Training Log Archive: jfredrickson

Event: Pine Hil Sprints
 

Easy warm-up jog out and back on the roads from Medford HS. Feeling quite tired.

This was Sprint 1 at the Pine Hill Sprints. It was basically just a yellow course with lots of trail running. I didn't make any mistakes except for a brief route choice hesitation (maybe 3 seconds) leaving number 5 and I had a little bit of trouble spotting number 7 since it wasn't on much of a feature. Less than 20 seconds of mistakes total is definitely a solid run, but then again it was really easy. Legs were very tired though so I was a little slow.

The last one was so easy I got into cruising mode and couldn't bring myself back to focus at the start of this one. Took a quick glance at the first control starting out and thought I knew exactly where it was because I had been over the area before. I ran out, picked up the trail and started looking ahead expecting to just come across the first control on the trail. Then things started to look different than I was expecting and I took another look at the map and realized I had picked up the wrong trail and had gone right by the control. Fortunately I wasn't too far away so I could still run up and over to it but I definitely lost a good minute over that stupid mistake.

After that I pulled myself together but still managed to get confused attacking 3 and lost about 10 seconds figuring out exactly which trail to go in on. I had taken a nasty fall going out of 2 and that threw me off a bit, but still that is no excuse for losing focus.

Then to make matters worse I decided to cut across the woods into number 6 rather than running the trail all the way around. It was mapped as white and then a little light green going into the control but it was way to thick to run in so I definitely lost some time bushwhacking through. Looking at it again afterwards it still looks like a solid route though and without prior knowledge of the thickness of the woods in that part I think I might make the same decision again.

I guess the lesson of the day is to never settle into an easy mode after running an easy race. Always expect the next race to be a challenge and prepare for it accordingly. I can't afford to start out so sloppily in a bigger race.

Sprint 1 - Splits

Sprint 2 - Splits

Going out on the long one. Wish I was racing this instead.

C • Why aren't you in NC? 17

Easy long run on the route above. Total distance was 20.43 mi, and this is the part without the tempo. When I started out it was close to 50 degrees, but an hour later on top of Airport hill I was freezing to death in the middle of a blizzard in my short sleeves and no hat. Apparently it only rained back in the valley, and it was definitely warmer when I came off the hill, but it still took me a good half-hour shower to thawe out my forearms and hands.

It was great to see how good I felt over this distance though. I really felt strong all the way through the 18th mile, but then my body started to feel my exhaustion and the last couple miles were tough as usual.

Tempo part from the long run. I was feeling great and got quite a bit farther over the first 22.5 minutes than I did last week. I kept forgetting about pushing hard in the blizzard though and felt that I might have been able to push harder if I wasn't constantly thinking about how cold I was.

I think these transition days in the Spring and Fall are the hardest to deal with because you never know quite how to dress. In the Winter you always dress warm enough and in the summer you just go naked and everyone is happy. When you're going out for 2.5 hours though it seems like anything can happen. I guess it's always better to overdress though because carrying an extra shirt or jacket is definitely much better than risking frostbite in freak storms like this.

Oh well. Count one for the wise old men. If I keep learning new things like this I might just become one of them eventually. Or maybe it will just make me tougher so I don't have to get wiser. Is that how they actually do it?

C • Tempo 2

Easy warm-up out to Mill and June St with T-Mac for the usual Thursday tempo run. Still feeling quite sore from the Basketball on Tuesday.

C • Looks good, It really feels go... 1

Felt quite tired on the hills again this week and couldn't stay with T-Mac at all. Had to take a quick break at the top of airport hill to soil the snow, then came back feeling nice and fresh to break new ground at the end of the run. First time under 7 minutes per mile on this insanely hilly route. It's nice to be going further and further every week, although this one didn't feel quite as legitimate since I had a chance to catch my breath 6 minutes from the end. Still a nice workout on a beautiful March day.

Easy jog back down the hill to campus. Definitely feeling the mileage from the past week. Ready for an easy day tomorrow.

C • Not much in the way of variety... 2

Evening basketball game. Only played about half the game this time which was a relief because I was exhausted.

Did the Salisbury-Mower-Cemetary loop again, but this time backwards. I felt quite good at the easy pace, although I was quite sore from basketball last night. It's good to see 14 miles starting to feel normal.

C • Funny 2

Easy warmup for a morning workout session with T-Mac. Feeling really crappy from lack of sleep. Headed out to the other end of my normal tuesday interval loop at Pleasant and June St to do it backwards instead.

C • sleep 6

Ran the usual 10x3-min hard with 1 minute easy between each, but did it backwards from Pleasant and June. Despite feeling crappy from lack of sleep I actually felt quite strong running. I think this my fastest Tuesday session so far but I'll have to double check that. It really helped to have T-Mac to push me through the tough middle ones where I often lose a lot of time, and I was able to stay with him today.

Ok, I just checked and this is definitely the fastest since I have hit the 10x sessions, but I ran another 6:33 pace on a 7x session back on December 5th. It's good to see I am able to do the same pace over 10x times now. Hopefully it will keep going down.

Easy cool-down back to campus. Feeling ready to hit the sack, although the legs still felt quite good. I am really going to have to work on being more disciplined with my scheduling if I am going to be able to survive all these morning training sessions.

Got another 5 hours of sleep in the afternoon and felt quite refreshed for my evening basketball game. I played nearly the whole game and ran around a hell of a lot so it was definitely a great workout. Legs felt tired from the intervals this morning, but it felt really good to push it.