Training Log Archive: Quicksilver

Muddy, hilly run with my dog. This one was a little more relaxed than usual, but mainly because all the dirt trails are still extremely muddy. Also, these 310 meters of climb are about as little climb as I can get in my neighborhood if I want to run for more than 5 miles.

@Chabot.

Event: BAOC: Pacheco, Wildflower Weekend
 

Red course at Pacheco Pass. This race was pretty clean until the end where I lost only less than a minute on a technical control. Rex beat me by 14 seconds though, so I guess it mattered. The conditions were less than ideal, but after running through wet grass and high mud for a while, you kinda stop caring about it... :)

Night-O 4-loop motala at Pacheco. Again, the conditions at first made me want to reconsider doing this as the rain was pouring at first, and then putting on my wet shoes and gaiters was absolute misery. But this Night-O was definitely worth it. I made a relatively minor mistake in which I was 50 meters from my control on a wide plain, and I simply didn't see it or the feature. Didn't lose too much time elsewhere and overall the run was so much fun, especially when I saw all the headlamps running around the forest. Oh, and did I mention the cows? A giant herd got spooked as me and Siargey ran past them, and the poor things all over the park spooked runners and got spooked as runners ran past. Their eyes are reflective, just like the controls, and this caused me to run towards a cow in the general vicinity of a control since I thought it was the control. Oops. That was quite a moooving experience... :)

Gah... This run was tough but surprisingly enjoyable. I haven't run this incline for a while, and I was happily surprised when I could run a solid sub-6 min/km pace up it. I kept adding extra loops to the run to make it longer, and I added one more out and back at the end to make it a 10k. Felt great even when running up the hills so that's nice.

Best time so far on the "Figure 8" loop. I might take a break from this one and run a different loop though. My toe is feeling a bit weird again, and I'm thinking it's probably the shoes.