Training Log Archive: bishop22

4 x 400m at the Thomas track with the team.

We ran over to Thomas from Schroeder (15:10), then did the 400s, with pretty much full recovery (I jogged about 3 minutes after each). I limited the kids to Rep pace for the first 3, but said they were welcome to run faster on the last one. And they did! I think Alex was 61, Nico 62, then a bunch around 67. Chelsea beat me, despite my all-out effort on the homestretch.
85, 82, 82, 76

I ran back to Schroeder to get Chelsea's car, since most kids were getting picked up at Thomas. Went a little quicker on the way back, as penance for not beating Chelsea on the last 400.

I told the kids they could have tomorrow off. Let's see what they can do on Saturday.

Halloween Hash in the city. Did a short loop around the Alexander / Monroe area, and wound up at a gay bar. Then it was back to the Mudmobile for a trip to Nathaniel's where the hare had tickets for a 1-hour open bar, then ON ON to a pretty decent haunted house, then back to the Monroe Ave scene.

Easy run around Webster Park - for the last time this season - during XC practice. Ran with Coach Klehr.

The team did an easy run around Webster Park, with 8x30 second pick-ups. But it turns out that their easy pace is pretty tough for me these days, as I tried to follow them from a bit behind. I was still a little sore from Saturday, but I think the main problem is that my easy runs have been too easy.

Easy run on the Genesee Valley Park map, after dropping Zach off for his hockey scrimmage there. They got spanked pretty good, but they were playing a good AAA team.

Running around Mendon Ponds during the County Meet. Pretty good performance by the kids - the Varsity Girls were 11th (12th was predicted); the Boys were 13th (15th was predicted). Some especially good performances by those on the bubble for Sectionals - makes for a very tough call on who to send, but I think it should end up being the 7 fastest from today.

Overall, there were 15 boys that also ran last year, and the average improvement was 58 seconds (13 were faster), and the average would have been about 20 seconds higher if Kenny hadn't missed the meet last year. There were 5 girls that ran last year - 3 were slower and 1 was only 1 second faster, but Chelsea was 2:40 faster. But Ashley was only 16 seconds slower, with her best race of the year.

Another view is this table for the boys:

	2007	2006
<= 19 min	4	0
<= 20 min	11	7
<= 21 min	17	12

The course was certainly slower last year, but not that much slower, and our top 3 from last year graduated.

My legs were pretty wasted by the end of the 5 races that I (very actively) watched. My back and hip were even complaining.

The evil influences of Coach Klehr caused me to miss the run today. Actually, we just had to talk some things over about the end of the season, since he was back today, and since the kids were only heading out for a 20-minute jog, it didn't really leave any time to get out.

And then I had to go to the pasta party and EAT. Chelsea wouldn't let me go there sweaty, so I couldn't squeeze in a run after practice.

Easy run at Webster Park during practice (6 min w/up, 26 min run). The County kids just went 24 minutes easy (20 minutes + 1 minute for each kid that didn't show up). The Sectional kids did 4x15 seconds, scattering from the middle of the circle and back on alternating runs.

There was a typo on Wade's b-day cookie cake that made him 8 instead of 16.

Actually broke a sweat during this match. As usual, we blew 2 games late (and got blown out once), but managed to win the last one. My blocking is certainly coming back - I had the other team's best hitter psyched out by the end of the night.

Workout with the team at Webster Park. The kids that may have their last race at Counties on Saturday did just 4x400, with full recovery, while the top 5 boys and girls did 4x800 at tempo pace, but with about 3 min recovery (everyone started each interval at the same time). A little extra recovery before the last interval because the 3 fastest frosh decided they would try to "get it over with" and ran the last one too early, so we waited for them and let them run one more with the team (they were also instructed that if they didn't all finish before I came thru on my way to 800m, they would do another).

I was 3:09, 3:08, 3:07, 3:03 (came thru in 86 to keep the frosh honest). 2+ minutes jogging after each.

11:00 w/up
15:32 w/dn

Tried to help the kids understand how the training program we've followed should have them ready to go on Saturday. I think they were a little depressed after Monday. Most of the team has worked very hard most of the season, so I'm confident we'll see good performances on Saturday, even if the wind and rain, that is currently in the forecast, materializes.

Unplanned rest day. The school closed all the fields, so somehow that meant our practice (which is off at Webster Park, not on any school fields) had to be canceled. The school is going to turn the team into a bunch of wusses.

So, I got stuck at work, then had to renew my CPR certification, and was too hungry to do anything except eat after that.

C • zero 3

Easy run at Webster Park during XC practice.

The kids got a couple of good "pep talks" today. I think it is time to put a positive spin on things so they can be ready to run on Saturday.

BFLO Meet at Camp Schoellkopf, assuming we can squeeze it in before heading to the Bills game.

BFLO Meet at Camp Schoellkopf

Legs were feeling a little heavy from yesterday's time trial, but I was able to maintain a reasonable pace thru much of the course. The slow time is primarily due to the bags that were on the ground. This happened at 2, 3, 6 and 7.

At C2, I didn't lose much more than a) some confidence as I climbed the spur with no flag in sight and b) the time to pick it up and tie it back on to a tree (probably quite visible for the rest of the runners).

But at C3, I lost at least 7 minutes. It did not occur to me that there could be 2 flags in a row on the ground, so when I got to the correct hilltop and didn't see it, I was thinking that it was perhaps misplaced, so I wandered a bit, then attacked from a specific point on the trail and came back to the same hill. Some more wandering in case I could spot it elsewhere, then another attack from the small clearing to the north. This time I stood on the top of the hill, and noticed the flag near my feet, partially obscured by leaves. So I hung that back up.

No problems with 4 & 5. 6 was on the ground, but it didn't matter, since the knoll was easily visible from a distance (just lost the 10-15 seconds to tie it back on a tree). C7 was a problem. The area was just green enough, and had enough undulation, that I wasn't 100% sure I had the correct hilltop, so I checked out the creek view to verify my location and went back and found it on the ground - lost at least 2 minutes there.

The rest of the controls were all still hanging, so the only problem I had was rushing things on the approach to C11. I was using Nate's thumb compass, for just the second time and managed to take the wrong trail towards the wrong building and blew what should have been an easy control. I took too long to recover because I kept myself convinced that I had been at the correct building, even though the contours didn't make sense.

So, Rob ended up completely smoking me, and my 3 excuses (flags on the ground, heavy legs and inexperience with the thumb compass) don't seem to add up to explaining it.

C • Thanks. 2

About 4 minutes down to the main road and 5 minutes back before registering. No time for a w/dn, since I was off to the Bills game (and they actually held on for the win this time).

Ran back to the car from the Ralph after the game, hoping to get to Nate's 6pm hockey game. Turned out to be smooth sailing - I think a lot of people stayed in the parking lots to savor the win and the mid-to-upper 70s sunshiny afternoon.

Red - Splits

Team two-mile Thomas track time trial. I was very disappointed with the turnout; a few kids had valid excuses with pre-notification (4 kids at PSATs, 1 girl visiting MIT and 1 girl had an important family commitment), but there were a whole batch of unexcused no-shows.

15:12 w/up

2-miles in 12:51

17:09 w/dn

Easy run from Schroeder - ran much of it with Clare and Casey.

Intervals on the course at Webster Park. We did 2 x 2000m, mostly at Tempo pace, but with a Kenyan Surge Drill tossed in - 3 x 30 seconds at Interval pace.

I was running behind today, so my warm-up was way too short (4 minutes), and the first interval was a little slow: 8:45, but I was 8:33 on the second.

About a 5 minute recovery, 3 minutes jogging, after the first; 2 minutes jogging after the second.

12:15 wdn

Split 4 games again. We beat them up pretty badly in the 4th game, with a decent lineup and some serious hustle. Some of the rust is coming off - I actually had a couple of hits where I could see the floor on the other side of the net.

Directed KDawg, Alex and Nico in laying trail for about 40 minutes, then let them finish on their own, while for the next 20 minutes I circled back and made sure the pack wasn't hopelessly lost and finished up with them.

I heard a lot of whining about thorns and stuff. But the best part was Arjun getting stuck in the muck. I guess Brianna lost her shoe in there also.

I felt bad that I didn't have time to arrange refreshments at the end, so maybe it wasn't really "hashing".

C • Sounds like PG-13 rated hashing to me 2

C • I think its natural 2

C • extended family 3

Had to run much of the trail backwards to look for the, uh, "directionally" challenged. But they must have wandered in shortly after I left.

Running around Seneca Park during the dual meet against Thomas, Sutherland and Odyssey.

20:33 w/up from the shelter out past the mile mark and along the rest of the course, then back to the shelter.

During each race, I ran hard from just after the start to the other end of the pond, then easy out into the woods, most of the way to the back loop, then back to the "1/2 mile to go" turn, then hard back most of the way to the finish.

Quite an outstanding performance by the team. I don't have the facts and figures with me, but the girls took a nice shot at Thomas and Sutherland, with Chelsea running an incredible 20:39, and her 3:01 improvement over three weeks ago on the same course wasn't the biggest improvement on the team!

Nate and Nico went out way too fast (5:22 and 5:19, respectively), but held on pretty well and KDawg went under 18. Our 15th boy was 20:00, which is unprecedented in the last several years at Schroeder. Last year we only put 10 kids under 20 minutes on this course. We did have 15 boys (and 1 girl) under 20 at McQuaid, but that is only 3 miles, not 5K.

C • Scary fast 1

Mostly easy run at Webster Park during XC practice, the last half with Coach Klehr.

Big meet tomorrow for the girls. They have a shot at Thomas and Sutherland if they run very well (Odyssey only seems to have 3 girls that can actually run). The boys meet should be a snoozer for us, since Thomas is 8th in the state in Class AA, and Sutherland is 4th in the state in Class A. Maybe next year we can make it interesting against one, or both, of those teams. Oh, and we had better put 7 in front of Odyssey's 4th.

Dropped Zach off at the rink in Jamestown a little early, allowing for time for a 50-minute run thru town. I was able to grab a county tourist magazine with a (fairly lame, so this didn't quite qualify as a Map Run) map included, but it listed a couple of parks, so I used it to navigate around a bit.

Here is the route that I followed. The first park allowed for a nice bit of running, probably would have done more in that area, if I had seen the satellite view. The second park was just a boat launch. I ended up crossing the mighty Chadakoin River 4 times on different bridges.

Got back in time to see the opening faceoff. Z got his second goal in 2 days, with a nice backhand shot as he was being knocked down, and they went on to win, 6-0. Good thing, since we had to take a lap of western NY to get him there and back (we went via the thruway to Fredonia, but came back via 86/17 to Hornell to 390. Wouldn't have done that if I had known there was 22 miles of single lane construction zone, starting near Olean.

C • cons 1

C • Construction Near Olean 1

C • Construction Near Olean 2

Event: ROC - Webster Park
 

Running around the course at Alden HS, while the team competed in the Bulldog Invitational. 4 races: JV Boys ran quite well, and finished an amazing 3rd place, led by AJ and Whitty, who wound up with the 4th and 5th fastest times on the team, and Wade who was 7th. And 2 other freshmen broke 20 minutes to round out the top 5. And 3 other kids were under 21. But the best times were actually turned in by the slowest finishers - pretty much all of them.

The JV Girls also ran very well, but with the recent epidemic of grandparent deaths (3 this week), we were short a girl of having a JV team. All the starters finished under 27 minutes for the first time this year.

The Varsity Boys had a mixed race, but mostly good. Nico had an awesome run to lead the way in 17:43, Nate was nearby in 17:51 and KDawg had a very fine 18:07 (so close). Pat was in great position at the 2, but faded in the last mile, Marcin had some hip pain that slowed him, but he toughed it out, and Alex just coasted thru his first race since McQuaid.

The Varisty Girls were last, but not least. They managed 8th place, out of 17 (plus 4 incomplete). Megan was 15th in a quick 20:19. Chelsea had a decent run (21:48) and Janelle had a great run, keeping up with Brianna. And Clare looks like she may be on the comeback trail. Missing Ashley and Alaina cost us a bunch of points. Here's a tip: don't kick people during XC season.

Easy run from Schroeder - about 8 min w/up, then almost 30 min with Nate, KDawg and Alex - thru Waverly Woods, out to Ridge then off-road over to Town Hall and back around Schroeder a bit.

Interval workout at Webster Park, with the team.

The bus (supposed to arrive just after 3:30) didn't show up until after 4:15, so I just managed a 7 min w/up while the kids were doing their dynamic warm-up exercises. I thought the loop around the start of the XC course was about 1/2 mile, but we did the first one (at tempo pace, the rest were at interval pace) and it was probably > 30 seconds long. I moved the start, and wound up about 10 seconds short for the 2nd one, but the third one seemed about right. I let the first group go on their own, and ran with the second group, thinking it may get them moving a little quicker, and it did.

4:02, 3:02, 3:12, 3:11, 3:11, 3:09

Recovery was about the same, with a bit over 2 min jogging each time

11 min w/dn, mostly with the freshmen.

Split 4 games. I didn't even break a sweat.

Did an easy jog of the upcoming ROC course at Webster Park. It's harder to find little streamers that may or may not be there, than it is to find big orange and white bags.

Ran around Mendon Ponds to watch the XC races. It's pretty easy to get some decent work in, because of the way the course is laid out. I see the kids at about 200m, then have to run almost 400m to see them at about 600m, then cut thru some woods to see them 100m later, they do a short loop and I see the leaders shortly before the mile mark and others at the mile. Then it's a hard run to catch them and run parallel to them, probably covering over 800m to get to the 2-mile mark. Then an easy trot across the field to catch them again, moving parallel to them to finally cut across another field to catch them with 200-400m (even a little farther for the later runners) to go. So, I can catch kids 8 times, while most fans see the start, the runners coming thru halfway, and the finish.

I definitely ran more than 28 minutes, but there was a lot of junk jogging involved.

Well, a very nice 3-day stretch concluded tonight. I am pretty exhausted, but it was well worth it. All 3 days had a most excellent event, each with a bad side, but I'll remember the good sides. Sunday was the Highlander, and I was able to be with 9th place halfway in. Huge improvement over 2 years ago and a good sign for the future (yes, I faded a bit). Monday was an awesome MNF game (yes, the Bills lost). And tonight was Elvis and Dylan at RIT (yes, we got there late and missed some of Elvis). I had never seen Elvis live; Chris had seen him about 25 years ago. We saw Dylan at Rich Stadium in '86 at the end of our honeymoon - this time the crowd was about 1/10th the size, so fine.

Being at RIT, there were interpreters off to the side. I have no idea how one goes about signing while Dylan is singing, perhaps they get a set list in advance, and study the lyrics.

C • Elvis and Dylan 1

Took the day off, since I just made a cameo appearance at XC practice, before heading home to prepare for attending the first MNF game in Buffalo in 13 years. Zach (who has not been alive for MNF in Buffalo) and Chelsea went with me, but they traded seats so they could sit with Coolean.

What a punch in the gut at the end. But this was one of the most exciting games I've attended. If the Brokeback's FG misses at the end, it would probably rank close to the top 3 (obviously behind the Comeback and the OT win over the Jets for the division title and Fandemonium that ensued), but since they lost, it ranks behind the back-to-back comeback games in '89 or so (Broncos maybe, and the Raiders) and the Rams Mon night game, and probably a few others.

This is the first game where I have been on my feet for every single play.

C • Edwards or Losman 6

Event: Hudson Highlander 2007
 

Hudson Highlander.

Started out with an unfortunate incident - did some damage to my left big toe right at the start (Peter posted map here) - caught it on a rock somehow and it was pretty sore. As I soon discovered, it was fine on level ground, but very painful when it had to flex on rocks. On the way to 1, I was only able to check off the real big features (like the lake and the creek), but for the second half, I could see JJ at the head of a train, so I was confident the pack was doing OK. I couldn't make sense of the contours near the control, but there was a major trail not too far past it, so I knew missing wouldn't be too bad. Hit the trail to head towards 2. I wanted to stay on it for a long time, but JJ left it and Samantha and Hillary decided to, also, so I had to hit the terrain. As we started to get in the neighborhood, JJ was headed left and the Saegers were going right. There were 2 of them, and only 1 JJ, and I thought the open fields meant we were too far left, so I went right. We found John F and Jeff S floundering up above, but relocated and headed back S to the flag. C3 was straight, C4 had a nice hilltop to guide the way, for both I was again behind Sam and Hill. For 5, I slowed down 1 spur too early, but they kept going, and I was at the right height. On the way to 6, I got ahead of them on the way to the road, at which point I decided to take the trail around to the right - not sure if they went the same way. They got by me on the way to 7, and I followed them on the trail towards 8. They decided to leave the trail before the last downhill, so I did as well, although I had planned on running it all the way to the parking lot. They got ahead of me on the rocky climb to the road - my toe was quite sore during every rocky stretch, but especially uphills. I was able to essentially catch up during the road run.

The trail run started with a rocky uphill section, so they opened up a sizable lead (20+ seconds), but I was able to catch back up when the rocks became less numerous. We then went by JJ, Joe B and someone else. At this point, we hit a very nice section of trail, and I was feeling good, so I moved ahead by a chunk. Then we hit some more rocks, and it was the beginning of the end. I cramped pretty severely on the inside of my thigh when I tried to avoid a rock with my left foot. I had to walk for a bit and the girls went zipping by me. Eventually it recovered, but they had gotten out of sight, at least 30 seconds ahead, so I pushed it and was able to catch back up, just before the end.

I took a little longer at the aid station, trying to choke down 1/3 of a Powerbar, but the next O section (Peter's map) started on a trail and I was able to catch up again, but we left the trail at a rocky reentrant and it was all over. After I lost contact, I tried to hit the little sections of mapped trail that were available, and I did hit parts of them, but spent way too much time in the mountain laurel. The only good thing was that the second little section of trail seemed to go on longer than mapped and I was able to easily follow the swamp around to the bag. On the way to 12, I saw the girls again as they were headed from 15-16. Very depressing. Somehow, I didn't really notice the swampy area to the left and was trying to key off the contours. I came to a stop trying to relocate, when I heard someone to the left - it was JJ moving at a nice clip, so I thought he had a bead on the control. It wasn't until we hit the trail that I realized he had already punched, so back I went. Bernie and some others (cadets?) were arriving from the other direction, so I was near them for the next 3 control, my slowness from toe pain and cramping were offset by cleaner navigating. Until 16. They went right, while I chose to go left. I got hung up in too much green, then over corrected back to the right, until I was able to relocate from the clearing a bit before the control. 17 went smoothly. For 18, I chose to stay left any time I saw green ahead of me, then cut back and went off the tip of the last swamp, catching back up to a couple guys. They went left around the hill, I went right, so I didn't see them again. I assume I did too much zig-zagging. I was able to run up the road.

I took my time at the final aid station. Jon T was already done. John F did some pouring for me - not sure how many cups I ended up drinking, but it was too little, too late. I walked almost all of the last map, but still managed to get hopelessly lost on the way to 2 (21?). Had to go N to the clearing to try again. Came back just as a small pack, including Phil B, was closing in. I jogged most of the trails thru the camp area and across the field for the uphill attack. I don't remember 4. Took the trail most of the way to 5, left where a couple of others did. If I had been alone, I would have gone all the way to the road, to be safe. Tried to go mostly straight to 6, which meant hitting a nasty section of undergrowth about halfway there (but at least I was sure where I was). Went off the bend in the road to get to 7. Took almost identical route as Peter to 8, still with Phil. Did some jogging on the trails on the way to 9. Left the road on the little trail left of the buildings. And a rare downhill finish was much appreciated.

My toe is a bit discolored between the knuckle and the foot, but I guess I won't pay to have it looked at, since they probably wouldn't really do anything for it anyway. I think running on non-rocky services should be OK.

HH XII - Splits

BFLO Meet at Emery Park. Can't go XC @ Geneseo.

Running around the course during the Geneseo Relay Invitational. Boys did 5 x 1.5 miles, then the girls did the same, then there was a co-ed relay (2 boys / 2 girls). So, I got to run around during all 14 legs, and there was just enough running to be done to wear myself out a bit before the Highlander tomorrow.

Nate led off the boys relay, and turned in a decent performance, 8:17 for the hilly loop. Chelsea had a decent time, 10:00, but a great race. She went 2nd, and Megan gave her a bit of a lead against Brighton and Rush-Henrietta, a couple of very good teams. The Brighton girl made a run at Chelsea and almost caught her, but faded about halfway thru the loop. The R-H girl kept coming, closing within a second or two when they hit the last hill with about 200m to go, and Chelsea powered up the hill to pull ahead by over 10 seconds.

Nate's heel was acting up, so he had to sit out the co-ed relay. Chelsea went third, and I think had us in 3rd, but Brighton still had a boy running, and Megan only had about a 1 minute lead, so he walked her down.

Some easy running, some with Coach Brust, while the team was out for their easy run - finished up with 4 strides.

Had tickets for the Sabres opener tonight, but I couldn't answer the bell, since a long weekend starts at 5:15am tomorrow.

Intervals with the team at Mendon Ponds Park, site of our next dual meet (and the County meet).

We warmed up on the first 2 miles of the course, plus a bit (17:59). Did 5 x 1000m from the 2nd big tree after leaving the driveway near the 2-mile mark to 8m before a water cover just after the 3rd driveway along the road. So, the odd intervals were net uphill and the even were net downhill. Nate averaged 23 seconds faster than me. I think Kenny kept up with him. Chris loafed the first one, then kept up with Pat and Wade, not far behind. Marcin usually beat me; Dan and Josh were close.

I was a little disappointed that the top 3 freshmen started out at about a jog. Eric picked it up afterwards, but the others... let's just say that Chelsea and Clare should not be able to catch them, especially from almost 30 seconds back.

3:55, 3:51, 4:01, 3:52, 4:05

Recovery averaged 3:40, with about 2:30 of that jogging.

7:52 jogging after the last one, to cheer the other groups on, and gather the troops for a w/dn on the last part of the course and around for a bit (12:01).

Lost 3 of 4 to the first place team. Gave away late leads in 2 of the three losses. Added Mike Reitz who is a nice raw talent. We should be able to improve quickly enough to make the playoffs.

Easy run around Webster Park during practice. Included another tour of the terrain in the unmapped eastern part of the park.

Run was cut short when Chris arrived with 10-count 'em-10 pizzas for the team, in recognition of their performance at McQuaid and their effort, down a couple of key players yesterday.

Ran part of the Mendon West course before the XC meet (12 min), then ran around during the 2 varsity races (too busy to watch the modified race), and finished up with a jog plus some tempo running after the meet, to pick up some cones and flags (18:24 - about 5 at tempo pace). Running around during the race was a lot of fun - I get to do some terrain running on this course, and I beat other coaches to a couple of vantage points, since they stayed on the trails.

The meet didn't go as well as we had hoped. Brianna was a no-show, and we lost to Gates 27-28. She would have clinched that victory. As it was, we almost pulled it off. Megan came close to winning her first race ever, but was outkicked by a Gates girl. One rookie, Alaina, wasn't quite able to hold off a Gates girl, and another rookie, Janelle, thought that the finish line was at the start line, but there is really about 75m to go at that point. I think she stopped, and got passed by Gates' 5th girl (she was our 6th girl and could have displaced and been the tiebreaker). I did have fun playing with a girl's head when Chelsea had caught her with less than a mile to go. I like to think the "8th man" helped set up Ashley to catch the girl as well, and almost win the meet.

The boys got overly excited early on, and Nico and Chris took off with the leader, even though they would have done well to finish in the top 10. Unfortunately, Nate went with them, and 2 others were in 6th and 7th at the 600m mark. By the time they made it up the long, steep hill to the mile mark, it was clear they would fade. They ended up hanging on admirably, but it was not good enough to hold off Gates (and Arcadia was out of the question, but they were a stretch goal anyway).

The good thing is that the times were quicker than I expected, for the most part. And coming off of McQuaid, I had expected a bit of a tougher race. So, I think we are still looking good towards our year-end goals.

Fairly easy run around Webster Park - more-or-less ran the perimeter of the mapped section of the park, including a stretch with no trails in the southeast area. Finished up with a loop out to the end of the pier and back.

Should be a good meet tomorrow - the girls should have one close meet and the boys should have two (the other meets should be wins, barring any serious problems).