Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

To work. Hard to be motivated to leave the house when Sam is still abed. I guess that's how she feels every morning.

From work to the Harvard Track for CSU running section workout.

Did some drills and some strides then the workout which was 4x1200 @ 5k pace (ish) 200 jog rest between and 500 jog rest before a magic mile which is a mile where you start at the 100 mark and run the straights hard and just stride out the curves... also, you're not allowed to look at your watch at all.

Ran with Mark for the first 1200, and just as we were about to start the second interval SGB arrives and sprints the length of the track, stripping, to make it in time to run the next one with us.

Left quad was feeling tired by the last 1200, fence still?

3:46
3:51
3:50
3:53

C • Only 200 meter jog? That's ... 2

Magic Mile. Seemed easy, felt like I was only working half the time, so not so shabby that it was a 5:24 mile. SGB pointed out that if I was only working half the time, it was really a 5:24 800. Would have cooled down with the group but wanted to use the remaining daylight to bike home.

Home afterward. Sam had made dinner, which was great. Then we got bogged down in trying to sort through all the maps and quickroutes from the weekend.... not so great.

C • Sam made dinner because Sam... 6

7.3 miles by Garmin. 1990 US Champs Blue course at Baileytown
map without QR

So I was pretty excited for this course. Mikell Platt had won this course in about 71 minutes and I was hoping to best that time. We had been doing a lot of hard work the whole weekend, but my legs felt good at the start.

Our group did a bit of a chase start, sending out Alex, Dancho, Sam, Brendan, Boris, Nikolai and then me in that order. The start triangle had gotten really overgrown so the first 30 seconds of thrashing through the woods were pretty miserable... finally got out of the treacherous footing and low visibility and then starting going okay. 1,2,3 were all clean, 4 I navigated thinking that the control was on a cliff and then had to check my descriptions and drop down into the reentrant. Don't know if seeing Alex here slowed me down or sped me up in figuring out my mistake. 5 and 6 were clean and I caught sight of Boris, Brendan, Sam and Nikolai going over the ridge to 6. Feeling great, chasing Nikolai out towards 7 and got pulled very far right.... which was weird, thought I read a cliff on the front and a cliff on the back side of the ridge to mark where I had come over. Realized I was too far south pretty quickly and then continued on. 8 was clean but 9 I oversimplified and got too low and missed my reentrant. stood a moment at the base of the swamp until I figured it out. 10 clean. 11 running well and running strong, no problem at all with the climb caught Dancho coming down into the reentrant. Again thought it was the cliff but adjusted quickly. for 12 I was going well, found a way up through the green and made my way to the saddle... dropped down towards my control and all of a sudden got really lost. distance estimation was off. Spent 2 or 3 minutes wandering around the hillside until Nikolai came streaming past.... this shook me out of it a little bit and I was able to figure out that I needed to go much further to get the flag. little bobble on the way to 13 and then didn't see the depression when I got to the circle. not navigating all that well to 14 (got a bit lucky I guess) but really smoked it on the way to 15. Got on a sweet contouring deer path and just cruised all the way to the flag catching Nikolai in the process. Feeling strong still and pushed hard to 16, 17 and finish.

Physically very happy with the race, but not crafty enough to outdo the swampfox. Mikell would probably be too gentlemanly or too modest to gloat :)

Middle Distance Race at Hogencamp
map with quickroute

This was an exciting race for me. Patrick was going to race and I was eager to see how I'd match up. I did well until 10-12. On 10 I got stuck in the green ( coming down the wrong side of the bare rock patch anyway) and then misread some rocks on the hillside below as cliffs. Took awhile to relocate and then banged my knee pretty hard against a rock. I was angry and set off on 11 a bit too quickly, found a great swath of woods to run along on the ridge but popped out farther north than I expected and then tried to cut through the green on the way to the control... it all added up and ended up being a slowish control. On 12 I overshot the cliff and had to come back. And then brought it back under control again for 13 on. I was the first to the finish circle and didn't know exactly where to stop... then I saw there was a streamer after all.

So, running well, but need to be careful in low visibility/runnability areas. I can see a lot of good things in this race too, very happy with my confidence on the end section (13 and on) for example.

Two Person Relay (with Becks) Course B

After a pretty ignominious beginning, Course A

Pretty tired, Course C

Middle - Splits

Line-o, Control Picking, Contouring, Control Picking

Orienteering intervals. With Eric, Ken, Nikolay. Way too close to lunch.

I guess this is warm up in the rain on the way to the start of the night sprint

Awesome night sprint. very wet, forked course running about the same speed as Boris.

Event: CSU Park-O: Fresh Pond
 

Biking to work, stopped at post office on the way to drop off a package. Lulled into thinking it was a nice warm day.

got caught up at work, so left late and then also navigated poorly on the way to fresh pond. I had volunteered to run registration, and was now 10 minutes late. Luckily everything was going smoothly without me. Didn't really have much work to do, and then Ed offered to take over while I ran the course.

Also met some fun new people, Ed and Alex brought some skiiers, Eric Benson recruited a Dartmouth alum... I'm stoked.

C • Dartmouth alum = Anne? 2

Park-o set by Audun. It was cold to start, I was trying to warm up properly but then got impatient and just started anyway. Managed the course just fine but felt frantic and frazzled the whole first part. Not super clean on any of the first controls. By 5 I had settled down and settled in, and this was good until I ran full speed into a cable fence along the parking lot before 11. Apparently not a great time to read the map. Not running so well after that and off the line on 15 down the hill... I think thrown mentally (figuratively) by flipping over the chain.

Picked up a few controls and dropped the gear off at the Berman's. They are attending a party for Boston Marathon VIPs tonight. Sara Mae's medal is pretty awesome. Very cool to have a running celebrity offer me jelly beans whenever I come over to visit their shop at an A-meet :)

Sam was super helpful throughout, sacrificing her evening of homework and school prep time to help with the meet.

C • I wonder if you'll have a scar 3

C • Thanks for the cleats 1

C • West Point 2

Advanced - Splits

I've been pretty lax with my pushups and crunches in the mornings this past month... decided that I would make time for them this morning. So I was a bit behind schedule as I ran to work.

did the crunches with an added 5 pound weight (Sam leaves these conveniently in the living room [it's not so convenient when she leaves them in the middle of the room and I stub my toe in the middle of the night]) so maybe tomorrow my core will be a little bit sore.

Missed the CSU running section track workout last night, so I decided to run the workout at noon. SGB did offer to run with me if I waited until after work, but I had already planned out the day in my mind and wanted to get an afternoon run in.

really sunny which made me happy.

Terry's workout email had 3x1000 at 5k pace 4x600 at 3-5k pace 200 jog. I did the math on the jog down and came up with 3:12 for the 1000s and 1:51 for the 600s. Shared the track with the BC women's middle distance team... they were very considerate about sharing lane 1.

ran with my shirt off, not to impress the girls (I'm no Gswede) but because it was quite warm. Bit of a breeze on the back stretch. Pleased with how it went overall.

3:12
3:12
3:14
1:55
1:53
1:52
1:54

I guess that I was aiming a bit fast on the paces and that's part of why I was a bit slow on the 600s. However, I was coming through the 400 split right on 74 so it could also be the windy backstretch.

C • Easy 3

Back to the lab. good mental break from a full day up in the mouse facility.