Training Log Archive: FoxShadow

Running at the river bottoms on a gorgeous sunny day, the trails are well packed down and made for one of the better runs of the winter.

Midnight moonlight Alleycat race. A series of Alleycat races held at midnight on weekends that have a full moon.

Raced with Scotty and Biz. We met in the basement of the Guthrie Parking lot at 11:30PM for registration, race at Midnight. No map or manifest this time. Instead the race director asked for receipts from a gas station--you must return with a receipt of purchase, and the purchased item goes into the winner's kitty. First stop was the SA on Lyndale and 22nd. I knew where it was but started with a route choice bobble. Returned to the Guthrie with a cherry fruit cake for the kitty. Next CP's were Santana Foods (yeah, the place where somebody was shot dead, and also the place that got robbed by somebody using a sword, awesome) on University and 6th and then the Kum and Go on Broadway and Jefferson. This took us a while as we were not sure where University and 6th was. We bought oatmeal creme pies and some strange peanut bar that looked good because it was coming up on 2AM. We all stopped to take a knee on the side of the building. These things somehow seem normal when it's a full moon, it's 2 AM, and everyone else that is still awake is doing things much more criminal.

Next stop was Bobby and Steve's, only 6 blocks away. We hit gold here, buying a big pack of fig newtons and the freshest, softest apple Trolli O's a man has ever eaten. At the finish we hammered $10 of gas station snacks each, and rode home in 17 degree weather. Cold hands and toes. Scotty was shutting down, he had been sick most the week so riding hard for 2.5 hours in the freezing cold with marginal gear choices was tough on him. Made it home by 3AM.

This is what we do in Minnesota.

C • Great race report 3

Went to anytime fitness and rode the spin bike -- cool technology. This thing had a TV connected to it with spinning videos built into it that created customized video workouts that changed/adapted based on your cadence and heart rate. I'd never seen this, pretty cool equipment.

Two miles in 15 minutes after the bike ride. Can't leave the gym doing nothing other than the bike, I'd feel like something is missing if I did.

Andrei 3000 and I tackled a full loop at Hyland in 17 degrees that felt like less. A good quick workout. Unexplainably, a ski pole of mine somehow flew out of my rocketbox on my way to pick up Dr. Drei.

Took out the bike to ride up from Bloomington to a few properties in Golden Valley and North Minneapolis. It was a great way to get a feel for the neighborhoods. Met Biz to get his insight which was nice--he came up with the money idea for the master bed/bathroom at my last project.

Moved to 10-4 on the season against a good team, but thier skip was throwing lead, so it was less of a victory than perhaps it could have been. Regardless, it's our team's best record ever--I'll take it.

C • specators 4

A light and easy spin to loosen up the tired legs from the Snowgaine.

Event: CAOC Snowgaine!
 

Kelly and I (Furry Chupacabra) tackeled a hilly, strategic, and snowy Snowgaine. Although we finished 5th, we had a great go. Much more good than bad -- I was very pleased. There is considerable room for improvment --Two small nav. errors and a few small and one largish route choice error. This map makes me wish I had a Garmin to publish our route.

C • great job 2

Andrei 3000 gave me a tour of the trails at Hyland, good stuff.

Went to Fit Studios early to warm up, got there really early because traffic was not as bad as I anticipated.

Work out with Danielle at Fit Studios, I am already super sore and it was a mere 14 hours ago. Good stuff though, I'll be back. The good news is--she's racing with 24SEVEN at the 12 hour! Uh-oh! Clear the lane!

Went out for a ride but still feel like I'm on a ship so it wasn't fun. Turned around and headed home after not too long.

C • fyi...there is a new town h... 5

Got in a run with MoLuv around Isles and Calhoun. Didn't see as many chicks as the last time I ran around Calhoun. Maybe it's because last time was in August. Thanks for the laughs!

Last gym session on the ship. Could not run because the waves were so big that running on the treadmill was dangerous. Winds from the NW at 25 knots.

Upper

Hill workout on the treadmill

Hard lower body workout

Hired a boat and guide to take us out to the Belize Barrier Reef. Every windy though, made it dangerous to swim between tall coral outcroppings, as I was being swung side to side 1-3 feet with each wave. A good workout, and a monster blister on my right foot from swimming hard with flippers on. The best snorkeling I've seen. That reef system is another world. Well worth it.

Did the Cozumel "Amazing Race". Basically an urban oriteering race with lots of mystery challenges. It turned out to be really great! The reason I really liked it was that the race was imbedded into the city. Since it's a touristy race, the same race gets run all the time, probably a few times a week. So the race directors are able to imbed the clues and tasks into the shops, museums, markets, and people of the city. What that also means is that the shop owners, taxi drivers, bums, and everyone in the city knows which way you're going and what you're looking for. So they can help, or, what more fun, they can point the wrong way and then laugh. A very unique experience. Usually everyone is looking at us OTNT'ers like we're nuts. Here they all knew what we were doing running full speed through the city of cozumel, sweating like crazy, staring at the map and dodging traffic the whole time. Really fun.

There were 9 teams, about 45 people. We missed the course record by 10 minutes, but lost 15 minutes on a misprinted map clue. At first I thought it was a misplaced CP, although the "clue" made sense, so later it was clear that the CP was placed wrong on the map, but was where the race intended it to be.

We won a T-shirt. I'm probably putting it on Ebay.

Lots of fun.

C • Shirt 3

After the race early in the morning, still had some juice, so hit the gym for some running and lifting.

They had real "Spinning" bikes on the ship, so I took advantage for a bit before getting bored out of my mind.

Went Para-sailing. The thing where you go up with a parachute on while connected to a boat and they let the rope out and you go up and up.

I had NO IDEA they were going to send me high as they did. Over 1500 feet up, and the rope from the boat was at maybe a 30-45 degree angle, so the rope was really long, likely well over 3000 feet long. It was very quiet and peaceful up there. I've never skydove (skydived?) but I think I got a decent feel for the height of it, cars and boats below were tiny dots. Beautiful sunny day over the caribbean. A good way to take it in.

They had real "Spinning" bikes on the ship, so I took advantage for a bit before getting bored out of my mind.

Upper and lower, quick and easy.

Interval workout 3 min on at 10mph, recover, repeat four times. Warm up and cool down.

Headed out to Lebanon with the studded tires. Did a loop on the intermediate track, it was very technical but not unrideable. Next time I'll bring my skis too, that might be the perfect double winter workout.

A nice light Yowsa session to start off the morning.

It's loggable, see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CAnRGVCAvA

Warm up the legs while reading about the U.S. Alpine team's Olympic hopes.

Went pretty hard on the legs tonight as I'm feeling pretty motivated this week. Squats, lunges, leg press, hamstring iso, glute iso, calves. Felt strong.

Hopped on the treadmill to watch espn break down the big Wisconsin vs. Michigan state game. I can hardly bear to watch. Going to Andrew Kroese's tonight so I'll have to see what Bucky can muster late tonight on tape delay. Go Bucky!

C • BUCKY TRIUMPH! 1

Warm up jog, weights, sit-ups, and some PT type stuff. A quick one before curling. Hey, can I log curling? I'm going to, if Ian can log his ballet ball for hours on end I can log curling I would have to think. : )

C • Can't bring myself to log Curling draws. 8

A nice win to move to 8-4 on the season despite the handicappers coming down on us pretty hard most nights. Happy to report my curling shoes are making releases more consistent. My brushing was a bit weak tonight after going to the gym, but we got the job done 10-4 so it mattered not. Our team talked about it a little bit, we are going to start pushing for 2016 in Russia now.