Training Log Archive: TomN

Core strength, the usual circuit. Flying to San Francisco this afternoon.

Sligo loop, with an accidental jog through the Jutland-Casper development. Temp in mid-80s, plus some humidity. Felt pretty slow.

The regular circuit. Why is it so hard to get this going? It feels so good for the next few days.

Greenbelt Park perimeter trail.

Drumm loop.

Intervals at Einstein HS. 3x1000 in 4:06, 4:05, 4:04, with 3:30 jog between. I will admit to pushing it on the last one, with a 4:08 pace going into the last 400m. Sure didn't feel like running this morning, but the pipes blew out o.k. Approx. 10 min run to the track, then some warmup laps with strides, then a jog back home after the intervals.

GSFC perimeter road.

QOC Glen Artney Red. Started around 1:30, which may not have left enough time before courses closed at 3 to finish this course in the best of circumstances. Huge blunder at No. 2, in the wrong field about 50m SW, left thinking the control was in the wrong place, but on the way out saw the right field and found it easily. Another mistake on No. 4, went up the wrong stream, and again on No. 9 didn't see the fence and lost position for a while. I really can't find fault with the map or control placements. But the course was long and physical, and I clearly didn't give it enough respect. Too many DNFs all over this event, so I wasn't the only one. Also not enough water. Out of water at 2 of 3 water stops on Red, and Yellow runners were complaining that there was no water until near the end of their course (and half of them were out for more than 2 hours).

GSFC perimeter road.

Butterflies this run:
Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa)

GSFC perimeter road.

Butterflies this run:

E. Comma (Polygonia comma)
Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis)
Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela)

You have to get pretty close to the Polygonias to tell them apart, but from this small sample and the one the other day, the Commas are larger and darker on the upperside of the hindwing. In both cases, I saw the punctuation mark on the underside for the positive id.

Intervals at Einstein HS. 4x1000 in 4:02, 4:05, 4:04 with 4:00 jog between.

Drumm loop.

It was raining, got soaked taking the dogs for a walk even with a raincoat, decided on no running today and did a long-overdue exercise circuit instead.

Forest Glen-Ga. Ave. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5458592

QOC Balls Bluff Red. Pretty consistent orienteering, except for one mistake: I overran #9, having somehow missed the trail bend at the fence and continued to run on an unmapped trail across the stream and into the featureless green at the edge of the map (which turns out not to be featureless at all). Backtracked and found the control. About 4 minutes lost.

Red - Splits

GSFC perimeter road.

Drumm loop.

Sligo loop. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5452206

Drumm loop.

West Point Long Green-X (M60). This was great orienteering, and if the white woods were of variable runability, well, it didn't bother me. I kept seeing Green-Y runners coming into the controls from the opposite direction, guessed that the courses were the same but run in reverse, and that turned out to be pretty much the case. I had a good run, not a great run, but this is difficult terrain and there was a time in the not-too-distant past when I couldn't deal with it at all. So, to the specifics.

I didn't focus very well on #1, but got lucky and tripped over the control.

Unhappy with #2. I got directly into the circle and knew I was there, but where was the control? Eastern cliff, foot. l saw two lines of cliffs, and I ran down the foot of the eastern one, then back up along the top of it, then back down towards the western one, and finally saw the other cliff that actually held the control. OK, I see now the easternmost is mapped as bare rock, and the north line is broken for a cliff, but I didn't see all that then, and it takes pretty good vision now.

From 3 to 4 was the long leg, and I couldn't see a better approach than running the roads, so that's what I did, attacking from the water stop, across the hilltop and down the spur. Pulled up at the right spot, looked right, and saw the reentrant.

On 6, I got into the circle and saw the rock, but decided to peek at the small cliffs below before committing to it. greg_l coming in at the same time. The terrain seems steeper here than mapped.

No. 7 was much harder on our course than on Green-Y. I ran the road to the ridge just before the trail, came over the ridge and down to the trail, then along the stream looking for the power line cut. It was there, but overgrown and hard to see. The marshes were not too helpful, because there seemed to be more of them than when the map was made. Still unsure about the power line, I ran to where the control should be, and there it was, with J-J punching it.

I was very deliberate to 10, crossing the spur S of the marsh, then checking in at the the various rock features on the way down the valley. So I knew the hill when I saw it, and the control was hilariously submerged in blueberries on the top.

The last problem, No. 13, was embarrassing. I followed two elites up the hillside to their control, which had the same attackpoint. Oops. Down to the road again, back up to the light green, and then finally to the correct rock, farther north than I had been before.

So, could have been faster, but in the end, good and bad luck balanced out, and with some randomness as a given, not too bad a result.

Green X Long - Splits

West Point Middle Green X. Good course, could have navigated better. From 3 to 4 I went out to the road and attacked from the top of the first step, but still missed the hilltop. Then I mindlessly chased a big group down to a control at the other end of the formline from 5. But worse was leaving 7 180 deg off for the short leg to 8. Got to the stream, realized my error (funny, I thought I had just outrun everyone), came back down the stream to the control, probably 3 min lost on a 1-min leg. Everything else was fine. Chose the road from 9 to 10, and from 13 to 14.

Green X Middle - Splits

GSFC perimeter road.

Butterflies this run:
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta): dozens of them! This is part of a huge migration. They're flying north, fast and close to the ground, crossing the parking lot at the rate of several per minute. You can only get a look at them if they stop and perch for a while.

Drumm loop. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5236884. Seemed best to get it over with before work, as it was already warm and humid.