Training Log Archive: bishop22

No swim at lunch today; instead, I went to Applebee's to help Chris celebrate her 25th anniversary at Xerox. I even ordered myself the $1 brownie bite dessert to help her celebrate.

C • When's your... 2

Ran from PLL fields after Luke's game. They lost again, 12-9, but they had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the sixth after Luke singled with two outs. He had pitched the top of the 6th, using just 7 pitches to get out of the inning and had a K and an assist.

Ran over to the 1000 Acre Swamp, going the long way to the field, then coming back via Weasel Way. Skipped the overgrown Town Hall trails on the way back, so I had to add a short loop to get up to 40 minutes.

Event: ROC - Mendon Ponds Park Score-O [2011 Sprint Series #2]
 

ROC Meet at Mendon Ponds - Sprint course

Started off well - not real fast, but right on the flags. Then started screwing up. Going to C6, I took the trail partway up the hill, then went straight up. Tried to keep the hilltop to my left, since the flag was on the other side, but I misread the spurs and followed the wrong one down - didn't correct until I got all the way to the swamp.

C8 was a huge disaster. I ran out to the trail on a rough bearing, but was on the trail to the east of the desired trail, so I didn't see the flag (or the small pond). I thought that I knew where the pond was, but it was taking awhile to get there, so didn't seem right. After I got to the end of the marsh, I realized there was no pond there, relocated and had to retrace my steps all the way back. A solid 3 min error. It took the wind out of my sails, so the later slowness was more lost enthusiasm and speed, rather than poor navigation.

Eyesight bummer of the day: in the woods, I was unable to read the control codes that were on the clue sheet that was printed on the map. I could read them when I was back in the clear daylight at the parking lot.

Very short w/up, anxious to get out on the Sprint and avoid time pressure.

ROC Score-O at Mendon Ponds

Very interesting Score-O set up by Tyler today. There were 20 controls pre-printed on the map, and an additional 9 controls that were available on about 4 or 5 maps at specified controls. The point values of the controls ranged from 2 to about 30 or so. This was part of my downfall - as I went on, I realized that I couldn't really read many of the codes that were printed on the map. I was sure that one said 194, but there was no 194 on the clue sheet. But it was at the top of a huge hill, so I figured it had to be valuable. It turned out it was 154 and only worth 2 points.

I had a couple of strategic errors as well. I had time to visit all 20 controls on the map and I had a rough plan of an order from the start, but when I was in the middle of the course, I broke from my plan (in order to get "194", in fact), making it so that I would not be able to get two controls that were northeast of the finish (one of which had a high-point hidden control close to the finish). I should have stuck with the original plan.

I also did not deal with the extra controls very well. Nate ignored the low-point extra controls and focused on remembering the locations of higher points. I treated every control equally (mostly because I planned on getting them all). I also should have altered my route to make sure that I got to all of the controls that had others mapped, sooner in my trip.

The navigation went generally well, but most controls were easily attacked from trails. My speed was decent most of the time, although I did hit a couple of sluggish sections. But with the poor strategy, I finished well down the standings.

Picked up six flags, while Luke and Zach grabbed another 5.

Sprint - Splits

Pain relief, at last! Just call me the Lyons that had a thorn in his paw. Chris was able to dig out the [tiny] splinter from my foot that has been causing intermittent pain while running and walking. So, it was not a bruise after all, and I should be able to get back into full training mode.

Just a short run around the neighborhood, since there is an ROC meet tomorrow.

Didn't get started until 9:21pm and it was still light out! Not like BC or Alaska last summer, but nice anyway. Late start was due to catching Luke's baseball game. After so many one-run losses, they played a great game for about an 18-7 win.

Couldn't get out to swim at lunch, then decided not to run for a myriad of reasons (excuses):
1) It was nate's birthday, so we had to go out to dinner (sorry Chelsea)
2) My foot was really hurting from the splinter or bruise that has caused pain for over a week
3) I was worn out from yesterday's effort

I can probably come up with more...

C • no problem 1

BFLO 5K Trail Race at Hunter's Creek Park. Light turnout, but I think it was not on the list of local races until the last minute, so the others should attract more. Finished 3rd - winner was just over 23 and I was 13 seconds out of second - he had built a lead of over 30 seconds by the power line, but I caught some glimpses of him up ahead on the way back and that kept me trying. Slippery footing late, while wearing regular trainers stopped me from making a good run at him. Next runner was about 3 minutes back.

BFLO Meet at Hunter's Creek Park - Green course

Quite the disaster. It turns out that this was the same course as the A-Meet Red course from 2009. I had no idea that was the case, despite having run that course. I ran 35 minutes back then, just about twice that today.

Most of the difference can be attributed to my declining eyesight. I was not able to really read the trails on the map, and there were several legs where that was critical. C2 was bad - distracted by another runner and a control that was clearly too early. C12 was quite bad as I tried to will myself to be in the right location on the map, instead of using the general landscape to show me where I had gone wrong. Then C14 was just a complete disaster, when I tried to navigate off of the green slash area on the map, but got headed in the wrong direction while trying to follow it.

Did the Jewelberry loop, easy with the races tomorrow. Was 4:35 at the half-mile mark, as I seemed to have trouble getting started.

Easy run from Corbett's Glen on the way home from work, since I failed to get out at lunch. Ran the "longest" way from the lot to the underpass and out to 441 to S Landing - temple and another loop in the glen.