Training Log Archive: TomN

Event: QOC Patapsco McKeldin
 

Setting out water at McKeldin. Dan Q. had called me late last night and said he needed help with water. He hadn't planned the water stops, so we discussed that when I got there this morning. He admitted that a lot of the controls he had put out had the wrong numbers on them. Then it turned out that one of the locations where we agreed I'd put water didn't have a control at all. At that point I was thinking the event was going to be a disaster, but crazy luck -- that was the only missing control, he went out and placed it, and it turned out the rest were o.k. Except for the numbers, about which he was right, and Valerie was irate.

First ever Spring Tumble. What's next, the Fall Grumble? Mass start, six windows, with 0, 1, 2, or 3 skips, self-seeded. Aside from the control numbering, which we'd been warned about, a pretty fair course. Lots of climb, but that's the nature of the park.

I skipped the 4th window (M-N-O-P, out on the northern peninsula). The first window would have been a better choice, but I fell for the trap (no controls before the first window!) and didn't figure that out in time.

I don't do well in mass start events. I fell way behind early on, not doing enough thinking for myself. Near the end of the second window, I passed half a dozen people, ended up alone, and started to run much better. Small mistakes in the Q-R-S-T area let Greg catch me, and we ran together until the very end, when I took the trail to the last control and got there way ahead. But he had skipped 2 windows, and I was first by 6 minutes among the 1-skippers. A smarter start could have saved substantial time.

Spring Tumble - Splits

Threshold run at Einstein HS track. Goal was 1:50 per lap for 4800m, but I was a lot slower than that, not sure why. Fastest was 1:46, slowest 1:56, average 1:52, total time 22:23. Approx. 1 mile there and 1 mile back.

GSFC road run.

FOY Pearl Crescent, nectaring on dandelion.

Greenbelt Park Perimeter Trail. It was a great day for it. The sun came out just before noon and instantly raised the temperature to the mid-70s. I wasn't particularly fast, but I didn't particularly care.

Hardly any butterflies on the wing in the park, despite the sun. One E. Tiger, in the mud on the trail. Back at GSFC, a FOY E. Tailed-blue.

GSFC perimeter road. Really nice day.

Yellow course with Mei-An and Neung. This was a well-designed course, with good opportunities for off-trail navigation. I expect if they were alone they would have taken trail routes, but with me along it was a good time to practice compass skills and get some confidence in the woods. I had them alternate being the leader, which was good, but the hard part of shadowing is actually staying in the shadow, and I kept finding myself in front. This was really only an issue on the off-trail legs. On the trail they felt good and wanted to run.

Hey now, a pretty good run. The woods were in fine condition -- open, fast, good visibility. And I was feeling in fine condition too, at least until the longish run-in on the paved path in the O-shoes. I ran pretty fast, took careful bearings, counted paces at all times, and looked at the contours, which, as long as you kept on your bearing, were reasonably visible.

I lost some time on #2 (the control in between the greeny patches -- I've been there before) but it was bounded by the swamp, the reentrant system, and the green, and that was good enough. A little slow on 1 through 7, but good safe attacks. Then things picked up, larely because of running speed I guess, and finished with no mistakes. Best run in a long time, and best run here for sure.