Training Log Archive: maprunner

Jogging and walking in the woods at SMP. I need to get faster at moving through the woods. Brush and thorns do not slow me down; I have problems with debris on the forest floor. It's tiring to lift my short little legs over that stuff.

Today was a "grim" outing. Just after I stepped off the grass, I saw a dead squirrel. A few minutes later, I passed a partial eaten, but mostly intact, dead deer. Later, crossing a stream, I nearly stepped on a deer skeleton. Just as I was beginning to think these were bad omens, I finally saw a live rabbit bounding away.

C • Dead critters 3

Day 2 at FLO. Let's just say I left my brain at the start. Total disaster today. Also, I am not fit enough to orienteer three days in a row.

Need to practice map reading, too, since I didn't seem to remember how to do that at all on this day.

Despite all that, had a great time in FL. Great courses, maps and company. Special thanks to Gail for taking us to see the manatees, and to Tom and Lisa for taking us to the great Italian restaurant.

Green Y - Splits

Day 1 at FLO. It was warm, and my body was not ready for that. I navigated OK, and was pleased with my concentration. I made one big (6 minute) mistake, but at least I relocated quickly instead of wandering around.

I pushed the pace and tried to jog as much as I could (probably about 40% of the course). Still was too slow, but what else can I expect?

Green - Splits

Event: US Team Fundraiser
 

Walked the Sprint O course, to get a feel for the terrain. My concentration and navigation was a little bit sloppy.

Sprint - Splits

Some good news for a change: my car is fixed ! They said it was worth $4000, so they went ahead with the $3600 in repairs. I'm so glad to have it back.

Orienteering at SMP. Ran the night O course again, but this was the first time I ran the whole course. I ran it backwards, which made it feel different. I tried to push it as if it were the race next weekend. Felt pretty good moving through the woods, and even ran (not jogged) on the trails at the end. A good day.

Except for one weird event. I had just arrived at a control point and was startled to hear someone talking to me. Apparently, I had passed this older gentleman who was hiking on the trails. The weird thing was he just started talking to me, about some unusual tress he once saw in Idaho. I kept waiting for there to be some point about why he was telling me this story, but there was none. After 2 or 3 minutes, he paused to take a breath and I said I had to finish my run. Very strange.

I have to take a break form the Olympics tonight, and clean up the house before Mike returns from the Georgia meet. I revert to my old sloppy ways when I have the house to myself :)

Possum Trot cancelled the local meet today due to low temps. I admit that I would not want to be working at the meet, but the competition would have been fun. And cold weather doesn't bother me. (About 10 years ago, pre-Web site, PTOC called Mike and I to tell us a meet had been cancelled. The forcast was for single digit temps, and an ice storm. We were the only people they called, because they thought we were the only people who would still have shown up!)

So I dressed up and headed out to PNS. Walked a few minutes to warm up, stretched my calf, and started jogging. The calf/tendon felt fine. I did two loops on the bottom and two loops up the hill. I was a little overdressed (no shorts in winter a la Valerie for me). I wore heavy gloves; I should have worn my lightweight liners. I kept taking them off and putting them back on, so I alternated between hot hands and freezing hands (it was 10-12 degrees).

At one point I was distracted by animal tracks in the light dusting of snow, and I stumbled and bashed my knee. Now I have a nice bump, and I can tell this will develop into one of those really colorful bruises.

But I was very pleased with the way I moved today. The leg felt fine, and I was able to jog for long stretches at a time. Could I be attaining a tiny bit of fitness?????

Leg felt OK, but decided to ice it afterwards just in case.

Decided to bounce instead of run through the woods, since my calf/achilles was stiff all day. Bouncing felt fine; no strain on the leg at all. And it's fun to bounce while watching the Olympics. It helped me to forget about my stressful day at work.

I planned to walk/jog on the trails at Wyandotte, but I forgot my O shoes. Since the trails were either frozen with a dusting of snow, or thawed mud slicks, I had to change my plan. So I jogged/walked around the fields.

My right leg still hurts. Is it my calf? or achilles? I've never had a sports injury (because I've never trained :) I didn't try to jog until I had warmed up, and the leg felt fine at first. My when I tried to jog up a slight incline, I felt it again. It doesn't hurt; it's just noticably not normal.

So, home to RICE the leg a little bit, before we head into Lawrence to celebrate MIke's b-day with his folks.

More vetting for PTOC. Today was fun; I love playing in the woods. I hardly saw any other people, and got to move through some nice white woods (very unusual around here). Why don't more people go outside in the winter? I find it much easier to handle the cold (add more layers) than the hot humid summer.

I moved at my usual "brisk walk" O pace, so I seem to have gotten over whatever happen to me last weekend.

I'm copying JJ, and made up a new type of training to describe my day.

8:00 am: Driving along on the highway at 60 mph, just about to exit, when the car to my left decides to be in the same spot as me. WHAM! Broadsided on the driver's door. Fortunately we were both OK, but my car was severly damaged. Whole side of car is either dented, bent or scraped. Can't open the driver's door, but can eventually finish the drive to work.

11:30 am: Boss calls an emergency team meeting to announce to the staff that we have been reorganized (basically, the department is cut in half). I've known this was coming for a few weeks, but I had to talk to/reassure my staff that our jobs would continue as is, despite other changes, etc. I don't really believe it, but I have to put on a good face.

2:00 pm: drop my car off at the body shop. The mechanic asks if I have thought about looking for a new car, since they will probably write this one off as totaled (it's a '97). Great; I wasn't planning to go car shopping and spend thousands of dollars this week.

4:00 Boss calls me in to tell me he has resigned. He can't live with the reorganization, doesn't like the new management, thinks there will be more changes coming. Great; I have inherited his workload, in the midst of a reorganization.

6:00 pm: time to start drinking heavily.

C • Hang in there 4

Orienteering practice at Wyandotte. I felt a little bit better today mentally, but physically was the same as yesterday. I just have no energy. Otherwise, I feel fine. Weird.

I found my 100th control today, about one month earlier than 2005.

I tweaked my right calf muscle on Thursday. I feel it if I try to jog on it, so I think I'll give it a rest for a few days.

Vetting controls for the PTOC rogaine. I thought I would walk around the controls, and run the trails in between. Instead, it was a leisurely map-hike the whole way. I just had no energy today; felt like I was walking under water.

Weight = 0.970 M

Yeah! It's light enough that I can orienteer at SMP after work, without a headlamp. I'll have to try to orienteer there as much as possible in the last few weeks left to the local O season.

I re-ran part of last week's night-O, taking the controls in different order. It was getting a bit dark towards the end, so I cut off the last bit and stuck to trails. Passed a mtn biker with a light on, and he said he was having a tough time!