Training Log Archive: HGaston

I started running across CMU to the park on the other side. I wanted to run further, but my knee was bothering me a bit so I stopped running & walked for awhile. I'd like to start running with everyone again next week, so hopefully whatever's off with the knee will correct itself soon.

It was cold & windy & early, so hardly anyone was around. I found a bench way up on a hill and sat there for awhile. Then it got really cold, so I left.

Walking back to mudge from the park.

I went jogging around the CMU & U. of Pittsburgh campuses this morning since Andy had a class. It was fun to do some exploring; U. of Pittsburgh has some really neat old architecture & statues.

The distance is a complete guess; I basically went wandering for awhile with a very meandering route. It was nice, though, for it not to matter where I was going or how far away it might be or what I might pass by along the way.

C • Cover Girl! 4

Distance is a guess again.

I walked for awhile after the jog. The weather's been beautiful here, so it's really nice just to be outside.

Tomorrow I might go exploring again & attempt to find a bookstore for this silly AFCW class assignment that I haven't started. hmm

I went for another run in the evening with Andy and Carl, his roommate. The time includes lights & stretching & about a minute of walking, and the distance is a guess. We were running faster than I was this morning, but it was still a conversational pace.

We took a trail through a park on the other side of the campus. It was pretty hilly, and there was also a section of stairs.

My right knee's bothering me a bit; it was a little sore after Sunday's run also, but I'm not really sure what I did to it. Hopefully it'll go away :-).

C • DON"T GET KNEE PROBLEMS!!!!... 2

Excluding rogaines, this is definitely the longest orienteering course I've ever done (both in distance & time). The first bit was alright, although my route choices on a couple of the long legs probably could have been better. I made one really unfortunate error by convincing myself that the huge inlet coming off of a lake was actually just a slightly-flooded pond :-). Then I just started getting tired in the second half of the course and had to walk/jog/plod a lot of it...that was frustrating since it's pretty much the first time I've been limited in orienteering by my running speed instead of navigation. I guess I need to train more for longer distances.

It was also tough because the terrain wasn't very forgiving...the woods was a mixture of white and varying shades of green. A lot of it looked runnable, but it was filled with Texas-like wait-a-minute vines that I kept getting caught on. It was extremely muddy, so that it was sometimes a toss-up whether it was faster to run through the woods next to the paths or to fight through the horse-hoof-grooved mud on the trails.

The other challenge was the steepness--the map was cut with these massive St. Edwards-style ravines. I had some trouble getting up/down them even with spikes, and I had to crawl/pull myself up on branches & roots for some of them.

Overall, it was definitely an experience to run a long course but I think I prefer sprint/middle/classic :-).

Red - Ultra Long - Splits