Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Skyline. Sunny and spring-like, except for a chilly breeze from the NW. Legs not feeling so great, especially knees and sides of my thighs. Had wanted the two weeks after the Champs to be some casual runs to let my body recover; I've done the casual runs, but I'm not recovering. Really didn't seem like I could have run faster today.

-------------- 134(1145)1319(201)
2908(127)2741(1221)1520*

*plus one :25 loop back

About half a mile down the road, we heard a gun shot seemingly nearby, and then two kids drove by, laughing and with loud music blasting. L was convinced that they'd fired the shot and she was a bit spooked, picking up the pace no doubt from a surge of adrenaline. I just kept plodding along.

[Easy distance]

Cool down.

Another very unrestful rest day.

Kortum Trail. 40mph winds off the ocean. Not very pleasant, though the scenery was wild and spectacular. On the way out, brief excursion out to the beach at Furlong Gulch (kept jogging). Similar pace to Saturday, though slowed a bit more by wind.

[Easy distance]

Hike in the cedars, Pt 1. Couldn't get a signal for the gps, so distance and climb are a guess.

The Cedars is a geologically unusual area north of the town of Cazedero. There are serpentine rocks, red clay soil, pools with extremely high PH, and other oddities. Lots of cypress trees, but no cedars. The area is not generally open to the public, but Doreen's sister has property on the access road to the area, so she took us up there for a hike.

Hike in The Cedars, Pt.2. GPS signal came in when we got to the top of the ridge. Time includes a 20 min break for lunch.

Kortum Trail, Sonoma Coast St Beach. Sunny, cool, strong N wind, which slowed me down on way back. Ground very wet, lots of jumping over mud. Casual run, lots of little loop backs, totaling 2:42.

Blind Beach trail head
|
(734)
|
Sunset Rocks
|
(1423) ---- (1421)
|
Shell Beach parking lot
|
(1121) ---- (1153)
|
turn towards parking circle (about :35 short)

[Easy distance]

Cool down by walking over big hill back to parking lot.

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching and strength exercises. None of the latter on the three race days last weekend.

Having had time to pack yesterday, getting out in the morning was pretty easy. Lunch at Greens, a visit with Michelle and Andy, scones at Wild Flour, barbeque dinner at Bill and Dooreen's.

We'd planned to drive up to the cabin today. However, we had someone over in the in the morning to install a new alarm sytem for the house, and we weren't able to get ourselves packed and out the door as planned. So, we decided to postpone until tomorrow (which would enable us to stop for lunch at Greens :-) ).

Skyline. Chilly and blustery. Casual run with L, just past Gist and back, with a couple of loopbacks; then finish with two front of house loops. Plenty of sore (but not debilitating) leg muscles. After the magic of this past weekend, strange to have a normal body again.

Usual 2.5: 2949
Loop backs: 237
Front of house loops: 611, 556

[Easy distance]

Cool down.

Spent the afternoon at Oracle, then dinner in Palo Alto with my brother.

Unexpectedly wound up spending the night at George and Leslie's, and then took them to Oakland Airport on my way home.

Mills College, Oakland, CA. U.S. Sprint Champs. Brown 1.95 km, 50m climb. Start 10:29. Partly cloudy, a little muggy. 7:42 mins/km (8:03 adjusted for climb).

Completed the sweep, again first overall on Brown, by over 3 minutes. Just tried to stay within myself. Made no mistakes, never stopped running except a couple times had to walk up stairs (plus one exception noted below). Never needed to slow down to read the map, though I was never pushing the pace to the limit. Very satisfying, of course, to do this well.

Note: GPS track is way off for this run. For instance, it shows me crossing over to the E side of the street going to #1, which I certainly didn't do.

Was able to have each leg completely planned before I got to it (except of course for #1). Only lost a few secs here and there: #8, stopped to check that grass I was about to cross wasn't out of bounds (it wasn't); #5, slowed to check that what looked like it should have been olive green wasn't (it wasn't, but I went around it anyway), and also took the ramp down just E of that instead of going diagonally down the stairs; #11, swung a little wide. Also, leaving #12, at the top of the stairs intended to go NW, but looked that way and saw a wall of vegetation, so instead took the path SW - an intentional decision to be safe, but it cost maybe 10 seconds. Great run, though having run here once before made it seem fairly easy. Might have been 30 secs slower if I hadn't run here before.

[Orienteering race]

Warm up: 9 min, ~0.8 mi. A little tight the first couple of minutes, but then felt good. A couple of 100m strides at the end.

Cool down: 6 mins, ~0.4 mi.

Brown Sprint - Splits

Morgan Territory, U.S. Long Champs. Long Brown-X 4.45 km, 250 m (I calculate 270). 12:34/km (9:37 adjusted for climb). Start at 11:58. Sunny, nice, not as warm as yesterday.

Again first over all on Brown-X, this time by several minutes. Was amazingly strong out there today. They probably should've given me a PED test.

Strategy for today was essentially diametrically opposite to yesterday, as for a Long I didn't want to risk being tired at the end and making a sizable mistake. So, plan was to minimize effort for the first half of the race by avoiding climb even if it meant more distance and by taking safer routes so as to avoid wandering around. Did just that, getting to #5 with no mistakes and feeling pretty fresh. Was surprised to learn later that I was already in first place by #4. Took a little too much risk for #5 and #6, but fortunately both worked out fine. A very minor bobble on #7, and then really started putting out the effort. Even surprised myself with how strong I was for the last third of the race. Felt like I could have run another km or two. An extremely satisfying run.

[Orienteering race]

C • PEDs? 1

Warm up: After shuttle ride, 1500m, 100m climb. Mostly with Graeme Ackland, and some with Greg Balter, then Sergey Velichko.

Cool down: Walk back to assembly area with George and Leslie, and Walter. 900m and some climb.

Brown X Long - Splits

Event: US Individual Championships (M/L/S)
 

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching and strength exercises.
Tapered off on the strength exercises as the week progressed.

Morgan Territory. U.S. Middle Champs. 3.1 km, 140m climb. 10:38 min/km (9:14 adjusted for climb). Start 12:30. First overall on Brown X.

Intentionally went out faster than usual, trying to capitalize on the sprint-O training I've been doing. Nailed the first 8, really pushing it, with the fastest split on 7 of those. But I guess brain started tiring then. Inexcusable 50 sec error on 9, nearly 4 min error on 11, though still had leading split on 10 and 13 and second on 12. Fortunate that I managed to hold on to the lead.

Without the 4 min error, adjusted-for-climb pace was 8:06, essentially the same as I did two days later in the Sprint.

1. After the T-intersection of the fire roads, the map shows an indistinct trail heading in the direction of #1. However, didn't see this on the map because it was covered by the red line - but also didn't see it in the terrain, so no harm done. Soon did see a quite distinct trail a bit to my left, so thinking that it was the one heading to #1, hopped on it. But as it started to go uphill a bit, I realized it was the trail a little further west. No problem, that one was also headed pretty close to #1, so stayed on it, keeping my eyes right, and soon saw the bag.

3. Initial thought was to run along the top of the ridge, but once near #2, realized that would be too rocky, so went a few meters to the right than ran keeping the rocky stuff on my left.

6. Had to walk the last 80m uphill, legs feeling quite tired.

7, 8. Kept pushing anyway. Didn't know this until much later, but had covered the first 2.1 km, 95m climb, in 18:42 and had a 3:16 lead.

9. Ran essentially due S to where the ditch meets the trail, then headed up on the trail, noting that I should stay on the trail until the top of the rise. I think at that point I started working out the details of the next leg; when my attention returned to the present, I was at the top of a rise ("What, already?!" I thought), so turned right. Within 10 secs, with nothing making sense, realized I had left the trail far too early, at the top of the spur N of the broken fence. Corrected from there. 50 second error.

11. After another fastest-split on 10, the wheels came off as I headed for 11. I was confused almost immediately as I saw a big drop off to my right. I had intentionally gone a bit right to make sure I didn't go straight up the reentrant heading SW, but had I overdone it and drifted to the edge of the hill? Attempted to correct by going left, and then thought I was in the reentrant W of the control when in fact I was in the one to the E. Very stupidly ran around in a big circle like a madman, turning back to the W when I saw the fence to the E. Finally recognized that I was in the big clearing with the vegetation in the middle, just WSW of the control, and so finally got there. Nearly 4 minutes lost.

12, 13. Managed to run two more good legs. Was very fortunate that my early lead enabled me to stay in front despite the large error at 11.

[Orienteering race]

C • Congratulations! 2

Walk to start, mostly with George.

Warm up back and forth on road near start. Felt ready, though not quite as good as I felt on Wednesday. Definitely feeling some anxiety.

Brown-X Middle - Splits

Feeling very rested.

Front of house. Warm up jog in my new Salomon Speedcross 3's, which arrived in the nick of time. Could've gone much faster. Seems like a very long time since I felt this good prior to a meet.

556, 509

Temp in the high 50's, and suddenly it feels warm. Could be high 70's at MT. So now I can worry about it being too hot ;-)

[Easy distance]

Cool down

Casual walk around the Oracle lagoon.

Oops: forgot to beware the Ides of March.

Event: BAOC: Oyster Bay
 

Oyster Bay C-meet. Start at about 11:55. Set out to do about half of "Course 4", 5.0/85 28c, and that's what I did. Debated about whether to actually go since it was pouring rain, and I've had a good deal of orienteering in preparation for the US Champs already, but decided to go for it, and got quite lucky in that it was only drizzling while I was out on the course. Ankle deep standing water was unavoidable, though. Hadn't been to this park in many years, and it was essentially completely unfamiliar, so good for training.

Counting this as training since I didn't run it like a race. As planned, ran at about 85% speed, trying to keep up a good flow. There were several knots of clustered controls with significant changes in direction, good practice. The sequence from 8 to 11 was pretty much straight running, so I slowed down on that portion. Ran through #14, went to #15 at a reduced pace since it was on the way back to the finish anyway.

2. Went by #4 in an attempt to avoid the (wet) bushes on the direct line. But then I apparently didn't recognize the small foot path and instead turned right on what's mapped as a larger path but wasn't all that distinct. Came to the junction, realized where I was, turned right and spotted the big tree. Lost almost a minute. Clearly hadn't adjust to the 1:4000 scaled, so this was a good wake up call for Mills.

3. A few steps straight E to get on the small N-S footpath. Map showed a trail going down to the paved path, starting a little to the right of where I was. So, even though there was an elephant path straight ahead, went to the right looking for the mapped trail. Not seeing it, went back to the elephant path and took that. Guess that was actually the mapped footpath. Lost :10.

4. Took the path back to #1 and then took the elephant trail I'd taken past #4. That made it easy, but it was too far out of the way. Lost :10.

7. Lost several seconds trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid large and deep puddles.

11. As I approached the final path junction WSW of 11, could see a big field of very large rocks that didn't seem to be on the map - there was a patch of light blue there instead. After the run, realized that that patch was actually gray, representing bare rock - not at all appropriate for what was actually in the field. Anyway, I ran a bit past where I should have left the trail, realized that when I saw the junction ahead, turned back and found the control. Lost about :20.

13. Straight. Got to just S of the little reentrant, could see it, but there was some deadfall and vegetation in my way, and I picked my way very carefully over that - with everything being so wet, did not want to slip and fall. Lost :10.

Looking at the results, surprised I did so well (for the portion I ran) since I was just cruising. Could have easily maintained that pace (indeed, sure I could have picked it up) for the rest of the course. Here are the top times after 15 controls:

1. 2417 Gavin Williams
2. 2522 Tac Sukiyama
3. 2605 Rex Winterbottoom
4. 2656 me
5. 2801 Julia Doubson
6. 2853 Marie-Josee
7. 2859 Steve Gregg
8. 3107 Penny DeMoss

In the evening, before seeing the results, thought to myself that come the weekend I need to be conscious of not being as relaxed as I was out there today. But after seeing the results, I wonder if being relaxed helped me minimize errors, and so that is exactly how I should be. Hmm.

Also before seeing the results, I thought my best legs were 5, 6 and 14, and those turned out to be 3 of my 4 highest ranking splits. The surprise was #15, where I was second fastest. I definitely cut my speed on this leg: after promising myself I'd "retire" at 14 (halfway), I only did 15 because it was on the way back. Furthermore, at one point someone was coming the other way in a narrow passage of vegetation, and I paused maybe 5 secs to let him pass. So how did I wind up with such a high ranking split? Perhaps it was the route choice: I avoid the bushy area W of the control by taking the path to the hairpin turn to the NW and then followed the edge of the bushes.

[Orienteering training]

C • Didn’t see you there 4

Warm up, partly with Marie-Josee.

Went directly from #15 to #28 and then to the Finish, as a cool down.

Was actually antsy to get some exercise, a good sign. But even if I'd been more tempted, it was pouring outside.

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching and strength exercises.

Lake Ranch Reservoir. Low 50's, not raining, but kind of raw and wet. Just wanted to take it easy, burn some calories, elevate my heart rate for a half hour and still allow my legs to recover a bit more from Tuesday's workout, so as to be ready for a snappier run at Oyster Bay on Sunday (weather permitting). And I did just that.

---------------513(546)1059(510)1609
3212(459)2713(623)2049(440)

[Easy distance]

Cool down.

Actually was a rest day, for a change (as opposed to a busy with no exercise).

Up late communicating with lots of people about the start procedure for the Champs as well as other matters. Way too hyped up, slept only two hours. Now I really must let go.

Calero. Jog out to the start of the training exercise I created for myself.

Calero. Lovely sunny day, though the ground is very wet. Took a nap in the car (after a very poor night's sleep) before heading out. Love to be out here with the hills so green.

Several days ago figured I had time for one more good physical training before the Champs, and didn't take long to figure out it should be speed work. Then had the idea to do threshold intervals but in terrain, so made myself a short, flatish course at Calero: 1.4km, 10m climb, 9 controls. Idea was to run hard, faster than I would in a Middle course, not worrying too much about navigating, and take 1 min breaks every few minutes. I was in fact able to hit the first 5 controls, but didn't spot #6 or #7, though I must've passed close by. While taking one of the little breaks in the vicinity of #7, relocated by some features below, and then nailed 8 and 9. Grass was getting long and was wet, which made running it tiring. Very fine workout and an enjoyable adventure.

Interval times, with rests in brackets:

235 [103] --- at #3 - 493m, so almost exactly 8 min/mile pace
320 [101] --- between 5 and 6 - about 390m; slowed by climbing
129 [104] --- couldn't sustain this one nearly as long as the first two
52 [107] --- got into O2 debt, wasn't sure where I was, but relocated
121 [43] --- again couldn't sustain very long, stopped short of #9
38 -- ran the last little bit at a somewhat slower pace

Total time of 15:15, with 5 minutes of rest. Pace for the runs averaged 7 mins/km (straight line), which is certainly faster than I can run a Middle course.

Much tougher running in terrain than on a trail! Usually I can do three or four threshold intervals on a trail of about 4.5 mins each. Clearly couldn't sustain that here. All the more reason to run more often in terrain!

The grass wasn't as bad as Day 2 at the J.Grant A-meet last April, but in some places it was nearly so. Sure hope that's not the case at Morgan Territory in ten days, but it certainly could be.

[Orienteering training] [Threshold intervals]

Calero. Cool down. After walking for 6 minutes, jogged through some parts of Calero I don't think I've ever been through.

Usually I'd be really eager to run after two days off, but body and legs are feeling tired, weather is still iffy (but, really, nothing that should stop me from running), so don't go out. Knees feeling really creaky. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be sunny, so planning to go out to Calero and do a little training exercise I designed.

Been spending a lot of time on various aspects of the planning for the US Champs. It's grabbed hold of me and is wearing me out. Gotta start letting go.

C • Yep 2

Walk on Skyline with L to where the big downed tree was, beyond the first of the S-curves before Four Winds.

High winds overnight, major trees down, power and phone lines dragged with them. Mud slides and downed trees blocking roads. By early afternoon, there was a break in the weather and we heard that Bear Creek Rd was open, so dashed into LG for showers at the JCC and to get some needed supplies.

Miraculously, the power came back around 7:30pm.

After running some errands in Los Gatos, came home late afternoon and soon after the power went out. With a big storm predicted overnight, prospects for getting the power back don't look good.

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching and strength exercises.

Front of house. Drizzle, breezy, lots of puddles, but didn't let any of that deter me. Wanted a moderate run, one that would leave me not feeling taxed at the end, and that's exactly what I got, even with a pickup on the last lap. Pleased that the time was as fast as it was given how easily I was running. Resisted the temptation to go even faster on the last lap.

615, 554, 543, 535, 523, 520, 502

[Easy distance]

Cool down.

Drove to SF late afternoon for a dinner celebration at Zazie's with Rachel.

Skyline to Black and back, on my own. Mid-60's, ran in t-shirt and shorts.

Excellent run. Thought about running a little longer or a little faster, and wound up doing both. (Guess I needed to prove to myself that the struggles of the last 1.5 weeks didn't mean that all the hard work from the previous 4 months had gone to waste.) Intentionally started out fast, but still really surprised how fast the split was at the 1.15 mi mark. I'd have to go back a lot of years to find something that fast. Throttled back just a little the rest of the way out to Black, but still kept getting way faster splits than I was expecting. Some hard breathing on the uphills, but generally slower than threshold pace. Finally eased off a bit in the next to last mile, and lower legs and knees were starting to feel it in the last mile, so eased off a bit more, but still going faster than anytime in the last couple of years.

++++++++++++++++++ | ------ (1110) -------- |
---------------127(1037)1204(433)1637(637)2314(607)2921
5556(112)5444(1053)4351(352)3959(510)3449(528)
++++++++++++++++++ | ------ (902) --------- |

Hadn't run nearly this fast in three years, 55:42 on 3-25-13; that day, was only 30:20 at the turnaround, and then intentionally picked it up. To be fair, have only run this about 10 times in the last three years, and a good number of those were parts of longer runs.

On 1-29-13, did (29:14)54:26. That last one is the fastest since 5-25-08's 53:04.

NB: PR is 44-something, but that was 20 years ago. Not thinking about that. Very pleased with this one.

[Distance]

C • Ready for US Champs 7

Cool down.

Up at 5:30 to get to a funeral in Moraga (Louise's Aunt Pillar, who passed away at age 93). Nice lunch with the family, then took Rachel back to SF and visit her lab. Met her advisor Felice for the first time, as well as a couple of other people. Everyone is happy because Rachel passed her Qualifying Exams yesterday!