Training Log Archive: gwilliams

Today was the Sprint courses at Mills College. This was day three of Run Black Diamond, and I ran blue.

Overall, I made no serious mistakes. I do think that I may have made one or two slight route choice errors. In terms of running speed, I started out fairly slowly and sped up as the race went on. This was good in that it helped me start the race without making mistakes, but I believe that I probably could have navigated at, and kept up, a faster pace.

For next time, I will try to run less conservatively.

I was 34th out of 37 finishers.

This was the one man relay at Run Black Diamond. There were four short loops, and everyone had to do them in a different order.

I found myself running with a pack that was moving faster than I could navigate. Because of this, I made serious route choice errors on multiple occasions.

To fix this, I need to think more critically about the route choices that others are making out on the course. In addition, it would probably be helpful for me do some exercises to quicken my map reading.

Sprint Blue - Splits

Sprint Relay Variant W - Splits

Today was the long distance courses for Run Black Diamond, at Shell Ridge and Diablo foothills. I ran red.

I had a much better run today than yesterday. The terrain was much easier to navigate, and there were many more legs with route choices.

For the most part, I believe I took good route choices. In addition, I found all controls with pretty much no difficulty. Late in the race, though, I was feeling very tired, so I wasn't able to go full speed for the last few legs. To some degree, I was still feeling the effects of the cold I've been struggling with.

I finished 13th place out of 32 finishers.

Long red - Splits

Event: Run Black Diamond
 

Today was the middle distance courses for Run Black Diamond, at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. I ran red.

With this course, my troubles started immediately. I think that I attacked #1 fairly well, but when I got to the control location, I ran right by it, because it was hidden in a very steep reentrant. I looked around the entire area before finally finding it.

I left #1 on a bad bearing and found the wrong trail. I had to relocate, and I lost significant time again.

After this I proceeded with caution. I made no serious mistakes to #3, but I did get there very slowly.

Numbers 4,5 and 6 were quite difficult in terms of navigation and the terrain was also very difficult to get through. Each of these I got to very slowly.

After this, my race really started to improve. I felt as though I understood the map more, and I also was moving through the terrain faster. I made it to numbers 7,8,9 and 10 with no real mistakes.

After this however, I began to feel much more tired physically. This is partially due to the cold that's been bothering me for a few days. For the rest of the race, I didn't really have any navigational difficulties, but I felt completely exhausted.

I finished 17th out of 29 finishers.

Middle Red - Splits

Still feeling pretty terrible...

Nasty cold... Hopefully I will be able to run well this weekend at Run Black Diamond.