Raced in a 6k super sprint over the weekend. I finished in 43:00, shaving 2 minutes off my time compared to last year. It’s still pretty slow (the winner finished in 22:00). My shoulder harness fell off taking a tight, bumpy turn in the penalty loop, so I had to make a quick repair. The trails were very icy.
Anyway, I could think of 100 excuses, but the only solution is to get out there and ski some more. I have a training date on Sunday.
Saturday:
- 7.5k Biathlon. I had the biggest cheering section ever! (Thank you
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
ellenlouise, joshc, sauerkraut42, and you other people who don't have LJs). I finished in 42:53 and shot 3 2 2 4 (one shot better than last time). - Took the twins to the Children's Museum and Seattle Center, via the monorail. Forgot it was torchlight parade. Almost got trapped downtown.
- Watched Juno, cute movie
Sunday:
- Got my oil changed by my favorite mechanic, who also happens to be my dad! (Thanks dad!)
- Ellen came over to visit
- Volunteered at Teen Feed
- Dinner at Blue C Sushi
- Took a well-deserved hot bath and started reading ChiRunning (thanks for the tip, jillbertini)
Misses: 1 0 0 1
Xtra rounds: 10 (misreported as 6 on the chart)
Time: 0:45:48
Behind: 0:24:42
Yesterday was the last race of the season, and although my skiing showed a lot of room for improvement, my shooting was pretty accurate. I hit 18 out of 20 targets (1 0 0 1 for those of you keeping score at home), though I did make use of some of the extra rounds available in the Super Sprint format. I can't describe how good it feels to "shoot clean", and get to ski right past the penalty loop.
I placed 15th which is two places higher than my summer race ... though there were two fewer competitors (i.e. I still finished last).
During the shooting bouts, and especially after everyone else finished, the rest of the team was super supportive of me, cheering, clapping and shouting my name each time the race route took me near the range area.
I really pushed myself to the limits of my physical endurance and found there was some more in left when I got there. There was a killer hill-climb in the final loop, and I was thinking about it for most of the race because the route requires skiing up it three times. (It’s the first leg of the “short triangle”.) When I got about halfway up it, I thought I was going to have to stop. Instead, I took a deep breath and tried to focus on my hill climb technique.
During these difficult parts of the course, I kept my mind focused on a few thoughts: “technique through it” (as opposed to “power (or push) through it”), “never save anything for the swim back”, and if there wasn’t enough oxygen in my brain for something that complicated I simply kept time to the rhythm of my skating with “BOOM skate-a BOOM skate-a”
In retrospect, this was a poorly chosen goal because even though my intentions were good (“improve accuracy”) it focused too much on getting to an arbitrary number. I was able to get the goal of 10 out of my mind early once I started shooting accurately, but had my shooting been just so-so, the “10” would have haunted me and hurt my performance.
My next goal is race in two summer biathlon events which focuses more on just getting out there and having fun, and less on race performance. My skill is bound to improve as a side effect, yet I won’t dwell on it.
1. On Saturday, Venessa and I drove to Ellensburg in the worst pass conditions I've ever seen. Chains required, with a phalanx of troopers doing chain enforcement. Took 5 hours.
2. Learned how to skate ski on Monday. I told the instructed I needed to learn in time for a biathlon on January 5, and he just started laughing. Did a 1 hour lesson, then about 10k worth of skating on my own. I've got the rhythm down, but climbing hills is still excruciatingly difficult.
3. Went snowboarding with Venessa yesterday. Fun as always.
I saw a specialist for my knee today. The official diagnosis is "bone bruise", which should fully heal in a month. Until then, I can resume training, letting any pain be my guide.
Really, the only thing between me and running 6k by Oct 6th is keeping a high level of motivation!
I thought it was going to be a 7k so that's nice, but the no extra rounds rule is going to make the shooting bouts very difficult.
I ran a simulated race this morning (6k broken up into five 1.2k loops with 4 dry-firing bouts in between). I settled back into my 10:00 mile pace, so I still have some "catching up" to do...so to speak.
Thurs: Camping
Fri: Camping
Sat: Biked 8mi from REI to Venessa's Grandma's
Sun: Canoeing around Union Bay/Arboretum
Mon: 3 miles of speed interval running, and some weights. Mile pace down to 9:30
Today: "Biked" 5mi (indoors)
My goal for a) is to have an 8-minute mile pace by the next race (October 6). I started speed interval training last night. I alternate between jogging at my normal pace (10-minute mile), and short bursts of running at the desired pace.
I'm still working out the magic formula between jogging speed, running speed, frequency of running bursts, and total time. Last night I did 3 10 minute runs, with 30 second bursts every 2 minutes. I figure I'll slowly ramp these up over the next 6 weeks.
My goal for b) is to be able to hit 50% of the targets in the next race. Last race I hit 35%. I'm getting a membership to the rifle range, so I can get some more practice time in.
The course was a 500m loop, with a 70m penalty loop.
There were 5 laps around the main loop, interspersed with 4 shooting bouts (2 prone, 2 standing).
Each bout had 5 targets to hit, and 8 rounds (but the last 3 rounds had to be hand loaded one at a time...a time-consuming process).
Each missed target resulted in one penalty loop.
I finished 17th out of 17. I outshot some of the others, but wasn't able to compensate for my slow running pace.
I left 13 out of 25 targets up, so I added almost 1k of penalty running to a 2.5k race! That explains how important the marksmanship component is.
Just like one of the biathlon vets told me before the race, "this is going to be a humbling experience". It was humbling, but also so exhilarating and fun that I'm excited to try it again.
Last week:
Yoga
Biked to work twice
Ultimate frisbee
Weekend:
Ultimate frisbee
Today:
Biked to work
I think I'm in better shape than I've been in a long time (ever?). Though I haven't been running much, so we'll see how the running portion of the race goes. The shooting part is what worries me more. I guess I'll have an hour to zero/practice before the race.
- Biathlon is in 12 days
- I'm shopping for a bike...tired of taking the tortuous 8 bus
- Venessa's cat is a prolific bird-killer all of a sudden
- The garage sale was a success, we got rid of most of our stuff, and donated the rest this morning
- I scooted to work today, it was fun but chilly
- Played Mathew's Wii with Ben M. (who was in town this weekend) and Aviva
I went to a Biathlon clinic on Saturday, taught by former US Olympic Biathlete Chad Salmela. We did drills on breathing, aiming, posture, sight picture, etc. We didn't even fire a shot for the first few hours, we were just working our way though each component. It improved my accuracy and confidence a whole bunch.
And last night I did yoga.
Tuesday: run from work to grain elevator, pause, run back (
Friday: ultimate...hurt my thigh
This week:
Today: run from home to emergency call box in the middle of the I-90 bridge, pause, run back (4km)
Monday: yoga (I went to the gym to work out but I forgot my running shoes)
Friday: ultimate
Today: 5k biathlon simulation (1.6k, stop, 1.6k, stop, 1.6k). Ran that at a 14:00 mile pace...lots of room for improvement.
I competed in a Super-Sprint Biathlon today, as part of Summer Biathlon training. That's 3 100m sprints with shooting bouts after the first two sprints (one prone, one standing).
Each bout has 5 targets and 5 rounds (bullets). For each target left standing at the end of the bout, you have to run a shorter penalty loop.
I finished in 6:35, shooting 3 5 (meaning I missed 3 shots in the prone bout and all 5 in the standing :/), but that means there’s nowhere to go but up!
Syndicate
