Training Log Archive: Kat

US Ultralong Champs. This was horrible - map was rogaine quality, some control locations were questionable, and forest wasn't fun to run through (lots of green). Given how angry I was right from the start, it's amazing I managed to make it to the finish. At least I have the satisfaction of finishing and, more importantly, seeing that I can feel strong and run even at the end of a long race. Also, by talking to Greg B. and Pavlina, I learned that the people who did relatively well with this type of map thought of it as a rogaine and didn't trust vegetation and instead relied mostly on the (vague) contours, because at least those are usually taken from a base map and therefore are the most accurate. Was 3rd in F21 today, 30" out from second and a whole 15' out from 1st (Pavlina). I ran a whole lot of extra distance in order to relocate on some controls, but I think that if I had gone the minimum distance, my time would have been around 2:!0 (over half an hour faster). Disappointing day. But good physical training!

C • Even disappointing run can be above average 3

Warmup/down for the two races.

US Championships Sprint. I had a great race - some wrong route choices a couple of times where I went around on trails instead of going straight through the forest or rough open, but otherwise about as well as I could have done. 1st place - beat Emily Kemp by just 5 seconds.

C • Congratulations!! US champi... 7

Middle-distance A-meet, also at Mendon Ponds. I had another good race. Didn't run as hard as in the morning (saving energy for tomorrow!), and hesitated a few times on some really tricky controls in the green, but otherwise very satisfied with my run. 1st place again.

Some easy running on trails along with some map reading on the southeastern section of Mendon Ponds. Mike Waddington set out to hang streamers after I went out, so I didn't find any! Unfortunately, I realized yesterday that I have a thorn stuck deep in the bottom of my right foot, and after trying to get it out (unsuccessfully), my foot hurt even more. While running today, I found it difficult to concentrate because I was instead focusing on not hurting the foot. Argh! After the training, I tried another attempt at getting it out, but now I've just got a small hole in my foot and can't see anything past the blood, so I've bandaged it up for now. The hope is that proper taping and adrenaline will allow me to race the next two days without it distracting me too much, and afterwards I can think about digging it out.

Easy run on the ridge trail at West Rock. This one is nowhere near as nice as the red trail that goes along the eastern side of the park - very rocky, and sometimes hard to follow.

Running before/after + some strides.

2 sprint courses at Stratton Brook Park, done at an easy pace. I really thought this training wasn't meant to happen because the drive was long (almost 90 minutes because of traffic!), the weather was bad on the highway, and there was an XC race going on at the park, but it turned out to be a really fun training! :)

Easy run in East Rock with Connor and (for the first half) Boris. Pace was on the slow side, so legs felt fine. Too much pavement running, though (we took the road to the top).