Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

Yay, what a fun run this was! So I will admit that I didn't really know where I was going but I have strong loving feelings for these trails which is more important for the good times!

because we were out in the area for a Williams wedding I convinced Sam that she wanted to go for a long run on the trails. we parked at hopkin's forest and ran out the loop trail then climbed up to the taconic crest by the Birch brook trail..... then not knowing how long getting back would take ( wanted over 90 minutes) we headed north up into VT to visit the snow hole (still lots of snow to last the summer). Then ran back along the crest to sheperd's well trail, RRR brooks trail, and then local roads back to the car. The guess was 12.5 miles ( or maybe closer to 12, hard to tell the GPS was out of batteries). The first 4 miles were pretty tough going uphill.

it was raining a bit and during one section there was even some cool thunder. Sam was a bit unhappy about how I never seemed to know where I was even though these were supposed to be my favorite runs. yeah, whatever, it's like pornography... I'll know it when I run it.

If I could learn to make wings like they do at the old forge restaurant I could consider my life well lived.

We stopped at lickety-split for ice cream in Williamstown and then the Forge in Pittsfield on the way back to Boston for refreshment! mmm I have vivid dreams about those wings.

Running with Sam before driving out to VT. I was just tagging along for her run, so we started out running around lost pond trails for a bit, then stepped it up for 2mins hard, 1 min rest, 1 min hard, 30 seconds rest, 30 seconds hard, 2 mins rest ... all that times 3. The first set I just ran behind her ( man is she fast it's daunting how hard it feels to chase her down) but for the next two sets I ran out ahead and looped back for the rest. After those pieces we went over to Newton South track, but it's being resurfaced so we needed a new place to do 200s. we found some grass and that was nice, according to my garmin we actually were running 225 meter pieces, or at least I was, in 40 seconds. We did 40 seconds fast and then about 50 seconds rest inbetween.

Friday was a bit of a bust for running. Hills make me so sleepy, so I slept in and took the shuttle. I was going to run home but instead I went to the grocery store and rushed home to make pizza dough and strawberry rhubarb pie.

running to work in the cold and wet. Felt good to be out running this morning actually, very nice. Also I had a successful re-entry into doing crunches this morning. The rib thing has definitely faded, nothing really to stop me from exercise now. I'll be picking up the crunches and pushups again I suppose.

hills after work. really didn't want to go, felt very tired and weather was junky. but I was feeling guilty about cutting yesterday's workout short so to the hills I went. once I got out running it was a good time. I think I can attribute some of the success to having some super intense Venezuelan chocolate right before going out. This stuff probably would show up on the doping list if WADA ever found out how good it tastes.

10:03 running to the base of Summit Ave, then 8 x from the lamp post to the mailbox. recovery was to just jog down to the bottom again. less recovery than sometimes, because I don't want the workout to get too long. It's nice that it basically fits in an hour ( well almost).

1:53
--3:07
1:58
--3:13
2:01
--3:29
2:03
--3:22
1:55 ( I was chasing two bikes up to the top, clearly I can run faster when I have a good motivation)
--3:20
2:03
--3:19
2:05
--3:32
2:06

13:32 back to the lab again

happy with how these went. especially since my legs ( calves mostly) are a bit sore from yesterday.

C • I need to know more about t... 5

C • Back to the lab again yo... 2

C • Good workout!! 1

running to work. a little colder than I would have liked and drizzly too. I just let the rain bead up on my glasses and let stuff be a bit distorted in my vision.

400 intervals on the track at lunchtime. So honestly, I'm not sure that noon is the best time for me for running performance. It's a convenient time for having time to run, but I think I'm suspicious of the quality.

I ran over to the track and was aiming to try for 8 400s but I got through 6. I jogged 200 between intervals which took me just under 90 seconds for each 200. I had all sorts of issues trying to time them, because my Garmin ran out of batteries partway through and my Timex has issues with taking splits, so there are a bunch of estimates for the times.

65
69
70
70
72
75

so I really feel off the pace pretty hard on the last two, and I felt tired and it seemed like I sort of hit a wall. I talked myself out of the last two this time. I will catch up with the speed work, but I think I have to be realistic about starting off a bit slower on speed and number of reps.

C • food 7

Event: CSU Cat Rock Park-O
 

CSU park o at Cat Rock Park. I set this one and I think it went okay except for a map scale printing issue. This morning as I was preparing pdfs of the maps for printing I noticed that the map scale was set to 1:10000. Ah ha, I thought, I always get suckered in by this kind of mistake... I set a 3 k course but then it turns out to be a 1.5 k course because I have it in the wrong scale. So I corrected the scale, and lengthened the courses to get them closer to where they should have been.

except that the maps ended up printed at 1:10000 instead of 1:5000 so things were a little smaller and courses were twice as long. OCAD still thinks the courses are in 1:5000 even though they clearly aren't.

thus the advanced was 4 k and the beginner was 2 k.

I got a ride over with Bermans and set out the flags in about 40 mins and picked up half of the flags in about 20. Sam and Clem got the rest.

C • scale 3

no running. attempted to go canoeing in the morning, but the creek was too shallow. so got out and went for a hike down in one of the Ithaca gorges. It was a really nice, if short, hike up the stream. lot's of splashing and clambering up waterfalls. then a long drive back to Boston.

Speed work with Sam. Ran on the Dryden highschool track which is really quite nice. Did about 10 mins of warm up and cool down and about 10 minutes during the workout. wanted to run all out with 1 minute rest, but after the second interval I decided that more rest would be more sustainable, so I switched to 90 seconds rest.

I missed the button for my first split so it's a guess

(69?)
--1:00
70
--1:30
70
--1:30
70
--1:30
68
--130
71

I started trying to think about my form a bit more on the last couple, really tried to push down and back with each step to lengthen my stride. I'm up on my toes pretty nicely but I think the end part of my stride could use some work. Arms also a little ineffective not really pumping so well.

this was tiring but I think I do need to work a little harder somehow. doing 8 would seem like a real chore, so I'm going to have to think of a good way to motivate for my next set.

no running. Driving home to visit with friends. Best friend from high school has a 3 month old baby girl. babies are way fun to play with if you can give them back whenever you get tired of them.

Running at noon. getting to the track and back involves way too many stoplights.... it might be worth finding a less direct route with fewer stops. blazing hot ( well compared to what we are used to here) and it felt nice to run part of the way back without my shirt on.

C • Cups from CSU A-Meet 2

ah, not quite. Getting closer. Felt better running but still don't think that I'm pushing hard enough. Sam and I might be doing some speed work this weekend, so soon I'll relearn how to run fast.

splits:
76
76
75
75

I think my heart rate got up to 188 in the last 400, but not really sure how to get all that info off the Garmin yet. Still working on learning to use it. Still I would expect a higher HR in a mile sprint... another indication that I need to be pushing more?

C • Ross, visualize me -- short... 7

Running in to work was just so outrageously nice that I decided to add on a lap of the reservoir to soak in the beauty. The pair of remaining goslings in the brood that haunts the chestnut hill plaza is looking leggy and they are happily waddling around still.

On the run home stopped to get ingredients to make dinner and dessert. Risotto and Mixed Berry Crisp.mmmm. again a heavy backpack made the addition of an extra lap of the Res. seem unnecessary. Wanted to make Strawberry Rhubarb pie but there wasn't any Rhubarb at the store where I stopped.

C • Dessert 3

no running today. Slept in, so I missed the morning commute run, and then I stayed late working on a project at work, so the evening commute was shot as well.

did not run to work or do any morning exercises. Rib thing still hurts when I inhale. I think it's getting a little better, very tender upon palpation though.

getting up to the CSU park o. I got a bit of a later start than I wanted ( everything goes slowly when you are in a rush, like running ELISAs or collecting blood samples) and I knew it was going to be hard for me to get up to the fells in time as it was. left work at 5:15, and ran to Central Square, then I hopped on the red line to Davis Square and ran the 2 and a half miles up to the high school, where I assumed the park o was. Called Ian when I discovered that I was all alone to figure out that it was starting at the sheepfold. sorta cut through the park haphazardly as I tried to go by memory up from the school. Apart from showing up late, this was a quite nice run. got there at 6:40ish or so.

Tough park-o set by Lori tonight. Pine hill has only gotten thicker since the A-meet and the woods were at their densest. As was my brain apparently. I felt a bit slow as I worked through the front half of the course, just a tad sluggish which might have been from the run to the park or maybe from the hills yesterday. was being a bit lazy on the way to 8, and was reading a line of cliffs as a trail. got to the center of the circle and slowed down to figure things out and then was confused. seemed like I was at the right cliff... checked around a lot, everything was matching up okay, but not perfect, checked back up the hill and attacked from a big cliff, and then went to 10 and attacked back from there. Saw Ed out in the woods and asked him if he had found 8... he said he had so I checked around some more ( he didn't say that he had found it in the right place :) ) too late I bailed out and continued on the course. feeling even slower now that I had spent that time poking through the green. brain was still off and I managed to not see the line from 10 to 11 ( very thin purple, and was hard for my eyes) but saw the line from 11 to 12 instead. got to 12, saw that the number was 12 not 11 and then had to go all the way down the hill and back again. Not a good day for cleanliness. back up to 12, which was nice because it was way easier the second time. The course was actually quite fine even if Ian did finish the race and say " let's never run another sprint at Pine Hill".

Lori felt bad about hanging 8 in the wrong spot but Clem didn't even notice. he was the course winner today, getting around in 32 minutes and change.

my splits:
1)0:45 - 136
2)1:50 - 167
3)2:38 - 171
4)2:07 - 164
5)1:03 - 151
6)2:14 - 162
7)2:24 - 165
8)10:41 - 127 ( wow, I spent about 9 extra minutes searching, should have been more confident)
9)0:54 - 142
10)1:34 - 150
11)8:46 - 144 ( also wow, this is a 40 second control if you don't climb an extra hill and come back)
12)3:00 - 159
13)1:44 - 154
14)1:25 - 160
15)0:44 - 160
16)0:29 - 155
F)1:04 - 171
T) 43:24

C • The Future of Pine Hill 9

Running to and from work, my ribs were really killing me on the way home. Maybe from having the heart rate monitor strap too tight during the hill workout, or maybe just angry with me for some perceived villainy that I'm not aware of. Going much slower on the way home though. If it doesn't get better soon I'm going to have to check with a health care professional ( aka co-worker or mom-the-vet). I was wondering what a cracked rib feels like because this feels better when I put pressure over it. But I doubt that I could crack one of the ribs that high up on my chest without something drastic. Well, time is supposed to heal all wounds so let's wait it out.

The exciting part of today was the arrival of my new birthday present from Mom and Dad. A Garmin Forerunner 305. So now I'm going to work on figuring out all the fun new toys. like the heartrate monitor and the GPS tracking for races.

C • Cracked Rib 5

Monday is hill workout day now. I ran over to Summit Ave after work and did my normal hills. This time I was wearing a heartrate monitor though. I'm surprised, my heart rate didn't go nearly as high as I was expecting. I'm not sure it ever went over 180, it feels harder than 180 to me :)

I did 7 this time, bumping up from last week. I also took less rest between, mostly because I want to keep the workout short enough that I don't dread heading out the door. About 10 minutes over to the hill and 15 minutes back, some of that is waiting for traffic.

splits were
1:57 - 177 HR
---3:04 rest
1:58 - 174 HR
---3:19 rest
2:01 - 172 HR
---3:37 rest
2:01 - 174 HR
---4:04 rest
2:06 - 172 HR
---6:11 rest
2:07- 169 HR
---3:45 rest
2:07 - 171 HR

did not work the downhills, like Mike was suggesting, but this isn't really a good place to work on downhill splits. I'll try to do some of those in the forest sometime.

Long race. this one was pretty good. when I woke up my calf wasn't bothering me and I took some Ibuprofen for the ribs. took the trail around to 1, and ended going a little too far to the right to 2. on three I was convinced that going out to the road would be faster, and that's how I went but Sam has since convinced me that it wasn't so great after all. By the time I was headed to 5 I realized that woods were too open to ever not go straight, so I was really just going as straight as I could. Saw Sam, who had started 4 minutes ahead of me, at 9, but then I went straighter on the long leg. Maybe I shouldn't have, because Sam says she saw me cross in front of her on the way to 10, and I probably would have been able to run faster on the trail than she was going. I liked straight on 10 though, because the woods really were so runnable, I came through the marsh in the green on the way to the circle so I hit it right on. 11, I was a bit right, and12 too. on 12, I never saw the trail that I was trying to use, so it was lucky that I found the flag at all. 13 I overshot and had to come back, on 17 I crossed the river early, which was okay, but I think the running was better on the other side. 18 was just an evil and gratuitous climb, 19 I was sloppy and off my line a little bit 20 even more so, though part of that was just trying to find a good way across the reentrant. on 21 I was trying to catch up to Emily Kemp, and angled nicely across the woods to have a good line to the control. Here is another control where I was pleased with my route but then it turns out that Sam's route was better. She took the trail all the way and was almost as fast as I was. I guess the woods were nice but the trails were still a tiny bit faster. on the way to 22, Mike Waddington was encouraging me to keep working hard and to view the race like a qualifier for WOC. This was a good thing to hear at this point in the race and I surged a bit to close the gap on Eric Kemp. got a bit confused on 23, when I dropped down into the woods expecting to see a rootstock and saw nothing.... very hesitant down the trail because I knew Eric was right there with me and I didn't want him to find the flag and get a jump on me. The last bit was just running hard. Need to practice some hills still, getting up the back out of 24 was tough.

The race was ostensibly 12.4 k, and I ran 71 mins so that's just under 6 a k. I'm quite happy with that. I never took my hammer gel, because it didn't feel necessary. Maybe a couple places I could have been cleaner, but I'm happy to have put together a good effort and to get the win. Erin was second, which again was exciting. Wonder how much faster he is when he's not recovering from anemia :) Will wasn't there, he was at the U of R graduation instead. I think he probably would have run about the same speed but I might have edged him....

Long - Blue - Splits

Almost a good run. Middle Distance at the Buffalo A-meet. started out okay, for control 1 was a bit surprised that the boulder was on top... I thought that it was going to be on contours going down. It was at the middle of the circle though, so I found it even without a proper sense of what the terrain should look like. the next string of controls was pretty basic for me, maybe a tad sloppy, hard to read the map while running that fast sometimes. on 7 I was expecting the control to be higher on the stream, and had to drop down to find it. On 9 I had my only really big mistake. I decided to cut through the white woods to the next trail, and then drop down from the trail into the stream. Well, I ran through the woods at slightly the wrong angle, came out on a different trail and had a little parallel error. Except had I checked my compass more carefully I would have noticed it wasn't parallel. I was 90 degrees off and just not realizing it because there was another blue runner doing the same thing as me at the time. It took me too long to recover, but then I put it behind me. 10-13 were fine, 14 I was a bit confused by a patch of green that was on the line but too soon. lots of people were there and I kinda thought it was the veg edge that I was interested in. I luckily saw control 10 up ahead and readjusted right away, so I didn't lose too much time there. to 16, the woods had been so runnable that when I saw the light green was kinda open I went straight towards the last control thinking "how bad can that clearing up ahead be" . It was pretty bad, so much so that I got pushed north again out to the trail and then had to go around. It was frustrating because if I had chosen to take the trail I would have had a better time but I think that the right decision for me was to go straight, because I usually run very well in thick woods. It wasn't the better route this time but often it would be.

so I was 6th on the course, it was nice to see Erin Schirm up there in with the leaders. I would have had to be super squeaky clean to match Will's time.

Sprint Race. This one was good. My chest and my left calf were both hurting a lot before this race, so I wasn't feeling all that psyched. The chest thing was quite weird. I woke up on Friday with a very sore spot on my ribs right over my heart. It felt like muscle pain and I chalked it up to doing pushups or sit ups with poor form sometime on Thursday or earlier in the week. Neither bothered me during the run though, so that was lucky.

Cleanish race, got a bit wide coming down the spur to 2, and a bit right on the line going to 6. On 12 I went the wrong way around the building ( need to read those Clue Descriptions) and on 13 I almost blew up because I didn't notice that there was another ski slope to the right of me, and so I almost cruised right past the tree, but I caught myself in time. didn't lose too much time out there on the course, maybe just a few seconds here and there.

Won the race, 16 seconds ahead of Nate Lyons. He probably had a good run and looking at the splits he was as fast or faster on everything except 3 and 14, which were certainly the two trickiest controls. wonder if he made mistakes or just slowed down because they were tough.

Middle - Blue - Splits

Sprint - Course 3 - Splits

Another no running day, I got up early to do Laundry and chores around the house. Also baked some butterscotch blondies for the weekend and then headed off to work. Had to leave early to start driving to Rochester so maintained a pretty good focus at work. you can accomplish so much as long as you refuse to go sit down at a computer :)

Birthday for Ross! 26 years old. didn't do any running today, but went to the Golden Abacus with Sam and the roommates and we had soo much food :) they let me order extra, and then they let me eat everything left over.

running to work. I left about 10 minutes early today. Not sure why, but I've been feeling really far behind schedule recently. perhaps because I was feeling so stressed about the CSU meet and then team trials, now that I'm not stressed I'm wondering what I'm forgetting to do. Anyway, I left early thinking that I probably had lots of work I needed to get done in the lab. Weather was gorgeous and I was tempted to make the run longer to maximize the time spent outside.

C • HAPPPY BIRTHDAY! 10

running to and from the track. Got lost on my way over, and there were lots of stoplights on the way back. I decided, as I was extracting mouse DNA from tail biopsies ( a menial and dull task, fit for idle thoughts and daydreams), that I wanted to do a mile time trial. I really want to run a 5 minute mile and so I needed to find a track. Then I decided, that I should go running on my lunch break, find a track and do a time trial. So I looked on google maps satellite view looking for nearby tracks. The first track I ran to was under construction and was just a dirt pit ( google needs to update their photos I guess) and I hadn't been planning on going to the next track that I found, so I was a bit sketchy as to how to get there.

It was a really nice track actually, once I found it, and I'm really glad I decided to run at lunch. The plan was to grab food after I got back to the lab and eat quickly, but I got wrapped up in a series of projects when I got back and so instead of run then eat I had run without eat. next time I will plan better.

C • Run without eat will at lea... 1

Sigh, not quite there yet. getting closer, I paced the first and last laps better. I think my legs are still a bit tired from running hills on Monday ( that really wiped me out and my butt really is quite sore now). Track was a nice surface and it's pretty close to work, I can come try again next week.

splits were:
75
76
79
75

Running to work and then from work to the CSU park o in franklin park. I'm always surprised by how close together places in boston really are. It takes so long in a car or by public transportation. But what takes 45 minutes on a bus or the subway is really only 3 miles away. I got a bit lost ( map memory is harder when you are cocky and think you know the whole area anyway) and asked a guy for directions at one point. I felt distinctly like I was the only white guy running through a series of black neighborhoods.

CSU park o, thanks to Clem for setting this week. There was a big enough turn out that we ran out of maps and my map ended up recycled for the cause. The course was super fun, and it was a reminder that everyone sets a different style of race on the map. I've set a handful of events at Franklin park and I'd never been to some of the areas that Clem used for locations. So that was a nice surprise. However, I do have a local knowledge that helped me a lot, particularly, there is a tunnel in a ruin that makes a great route choice if you know it's there, and it's easy to overlook if you don't know about it.

I had a few controls that Brendan crushed me on (#4, #5,#7, #8) but overall I felt pretty good. #8 was just a funny area, and I, like many others, didn't see the little bit of fence on the map. also at #7, I didn't really know what the corner of the ruined wall was going to look like, so I overshot there too. 4 and 5 I just didn't take the best routes. went straight to control number 11 though, which I think saved me a minute and earned me some great green briar scratches.

running to work. a little sleepy after a late night carousing with the boys (and Dasha). didn't feel like I accomplished much at work, but sometimes Mondays feel that way regardless of ones productivity.

finally, my first hill workout on Summit Ave this season. I was feeling a bit blah, but getting outside and running helped a lot. I ran over to the bottom of the hill and ran really hard to the top. I was impressed that I was 1:55 to the mail box. but the second one started to hurt right away, 1:58, then 2:02, 2:05, and finally 2:08 I think. I guess, because I deleted these splits already. Mostly my arms felt really tired as I neared the top. I had planned on doing 4, but I convinced myself to do 5, almost 6. I realized it was getting late though, so I talked myself out of the last one.

The whole thing took about an hour, from leaving work to getting back to grab my stuff before catching the shuttle. This wiped me out, as soon as I got home I was practically asleep. heating up leftovers and making it to bed was the extent of my evening afterward. Next week I will increase my reps.... these hills are going to be crucial for WOC, and I don't want to be unprepared.

Not the epic win I had in mind, but a fun Billygoat nonetheless. The meet was great, and I happily left with a much fonder impression of the forests of Bow NH than I previously held from the Boulder Dash.

I had a pretty good run actually, I had a weird issue with my right contact lense and I ended up just pulling it out completely on the starting line. So my right eye was blurry for the course. It was only noticeable at first, when I was still adjusting. Luckily I could really depend on others to get me to the control points at the beginning. I looked quickly and saw that skipping one would be a waste and then charged out of the gate after Erik and Clem. I was sorta just keeping with them for the first two controls. On 3, I went a little bit straighter and got a slight edge on them, went straightish to 4 as well ( decided it was still too early for me to skip), and Nate was with me here, we plowed through some pretty dense white woods, but came out on the trail very nicely and that meant the control was quite easy. 5 was the fork and I went right, but didn't execute very well. It was best to stay low by the swamp and then run the trail all the way, but I cut right up the hill and up and over to the trail. It was a bit of a slog through those woods, but Sergei was with me, so I thought I was in pretty good position. 6, just push through the swamp and then up the hill. I guess people had some difficulty here, but for me it went smoothly, and I started feeling like it was going to be a good race. I saw that 7 would be a logical skip, but I felt good still and decided to horde my skip until later ( I glanced over the rest and saw that 20 was on a hilltop, so I might skip that). As I came across to 8 I saw Hilly and then Sam going into the control, and tore out to the trail to the right on the way to 9. got to the flag with Andy Hall and Joe Brautigam, and did the next couple pretty well ( if not exactly on a straight line) little short controls. 12, was funny to me because I was expecting the terrain to drop and really the rocks were in a saddle not on a spur like I had imagined... I slowed down trying to make sense of this stuff and then Erik Nystrom caught up again. We were running sorta together on the next long one, well he slowly passed me and then really got away from me in the cleared area. We saw Alexei and Sergei here, and I was with them but stopped to rehang the flag at 13 ( trying to get good karma). 14 was the drink spot and I was in 6th position when I went through and I still had my skip.... I was feeling good. feeling good is not the same as being smart. I was most of the way to 15, before I realized that I should have skipped it. I found a nice ride though and I think I got ahead of Sergei and Alexei on this point. 16, -19 I was moving really well and just cruising but then I made the choice to go to 20 afterall. It was a stupid control to skip, because I wasn't going to save any climb really. I had to go right past it anyway, to get to 21. So I went off, but I got pushed right by the hillside ( happened to a few people, or more than a few) and got really confused. I didn't figure it out, and started to panic, I knew that I didn't have much time left in the race, so in my panic I chose to just cut my losses and skip. I didn't really know where I was though, so trying to get to 21 was tricky. I ended up getting really far right, and taking the trail around, which was slow, but at least I didn't get lost in the circle. 22, 23, and then finish.

I was 5 minutes or so back on the winners, but I think there were places in the race where I was a real contender. Erik was just 20 or 30 seconds ahead at 14, and he won, so I could have done a lot better in the end section of the race. I will post splits later, I have them written on the back of my map somewhere.

C • Erik 1

no running today. we cleaned house, watched TV, did errands, and had a special pre-billygoat dinner at Brendan's.

running to and from work. on Wednesday I noticed a whole gaggle of goslings wandering around behind their parents in the chestnut hill plaza parking lot. This morning I only counted two.... that's not good.

on the way home I was going to add some laps of the reservoir, but I stopped to pick up some groceries, and then my backpack was awkward and heavy and I wasn't feeling like adding on anymore.

Running to work and then after work I ran over to the Berman's for a CSU a-meet wrap-up meeting. A really nice day for running. I got a little spaced as I was running over to cambridge... I started heading on my normal route home instead of cutting over to the BU bridge. Not sure where my brain was, but it was easy to correct and I saw some beautiful neighborhoods as I was running my correctional course.

A-meet meeting was long, but cathartic. We managed to put on a good meet with a strange blend of good luck and long nights the week before ( from a core group of workers). Without having Larry and Sara Mae able to devote themselves completely to the meet we would have been sunk for sure. At the meeting we discussed all the ways we got lucky and how we should improve next time. Our sophomore effort is going to be really awesome ( but we think we might need a bit of a break before next time).

Also, if anyone wants to buy a great 16 ounce (beer) glass commemorating the meet let me know. We bought more than we needed for the prizes and for volunteers. We're selling them at a reasonable price (3$) so you can get a whole set.

woke up this morning not feeling quite invigorated, per se, but certainly more alive than earlier this week. got up at the second alarm and had time to do my pushups and crunches before running to work. Taking time off from the pushups really has been noticeable, I get to the point of muscle fatigue way quicker now than before.

The run was nice except for the sensation of a tupperware full of watermelon poking into my back ( this was the actual cause too, for anyone who is curious. It's not just a very descriptive metaphorical pain). was sort of planning on running home too, but ended up sticking around work later than intended on the computer, so I jumped on the shuttle to make it home quicker

C • I'm glad you made the team.... 2

hard time getting up in the morning. I would like to blame jet-lag but maybe I'm just lazy. I took the shuttle to work and then after work I ran from the Joslin down the emerald necklace to the arboretum for the CSU park-o courtesy of Pia. The run down was nice and drizzly so I was already wet and chilly when i arrived at the park. would have gotten lost on my way except for bumping into Ian who led me to the right location.

CSU park-o at Peter's Hill. It was a bit soggy but Peter's Hill is just so much fun for doing Park-o. I started out a little shaky, and had trouble finding control #1, just getting into the scale was a bit hard I think. The second control was right up and over the hill, and I'm not sure I had the best route, but I worked as hard as I could but felt limited by some very slippy sneakers on the hill. from 5-6 I ran through an out of bounds area before I even noticed what was going on.... which is a clear indication that I don't read ahead enough in sprints. I knew that the next control was to the east, but I didn't see the purple slash covering the area right next to control 5. Pia said that it wasn't really out of bounds, she had noticed piles of mulch and didn't want people to get stuck. still, I should be reading my map better. control #10 was down a steep slope and my shoes couldn't get enough grip so I slid all the way down and had to work my way back again. so, all in all, it wasn't a perfect race but I think it was a pretty good effort for a Tuesday night. Somehow my official time is off by a minute.

1) 54
2)2:08
3)38
4)37
5)1:57
6)1:12
7)56
8)32
9)32
10)1:01
11)55
12)1:15
13)1:17
14)1:06
15)44
16)1:58
F) 22
T)17:58

C • Park-O timing 1

Sam was going back out on the course for more training. She ran it backwards this time for a different course. I followed behind, and we both did this mostly by memory. I only deviated from her course when I thought that she was going too far out of the way. I had a couple of places where my memory route was better than hers, but she had a really nice route from 2-1 that put me to shame. I was hard pressed to keep up with her on the up hills and down hills... she's been working hard and it shows. sam was disappointed that she wasn't faster than this on the second time, but I think she just has high expectations.

Clem, Brendan and Ian were running hill reps up Peter's hill after the park-o. after Sam and I got back from our second loop we went over to cheer them on. Then we ran up a couple ourselves. The other guys did 8 reps, but Sam and I did two. about 1:00 the first time up and about 57 the second time. Then we split up the controls and went to go pick them up. Sam and Jeff were kind of thinking about running the course 3 times, but it was a bit chilly and we were tired so it was twice and then split up for control pickup.

wow, working today was a bit of a challenge. kept myself to easy tasks that I couldn't really mess up. turned out okay, but felt very spaced all day.

landed at 7:20 am, got to work about 8:40 am after a ~5 hour red-eye. Running wasn't very appealing by the time I got home.... just eating some dinner with Sam and pretty early bedtime.

Team Trials long. I probably have a lot more to say about this race. I'm trying to backlog a bit here, and this was a busy race for me. I haven't yet done the route gadget for this one and those route will be fun.

Race started out pretty well. was really disappointed in my middle race and was hoping to improve in the long. I have been getting used to the idea that I'm a sprint and long specialist over the past year and a half and so I had high expectations for myself. The first control went pretty well, as I was coming across the hillside towards the cliff I saw Michael Norris on the same line which gave me confidence that I was in the right spot. #2 was a breeze and on 3 I had already decided how I was going to go and was starting to feel a groove coming on. It turns out that my route to 3 wasn't optimal but it was an easy control for me coming from the trail to the south. 4 and 5 went smoothly though I was probably a bit too high on 5, 6 was also no problem and now I was definitely in the groove and having a blast out in the woods.

It came way off the rails on #7. I had a series of things happen to make this a true disaster. I cut out to the trail and then ran to the trail bend and cut into the woods. I think i must have come out to the wrong trail bend and that's what started it going to badly. I then had a space out moment where I totally lost all connection with my race, just for a moment, and when I snapped back to concentration I was just way lost. I panicked a bit but then, luckily realized what had happened. I was too high and just had to drop down the hillside following the green. I starting thinking " I lost some time, but maybe only a minute, it could have been a lot worse".... then it got worse because I followed the wrong patch of green, and wasn't really relocated when I tried to attack the control. It went even further south because then I managed to cross the trail that was a good catching feature without seeing it and got onto an even farther away trail. I ran back and forth here for awhile, trying to understand what had happened. The trail was gently rising where the trail I expected to be on should be gently falling. Also it wasn't matching up too well. I was fully panicked at this point. I ran all the way back to the sharp reentrant where the trail made a distinctive bend and it still didn't make sense.... but finally it dawned on me where I must be. A mightly climb awaited me as I made my way back up to the top of the hill.

Wow, that even sucked to write. Lost about 14 minutes to the fastest guys on that one. moreover, the extra climb probably tired me out a bit. The show must go on, and the next control was a real doozy. I decided that the only thing to do was go straight, and pick up the wiggly trail on the line. I executed pretty well, saying my typical mantra " Marc always says not to be afraid of the climb" but Eddie was the real winner here and picked an awesome route to the left.

#9 was gratuitous climb, and I thought I saw a Clem like figure up ahead of me on the hill. I made it almost to the control and saw Jordan punching the flag. As I walked the last bit up I thought to myself " I bet Jordan was running here". out to the trail I stayed high along the hillside and avoided some thicker woods, which allowed me to get ahead of Jordan again. I missed my mark twice on this leg, once coming out on the trail too low, and twice when I attacked into the woods later than I had meant too. because I attacked too late I missed the boulder and lost some time in the circle relocating. Jordan was back with me now and somehow we had gotten in contact with Clem. I chased him down and pounded down the trail on his heels to 11. I was going to take the trail all the way if Clem cut early and cut early if Clem was taking the trail... I decided that Clem was being safe and jumped into the woods... I think that I convinced him to come with me in the woods too, and so we both bashed through to 11. That's where we saw Leif. Now we had quite the posse. The next leg was a long slog ( but at high speeds mind you, I was racing against people here) through green. Leif was staying ahead of me and we popped out pretty close together on the trail. Leif ended up dropping down a bit and coming to 12 from the bottom, and I led Jordan and Clem around up top to come in from the topside. I was pushing hard here, trying to get a gap, and 13 and 14 went smoothly, and I knew I just had to hold on. sadly I almost bombed 15. I came out to a trail, and it looked okay and I almost attacked into the woods. At the last moment I double checked things and it was funny. I stopped scratched my head and then saw I was on a junction of rides, not the trail junction I had planned. I ran up the hill and saw Jordan and Clem coming through again. I stayed just a bit ahead as I went over the top of the hill, and into the finish. I have to say that it was fun to run so hard with a bunch of guys at the end... and that's what helped me stay positive about a pretty disappointing day.

Making the team was really nice though, and I know that I'll have good races and that my mistake at 7 was a fluke. It was awfully close though, I had two bad results at team trials... I shouldn't be able to rely on just my sprint and my rankings.

Long Blue - Splits

Middle Blue - Splits

Sprint 3 - Splits