Training Log Archive: piutepro

Blue course at Moneyhole HVO meet. I move with injuries pointing the way, so to speak. As our HVO team doctor says, if it were broken, I wouldn't run around like I do. (disclaimer: The diagnosis is purely for entertainment and is not to be taken for professional advice).

I run through the on and off rain. Some controls I catch in the last moment when looking back and seeing it at a cliff or the boulder. It can get tricky, since the green has expanded and some trails were moved. So once people lost contact, they were out for a while.

I am in good shape after tapering off all last week. Hope I can resume tempo runs soon.

Getting ready with some jog before the race and cooling down in a thunderstorm. Nevertheless I run until I feel good and relaxed.

Blue - Splits

The double toe loop. The colors of the left toe have gone back to normal skin tone. It is one of the weirdest injuries I ever had, both toes wrecked. It seems to be the last joint on the left toe and the second last joint on the right toe. I hurt them within a week, in separate crashes. Maybe I was trying to protect the right toe when hurting the left toe.
This is a stupid story and maybe not worth writing about it. It is not invented nor does it have a good poetic value. A prosaic one maybe. Of course the concern is, if something is broken or partially broken. In Sweden or Canada I would get an X-ray. Here I do African medicine: See if it gets worse and wait.

The Carrot Cake loop. I tape both toes, hoping it puts less strain on them. The problem is that other parts of the foot and legs start hurting, when I try to avoid using too much weight or strength on the toes. But today it goes ok, running goes better, I can even add some speed.

I pick up controls at Ringwood. Try to push the speed while running through the dense woods. I wear clear sun glasses, no reading glasses, because I know the map and the controls. Wearing the glasses gives a different feel and some sense of safety for my eyes. Now I got to find the glasses with the built in magnifier. Hopefully in some store to try them out first.

Right after returning to the car a tremendous thunderstorm starts. Good timing.

The 'Hungry Butter' loop. My legs feel like clay in the beginning, after crawling around in the dirt to clean up some flower beds (is this mental training?) and moving the compost (weight training?).

The 'Mailbox-sprouts-water' loop, named after a deep gray cloud hovering across the river at Storm King Mountain. Clearly a sign of approaching clear beautiful gushing rain, a pleasure to watch from inside and a great incentive to do real work while the plants outside suck up the delivery.

The 'Mailbox-sprouts-water' loop gets tedious. I try to rest my toe, so there is no tempo and no speeding and no good lactic acid provoking running.

I have a mildly entertaining e-mail discussion with an orienteer who insists that going into an area with no trespassing signs is very much illegal. He claims that he lost 40 minutes going around some private land. I told him, that common sense is useful, meaning don't run through their strawberry garden, but passing through some open woods usually doesn't hurt anyone or anything. He accused me as the acting HVO president I am not supposed to encourage breaking the law. Which I don't do. I advised common sense and a responsible decision by the runner. And of course the punch line was, when I checked the map and the course, he had deviated about 1 k from the line using a not very economic route choice to find the 'no trespassing' signs. They are in the middle of nowhere and away from any house or other building. In the end I noticed, that with improved orienteering skills he might find a direct route choice which doesn't lead him into legal troubles. Glad he doesn't know about attack badgers, turkeys and snow snakes. He would sue me for encounters with endangered species. Maybe I need malpractice insurance as club president.

The Chirping Mine Flower loop. I am slowed down by the non functioning toe. After some warm up I can run. I hope the injury is not too bad. The pain level is relatively low, so I assume the best.

While I run I ponder about a name for the A-meet next year. I cannot publish the results here, except that it won't be called the 'Surebridge Rock Kicker' nor 'Drilling Mines by Hand'. It might be something like 'Kids lost in the woods and rescued by a bear squad', but this seems longish and also might prevent the younger generation from going in the woods. So it's maybe 'Bear Dens, Attackbadger Mines and Turkey Shadows', which is a cuddly and fuzzy title.