Training Log Archive: TomN

Core strength plus stretching.

Finally, a run! Nice day, short run, felt good. Back and ankles have settled down some.

Event: QOC Turkey Run Ridge PWFP
 

Carpool with Florence, Shirley, Addie, Rob B., Dave O. Dave being very patient with Addie, keeping the pressure on, making her think about goals and training.

Karla talked me into doing Blue ("Red is boring.") I had a great run up through 7 just before crossing the road into the western side. The woods and the weather were enough to induce euphoria. Looking ahead, I knew that the area around 8 had given me problems in previous runs here. So I thought up what I thought was a foolproof attack (down the Burma road, across the river, take off right to the reentrant with the ditch, up the ridge to the left). It turned out not to be foolproof. I think what happened is I went right too early and missed the reentrant altogether. Relocated to the road to the south, then straight north from the bend in the road, but again no control! WTF? Relocated for the second time, this time to the ditch, and then found the control easy-peasy. 30 minutes.

Next problem at 10, disgusted and tired, just wandering aimlessly. Took a fair bit of wandering to find a recognizable feature (I was on the creek 2 creeks to the NW), but then, again, it was easy to the control. 20 minutes. After that, no more problems, but also no more energy, so really slow. Disappointing finish after that good start.

Blue - Splits

Core strength plus stretching. Lower back still noticeable at times.

Still not feeling like pushing the running.

Core strength plus stretching. After the run yesterday there was a bit of a back pain, near the right sacroiliac joint. Felt it when I was going to sleep and waking up too. So no running today, emergency core workout instead.

Drumm loop. Temp at 32F, steady wind from NW. A few rays of sun, a few clouds, a few snowflakes. Comfortably overdressed.

CVOC FUMA Red. Addie and I took the long drive down to this event, located somewhere between Richmond and Charlottesville. Initially panicked because we couldn't leave until 10, the drive was near 3 hours, and the starts closed at 1. But we got there at about 12:40 and were welcomed, changed clothes and got going in double-quick time.

The drive down was lovely. We took Va. 3 west from Fredericksburg, then 20 south to U.S. 15. I had never taken that route before. The area around the battlefields at Chancellorsville and Wilderness was inviting -- big rolling fields and open woods (at least they looked open from our vantage point). Lots of fine-looking orienteering terrain off both sides of the road. The towns were, for the most part, depressing, but Gordonsville looks like a nice place to visit. Gordonsville was totally hopping on the way back, with the Porkapalooza going in full swing.

In the town of Fork Union, the academy is the main thing going on, but there are some big old southern Colonial houses in town. The registration was in the science building, and the start was right outside the door. The map started from the campus, with some sprint-type controls, and headed into the surrounding woods.

I wish I could report that the terrain lived up to the views on the way there, but it was, unfortunately, what I've come to know as Richmond-area woods: dense and brambly. I'd hate to think what it would be like in summer. The brambles seemed to be about arm-level. At least, that was the region where the blood was flowing most freely -- down the hands and onto the map, the compass, and the punch card. Not that I really noticed. The map was good, with a lot of detail, maybe more suitable for a sprint. But there was some good white woods with subtle features a little ways from the campus, and the Green and Red courses went in there, which I thought was the best part of those courses.

There had been sunshine on the drive down, but during our runs there were scattered rain and snow showers, so we had full conditions to go with our late starts. Towards the end, squeezing the pin punches was difficult due to wooden hands. Addie led the Green course and I finished 3rd on Red, 5 min behind Vido, who was the only other QOC-er I recognized on the list.

But, the refreshments were fantastic. Four or 5 different soups and chilis, cornbread, hot drinks, and fresh fruit, all served indoors in the science classroom. We talked to a few other late finishers and warmed up. Thanks go to Carl Muench, who designed the courses and organized the event and the apres-O scene.

GSFC perimeter road. Really slippery conditions in the morning, but by noon it was sunny and 50. Stupid Garmin couldn't locate satellites until 15 minutes in to the run, and even then it wasn't measuring distance very well, so its pace was wrong. I know what 9:20 miles feel like, and that wasn't it.

GSFC perimeter road. I couldn't run in the morning and had given up on the day, but when noon came and went and it still wasn't raining, I went out, and it was fine. Rain started much later. Driving home around 7 it changed from rain to snow. That's always fun to see -- the raindrops start making a different kind of splatter on the windshield, pretty subtle at first. Then all of a sudden it's snow.

GSFC perimeter road.

Drumm loop. Gray, but no rain, and reasonably warm.

Event: QOC Occoquan
 

QOC Occoquan Red. The map was great, much improved over the debut event. The course was a classic distance but a middle density, and the terrain supported the tight format surprisingly well. I made significant mistakes on 12 and 19. On 12, I went up the creek to the place where it turned north, then attempted to run up the next reentrant to the flat area above, but it turned out I went up too far south. I hit the big reentrant by the road a long way south of the control and spent some time figuring it out. On 19, I can't exactly say, but I was off on my bearing and pace count, went way too far, hit the shooting stand (looked for it on the map but still assumed I was south of the control) and then the reentrant with 13 in it. OK, I recognized that, and then backtracked no problem, but damage done. Good fun, nice course. In retrospect, I was clearly not thinking as well towards the end of the event. Whether due to physical tiredness or mental fatigue I can't say.

After the event I met a guy who advertised a guitar for sale on Craigslist, this side of Manassas, not far from Occoquan. Unbelievable guitar at a bargain price, a Gibson Explorer '76 reissue from a few years back. I paid what he asked and took the thing home. Basically unused in mint condition.

C • Performance? 2

Red - Splits

On the dog walk this morning it was pretty cold, with a brisk wind, but by noon the wind was down and the sun was out. Nice day. Events have conspired against my running the last couple of days and it was good to get out.

Drumm loop again. Boring.

Drumm loop. Working at home this morning. Meetings this afternoon.

Sligo loop. It's nice to get to the point where 32 deg is a comfortably warm-feeling run. It was a lot colder than that earlier in the day.

Event: QOC Wheaton Regional Park
 

QOC Wheaton "red". This was a mass start event with a handicap system. The "red" course meant that I could skip one window out of the 5 on the course. It was a fun event, nice concept, very well done, not so good in terms of my performance. This kind of race seems to stress some weak point in my orienteering. I got some advantage from following in various places, but when I was on my own I was slow and error-prone. Every time I looked at the map I would be unable to find the window I was in. I tried to plan the window controls, but I'd lose count or do a 180. Never really looked at the control descriptions. And I took way too much time on a couple of the non-window controls: #14 (hesitant, couldn't seem to see that it was over the top of the hill); #22 (the worst, way too low and then way too high before getting it right); 28 (bad bearing, got into the green near the trail junction before getting pointed back the right way).

Core strength training with stretching. This felt almost routine. What a difference from previous sessions.