Training Log Archive: bishop22

My calf was just sore enough to justify a day off.

I need to do a complete review of 2007, and set goals for 2008, but for now, a review of my top metrics for 2007 (USOF Rating) and 2008 (US Age Group Medals):

In 2007, my primary goal was to improve my USOF Rating on Red to 80 (from 71.3 in 2006). I finished at 79.70, which was just short, and also just behind Rob (79.86) and the kempster (80.29). My goal for 2008 is to improve my Rating to 85.

In 2008, my primary goal will be to place in at least 2 US Champs competitions, in my new age group. In 2007, I managed to win the M40+ Middle Champs (but would have only been 3rd in M45+) and was 3rd in the M40+ Night-O Champs (but would have only been 5th in M45+ - perhaps I should remain in M40+ ;-)). I missed in the Long-O, finishing 4th (but would have been 2nd in M45+, go figure). I was not able to compete in the Classic or Sprint. In 2008, I think I will only miss the Middle, since I'll have to run unofficially, if at all.

The most difficult challenges in regards to the US Champs goals are that there is no Night-O scheduled, and the Sprint and Long come very early, so I'll need to get going with some serious winter training.

Ran from Chris's parents' house with Nate. Went the Canal-Black Rock route, doing 5 x (3min hard + 3 easy). Nate got me by almost 50 steps on the first, just a few on the second, I made up a step on the 3rd, and mentioned this to him so he got me by over 30 on the 4th, and my left calf started to tighten, so he got me by 40 steps up the hill in the first minute of the last interval and almost 70 steps total.

Chelsea wimped out.

We got back in time to see the very unexciting Bills game on TV. Glad we didn't try to go to the game (since we're just outside Philly, we considered it) - it would have been another rain-soaked affair.

Spent last night at the cabin near Hickory Run - unfortunately we didn't have time to run on that map.

4:14/8:42
1:30,44,34,44,33,44,35,43,32,41 (again alternated free and pseudo-im)

Dizziness still there after flip turns, but less of a concern, but I did do some open turns doing some stretches.

Random Hills-12 @ 90rpm

Decided to try out the Cybex cross trainer, since it looked like it may be useful for XC ski training, and I'm in a world of hurt with a ski-o next week and no snow for a second practice session. Maybe I'll have to do White, since the preliminary info says that is 3.34K.

So, I tried the interval setting on level 6, which generated 30s @ 50 resistance and 60s at 30. I wasn't quite coordinated enough to keep up a stride rate of 150, but I still was able to keep the heart rate mostly in the 130s.

Finally made it over to the new Y, since I had to be in the neighborhood. It is nice!

Random Hills-11 (since it was supposed to just be a warm-up) @94

C • What time did you go to Y? 3

Went from 7mph to 7.5, then to 8, during the first mile. Then did 3x880 with 440 @ 7-7.5 between each.

Did the first and third 880s at 8.5, but the second at just 8. I guess I've gotten a bit out of shape - at least for running 7 minute pace. My original plan had been to go 2 miles straight at 8.5mph.

4:11/5:50 (stopped at 350 yds)
1:34,44,37,45,37,46,37,45,38,44 (alt free / pseudo-im)

Started feeling dizzy during the first 500. Seemed to be exacerbated by doing flip turns. I'm not sure if it's related to the possible concussion that I experienced 9 days ago, but I started to panic thinking of what would happen if I passed out while swimming. So, I quit at the 350 mark. Then I decided to keep the distance to 100 yds at a time and monitor. Everything seemed fine after I stopped doing any flip turns.

Ran from Ellison Park with Nate. We ran up the main trail (Nate went down on the ice once) to Penfield Rd, then went over to Corbett's Glen - took the standard route to the other end, then back via the short cut along the creek, then the long cut around on the trail.

Since it was dark and the park trail was quite slick in spots and uneven on others, we came back Landing Rd to the Dugway.

Pace is a total guess. The overall effort was 7:30, but slowed by ice on the trails.

Did the traditional Christmas morning run. Nate and Chelsea both joined us. Mick brought Marta down, Pat came over with Ryan. Of course Walt, but no Patty, Dan or Coop (or Sarah). Chris also came and brought the Blue.

Good times.

Ran mostly following Nate as he did the Map Hike course at Emery. He started with the south side like I did yesterday, but didn't skip #4, and then we knocked off 3 on the north side.

Did some orienteering on the Emery Park map hike 2007 map. Today's weather is not looking good for the Bills game, per the taste I got at Emery. The temp was still in the mid-to-upper 40s, but the rain was steady and the temp is supposed to drop and the winds are supposed to pick up.

I did some controls on the south side, then 1 on the north before trying to check out the waterfall (with the rain and melting snow, it's probably flowing nicely), but after several 32-degree ankle-to-calf-deep splashdowns, and seeing a knee-deep stream crossing the trail after the power line, I decided to hightail it back to the road.

All I wanted for Christmas was a mathematical possibility, but the Bills were unable to deliver. I'm guessing this will be one of the tougher games to sit through, so I hope the Bills are ready to play.

Received an early Christmas present, Fischer SCS skis, so I could get out at least once before the snow is temporarily gone. First time ever attempting to skate, and I hadn't been on skis, except one disastrous ski-o attempt, in nearly 15 years. So, it was a humbling experience, as Nate and some of his teammates gave me a few tips to get started. I had a few stretches that were fun and I felt slightly coordinated, but there was a lot of stop and start, as it was very easy for me to lose momentum.

Did 3 laps at Willink - each lap was better, and if I keep improving at this rate, I should be good to go in another 1000 laps or so.

The usual 12/21 day off, but I was feeling much better than usual, since I wasn't around to, for example, ride on top of the van and then go to the 'Bill.

Ran on an old (Score-O?) map at Chestnut Ridge, prior to making the (12th) annual 12/20 trek to the cemetery. I have to miss the nighttime visit this year, for the first time, since Chelsea plays at Thomas tonight.

Did a whole lot of extra ducking and weaving in the woods to avoid taking a branch to the head gash. Jogged in the last stretch with Walt and Sue's dog.

A day off was in order, after yesterday's trauma.

4:03/8:10
1:30,33,33,32,31
3:28,27,26

Swam at Bayview where the water was a little warmer than downtown...

After swimming, I hit the hot tub for a bit (7-8 minutes), to loosen up the legs that are still a bit sore from Saturday. No, I'm not logging that as training! I just needed to add a note about leaving the hot tub, hitting the shower and going down for the count, opening several cuts on my face/head, 2 or 3 of which needed stitches and/or staples (perhaps 6-8 of each when all was said and done). Nothing too serious, but a difficult lesson about not remaining standing when one gets light-headed, especially when there are metal surfaces around, on which to bash one's head.

Only about a 3-hour stay in the ER - just long enough to miss Nate's ski meet way down in Bristol, but not long enough to miss Chelsea's hoop game over in Spencerport.

C • OUCH!!! 2

C • Whirlpool at Bayview 3

Unplanned rest day. I was going to swim at lunchtime, but I had a car problem on the way to work. The kids had a snow day, so I took Chelsea's car to work. I heard noises from the right rear on the way, and stopped, but everything looked OK, so I thought it was ice/snow-related. But when I got to the parking garage, my right rear wheel was angled inward kind of severely. It tuns out the knuckle had busted - unseen before by anyone at the dealer's shop. A $400 problem - and right after having the 120K service done last Friday, for $425 or so. I hope there is not an avalanche of problems - the car had been doing very well up to now.

Taking care of the driveway in the AM, with Nate for much of the time. Some old timer used to say "my favorite tool is a teenage boy". That's what I'm thinking.

All of this snow and no skis yet. I'll have to correct that. The problem is skate or classic - I probably can't afford both right now. And I was told (by a trusted source that is a pretty decent skier) to avoid the combis. Skating seems to be much more fun (I've never done it), but I probably have to use classic at local ski-o events that tend to not involve groomed trails.

C • Skate or Classic 1

Big day of snow meant big day of shoveling:
- 30 minutes so we could get out in the AM
- 15 minutes with Nate, to finish up when we got home, finishing in plenty of time for the Bills game (8-0, how pathetic was that?)
- 30 minutes at 9:30, after arriving home from Chlesea's celebratory dinner at Olive Garden

I did not have even one single thought of an easy workout to recover from yesterday!

Event: Valley Forge Battle to the End O' Marathon
 

Valley Forge O'Marathon. Well, actually, Half Marathon plus.

Since my calf has been bothering me, I was uncertain what I could complete. I had entered the marathon, but knew the half was an option. I decided to start out at marathon pace and see how I held out.

I started fairly easy, and was able to mostly just follow folks for the first 3 controls - looking ahead to choose a good line, based on what the leaders were doing. On the way to C4 I made a late decision to cut right early and Rob got just a bit ahead of me. Then he turned around - he had dropped his second map. I was near PG and Phil B in and out of 4. I made a decent choice around the hill towards C5, but then I got confused about a patch of woods and cut left, instead of staying on the unmapped trail that was leading in the correct direction, and fell behind those 2 and Tim Good. So, I was on my own in tracking down C5. I was stopped by a nasty looking gully, so had to go left of my desired route and then I ended up running past it, but I spotted the road up ahead and was able to backtrack just a short distance and punch with Joe B. I was behind him to C6 and C7, but he missed the trail, so I punched at 7 first. I stopped for a drink at the center fountain and he went zipping on by. I cut thru the small trail near the next fountain and across the road to the hard path.

Big mistake on the next leg. I saw the creek end on the map, so I looked for a good place to cut over, to save a few steps, but it turned out the creek did not end, and I ran around a bit looking for a place to cross. Finally found a spot where only 1 foot would get wet. Stayed right on course, alone, thru C15. I stayed on the trail leaving 15 and cut back on the next trail and was startled as someone popped thru the brush behind me. They were behind me to C16 and C17, and passed me as I paused leaving 17. They ran down into the private residence and I think got directions from the lady of the house, as I retreated thru the apartments. By this time Cristina had just about caught up.

Somewhere along the way to C18, Wyatt caught up. I ran with him a bit, then behind him as I weighed my options. Somewhere, doing some walking on the way up the hill to C20, I decided I couldn't make the full marathon and would just do the half. So I stayed with Wyatt to C21, but lost just a bit on the way down to C22. Looking at the trail straight-ish to C23, I came to the conclusion that around was almost no longer, and avoided a serious climb. Wyatt's disappearance at 22 made it clear he was going around, so any second thoughts were eliminated. Since I was going to stop halfway, I picked up the pace and caught Wyatt, to run with him for a bit. We got to C23 just as a couple of youngsters (Dayne?) were finding it, so they were able to follow Wyatt's lead out of the area. I got distracted by the remains of an accident at the intersection near C24, so I almost missed the fact that the control was under the bridge. Jogged it in to the 1/2 finish. I grabbed some Gu and drinks, then punched C25, since I was going to do a few more controls, then took about a 6-minute break to change into a new shirt, leave a note for Rob and grab my cell phone, since it was almost 12:40, and I was expecting a call from Chelsea by noon, or so.

I started out on the second half, thinking I would go for awhile, and turn around. As I started to read the map, I could see that out-and-back would be a bit on the boring side, and then I noticed that if I skipped from 31 to 42, I could continue the rest of the way along the Fatlands map and return via the other bridge. I saw the circle for 27 on 2 maps, but no real detail (didn't spot it on the 3rd map) and by this time I had run along the tracks for a while, and was afraid I was too far, so I climbed down thru less than optimal vegetation and Cristina caught up to me and we ran together to C28. On the way Wyatt saw us from the other side of the river, and since I had told him I was bailing halfway, he shouted across, probably questioning my honesty;-).

After C28, my cell phone rang. It was Chelsea, calling with her Early Action results from MIT, and she was IN! Very exciting news, and it made me think that perhaps I could go the distance. I struggled with the possibilities, but in the end, discretion won out. A man's gotta know his limitations. Plus I had left a note for Rob saying I would probably be back by 1. Plus the approaching Nor'easter had me dreading the thought of returning thru the Poconos in blizzard conditions. Plus, I'm a wimp.

So, I continued on with Cristina thru C31, and used my skip (we were allowed one skip, right?) to go to C42. C31 to C42 was actually my favorite leg of the day! I carried on thru C46, and by the time I got to the drinking fountain near the end of the map, I was parched, since I hadn't had anything since the original finish. After drinking at least a quart, I was off again, avoiding the unmapped fence to get up to the bridge. I got two more calls on the cell phone while I was jogging (and I kept jogging) - one from Walt looking for Chelsea's outcome and one from Nate looking for a ride home from skiing - sorry, Nate, I'm 350+ miles away (the call was forwarded from home). I spotted Clem in the distance after leaving C47, but lost sight of him, and it was a lonely trip back to the finish.

In hindsight, I think I made the right choice. I certainly could have finished the whole thing, but I was still having fun to the end of the section I did run, and going longer would have been a serious chore and would have beaten up my legs pretty badly.

C • MIT 7

Had a Christmas lunch with the group I work with 50% of the time, so I did not have the option of a pre-race jog today.

Chelsea had an early basketball game, which seemed to confuse the officials, who arrived at least 1/2 hour late. The other team had 2 decent players who were not properly addressed defensively, so the Warriors got pummeled, giving up 81 points. Chelsea and a teammate played with Gates' best player last summer, but were ignored when the coach decided to put our least mobile player on her, man-to-man, which was a disaster, since the girl has all of the post moves and knows how to get rebounding position on slow girls.

But it wasn't all coaching - I'm not sure if it was laziness or lack of understanding of the game (certainly some combination), but the defensive performance was atrocious.

Chelsea was limited to under 17 minutes of PT. While she was in it was 34-36, while she was out it was 27-45. And this despite the fact that she had zero points herself.

4:09/8:27
1:35,36,35,35,34
3:30,29

Took it easy today. My calf got enough of a workout keeping me on my feet for the walk to and from the Y. 3-6" of snow and what happens? They cancel Nate's opening XC ski meet. I guess it's really just postponed, since they will try again tomorrow, when I have to decide whether to go see his meet or Chelsea's basketball game. Hmmm, stand outside in the low 20s to see Nate for a few seconds several times, or sit inside in the mid 70s (the gym is too warm at Schroeder) to watch Chelsea for 20+(?) minutes of PT? Sorry Nate - Chelsea is a senior and I have to help with the stats!

OK, so the machine won. I had about a 5-minute head start on the guy across the street, who has a snowblower, and we finished at about the same time. But my driveway was cleaner!

C • And you had a smaller carbo... 1

Met Chris's group for lunch today, then went from work to the Sabres game, home at 11:10, so no time for the planned short jog today.

It was nice to see the Sabres find the net with some of their flurry of shots, unlike Monday night.

Ran up the river, thru some icy patches on the path, to the UR and back via this route. About 8:25 pace on the way out, slowed by the path; 8:15 on the way back.

My calf was only a little sore, but I think I'll be hurting at some point on Saturday. The good(?) news is that the pain is lower and on the inside of the calf today, while it has been higher and outside, so perhaps it won't be as debilitating. If I try for the whole marathon on Saturday (the opt-out option at the 3/4 mark makes this a possibility), I would expect to only run about 16-18 miles, and walk 8-10, which is a finish in the 5-6 hour time range. And that would be fine - I'm not doing this to race it, but just to finish it. I'm not sure I've run a race with that strategy/mindset before.

C • coaching 2

4:08/8:14
1:30,33,34,34,33
3:25,21

Slowly improving, but a long way to go.

Finally made it out to Emery Park to do some of the "2007 Map Hike". Walt, Patty and I agreed to meet back in 45 minutes, so I knocked off 12 of the 25 controls. Didn't actually see the first one, but I didn't want to waste time looking after I found what I was pretty sure was the correct reentrant. Most of the rest went pretty smoothly. Lost time trying to avoid breaking thru the fairly thin layer of ice that was hiding several of the creeks that are often just a bit too wide to jump across when there is ice/snow involved.

My calf held up just fine, but it was often noticeable (but not really sore).

Decided to try to w/up on the Elliptical, before subjecting my calf to stress. Did intervals at 7/4 and 10/10, I think, keeping stride rate near 170. HR bounced between 118 - 132 as I got going.

Gerbil: 7.0mph for a lap, then up to 7.5 on the 2nd lap, stayed there for 2 laps, then up to 8.5 during the 2nd mile, and back down during the 3rd mile. No real pain in the calf, but it still has a vulnerable feeling.

4:09/8:19
1:31,33,33,32,32
3:32,29,32

Decided to stay off the calf for another day, but I'll have to test it out tomorrow.

24 min Random Hill-11 @ 92 rpm
2 min w/dn on 11
7 min Manual-11(2 min)/12 @ 91rpm
2 min w/dn on 10

Played the last-place team, with our outside shot at the playoffs on the line, but our 2nd and 3rd setters were no-shows (1 in Europe and 1 had to take Zach to hockey), so we only had 1 setter. We squeaked out a win in the first game, but lost the 2nd and some key players gave up in the 3rd, so we lost that badly. Oh well, Applebees was fun after the game.

Short, easy run from the Webster rink during Nate's hockey practice. I was planning on going 40-45 minutes, and although my calf did not actually bother me during the run, it did start to get a tired feeling that I associate with a warning that it might act up, so I ended early. Better safe than sorry if I hope to make it to the Valley fOrge starting line.

Some early morning clean up of just a couple of inches. Just enough snow that I did not want 3 cars driving over it and creating ice formations that would slow future shoveling.

Random Hills-11 @ 92rpm for 21 min
2 min @13 "w/dn"
Manual-13 @ 90 rpm for 12 min
2 min w/dn

Precor intervals: it gave me 2 min off / 2 min on, which I set at 4/7 and 10/10. This bounced my HR between 123 and 142. Reported Avg HR must have been low - there were a few times where the display was giving me nonsense readings (in the 40s or 60s).

My calf was noticeable, but I never felt like it was going to start screaming at me. I think it would have, if I had jumped on the treadmill.

4:14/8:26
1:33,34,34,32,34
3:29,27

Getting incrementally more comfortable in the water again, but my shoulder was still pretty sore when I started (again only aching at the end).

The snow is making me think it's about time I try to pick up some XC skis!

Drove, in miserable conditions (e.g. I stopped at the BK near Gates-Chili, and almost couldn't get up the hill onto the main road), out to Spencerport for the coaching class, only to find out the lecturer couldn't make it and class was canceled. I got to celebrate by digging out the driveway and front walk when I got home.

Hockey all morning; Bills all afternoon.

C • bills 4

Didn't finish the whole driveway in the small window I had between Luke's practice and Z's game, but it was well on its way to melting by the time I returned home for the Bills game, so I left the rest.

Event: ROC - Annual Meeting & Scrooge-O
 

21 min of Random Hills-11 @ 91rpm
2 min w/d
7 min Manual-11

Hopped on the treadmill. Calf started bothering me a bit before halfway, so I didn't continue to pick up the pace - slowed it instead.
7.0-7.5 during first half mile
7.5-8.0 during first half of second mile
Back down during last 2 miles

Precor interval session. Bounced between 4/7-8 and 10/10, which seemed to keep the heart rate between 135 and 147. Calf was even bothered a little on this machine this time. But I think I am still going to try to make Valley Forge, and at least do the first half.