Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

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.