Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

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