Training Log Archive: j-man

I have some preliminary conclusions:

• I was never that great at HR. I haven't gotten significantly worse, but 2008 was especially bad.
• z-man wasn't that good at HR before, but really kicked it up a notch circa 2008
• Winning times at HR, assuming a top field, should be in the low 7s. Pace is largely invariant over length, control density (style), climb, and season (although the X variables don't express enough variation to really test the latter factors, or any factors, really.)
• I have been in the 7s twice, and won on those occasions. They were longer courses.
• More data is required and this analysis is more art than science.

Data is here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArbGb0BTV-...

It looks like there is some good CSU orienteering training tomorrow. It is really unfortunate that it is on the same night as the track workout, which is where I am focusing.

Level 8 hills. 7mph through 48, and then to tempo (2 minutes earlier than last time.)

10mph at 56, 10.5mph at 58:30, and 11mph at 59:30.

Felt ridiculously good. Let's see about tomorrow.

1,034 calories.

Mini core afterwards.

Picked up 3 night-O controls.

Orienteering at HR is surprisingly rewarding when done at a walking pace.

Warmup before the course.

Hickory Run Red.

Another disappointing run at Hickory Run. What is going on?

Well, it may not have been terrible. It just seems like it on a relative basis. Formerly, my runs at Hickory Run were good on a relative basis. Now, z-man is my daddy. And Ross is, too, should he run.

I took this race seriously, and I ran aggressively--from a physical perspective. But, I didn't orienteer great and lacked confidence. #1 was a little bogus, but #2 was a leg which I should have owned. Not only were we training in that area yesterday, I think I had seen that control, and saw some remaining contour streamers on the way into it. And yet I screw it up the same way everyone screwed up the contour warmup.

#3 I find, but I just kind of stumbled into it. I had lost contact and just pushing on on a whim and found it. The next couple controls were executed as I had planned.

My shoes come untied twice on the way to #7. That never happens, but it shows a lack of preparation. I did maintain my line and concentration on that control. But, #8 was a big problem. I had intended to go out to the road (which would have been stupid anyway) because I didn't have a good plan to go straight. But, I didn't take a good bearing out that way, so I found myself going more straight and decided to stay in the woods. But, I obviously didn't have a plan, and paid the price. This was essentially the same leg I messed up (in the opposite direction) at the last event.

9-11 were a bit raggedly as I was getting rattled by WPs. On #15 I decide to cut and do it as planned. But, I think it was poor decision.

As an aside. I think that HR mapping conventions are a little odd. I think medium green (typically laurel) is ofter less passable than dark green (rhododendron) which you can often stoop or crawl under. But, the rhododendron is visually distinct in the terrain, while the laurel is amorphous.

Anyway, like I said, z-man ate my lunch. Is he so very good and I am so very bad? A margin is defined by two points, so it is not clear.

As another aside... I don't know what I feel about this course. I feel like it was very tough. I think some control placements (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) were especially challenging. I think they are at the edge of the distribution of fair, legitimate HR controls. Which goes to show why HR is such a great place and it reaffirms its status as one of my favorite maps.

HR revealed the deficiencies in my technique. I could not execute certain legs at the speed I was attempting to take them at. This is not getting any better.

[Note]: So, the splits are up, and they confirm my expectations. Simply, z-man was better. But, I had a decent race.

The thing that surprises me is that I lost a lot of time on 4 and 5 which I executed as intended, if carefully. How do you take those controls harder? They are so subtle, and high penalty. I was basically 1:30 back of the best times on those two legs. And another :35 on 3, the end of which, as noted elsewhere, I started majorly hesitating on.

Also, 1 minute back on 6, which was pretty clean.

How do I orienteer faster here is this subtle stuff?

A very weird thing happened on this run. At the finish I notice that my right insole is just _barely_ tucked into my shoe. It was .5 inches from being gone. The left was sticking out sufficiently that I could easily pull it out.

I had almost lost both insoles of virtually new shoes, while they were tightly laced. I thought this may be some sort of violation of ambient isotopy. Maybe I should ask Neil. Needless to say, had the insole wholly worked itself out, and there was not hint of what had happened, I would have been quite bewildered.

I attribute this strange phenomenon to a combination of Trimtex socks, and new and wet Integrators.

Apparently I schlepped 56 pounds of crap from the garage home after the HR weekend.

Event: DVOA Hickory Run Training Weekend
 

The only running involved in this hanging exercise was to the start of the warmup.

Woke up at 6AM to darkness and rain. Didn't get out the door until 6:20, but it was not especially light. It got better, gradually. Hung all the contour controls and the streamers for the warmup. Hanging was challenging, as was streamering. I only had one I was especially concerned about, and I reattacked it from another angle. Everything else was a single shot. Ex post, all controls were in the right spot.

Got to breakfast, wet, at 8AM.

So, I did a pretty good job hanging 40+ controls for the night-O and training, but I was happy that I had streamered (and Ross/Wyatt vetted) the night-O. That was the one ray of light in the gloaming and growing darkness Friday night.

I spent some time running around watching people do the contour exercises and did some legs myself.

Eddie, unsurprisingly, was the only person to complete all loops and the bonus. It looks like I planned the right quantity and intensity of exercises.

Solid 15 minute warmup before the sprint. Had full racing gear, including new sunglasses. Changed into Integrators.

Sprint Series Finals course from 2006.

For some reason, in my course setting career, this remains one of my favorites. I was thrilled to have a chance to run it, and I approached it seriously.

Obviously, I was familiar with the course, but I had never run it. And I hadn't looked at it much in the intervening years. So, my familiarity should be discounted somewhat, though not entirely.

I started a minute behind Eddie. I took off very hard and kept it up. I saw Eddie at #4 and achieved close contact my #8 on the first loop. The dynamics of the race had certainly changed.



The second loop was just great. I was ahead going to #5 as he had made a small mistake, but at times we were probably neck and neck, though not exactly at the same place--we took slightly divergent routes.

The race ended a bit disappointingly. We arrived at #7 essentially together, but he punched first, and then a WP guy punched after him. The thick vegetation on the way out meant that delay--the guy between us--provided some spacing. I couldn't get around.

Then, at #8, where there was at least one other control (a night-O control that Sandy had placed) I punched the wrong control. Not only that, but I had to wait for it to wake up, before then punching my own control. And, then I flubbed (to the tune of seconds) the very last control, which has that tricky piece of vegetation.



The denouement to this race was disappointing because my legs were coming online and I was ready to go. It was ironic because I playfully jested with Eddie that this was a chance to redeem himself from his first attempt at this course. And today, I had the punching problems.

[There were at least two other controls that had multiple controls, with stands and epunches at them. It is great that I didn't have any other problems and that no one mispunched.] Still, it is one thing to admonish people to check the codes, that this would be good training, etc., and then find yourself subjected to it.

Anyway, very happy with the run. I thought I had (but just checked and realized I didn't get) the course record. Schirm ran 16:02 and Johnny 16:14.

It was almost a perfect race from an execution perspective. I may not have taken all the optimal route choices, but once I had contact with Eddie, it became more tactical.

Also, I did run part of this race at level 5. Or at least it felt like that level 5 effort, with the feelings in the arms, etc., that I only really get in a cross country race.

[Note] Today, through the map exchange I was 30 seconds faster than Schirm's pace from the Finals. In this run, on #16 and #17 I lose 12 seconds to Eddie, who clocked a total of 51 seconds. I shouldn't have lost those.

A little bit of perfunctory participation in the precision compass and pace exercise. I deliverately did some of the legs out of order.



This is the exercise I used originally in 2007. It seemed good at that time, so we decided to rehash it and Eddie set things up.

Picking up a few controls from the compass exercise.

The mosquitoes this year at HR were terrible.

The jogging portion of my control hanging.

Hanging all but 5 of the night-O controls at Hickory Run. I got a very late start, and only got into the woods at 5:30. Luckily, it wasn't raining at that point. However, when I was placing my last few controls, it was a struggle. At the final one, it was so dark that I was fearful I had misplaced it (at a road/trail junction.)

I am giving myself 20 minutes level 2 credit because there was a lot of schlepping at first (I embarked with all the gear--stands, reflectors, controls, mallet, etc., so I wouldn't have to come back.) It was exceedingly awkward, but I was able to make a circuit.

My sleeping bag storage sack was conscripted to carry epunches which were already mounted on the crossbars, increasing their bulk and compounding the difficulty of finding the relevant one at the moment.

Sandy offered to put out the remaining night-O controls Saturday morning, which was much appreciated.

The Advanced course. It reflects a number of compromises, but I am satisfied with it. It turned out to be surprisingly evocative of the Red course on Sunday.



Satisfied with the results and that everyone finished by 11PM. However, at that time I was already enjoying myself, and attempting to render myself into a state such that I would not be able to join a search party if one was convened. So fine, as some might say.

From Oak Grove. I found the Northwest Passage! And all is good.

With Brendan, around the Fells--mostly on the Skyline Trail.

I felt like we started fast (or faster than last time) and finished slower. Maybe. But, in the end, we ran pretty much the same time.

I felt more disjointed at first and had to work to stay up with Brendan on the downhills. But, at least on a relative basis, I was much better from halfway onwards.

I made no attempt to push the pace (up or down) in the second half, and my legs felt generally less agile than last week. I guess I was still strong enough going up though.

Back to Oak Grove. Took a trail directly across Fellsway East. And meandered a bit.

But, I think the way back was still faster, and I definitely felt better than I did on the same leg last week. Maybe because I didn't run as hard earlier?

Random notes:

• I lost the first nobb on my Mudclaws today.
• I definitely think Wrights Pond should be mapped so that we have a map the whole way across the Fells. And Boojum should be mapped across Fellsway East, to the edge of the forest. If we got that done, and the Fells maps itself is done (which it will be soon) CSU would have a prodigious amount of mapped, quasi-interesting terrain in/near an urban core.
• Brendan suggested plyometrics to improve my downhill running. He may have a point. I used to love plyometrics. In the old days, they made me strong. The problem is the last time I tried, jumping type exercises bothered my ankle, and that was before the latest tweak at the Relay arena at WOC.

Pretty much same as last time. Level 8, 7mph through 50, then tempo, then 10mph, then 10.5.

1,028 calories.

Pretty much the same as last time. And a good workout.

To the Harvard track. Easy pace.

Some more warmup, including strides (which were after the form exercises.)

Some stretching and running form exercises.

CSU intervals. The plan today was "Death Spiral Lite" or

1200 @ 8K pace
800 @ 5K pace
400 @ 3K pace
800 @ 5K pace
1200 @ 5K pace
1600 @ 5-8K pace

While I felt crappy on the warmup, the intervals were at least OK, or the first three were OK. There, I kind of stuck off the tail of the lead group. On the last three, after 1.5 laps, I felt like I started to fade. I really think Terry runs negative splits. I am going to have to check this.

402
158

239
209

115
206

240
213

414
209

548

Average laps were:
1) 80.67
2) 79.50
3) 75.00
4) 80.00
5) 84.67
6) 87.00

So, the data says I really did start to fade, but only really on the last two.

A little cooldown there and the rest on the way home. Dark.

Incidentally, the Penncrest HS track is a much better place to do workouts than the Harvard track for several reasons:

Better surface
Lit at night during the winter
Very few other people using it
TNT dinners afterward