Training Log Archive: GlenT

Dodge the Deer 5k Trail Run

Dodge the Deer 5k Trail race at Schodack Island State Park. Quite tame trails with no climb, minimal roots and no rocks. The only paved part of the entire course is two crossings of park roads. Great weather for racing, about 50F and sunny at the start - first (outdoor) run in shorts since last Fall.

Going in I thought that 25:00 might be a reasonable goal, so targeted that. Out a bit fast (7:38 first mile) but hung on to meet the goal. "Tapered" by orienteering for 100 minutes yesterday at Pound Ridge, so I'm satisfied with the result. Placed 3rd in M60-64 and won some cookies. Overall 77th out of ~350. Ran this race almost 2 minutes faster 4 years ago.

This was the 13th running of this race, very capably hosted by the Albany Running Exchange. They have a prize for top couple (combined time) which was won by, believe it or not, Mr. And Mrs. John Deer (yep, real names).

Warm up, on a section of the race course near parking plus checking out start and finish sections. Didn't do any cool down other than walking around afterwards.

Event: HVO Ward Pound Ridge
 

HVO local event at Ward Pound Ridge. Blue course (8.1km SL, 350m climb). Wide open woods with typical Hudson Valley rockiness. What little undergrowth there was had no leaves. Some mountain laurel but most of it is passable. Low 50s, partly cloudy and breezy - just about perfect. Courses by Craig Weber.

Since the woods are wide open and the map is pretty good, the navigation was mostly straightforward. Nice leg 7-8 through an area of rocks, mountain laurel and large cliffs (set up very nicely after 7 simpler legs). I lost contact on this leg (although as it turns out I was right where I thought I was but didn't pause long enough to verify). Ended up looping around on trails for safer navigation. Probably cost me 4-5 minutes. A few other smaller errors, mostly not being careful with the compass direction, including a couple minutes lost on 12-13 by heading off 90 degrees off.

Overall a fine day in the woods and an indicator that I should survive at least the first 100 minutes of the Billygoat.

Blue - Splits

With springy rings.

Intervals on the treadmill because it's still too darn cold to do this stuff outside. 2-3-2-3-2 minutes @8:00/mi, 1% grade with 90 sec recovery. HR bogus during warm-up.

C • Cold? 2

Got to work some of the muscles which weren't already sore from yesterday.

Ran ~5k at a moderate pace then walked about 5 minutes cooling down. Forgot my MP3 player so this was extra boring (if that's even possible).

C • Extra boring 1

This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be after two weeks off (once I survived the "speed yoga" warm-up).

Aside: Sitting in Starbucks overhearing three "older" folks discussing their ailments and medications (and how much they cost). Note to self - never stop exercising.