Training Log Archive: jfredrickson

Event: OCIN Sprints
 

Warm-up jog on the Ft. St. Clair map getting ready for the sprints. Legs felt really good despite being in the car for the past 20 hours.

Started off with a funny mistake going into the first one. Just as I was getting ready to attack the control from the field some guy came running from the other direction and jumped into the woods to a control which I knew could not be mine yet. I reacted so fast though and jumped in after him that I couldn't stop myself. It was really weird since I knew it wasn't mine but I jumped in anyway. I didn't lose more than 5-7 seconds though.

Other than that the first three were clean and I was feeling good physically. Then I missed the 4th one by about 15 meters in some thick green so I lost another 10 seconds there. I also hit the 5th one too low and hadn't read the description which stated it was on the top of an earth bank so I wasted some time trying to figure out why I couldn't see it at the bottom of the earth bank where I automatically expected it to be.

I could easily have avoided this mistake as the course hadn't been that fast-paced up to that point and I had more than enough time between controls to figure this stuff out so I really should have spiked this one.

The next four were solid but it was a lot of open running and I felt kind of funny. I don't know if it was my lack of sleep last night or the medication I am taking for my poison ivy, but I just felt like I couldn't push it all the way into top gear. My body just felt too weak to handle that intensity, so I probably lost some time out in the open fields where it was just straight running.

Then I went and completely blew the last control by about a minute. The area going into the control was very vague and didn't look anything like I expected it to. I pushed on even though I was very unsure and when I hit my catching feature I convinced myself that I was down closer to the control that I really was so I started attacking left when I was already too far left. I quickly realized this though and finally attacked in the right direction.

I didn't mind the small errors so much since I had just been in the car for nearly 20 hours and hadn't really slept for more than 3 hours, but it was pretty disappointing to blow the last control so badly. I am not sure that the map is perfect in that area but it is still no excuse for my bad execution, and especially my awful response to the fact that I was blowing the control. One of my goals right now is to take advantage of the mistakes I make so that I can practice doing what I need to do to minimize the time lost from them, and this was a perfect example of what not to do. I'll have to keep this in mind and avoid it in the future.

Warm-up jog before the second sprint.

This one went a lot better although I was still a little sloppy around a couple controls costing me too many precious seconds for it to be a great race. And again I felt too weak to push it into high gear on the open legs although my legs felt pretty good.

I jogged the white course for my cool-down. It felt good to be taking everything slowly, even though it was only a white, but it was hard to stay focused moving that slowly because you end up having a lot of down time between controls when there otherwise wouldn't be. A good cool-down jog though.

Sprint 1 - Splits

Sprint 2 - Splits

I seem to have caught some nasty poisen ivy in all kinds of nasty places. I have a distinct feeling that all the green leafy stuff that seemed so useful last night when I had to go to the bathroom during my run in the woods in the dark may have been my downfall. The worst is in the eye because it seems to spread to the rest of the face so easily. I remember last time I got it in my eye my face swelled up for several days and both eyes were swollen nearly shut. Let's hope that doesn't happen this time.

Tomorrow I hit the road. First stop is in Eaton, OH for the OCIN Sprints at Fort St. Clair on Saturday. I think I will take some time to visit Joel since he is just next door.

Then off to St. Louis to pick up Anna, and finally on to Laramie for a 1000 days of blissful Orienteering. I plan to arrive in Laramie on Monday or Tuesday.

I am a little worried that all this idle time in the car is going to be hell with all the poisen ivy. Hopefully I won't look too scary when I pick up Anna or her parents might not let her go with me...

C • Sorry to hear about that. I go... 3

Supposedly the hottest day of the summer here in MA, but surprisingly it cooled off pretty nicely in the evening. 80 degrees has never felt so good.

I had a bit of a headache prior to going out though so I took it easy today. Legs felt pretty good though.

Brisk warmup run up Sawyer Hill to do intervals on Brewer Rd. Waited until after sunset because of the heat, but it was still in the upper 80s and it felt like a giant steam room.

I ran 4 intervals on the top part of Brewer Rd. It was hard to breathe in the high heat and humidity, and my whole body just felt like crap the more I ran.

The first one was really slow but I was able to push it into gear on the second and third, but I didn't have anything left after that, so I decided to cut it short after 4. I might have tried to push through if this were a hard week, but I didn't have the motivation tonight to deal with this heat.

Here are my splits:

1.) 1:24.38
r.) 3:00
2.) 1:10.46
r.) 3:00
3.) 1:13.77
r.) 3:00
4.) 1:24.37

Easy cool down run back from the interval session. Was feeling pretty crappy so I decided to cut it short.

Couldn't find my new Adidas, so I had to pull my old Asics out of retirement for my evening run tonight. Fortunately they are still in fairly decent condition.

Felt tired at the beginning as usual, but warmed up to it pretty quickly. Did the 9-mile Barn Loop with all the climb in the first 2.5 miles. It definitely feels better at the beginning and spread out over 2.5 miles rather than in the middle and only over .75 miles.

Had to stop for a minute in the 6th mile to massage the tendon just above the knee on the outside of my left leg. It was feeling very tight all of a sudden, but I ended up just running it off and it seemed to disappear pretty quickly.

Picked up the intensity on the last big hill in the middle of the 8th mile and that got my bowels moving. I had gone to the bathroom before heading out, but that didn't seem to help. I have been stopping a lot during trainings lately to squat in the woods. I wonder what the reason for it is. Perhaps all the energy drink I have been drinking lately? That's the only thing different about my diet that I can think of. It often seems to happen right when I pick up the intensity which is especially bad. Maybe I am just activating that flight instinct with the extra adrenaline from the heightened intensity...

Anyway, it's not a big deal in the long runs, but it is pretty annoying when I am trying to do a workout. I guess the only thing I can do is to start carrying a wad of toilet paper and hope for the best. At least I won't have to strip all the trees then...

A brisk warmup jog on some trails at Nolde. Felt pretty tired at first, but better as my legs started to loosen up.

A very steep and thick course on a very hot and humid day. Basically, it wasn't ideal Orienteering conditions in any way. I figured that it would be a good opportunity to try running in crappy conditions, so my focus for the day was to try to stay focused and push hard throughout the entire race even when my body and mind were crapping out on me.

I successful for most of the race, but there were a few areas where I really failed. I completely lost focus on the trail run to number 4 and attacked the control without really thinking about it or paying attention to where I was going. I was able to relocate quickly enough, but it was a pretty stupid mistake especially since I wasn't really feeling the effects of the heat yet.

5 to 6 was a nasty slog through some really thick thorn bushes, and I just couldn't stay focused enough to really push through them, so I ended up losing a lot of time slowly picking my way through. At that point I was really feeling the effects of the heat and the climb, but I still should have been able to put my mind to the task and fight through the underbrush. This was probably my most frustrating problem on the day since it is so easy to fix and it had been one of my goals prior to the race.

It was also hard to get focused again after I made it through the green area and so the next 2 controls were pretty sloppy, and I was pretty lazy going up the hill to number 8, but after that I was able to pick it up and get back into the race for the most part although I still felt a bit brain dead.

This race reminded me why I hate the long distance format, even though it was only a 5.8km course. The combination of the long legs, the climb and the thick vegetation made it a course where your ability to push hard through physical obstacles was more important than your ability to navigate on the run and make quick decisions.

Easy cool-down jog with Vadim. He had his fancy GPS watch and measured the distance which was pretty cool. Legs felt pretty dead at first, but after a couple minutes they started to feel better. I didn't really get a chance to run very hard today, but I think the heat and humidity wore me out enough.

Red - Splits