Training Log Archive: DWildfogel

Driving home from SF late last night (actually, 1 am Sat), saw 8 fireballs in an hour, even with a limited view (out the front of the car) and with the moon close to full. As I read when I got home, this was the Geminid meteor shower, which generates more fireballs than other showers because it's particle stream is the detritus of an asteroid rather than a comet and thus the particles tend to be heavier. In any case, that was the best display I've ever seen.

C • Saw it too 2

JCC. Discovered an additional exercise room with more and different equipment, and tried a few things out. Continued the theme of more weight and fewer reps. Some mat and bosu exercises, too.

The usual weekly accumulation of morning stretching.

Front of house. Sunny and cool. Wanted an easy run, and that's what it was.

618, 556, 549, 536, 534, 114

Cool down

JCC. First time using the athletic facilities at the Jewish Community Center. Having read Nancy Clark's article in the Nov/Dec O/NA about training for aging athletes, realized that I have gone too far in my strength training towards low weight/high reps and decided I will go for higher weight/fewer reps. Specifically, the idea is to 2 sets of 8 reps and then do the third set to exhaustion; if you can do 12 reps on that third set, then the weight is too low. So, did my curls and presses with 25 lbs each arm, and that seemed about right. Also tried out some of the stair master / eliptical type machines. I think the stair master could be good for me to re-build some quad strength.

Lake Ranch Reservoir. Legs felt better than I thought they would after three races on the weekend. Nevertheless, I would've run a couple of minutes slower, but Louise was pushing the pace a bit, and I wasn't having any trouble keeping up.

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3832(42)3412(529)2842(417)2424(432)

Cool down

Theraband and weights, 2 sets rather than 3.

Well earned rest day after the conclusion of a long and reasonably successful year of A-meets.

Sprint the Golden Gate. San Francisco State. Masters/Juniors Sprint. Sunny and chilly. Start at 11:04. Great fun. Hesitant the first two, but then did really well, with only a :25 mistake on #7.

Starts were delayed by 40 mins. Fortunately we had the nice lobby of the library to hang out in so we could stay out of the sub-40-degree weather.

Determined to do better today after having one lousy control each of the first two days plus several other suboptimal ones. Wound up with a much better run, with the only real mistake being less than half a minute (on #7, a multi-level situation).

As has happened in other sprints, I didn’t run fast enough in the beginning, something I’ve been trying to work on. Had about :50 of lost time through #8, but I was nearly 2 mins behind Tapio and Izzy at that point; in contrast, from there to the Finish, I was only :13 behind Tapio and was :12 faster than Izzy.

1. Next to last starter, so had seen the direction several people had taken towards #1. But after turning the corner, was wary of crossing any of the out-of-bounds green, and had to stop twice to make sure I was OK. Lost :10.

2. A few steps towards #2, and I again had to stop to make sure about not crossing green. This was the last time I stopped until a brief stop leaving #14. Seemed like I lost less than :10, but looking at the splits, it appears I lost :15.

3. Considered going left, but right looked like smoother running, so did that, and felt good.

4. Back down the stairs, E to the edge of the map, then S. Nailed it.

5. On the way to #4, debated about whether to go around the N or S side of the building to get to #5. Figured going S would give me a look at the route to 6. Did that without problems or hesitations.

Felt like I did 3, 4, 5 very well, but my times weren’t particularly great. I have to learn to ran faster earlier in a sprint.

6. Back out the way I came in, E, then S down the alley I’d spotted on the way to #5. Good split here shows that my route to #5 paid off by giving me a preview of the route to #6.

7. Spent a lot of time on this leg scrutinizing the map trying to disentangle the two circles and other purple markings near #7, which probably slowed me down a little, maybe :05. Unfortunately, mis-read the clue qualifier as “northern” rather than “upper”, so as I approached I wasn’t sure which level to go for. I recognized this as one of the multi-level situations that Vlad had pointed out, and that he said in the case that the main running level was the lower one. So I went there first, with the plan that if the control wasn’t there I’d go to the upper level. It wasn’t there, so without hesitating continued on up the next set of stairs and around to the upper level. Lost about :20 there, :25 all together on the leg.

8. Recognized that the other multi-level situation that Vlad pointed out was at the W end of the level that the control was on, so I headed there without hesitation, knowing that there was a stairway leading down (though that’s awfully hard to see on the map). Never noticed the route going past #14 before turning W.

Halfway through, so I started picking up the pace. Thought I executed #9 through #14 to near perfection. Caught up to Chuck at #13.

15. Leaving #14, stopped (for the first time since heading to #2) for just a couple of seconds because what I was seeing ahead didn’t quite meet my expectations, but a quick look at the map showed that everything was fine.

Love these campus orienteering events!

My route is on the Get Lost RouteGadget site.

Warm up: 10 mins, 0.8 mi

Cool down: 5 mins, 0.3 mi

Stage Five: Masters/Juniors - Splits