Training Log Archive: maprunner

First night O of the season, at SMP. Lots of fun because it was a beautiful, warm evening, and I like to freak out the deer and hay riders. Stayed in the fields for the most part, with one quick trip into the woods to test out my new custom-made "local" O pants.

Oh, almost forgot the most fun: spider eyes!

OK training at Clinton. Gene set a nice course, but I was not prepared for the tall grass and warm temperatures. I cut the course short, skipping some long running legs. My legs were tired from yesterday, but I continued to push on (Mike thinks I'm a wimp, and that I need to learn to push through the tiredness). Nice company for the run, and lunch afterwards.

C • Wimp? 9

Checking out the mountain bike trails at Smithville with Mike. It still seems odd to say "I'll meet you back here in 90 minutes" and then to actually jog all that time with no real effort (until the last 10 minutes or so, when my legs began to be heard). I stopped a few times, for a minute or so, while I checked out the map or woods. Beautiful fall day, on a new area, made the time just fly by. I also enjoyed spending the time with Mike.

Another crazy work week. I was all set for a nice run at SMP after work yesterday, but the 'crisis du jour' errupted at 5 pm, and I didn't leave work until the sun had set.

I spent most of today flying to SFO, for a four hour meeting tomorrow morning. Fortunately, I'll have time for lunch with my sister before I fly home tomorrow afternoon.

And I just went for a 10 minute stroll around the hotel neighborhood, in the beautiful afternoon sunshine. Do you think I burned off enough calories to justify a huge meal, with lots of wine (at the company's expense, of course) tonight? :)

I walked around and hung tapes for a training course at Wyandotte. The woods were better than I expected, and the hills were as tough as expected. I was out longer than this, but I spent a lot of time standing still, double-checking the control locations.

Back to the woods! First local O meet of the fall season, so our 6 months off has ended (last local O meet in the woods was April 9). I was looking forward to this meet.

But today it was 50 degress and raining, so the horse trails were a mess. Made for difficult running. The woods weren't much better, since the leaves are still up. I made it through 4 controls before I got too cold, and had to stop.

Some things I need to work on during this O season:
1. reading the map on the run (never had to do that much before)
2. jogging through the woods
3. remembering how to navigate through the thick stuff here; micro route choice can be important

Some things that went well today:
1. fitness was good
2. I was a bit sloppy in the beginning, but I was able to refocus, and do a better job of reading ahead on the map.

Red - Splits

through the fields at SMP. I can tell that I have been training on flat areas too much because my quads protested every time I went up even a slight incline.

At PNS. I felt better than I expected, although I could tell I hadn't trained for a week.

I was not psyched to go out today (correction: I didn't want to go at all) but I'm glad I did for one reason: I finally saw the white squirrel !!! As Mike has said, it's actually a light grey squirrel, but it's very striking.

Returned from an overnight biusiness trip to Balitimore (I hate business travel).

I'm impressed with anyone who finds a way to train when they travel for work....

Long course at NAOC. Before the start, I wasn't feelng very good, so I wasn't sure I would go out at all. But I decided I might as well try.

Plan was to look at the map at the start, and find a way to cut the course much shorter. Decided to go 1-2-10-11-12. And that was a god plan. I walked slowly and carefully, and managed to find the controls cleanly. It was a beautiful day to be in the woods. I wish I could say I felt great :) but I can honestly say it was fun.

Despite my cold, I had a great weekend. Thanks GHO!

Middle distance at NAOC. I thought I could handle orienteering with a cold, so I went out on the course, planning to walk slowly (which was prudent, given the terrain ). Made it to the first two controls OK, then headed to #3. Ran into Lisa, who had started 30(?) minutes ahead of me. She was looking for #2. She said she was going to quit, and headed back towards two.

I continued to move towards #3. Didn't find it on my first pass, so I continued to the swamp (my relocation plan). I found Eva standing at the swamp, puzzling over her map. I tried to attack #3 again, and missed. At this point, my brain was toast, but I couldn't see that. Wandered for another 10 minutes or so, trying to relocate. I was joined by two men, and together we found #321 (we were looking for 322).

Wandered some more, and saw Lisa approaching. I don't know which of us was more upset at seeing the other; either way, it wasn't a good sign for me that I was still there.

I coontinued to convince myself that I was relocating, but of course I wasn't. I finally decided I was close to 4, so I planned to find it and back-track. Never found four, but I found 323. That's when I decided it was time to pack it in.

Of course, I was now as far from the finish as possible. It took me more than 35 minutes to walk back, and I was tired. Stupid to have stayed out so long; Mike said he was surprised I went out at all.

Still want to see a map of course 4, long day, to see where control 321 was.

Turns out that quite of few of us (including Eva and Lisa) never found 322. Of course, plenty of others did, so I know that it was there, somewhere....

Event: 2006 North American Championships (Golden Leaf Orienteering Fest)
 

Sprint at NAOC. Before we even arrived in Toronto, I had planned to take it easy on this course, to save my energy for the next two days.

But by noon I knew that my runny nose was not due to allergies, but an honest-to-goodness full-blown cold. Unbelievable fate; the only other time I have been sick at a meet was three years ago in...Toronto!

So I walked the whole course. I tried to be perfectly clean, but I made two small bobbles. Nice event, with lots of spectators.

C • Aha! 1

Weight = 0.850 M

Yeah, I finally made it to my goal weight! This is a weight which I can humanely maintain, and is appropriate for my age, height and build.

Time to celebrate with a glass of champagne (only 90 calories)

C • wuhu! 4

At English Landing. The plan was to try, once again, for a 70 minute 10K. But I should have known better. I spent several hours standing around yesterday, and it was 86 degrees when I started. Both took their toll, and I stopped after only 40 minutes.