Training Log Archive: FunRun

unintentional rest day / blah

Event: Billygoat XXXIV and 2nd Annual Speedy Goat fund raiser
 

Event: 5 Peaks Trail Race- Rattlesnake Point
 

5 Peaks Rattlesnake Point trail race (official distance 12.7+110m, distance based on some random AP garmin plus some extra ;-) ). First straight trail race of the season.

57:29 28/296 over all, 27/159 male, 13/43 in my age group (47 seconds faster, ie no route 'mistake' on course plus a little kick, will put me on the podium next year as I move up an age group :-) ).

[Distance based on Pat_hetics distance plus 2x100m for the extra trail.]

Seeded myself at the front to avoid having to fight by people, and was amused at 1km when we were clocking a 3:40ish pace, lol (equally amusing was the 14 yo kid passing us!?!)... still, I expected to go out hard and settle in which is what we did and was the right move (couldn't hang onto Patrick though, not-unexpected, lol).

Found the terrain quite comfortable to move over at a fast pace (I *love* technical terrain) and chose to power-walk all steep hills which based on those around me was the right choice (kept the heart rate down, lost little time, and left them behind when I started running at the top). I was able to hold my place in the race by running down hills with abandon and hoping rock to rock down the trails :-D

Amusingly, after climbing a steep rocky section and surging past "annoying guy" we quickly arrived upon a T intersection with the flags going left and right!?! I was confused so just went left and after a few moments Wes and Patrick were running by in the opposite direction, lol.

Whoops... seems the trail took a sharp left at the top of the rocky climb (flagged but no "go left" sign blocking the trail we ran down) and did the back loop backwards. We ran the same trails just backwards, so it was the same distance, just not the same flow (in fact a little further as after we got to our wrong turn we had to run the little trail a second time to get back to the rest of the course) [yes we reported into race director the finish on our error].

Really enjoyed the last few km of the course which had us twisting and turning along the rocky edge, which included a few crevice hops (and thank-fully Goss was there to keep us on course, but not over the cliff...)... and then a smooth 1.5km "sprint" to the finish.

[*annoying guy complained the whole time, and to everyone we passed on the backwards loop, despite our suggestions to 'save his energy' and 'focus on the rest of the race'... was so glad when he took the wrong way back a second time, even if it meant he beat me to the finish / ok that was annoying :-) ]

Team "Attackpoint AR", a last minute coming together of Adventure racing and Orienteering friends to form a team at 5 Peaks Rattlesnake, took 2nd place overall due to everyone's outstanding finishes and volunteer contributions [no points for 4-person carpooling though :-(, lol ]

Attackpoint being our largest common connection, and a website, community we frequent and appreciate a lot :-D [Thanks Ken!] (also the team names Solo's Angels, or even Craig's Angels lol, didn't seem to get many votes ;-) )

Thank-you team! Awesome work Bash (Barb Campbell), Hansel (Scott Ford), Gally (James Gallagher), Aggosst (Barbara Goss), Funderstorm (Sally Heath), Double_Downon11 (Chris Laughren), Super (Wes Roberts), Pat_hetic (Patrick Saile), and our captain, who kicked this off, Solo (Ekaterina 'Kate' Solovieva, we'll get her on AP soon enough, hee hee)

We did our best to all cram onto the 2nd tier of the podium :-D

Photo's (Double_Downon11)
http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_9255/p...

The concept of pre-prepared meals hammered home when I arrived home starving after a hard track workout only to discover no food in the fridge and the closest grocery store closed, lol. I'm not saying the litre of chocolate milk was the worst recovery food, but it did get me through while cooking something more substantial :-D [Although it also meant breakfast was all ready when I woke up, yum.... now to just get one of those coffee makers on a timer]

Nice morning long ride with DoubleDown out of Milton. OK, a bit tired after track, didn't layer/fuel the best, and this time DD was quote strong and led most of the ride. Kept ahead of the rain and fought through a significant drop in core temp... but now after a second coffee, food, and the trip home with the car heater on full blast, I'm so happy we went out.

C • Rain 2

Didn't really feel like I had a strong kick or a tonne of energy... track is definitely worth it though. Hoping it makes me stronger and faster. Great to have a couple of guys just faster than me to pull me along, and a coach to push me... he gave that bit of encouragement to find extra push to catch up to the guys on the last 200m sprint of the night. [Which goes to show I have more push in me, just need to learn to channel it in training... it comes so much easier in racing]

Ride to track

3-4 laps, plus another 200ish dynamic warm-up (kind of short, need to get there earlier to do my own full warmup)

10x400m+200m recovery
1:24.4 1:22.9 1:19.2 1:18.6 1:21.1 1:23.4 1:22.6 1:24.2 1:25.2 1:22.7

10min 200m+diagonal grass recovery (as many as possible)
0:32.0 0:34:3 0:33.3 0:34.5 0:35.4 0:33.7

Walking lunges (slow pausing at top) with run out. [Not that intense per say, but my legs were cramping up a lot at this point]

Ride from track (the climb number seems deceiving, as this in reality is a largely downhill ride)