Training Log Archive: arcticQn

Slow run to the start, some dashes through the woods, but the body was tired and not fully awake and did not feel like running, warming up or otherwise. I decided the leg to the first control would be just about the best warmup for me right now.

First leg actually felt pretty good, considering the lack of warmup, lack of sleep and belly full of oatmeal, mocha and banana. Caught Angelica at 1, which I also bobbled a bit, and we were together for a long time thrashing through the blueberries and mountain laurel.
I made the mistake of not wearing long socks or gaiters again today which cost me a lot more than just blood today. I was acutely aware of every single leaf that brushed past my shins and I think it sucked the life right out of me.
When we got to 8 I was pretty tired from the long trail run, but I navigated in, past 11 and 12 clean and knew, or thought I knew, exactly where I was. Angelica stopped a bit short while I was ahead about 50m and we searched around for a long time before relocating again off of 12 and coming in and nailing it right on. I think the first time I had passed it just 10ft to my right (downhill) and didn't see the boulder (or something!) I don't know what happened, I thought I was going so well. Perhaps a bit (or much) distracted by Angelica and then the self-doubt that ensued after she stopped. It is certainly not her fault but entirely mine! I need to stop paying attention to what everyone else is doing and just run my race. It happened again leaving 14, I was running back past 8 and saw Hannah and Tori searching for 8 also and became distracted and even looked to see how far off they were, and thus completely distracted myself from where I was going and started climbing a hill that I did not want to. ugh. focus. focus. focus. or lack thereof.
The rest of the race after 13 (the loop) was just a slog. I had hit the 60min mark and the body just wanted to quit. I finished decent I guess, but I knew, since Sam who started many many mins behind me caught me, that I had had a pretty crappy race.
I need more volume. and more volume back to back to be able to sustain the intensity over at least two days! i'll get there. These past few weekends have certainly shown what I need to do, while positively depicting improvement as well! :)
next up. billygoat.

Red Long - Splits

Event: 2010 US Team Trials for WOC
 

Warmup run/jog/walk to the start (I like the long distance to the start! Forced warmup!) Ran by myself, no talking, just trying to focus on having a clean race, undistracted by other thoughts.

Quite a few bobbles here and there, losing what I initially thought was less than 2mins but looking at the splits now realize that it was more. And I know where.
I guess this was a decent race for me, I mean, much improved over last weekend's middle, but that was really kind of an anomaly for me, that was just weird. This was more typical. A few seconds here and there that just add up to minutes.
Most of the race I was just super hesitant, leary of the controls hiding in the thick blueberries and nervous that I would blow it again completely. Ended up finishing with a decent time but I think it's due mostly to others having bigger errors.

Warming up in the parking lot prior to sprinting. Tried to get my breathing and HR up but it was hot out and I felt kind of lazy about the whole thing.
I did test out the track/XC flats for this course and must say, I'm pretty pleased. I wouldn't wear them in the woods, I'd kill my toe for that, but for park sprinting..verrr nice.

I didn't really have a plan going into this race other than try to run hard, no walking and stay clean, knowing that every half second counts.
Right after starting and cutting across the field to 1 I saw Pavi off in the distance, who started 1min ahead of me, dart down from the right and punch, she must've gotten turned around in the thick blueberries and sure enough as I got up to the control it was tucked in there on some knee-high supposed cliff. I wouldn't have seen it either if it weren't for her!! From there I was able to see Pavi off in the distance and chased her down, at my own speed, still reading my own map and clues and in doing so was able to gain a significant amount of confidence in my nav and speed. After catching and passing I maintained the semi-constant pace I was running at and was able to nav completely clean, seeing everything and making sense of everything. What a wonderful feeling!!
Until the finish. I punched the second to Go control and darted around the uncrossable fence, saw and control and went for it. Halfway there I could see Sam and Jeff chatting at the finish and saw something out of the corner of my eye. Another control. At the same time I heard Sam say something about 'can we help....' and I realized what a moron I was for both not looking at the map and scouting the finish when I clearly had the opportunity to earlier. Sam ended up beating me by a measly 4 seconds, which was probably the time of that error. BUT, on the other hand, if it hadn't been for Pavi I would likely have fumbled 1 also and have been 1min back in the end anyway.
Super fun course!.. I might be starting to like sprinting after being so dead-set against it all these years. ;)

Red Middle - Splits

Red Sprint - Splits

Loki and I ran down to the rail trail to do 5x(2'on, 1'off) intervals. Was looking forward to this working actually, but as soon as I got halfway through the first one I realized this was not going to go well. My hamstrings were burning after less than a minute and still my HR wasn't getting as high as I wanted. Was aiming for HR 170-175ish, but my legs would give before the HR got to 172. ugh. Really kinda suffered through the 5 of these, out and back on the trail, with one extra minute between 4 and 5 to undam a puddle. Hiked back up the access trail, legs burning the whole way.
I guess the past two days' workouts took more out of me than I thought. Now I just have to rest up for the weekend!

I was going to do some core work after the run but Loki the Mud Puppy was in dire need of a shower before he muddied up the whole house so I instead rushed him upstairs for the third shower of the week. He's getting good at showers by now!

Headed over to Burnt Mtn to run some trails with Loki, and perhaps check out the woods. Printed a map, but it was only black and white, which was kinda lame (some printer error in ocad). Ran the trails mostly, checking out some new additions from the mtb club. (Honestly, I'm not really missing the rough, rocky, non-flowy mtn biking in this wood.) Running was good though. On trails. I tried to go off trail looking for a particular boulder on a hill, but the woods are so thick and spiderwebby and nasty that it wasn't any fun at all. Not to mention there were a million more boulders on that hill that weren't mapped. ... back to the trails. much better.
Felt strong, but HR wasn't getting as high as I would've expected, and that's probably because my legs gave out first due to the hills yesterday. Once I warmed up it was better, but the whole time was a bit fuzzy in the brain and reading the map was awful. I know the map is really kind of out of date and not detailed (at least in that area) but I think my head just wasn't into it.. which is a big part of my decision to stick to the trails!

Tuesday hills. 16min warmup down and along the rail trail. Some drills and pickups while trying not to think about how painful these hills will be. ;)
Was planning on 4x90s with 3min rest/jog back down. 82s for the first, 85s, 86s, and 89s for the 4th. Since I hadn't hit 90s yet I decided i should do a 5th hill. (glutton for punishment).
5th hill was 92s. there, I can quit now!
Easy run/ski walk up the hill back to Allagash then 3 strides before callin' it a day.

C • Camping at Beaver Pond. 5

3x30crunches, 3x20 girly pushups, various other exercises and yoga-type stretches. stretching is gooooood.

high five for rest day!

no pains or soreness other than a tight outer calf muscle thing from an ankle turn on Sunday. Looking forward to the week and next weekend already!