Training Log Archive: Kat

Planned rest day - didn't want to start off doing too much too soon after my break.

Warm-up (only about 4 minutes because the Irish distracted me) and proper cool-down (almost 10 minutes).

EVENT: Össeby-dubbeln Medel
COURSE: D21, 4.1 km, 16 controls
MAP: Långmossen, 1:10,000, 4m contour intervals
TERRAIN: In general, very fast and open with lots of small contour detail and nice mossy hilltops, but green slash areas were considerably slower with lots of branches up to waist-high.
MY RUN: Good. I felt fast and was moving from control to control with very little time spent in the control circle. I made three mistakes today, all due to a loss of concentration, but I fixed them as quickly as possible. I felt a bit disappointed when coming into the finish chute, but this is only because my standards are now pretty high.
RESULTS: 13th (but only a few seconds off from 11th!) out of 36 in D21. Winsplits here.
OTHER STUFF: I taped my feet and ankles the way Sandra showed me and my foot pain was not as bad today as yesterday. Andrew worried me by telling me about his broken foot, but I'm hoping it's not as serious!

At home, hours after the race.

The Pikes Peak Ascent website now has links to some articles posted about the race. One of the articles, found here, states:

"Of the 760 who finished, at least 80 were treated for hypothermia, said Dr. Robert Hamilton, who oversaw medical care at the summit."

Wow. That's a lot more people than I thought. Again, I feel so lucky that I (a) got to finish, and (b) did not need medical attention.

The day after the ascent, a marriage proposal took place right before the finish line of the Pikes Peak Marathon. Youtube. How sweet!

I can't wait to run the ascent again!

1+ horse loop in Stadsskogen. The sides of my feet (especially the left one) hurt, so I cut the run somewhat short. I do not know exactly what or why this weird foot pain happens, but it started the week before Pikes Peak. It could be linked to the bad ankle twist I had just before that. It is also possible that it is some type of overuse injury after a summer of orienteering, since the last time I had this type of pain was after summer 2006, when I also did a lot of racing. Regardless, I hope that as long as I take care of my feet, the pain will go away.

Core+some leg exercises and pushups.

Running to the start.

Lång-KM at Törnskogen, a map about 45 minutes away, near Stockholm. Some things I was very happy about. I did not feel rusty with my navigation or slow on the rocks. And when Lina B. passed me about two-thirds of the way through the course, it was only after the steep hill. :)

What I was not happy with was my 4.5 minute mistake on the last control. This looked to be a very easy one, since it was right off a trail on a dot knoll. But there were many small trails in this area and it was a relatively open and flat section, so I ended up taking the wrong trail. It took me a while to relocate and even once I knew which area the control was in, it was still tricky - I had to use every part of the control descriptions to find the flag.

Once I reviewed the map at home, I also realized that some of my route choices were suboptimal (for instance, climbing an unnecessary 30 meters on the way to #8 instead of going around). So, overall, despite my good feelings throughout most of the race, I could have done it about 8 minutes faster. This is displeasing, but I'm sure the next one will be better!

Today was the first orientation day of the international masters program at Uppsala University. Sadly, most of other foreign students are doing financial math instead of pure, but I have been told to expect at least five people in each of my classes, so there is hope. After the meeting, I ran two horse loops in Stadsskogen. The combination of fast pace, easy effort, and high HR indicates that I am well rested and ready for training again!! I am very pleased with my races this summer and I hope to improve even further this year. My general plan is to focus on quality over quantity. More speedwork, strength, and quality technique training. Less "base-building" training and no orienteering without a purpose.

C • lördag 4

Arrived in Uppsala today after one of those awful 6 PM - 7:15 AM flights. Really jetlagged and tired from the travel, but excited to be back here!

C • home 1

Drove to Denver airport and then flew to New York. My legs feel tired, but ok. This next week is planned rest and recovery. No training whatsoever. Lots of food, friends, family, shopping, and even a haircut. :)

The Pikes Peak Ascent.

13.32 miles, 7,815 feet of climb to get to ~14,050 feet.

I was actually nervous this morning, which is very unusual for me. The weather had been pretty grim all through the night and the forecast called for 20F and snow on top of the mountain. I was not sure I could finish this race given the conditions. I was not even sure I would be allowed to finish, since the organizers could send us back down anytime if it became unsafe. Fortunately, Boris and Christoph were amazingly supportive and I started the race feeling about as prepared as could be.

I started at the front of the crowd, but took it very easy in the beginning and let others pass me. About 15 minutes in, I took off my orange rain jacket and hat. Around this time, I started passing people back. This was not easy, given the narrow trail, but I ran where I could, walked where I had to, and gradually made my way up. Mentally, the hardest part for me was at around 90 minutes. It was then that my resolve started to waver and I was actually contemplating quitting. But after the nicer flat section and some cheerful conversation with a fellow runner, I was feeling fine again. It helped that I had very realistic expectations.

By Barr Camp, I was passing people from Wave 1 (people that started half an hour earlier than I did). By the last several miles, I was passing people in groups of 3-5. I do not know exactly how many people I passed during the race, but it was quite a high number. In the beginning, this was encouraging. By the end, it was just frustrating. I wanted to run up to the finish and every 15-20 seconds, people were in my way!

I was freezing when I finished. For the first 2.5 hours, there was constant rain. Then once I got above tree line, there was hail and wind. Then during the last couple of miles, there was snow. My legs felt so cold that I wondered if it was possible for them to go numb and fail me. After I finished, it took Boris the better part of an hour to help dress me and stop my shaking.

The scary part is that I was one of the healthier-looking finishers. Boris and Christoph said they saw people who looked a lot worse than I did, and at least one ambulance was sent to the top of the mountain. Hundreds of runners were turned back at A Frame shortly after 10 AM, so I feel very lucky to have made the cut-off!

Despite everything, this race was amazing and I will certainly be back to do it again. I am certain that better knowledge of the trail, a Wave 1 start, and better weather conditions could have saved me at least 10 minutes. And I'll keep training hills. Perhaps 3 hours is doable someday.

RESULTS: 47th woman, 308 overall, 3rd in the W20-24 category.

C • Awesome!! 8

After spending yet another night in a motel, Boris and I visited the Royal Gorge Bridge and then continued on to Colorado Springs. Lots of dense fog and rain. I could barely see the cars in front of me, and certainly not Pikes Peak. But I did get to see the kissing camels in the Garden of the Gods, which cheered me up.

Boris and I drove part-way to Colorado Springs today. We stopped along the way to visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and go for an easy run. My right foot hurt whenever I stepped on a rock (I think it is bruised), so I did not do the planned 30 minutes.

Today, Boris, Amy, and I headed up on a rocky, wide trail to a nearby waterfall, climbing about 1,000 feet in the process. I only timed the running portion of this, but we were actually out for longer.

[Aside: Telluride is an amazing place. It is situated at 8,750 feet and is surrounded by mountains on most sides. Even better, the gondolas are considered public transportation (at least in the summer), so that in theory I could run up a mountain and then ride down on one of those for free!]

Drove Will to Denver airport and then headed out to Telluride to visit Amy and Mat. Lots of driving, but really pretty views!

After the US Champs, Boris, Will, and I drove through Rocky Mountain National Park and spent the night at Estes Park. This morning, we set off early for Longs Peak, one of the more difficult fourteeners. We made very good progress up the trail to the keyhole (13,000+ feet), but then decided to turn back because we felt our sneakers did not provide enough grip to safely continue the climb.

EVENT: US Championships, Day 2
COURSE: Red, 10.8 km, 250m climb, 22 controls
MAP: Remarkable Flats, 1:15,000, 5m contours
TERRAIN: Even more open than yesterday, with easily visible green splotches of aspen here and there. Fast.
MY RUN: Despite my best efforts, I again had to return to the start shortly after leaving it, this time after forgetting my punch card. (I'm just not used to holding three things in my left hand!) Other than this 40-second loss, my race was very, very good.
RESULTS: 3rd behind Sandra and Sam. So now I have a bronze US Champs medal for both the Night and the Classic. :)

EVENT: US Championships, Day 1
COURSE: Red, 7.7 km, 285m climb, 14 controls
MAP: Diamond Bay, 1:10,000, 5m contours
TERRAIN: Typical fast and open Laramie terrain, with some technical, rocky, hilly stuff in the south.
MY RUN: Overall, pretty good. My biggest mistakes were losing 40 seconds in the beginning by starting without my compass and losing 2+ minutes on #11 by getting confused by the big cliffs. Otherwise, it was a very solid run and a lot of fun. I was totally dead by the end!
RESULT: 3rd behind Sandra and Sam.

Morning training on Pelican Bay. I navigated very well!

Afternoon training on East Pelican Bay. Despite feeling fine both yesterday and this morning, I was really tired during this training! So I walked most of the course and tried to notice every little detail.

Boris and I drove southwest today to climb Medicine Bow Peak, about 12,000 ft high. The weather was perfect and we had many beautiful views of the white cliffs and also of big marmots.

After the hike, Boris and I drove straight to the afternoon orienteering training on First With The Most. He shadowed me around a control-pick and we discovered that my main weakness in this type of terrain is attacking the control. I would get to my attackpoint quickly, only to lose 10 seconds actually finding the control. I resolved to be more careful with my compass and try harder to visualize the circle.

After spending the night in a motel, Boris and I got an early start to Laramie, straight to the event area. I started jogging the One-Man Relay, but hurt my ankle badly (the front part again) and decided to stop.

Easy run with Sandra and Christoph in Tie City. Sandra taped my ankle, so it didn't hurt!

Flight to Newark.
Flight to Denver.

Out in the rain tonight at Hagby, moving a couple of controls and then running around on trails. Legs felt somewhat tired, but ok. I am really excited about heading out west tomorrow!!

Started the Swedish Ultralong Champs, and then decided to head back in after the first hour, as planned. Although I hate not finishing a race, this was the right choice for me. I got in a good amount of training without tiring myself out, did the really long leg to the first control and visited the coolest part of the map, and experienced the mass start. Perhaps next year I'll run the whole thing.

C • Ultralong 1

Jogging back to the finish on trails and roads.

An easy run by myself around Stadsskogen. I felt sluggish, since I was going shortly after waking up and eating breakfast. Feet felt mostly ok, so I've decided to start the Ultralong and then just see how it goes. Since the course is made up of several loops, I should never be too far away from the finish.

Run with Boris to Nåsten to find a cache. Mainly on trails, but cut through the woods towards the end. Nice run and my feet felt ok, but my right achilles is still really tight. So many small niggles!!

C • NIggles? 2