Training Log Archive: piutepro

The "Humphrey Bogart movie dark wet night" loop. Light rain but quite warm. The Batona 500 still in my mind, with some acceptable navigation and some dismal moments. I haven't raced much this fall. I wonder, how I could extend the good speed on the last controls of day 2. This is the way I would like to do it all the time. Fast and determined and the controls come flying without much effort.

Batona 500, day 2 on red. Have a decent run for most of the course, with some directional challenges when hitting trail intersections in a hurry. I almost picked the wrong trail leaving #5 and again after #9. I move better than yesterday and can even red the hillish and reentrish waves. Some mistake #16, drift south and misread the rootstock/reentrant situation. I figure it soon, keep moving again, until doing a short cut through the worst storm damage/root stock area, misreading the trail, so I ended on the road. Was dazed and confused, then Sergej G. appraoches along the road and I realize that I am doing fine and am where I think I am. I have a sudden surge of energy and run ahead of Sergej. Have the most fun of the race on the last control. Of course I wish the race fever had come earlier, but I always take the good few minutes in the end. It was fun to have good legs for a change.

Some fire ditch running. More would be better.

Red - Splits

Event: BATONA 500
 

Batona 500, day 1, red. Hm, urgh, scratch, slam, boom, kaboom. Bad #4, not much use of the usual navigating skill, kind of how to produce as many mistakes in one single mistake effort. At least I bounce back, keep running and have almost a good run, with some smaller problems and some fast legs, not counting the stumbler at #16.
Made the mistake of reading contours when they are only and lonely single contours not meaning much. And they were not marked in the terrain. Next time: Compass and reading what I can see, not looking for what I can't see.

Batona sprint not exactly at sprint speed. Very green, briars or rose family related, kind of blood thirsty plants. SF does the sprint 5x, I do it 7x, but I only log it once. Believe it or not, write a comment or not, breathe or eat, it is your choice.

Warm-up before red course and run to start. I look for the endangered plants, they look very much like blueberries.

Day 1 Red - Splits

The "Write and run" loop. You would not believe it, but writing is a physically demanding sport. Not the typing, but the thinking. I guess I live through the imagined activity. No, I don't log writing as training, not as weighlifting of my fingers nor as sitting in a chair upright for several hours. The run is fine, at least I realize that I still have a body and that brain is not a muscle. Or is it?

Warm up, stretching and getting in some relaxed state, also wake me up from dreaming myself away in what?

The "A little bit down but now back up" loop. I feel somewhat tired after sloshing three hours plus in the woods yesterday. Today it is a brilliant warm today, T-shirt weather, great. Do some martial arts practice down at the river. Good fighting, water lazy, wind licks warm, stuff like that.

Practice in my new open air dojo at the river. Start to get the feel in my movement. The perfect motion is still far away, so much to consider, the center (from where all the movement are supposed to come), the alignment of the feet, the soft relaxed knees, the breathing, the smooth movement, the balance between tension and flabby flailing, the mental focus and detachment from all the million crabby thoughts. The world of things collapses away and some little things come together right here. Hit now, look now, don't run when you don't run and run when you run. And more things like that, as the newly crowned rowing and running poet Tom C. would say. While I am wondering, who writes this weird stuff in my column?

C • center 3

Course setting for AR training at South Mountain. Heavy rain, lots of flooding. Once I am out there, packaged in the rain jacket and the map double bagged, I am doing alright. Just not pretending that I can do it with dry feet. But it is warm rain and fun to run across the torrents which replace the trails.

I have not much energy except in my head, which does some intracranial pounding. So I warm up and stretch carefully, hoping to get the stiff neck and back into a better shape.

Running the "Again" loop. Feel already better. Tomorrow I have to set a three hour night-o course, so I take it easy. Should have gone today, tomorrow they predict lots of rain. I stop in the middle of the run for some martial arts practice.

It is warm and pleasant. I do easy attacks, punching and hitting, plus a lot of breathing and stretching. It is a great spot down at Denning's Point, the Hudson River gently lapping on the shore, there is some wind and the night is bright. Nobody is bothered by the intense sounding out.

I find the center, get stronger and find a good presence. Great to see how bothering, unquieting, nasty, pesty and other unpractical things float away. Detachment. Focus on what is here. Warrior. The ground under my feet, the night and some precise attacks. As precise as they can be, since I am not in my best martial art shape anymore.

Both the stretching and the aikido practice make clear, that I need to work on my mental/physical connection. As I run back, I consider running another set of martial art movement. Stay relaxed, in the flow, allow things to happen instead of forcing them, instead of pushing and wanting.

I still feel the practice, three hours later. I changes the mind, it clarifies and throws out the white squirrels of doubting and whining. Tchonk, the edge of my hand chops the air and hits sharp and dry. Kjiaaaaia.