just walked through it to get a feeling for the terrain before heading on to the Middle Champs. Biggest problem was the mosquitos.

Green X Middle - Splits

Travel Day - on the road to the US Champs

Jogged to and in the Wilderness preserve and then home. I miss the bunny field, since it was just outside the door of my apartment and I could go off trail there. The wilderness preserve is almost a mile away from my place now - it has very well maintained trails.

1-2-3-4-3-2-1 with two minute recoveries

Warm-up / cool-down and recovery between intervals