Training Log Archive: ebuckley

Cold rain, soft ground, and dead legs didn't sound like a recipe for fun in the woods, but this is March, so out to Rocwoods (1:15) for 2 control picking courses at a firm, but slightly below competition pace. Includes short warmup, warmdown, and an easy long leg between courses.

Actually caught a huge break on the conditions. Despite the radar showing a pretty solid band of yellow moving in from the south, the rain let up just as I got started and didn't start again until I was back at the parking lot.

Legs were good for the first course, but the second had more climb and the last 2 days caught up to me. Nav was good; not great. Overall, better (and much more enjoyable) than I expected.

C • Sweet 16 2

Yes, really, 202 controls at Cuivre River (1:15).

Because this is such a large area, I'm concerned that the vegetation will drift over the time I'm mapping it. Therefore, I decided I'd do a "snapshot" run. Basically went to every point and recorded the vegetation at that point. When I go back to do the real mapping, I'll have nearby reference points to make sure I'm staying consistent. Will do the same thing in the south half of the park next week.

Slower than competition pace, obviously given the distance, but fast enough to get a real read on the densitiy at each point. Of course, many were no brainers ("there it is 200m away - I'm thinking white woods"), but I adjusted by a shade at about 30 points and another dozen simply bear no resemblance to the map, so they'll have to be redone from scratch.

The unfortunate revelation of the run was that Eric Weyman was right - the contours at CR really aren't very good. I don't know why I haven't noticed that before. I guess I always use big feature navigation there, so it just hasn't been an issue. Anyway, I'm hoping I can find some LIDAR data, because adjusting 20KM^2 of contours by hand is going to take a really long time.

Jogging over to the track, 5x200@42 200R to warm up, and jogging back reeeeeeeally slow.

US Team 3K Time Trial. Not sure why I thought this would be fun and it's not like I'm in any danger of being named to the team.

A bit better than I expected. Conditions were warm and windy, but not really a factor. Since I haven't done any VO2Max work lately, I just figured I'd take it out at 85s laps and stop when I puked or hit 3K. Reached both at about the same time as it turned out. Struggled near the end of the 2nd K running into the wind, then pushed too hard to get the time back, and was all over the place the last 800. Managed a slight pickup with the wind at my back for the last 200 and emptied my gut on the far side of turn 1.

After that, I didn't have the stomach (pun intended) for doing any map work. One day off for March Mapness won't kill me and I'll make up for it tomorrow for sure.

3000m run - Splits

Morning practice with Yaya. This weight loss thing isn't going particularly well.

Sprint course at McDonnell Park (1:5) plus some random running around. It would be a fair bit of work to bring this map up to sprint standards, but I think it might be worth it. Interesting venue if the vegetation is spot on.

Morning practice with Yaya. Still keeping these sessions a bit light/short so as to not aggrevate my back. Yaya made it all the way through her new form after just 1 week of practice!

Yaya's been begging to get out on the "double bike" for the past few days. Finally got around to hitching it up.

Family class with Yaya.

While Yaya did sparring class, I ran around the flood plain section of CC Lake with the base map. Great area this time of year because you can really read all the marshes.

Morning practice with Yaya.

Old red course at Babler (1:15). Easy pace since hammering the climbs and hopping over and under vegetation is not the best therapy for back problems. Goal for workout was 100% map contact. Almost made it, but got distracted running down a spur and for a little while couldn't have told you exactly how far I was. Didn't cost me any because I could just bail early to the stream below to make sure I didn't miss my attack point, but it violated the spirit of the workout. One lapse in 85 minutes is pretty good for me, so I count it a good session.

I'm not the only one worse for wear after all the A-meet running around. Dropped my car off to get the front wheel serviced and ran home.

Then rolled Yaya out of bed for morning practice.

Back is still pretty stiff, so I gave it another easy day and just did some work on the Eric's Hood West map.