Training Log Archive: bishop22

Foot Locker Regionals at Van Cortlandt Park.

I did an easy 10 min w/up with our lone Freshman, to keep him company and see whether I could make it through the day on my calf. It was sore and felt vulnerable, especially with the sub-freezing AM temperature, but nothing drastic happened, so I was optimistic.

Ran 13 minutes during the races where I hit the woods (Soph, Jr Boys and Soph, Sr GIrls) and about 8 minutes during the others that I actively watched (Fr, Sr, seeded Boys and Jr girls). This included some fairly hard running to get from the 2.2 mile mark to the 2.7 mile mark, which was almost 1/2 mile of running. Probably over 20 minutes of jogging between races, but I'll count 10.

The calf held up (no sharp pain), but not sure if I'll be able to run the next few days. I really had to battle thru, since Chelsea's last high school XC race was the last race of the day.

Couldn't even think about running today, due to the calf injury. There is a good chance the O-Marathon is out, but I'm withholding final judgment for a couple more days.

Delaware Y Turkey Trot - Buffalo

Buffalo Turkey Trot (17th consecutive - I last missed in 1990 when we brought 5-month-old Chelsea down to her grandparents' place outside of Philly.

What a disaster. I blew my calf out exactly halfway thru the race. Not sure how much was due to dehydration and how much was the chilly weather, which I have been able to avoid all fall. Since we had a family team going, I tried to tough it out. When it happened, I was just behind Tim, who finished in 32:17, so I was probably on target to break 33. My 2.5 minute time loss was nothing compared to our star's problems. Dan was coming off a XC season at Edinboro where he was putting up 32-minute 10Ks, but a late night after attending the Sabres game last night led to a couple of unplanned pit stops, and he ended up running 37+, so once again we captured 2nd in the family competition (30:00 would have won it for us) - this could have been our year, since Nate ran 30:59, and he'll probably have to sit out next year (unless we skip Foot Locker).

C • trot injuries 1

Laziness, plus skipping out of work to catch Chelsea's hoop scrimmage at East High, meant no run today.

Mostly easy run around Schroeder, after seeing if any non-track runners wanted to get in a last pre-NYC tune-up. Tossed in a sub-7 mile on the track in the middle, just to get out of the rut I was running in.

Legs were still a little sore from Sunday; I hope they'll be ready for Thursday.

Took today off while mourning the Bills miserable performance last night. I couldn't even get myself to work in the AM (stayed overnight in EA).

Event: CNYO Highland Forest
 

CNYO Turkey-O at Highland Falls - Blue course.

Time not exact because I don't see my splits and CNYO likes to build the suspense for a while before posting results.

Course was 2 loops, with the shorter loop (3.5K) first. Have I mentioned that I hate 1:15 maps? I attempted to cut into the "White" woods just after the open, fenced area on the way to C1, but all of the junk pushed me down to the stream. The Sprint map makes it clear what the stream and its branches and the contours do, but it was just a smudge on the 1:15 map, so it took some extra time to spot the pond. Got thru the Green, which was no tougher than the White had been, and it was trail the rest of the way to C2. Bounced back and forth across the stream to get to C3.

Got out to the trail on the way to C4 - I think this is where Gil caught me - and didn't see the indistinct trail through the few inches of snow that would have led straight to the bag, so I wound up drifting right and had to climb up to the control. It was slow going out to the trail on the way to C5. Lots of deadfall in this "White" area, and I was nervous about what the snow might be covering up after a couple of poor foot placements. I knew where I left the trail, but still wound up higher than the flag at the second stream. I was using Nate's thumb compass instead of my baseplate (which had a magnifier...).

I drifted left on the way to C6, so I climbed up one stream too early, but that allowed for some fast running on the trail. Climbed directly up C6, and thought I could read the vegetation boundary, but I was wrong and got hung up in some nasty green for a bit. I think Rob caught me at the flag. I left the control uphill, intending to hit the very distinct trail which was inside the circle, but found nothing and had to run thru the White, which was a fair amount cleaner here. Finally hit the road, and managed to get to the bend about the time Rob did, and bore off for C8. I think I stayed ahead of Rob to the Split control, which Mark D had just moved on us.

Flipping the map over, I saw a road option, to the next C1, so I took it immediately, while Rob went left. I pace counted and left the road at the correct spot, but no sign of the indistinct trail in the snow and I drifted right to the wrong rough open area, which meant I had to head a ways back uphill to the flag. C2 was easy enough, but could have been even easier - I did not realize it was C4 from the first loop until I looked the route to the new C3 and saw it looked remarkably similar to a leg I had already done. This meant I still had to climb over and through various annoying "White" woods impediments again, and Rob caught back up to punch right behind me.

I lost sight of Rob right away after needlessly crossing the stream and coming back, and I chose to exercise caution since the circle was inside some green, but I did manage to get directly to the flag. Leaving for C5 required crossing the creek again, and this time I did manage to get my feet wet, but then I got to do some trail running, until having to climb up a slightly crappy reentrant to the bag. I was hoping to find the indistinct trail leading up towards the top of the ridge, and hit a nice level area which must have been the path, but deadfall immediately kicked in and I had to climb above it, so I went on a more direct route to the ridge trail, which meant I got to do some quick trail running down the spur, and even saw the junction with the indistinct trail on the left to signal to cut in to the right.

C7 was a pain. I aimed to the right, finding the tip of the swamp, but still had rough going (not White like mapped, once again). So, I gave up the high road and just drifted back towards the creek, so I'd easily see the small streams going down to it, which worked. I guess C7 wasn't such a pain after all, I can say with hindsight after C8. Nothing but White on the map (right of the line), but plenty to slow me down to less than a jog, in the terrain. I had no problem finding the swamps just before the trail - I did have a problem in following the compass north, so I popped out on the trail at the bend. After jogging up the hill, it was time to run again and the bag was visible just after leaving the trail. The route to C9 turned out to be Whiter than mapped - a pleasant surprise, and it was over.

Mostly jogged around the Sprint course, especially after I couldn't break thru the Green on the way from 3 to 4. My splits didn't print out, so I don't have my time.