Training Log Archive: TomN

Event: QOC Hemlock Overlook
 

QOC Hemlock Overlook Red. I had a pretty fine run, fast and accurate, with only a few little errors. The course folded nicely into the available terrain, with some good legs and opportunities for parallel errors, which, happily, I declined to make.

I was slow getting started to 1, going unnecessarily up and over the cluster of buildings before getting down into the stream valley and up the other side. 5 to 6 seemed to take too long, looked in lots of reentrants when I hit the 3rd system. From 8 to 9 I thought I'd run hard straight to the stream and follow it up, but my bearing got off, I ended up to high, and had to come back down. 9 to 10 I took the trail to the stream crossing (moment of confusion when I couldn't find the part of the trail that continued NE), and went up the next stream, slowed by a nagging doubt that I might be in the wrong one, but it looked right, and sure enough, there was the control. 11 to 12 I couldn't find the trail, but found the rock pile for sure, and it was an easy attack from there. Just inside the field to the start of the reentrant system, picked up the bend in the ditch and attacked from there, dead on. 14 and 15 involved running back and forth along the Horseshoe Trail.

Red - Splits

Setting out streamers for W-Y-O courses at Oregon Ridge in December. Y and O look fine. JROTC wants two different courses for each class, with a single overall class winner. I think these courses are pretty well balanced, and as fair as I can make them. Unfortunately, I had to junk the white course. One of the legs went through a closed and locked gate, and there isn't any white-level way to get around it. I can't see any way to make it run through the Y terrain, so I've completely re-routed it, with some new controls that will need inspection the next time I get out there, along with the advanced courses.

Tempo run at threshold pace, 5K at 1:47 per lap. Boy, I sure felt sluggish. Had to keep pushing to keep the pace up, switched to 2-1 breathing for the last 1.5 laps, post-workout strides were almost painful. I have no idea why; the last time I did this workout I ran just the same pace without the drama. This was the second quality workout this week. I would have put it off til tomorrow but I'm planning on going out to Oregon Ridge to streamer control locations.

Warm-up jog to the track, 4 strides to warm up, and then after the workout a couple more strides and jog back home.

Easy run with an extra loop. This takes care of the 20% longer run this week.

Fartlek on GSFC perimeter road. 1min-2-3-4-3-2-1 with jog the same time as the preceding interval. The 4 min interval took me from the Parkway entrance almost to the top of the hill at the garden plots. That's a good objective performance measure. Which this kind of workout generally lacks.

Conditions were mildly adverse. I forgot my watch, so I took my phone, running the stopwatch app, wrapped in a map case. (Yes, I have maps at work. I can't remember why.) Even with the phone inside the wrapper I kept hitting the "stop" button accidentally. The 2nd 3-min interval took me past a whole line of leaf blowers blowing exhaust my way, and at the end of that a street sweeper raising up a huge cloud of dirt. Ugh. Plus, it was over 80 with bright sun.

Easy run around perimeter road.

Core strength and stretching. That felt great after what was basically 3 days of driving with some runs sandwiched in between.