Training Log Archive: Trav

Trix and I pounded out some hills. Warmup around Skunk hollow and then 4 times Artaban. Bonus intensity run back around Skunk Hollow and out to Artaban via Danish Hill.

Sulphur Springs registration is up. Given what a rush it was last May, I propose that we get TWO relay teams together out of the greater GHO running community and then pit ourselves against each other. We could even reprise a bit of the Blaze vibe by pitting a younger team against an older team.

And I AM running this year. On the older team. If that's how this works out.

Expressions of interest?

C • yup 21

8s with Dr. Poo and Sarah. Though many have abandoned TnT a hardy few keep up the good work. 1,2,3,2,1 times through the 8,

C • keep it up! 6

Cruisey run with Balogna through gracious florida golf neighbourhoods.

Very pretty run around Bonita Bay with Balogna as the rabbit.

Back to being a Prisoner of Artaban. Trix likes it because she can persecute a variety of mammals and she gets to keep coming back to see if anyone has failed to learn the terrible lessons that she so fiercely teaches.

4 times with a warm up around skunk hollow.

Pump house loops. singles and doubles alternating. Finished with a bonus cardiac hill just for grins. Duane continues to burn up the golf course.

Gorgeous morning run with Balogna, KatieMac and the dogs. Powerful nice looking valley we have here.

While doing Trixy tempo from the Trav tree, KM and I surprised a flight of deer. The dogs went berserk and the deer angled down the escarpment below and ran parallel to us for a few hundred meters. Otherworldly good fun.

Solo SMT--hey someone has to keep the home fires burning--with Trix and special guest dog, Mikey.

C • Sunday 6

Family run around the park

The hard core TNT group came out. First run of the Aberdeen loop. 7 times. Duane is clearly the fastest among us.

Good run on a perfect late fall day with Turbo, back for a few days before heading off again to Cambodia to mug for the cameras some more.

3rd Annual Falls run from the Hottage. 9am start Sunday, December 30

C • Falls Run 2

SMT with Turbo, Super and half of PH. Pretty day, but treacherous trail conditions. ambushes all over the place beneath the leaf cover. we all got pretty tossed around.

Good tnt session with the hardy Duane, Dr. Poo, Tracey and Sarah. 6 sets 3, 3, 2, 4, 3, 4 and a bonus acceleration to the finish.

The Men of Constant Sorrow are registered for the half Raid, but I'm the only one left standing. Mike and Ralph are both injured. I could run it solo, or I could take on two strangers, or I could donate our team entry to a needy team from ARK.

PH, Hammer: any suggestions? Happy to give this over to some folks who could benefit from this opening.

C • RtH 4

Pleasant family run around the Balogna loop. Great to be in the valley with Trix and her Balogna-ship, but not the same as being in the gauzy, soft focus cloud of bro-love from yesterday.

Kapow! A wildly amazing super cool run with da boyz. Had no idea what to expect or what I was capable of, but was much calmed by having PH as a pace bunny.

Started out a little fast because some 4 foot tall 10 year old was 5 meters ahead and that irritated me for reasons I'm not proud of. Fortunately, we had delegated leadership of this expedition to PH and he verbally slapped me upside the head. I fell in behind him.

2-3k in, I realized that the pace we were at was a pace that I could maintain for a while. It suddenly became apparent that a sub-40 10k was possible, not just for me, but for all of us. Super looked comfortable and Duane, who had never run a 10k, was smooth. Takes a lot of the fuss out of the piece to have someone set the pace and know that that pace is manageable.

PH pulled us closer to Reid's pack and we latched onto the "40k pace groups" between the 4 and 5k marker. We had a fine tailing breeze on the westward legs and on the eastward bits I just tucked in behind Duane or PH who are, like huge. Quiet as can be back there.

By 6k I knew we would nail this as a group. Supe was struggling a bit, but still looking pretty cruisey, Duane was breathing noisily but steady and PH was determined to school Reid by maintaining a 3 meters lead over the group. Bit by bit, the others in the Reid group began to fall away. Super let us go at 7k, but he was still in good shape. PH, sensing that he had done his job, turned it up a notch, leaving me and Duane in Reid's good hands.

Neither Duane nor I had functional watches and so we just hung on to Reid step for smooth, floating step. Man, that guy runs beautifully. It's almost lyrical. And to be 2 feet to the left and behind a guy like that, just patterning off his rhythm and letting him make all the decisions is a rare gift from the athlete gods.

The last km was a haze, but likely the fastest I have run in a race. As we turned sharply into the finish stretch, 300 meters to go, I saw that the first two digits were 38, which made no sense. But there it was; and then I saw PH go in under 38:30. Hot damn!

Reid, Duane, Reid's friend Tim and I had been accelerating for the past few minutes and were now in a full sprint. This was no longer about 40 minutes; this was now about something else completely, something deeply satsifying. This was about having a Good Day.

Duane pulled out just a bit more and nailed it 2 seconds ahead. I got the money shot tying with Reid at 38:38. And friend Tim was a second behind.

We jumped up and down for a few moments and then focussed on Super and instantly there he was, coming in under 39:30, demonstrating that real training is just bad time management.

Mission accomplished for all of us. Hardware all around.

C • awesome report 14

Warmup for the 10k

C • Post already! 5

10 k tomorrow at 11am. If folks want to use the hottage for base camp, cool, but Super and I, led by PH as our pace bunny, will be running at the Road to Hope thingy.

C • Sub 40 11

Perfect little family taper run.