Training Log Archive: TomN

Score-O on new map at Occoquan. I spent way too much time looking for the misplaced control at 109, too stupid to cut and run, and ended up overtime. Other than that, the less said the better. Addie beat me in this event. There had to be a first time.

Intervals at DuVal HS. 3x1000 in 4:04, 4:07, 4:05, 4-min rest between, 15-min jog there and back.

A bunch of soccer players came out for practice as I was starting, and during my second interval they were basically all over the track, forcing me wide on the turns. Then a couple of guys decided to run with me on the third interval. I told them what we were doing and how far, and they were game. This had a couple of effects on my time. Normally, kids think it's fun to step in front of me "accidentally" as I'm going by, but when the guys were with me we got some respect. Plus, of course, I had to pick up the pace to show them what the old guy could do. They dropped out after 600 m (I think their coach was giving them the high sign), but one kid caught up to me afterwards and asked me about my training. This was all pretty positive, and I hope I see them again one week.

Butterflies on this run: many Pierids in the grass.

GSFC perimeter road, shortened at the end.

Butterflies along today's run: Cabbage White (Pieris rapae); 4xClouded Sulphur (Colias philodice); an azure, probably Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta), because the Spring Azure (C. ladon) is, paradoxically, not out yet; a duskywing, probably Juvenal's Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis), because others have reported seeing it recently, and an actual ID would have required catching it and knowing what to look for.

Appointment this morning with a new cardiologist, because my old cardiologist abruptly retired, and this was the guy he referred me to. I liked him immediately. Medical records evidently not transferred yet. He promptly ordered an echocardiogram, which showed a minor amount of mitral valve leakage and an otherwise young-looking heart. Green light.

Greenbelt Park perimeter trail. Time is a guess because I forgot to start my watch. My legs were feeling fine until I started to run, and then it became obvious that the past weekend's activities were still lurking in there.

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) flying up in the branches of an oak tree. These overwinter as adults, and it's not uncommon to see them on warm days at the end of winter. In woodland areas in the spring you can attract them to a feeder with rotten fruit.

U.S. Classic Champs, Day 2, BOK Birkhead Wilderness, M60. Another fine day, in the adjacent section of the same woods, similar terrain, fine woods, and pretty easy control placements. I was a little slow on #1 (went straight over the three ridges) and bobbled #2 (straight up the ditch south to the trail, hmmm, don't see a trail, wing it for a while towards the big reentrant, don't see that either, back to the trail, there it is and there's the reentrant and life is good). Istvan Nagy caught me at the control, having been somehow rescheduled to 2 minutes after my start time. I was unhappy about that, but if I had executed correctly I would still have been ahead of him, so who's to blame? We traded controls, I got 3, he got 4 and 5, I got 6, then I ran hard over the hill to 7 and never saw him again. On the way down the spur to #8 I caught Walter Siegenthaler, who was in 3rd after yesterday, and dropped him on the big hill up to 9. Something tells me hill climbs are my friend. No. 12 was a nice leg, a mess of complex reentrants, which I counted carefully, and having drifted low I climbed straight up the hill and spotted the control a couple of contours farther up. Small errors on #13 (suckered into the wrong control down the spur a ways) and 14 (missed the trail, tripped over a wire fence and hit the ground flat, got up, bashed west, and finally saw the trail and field). Great run and a lot of fun, first in M60 by a couple of minutes, and managed to slip into 3rd place overall for a medal.

Green Day 2 - Splits