Training Log Archive: Sandy

TNT - didn't even try to jog. Much happier.

yoga class
very off balance this evening

Why does just hiking get me totally exhausted? It never used to.

C • Humidity . . . 3

Long day at the Water Gap testing out radio control locations to make sure the signals reached back to the arena. Spent time in the woods reading a map but spent a lot more time standing around or hauling equipment around.

Rained for part of the time. Didn't feel too smart standing on top of hilltops holding electronic devices with antennas and hearing thunder in the distance.

With the trainer. Short and sweet, er um, short and hard.

TNT with Dasha. We tried to jog a bit but then didn't bother after a while. Took a wrong turn and then decided to add some distance to get back to the usual route which meant we got caught in a huge downpour. It was thundering and pouring but didn't see any lightning. I kept hearing things though and thinking tree branches were going to come flying down on me.

On the drive home after dinner there was an amazing display of lightning in the sky but it wasn't raining and I didn't hear thunder.

Trainer session - we have decided to try twice a week for 30 minutes instead of once a week for an hour. Did lots of planks and wall sits today. Legs were jelly on the last wall sit.

There have been birds all day out my window on the bare patches of dirt where I've just weeded and cut back lots of flowers that had seen better days and haven't gotten around to putting down mulch or wood chips. They were mostly robins and they would spread their wings out and just sit there (lay there?) as if they were sunbathing. In a four foot square patch there were probably 8 or 9 at one point. Very bizarre.

C • You are very luck! 1

TNT with Dasha - hike down, jogged a mile in about 10:30 along the drive, walked a couple 100 meters, jogged the mile back in about 10:10, hiked back up. The running seemed really hard.

Yoga class. Not much arm strength stuff which was probably good. Lots of stretching and twisting which was definitely good.

Green course at Springton Manor.

This was essentially a very long sprint. The map was 1:5000 and the woods were really thick except in a few places and so I attacked almost every control by running around on trails getting as close as I could and cutting in and back out again as fast as possible. Ran a good bit but there was a lot of climb and both uphill and downhill was hard so had to walk more than I would have liked.

C • Thanks 1

Green - Splits

Another several hours worth of yanking up stuff from my yard. And another several hours worth of writing stuff. I prefer the yardwork.

Work with the trainer; shorter session to ease back in.

C • Trainer 5

Short loop. Ended up walking almost the whole second half. Not sure if I went out too fast or if today just was not my day or what, but when I started running in the meadow again after the hill at about 21 minutes, I could tell it was going to be a real struggle. I couldn't decide whether to suck it up and just force myself to keep trying to run or to walk. My knee has been pretty bad this week, and I decided that I might make things worse by just slogging. Tried to pick it up again a little later and my legs were wobbly. So just walked it in. On the other hand, I got out there which is better than Monday (skipped yoga) and Wednesday (didn't do a planned dvd workout).

Another 45 minutes of weed pulling as a warm-up.

Began trying to get my yard under control. Ninety minutes in the heat was about all I could take. My arms are tired and I sweated buckets - while not really training it sure is work!

C • 90 min 1

TNT - with Dasha and Sandy. Ran the first two thirds of the Indian loop but walked from the covered bridge.

Hike down to the drive, half mile jog on the drive with a few pickups, hike back up.

I just spent 5 hours trying to revise a paper to satisfy a reviewers criticisms. If they don't accept this version, I don't know if I can deal with another round. I really do not like this part of writing papers. Oh, wait, I don't like any part of writing papers.

C • Ha . . . 6

a short cross-fit type workout off the internet

Amusing reading:

http://www.wmoc2012.de/en/news/2012/07/09/besides/

Really sore the last few days - stiff neck, achy hips, creaky knees. Nothing out of the ordinary really but I treated myself to a massage earlier today and it was super helpful.

Went for a hike this evening.

C • soreness 1

TNT Media, with Dasha and Tom. Ran about half. Forgot to start my watch until we had been going a while and then forgot to stop it when we finished so the time is approximate.

Must have eaten something not so good in the afternoon - luckily there was a port-a-potty in the parking lot at Penn Crest for some summer construction projects going on. Made the last part of the run a bit uncomfortable though.

Core DVD. Haven't done this in a while. Oof.

TNT with Sandy, Dasha and Bob (for a bit of it). Ran about half the short Indian loop as Sandy slowly builds up from her knee injury. Nice chat. Greg, Karl and Clem were there for dinner. In my new kitchen that is fully functional but not quite finished.

Woke up pretty early and decided to go down to the trails. Hike down to the drive, jogged a 5:11 half mile and then hiked back up.

Yoga class - large class with some beginners so not too challenging. Probably a good thing since I haven't been in a few weeks.

A long travel day. No real problems though until trying to get through Passport control in Philadelphia - took an hour! The only good thing is that there was then no wait for the luggage.

7th place in the W55 B final. Made a 1 minute error right out of the start, then settled down and didn't make any more after that. There were some tough downhills and one killer uphill - I'll be curious to see splits.

Wonderful woods today and a very fun short middle-distance-like course (except for the killer uphill). Went pretty much straight on every leg.

Worked really, really hard to run as much as I could; took a loooong time to recover after I finished so I know I pushed.

So very glad I came!

C • Wooooohooooo!! 8

Marvelous last night in Germany; dinner with Gail, Peter, Rhonda, Charlie, Dennis and Louise in the old part of Goslar where the sprint final was. We ate at a restaurant on a square that I ran through on the way to a control.

Great company and great location.

Sorry to see the trip end.

Rest day today; very sore from yesterday so did some yoga.

Think I ended up 21st in my heat but only 20 make the A final.

:(

Time to rock that B final!

C • So close! 8

Long Qual 2. I had a pretty early start and there were not many tracks yet when I was out. Long run down a power line ride then in off a corner to my control #1, out to the power ride and another run to another ride then into the woods where things quickly got very thick and trashy. High weeds up to my chin and no tracks to follow but enough contour difference to go in and spike the control. Then took a very stupid route to #3. Never saw the mapped ride and just bashed my way through thick vegetation. In hindsight, a way around route would have been faster. #4 was just a control to make sure you went around an uncrossable stream so just at a trail junction. I then tried to go straight through more thick vegetation but eventually bailed to a trail and ran along with everyone else. The next few controls were straightforward - woods were very open and good compass bearings and checking off point features got you where you wanted to go. #9 was a route choice - right or left around the lake. I went right, don't think it made much difference. Almost went on the wrong trail - not sure what I was thinking. Was getting really tired by this time though since there had been so much running already. Got a little sloppy on compass bearings so a little off to #10 but corrected quickly. Then did a stupid around route to #11 instead of going straight - the woods were wide open and in fact the rides were pretty crappy and so I ran in the woods along the edge anyway. #12 was a quick compass leg and then the map was too busy at #13 and I didn't read it carefully and went in too early and lost a little time climbing up and down a couple ditches before getting to the one with the control in it. Then a 300 meter marked route to the go control along a dam and another 230 meter run in to the finish.

So no real mistakes, but some not so good route choices and some sloppiness led to a not so great time. I was 26th on the day and as I said earlier, 21st in the heat for the 2-day combined time with 20 going to the A final.

The A final was within reach - avoiding the big mistake yesterday or just some smarter running today would have moved me up enough to qualify. But it's been great to run on really good maps and do some challenging and interesting orienteering. I have been getting sloppy lately in my orienteering and have not trained particularly well this year. Not sure of the next international event I'll get to but I need to work on both of those things if I want to do better.

Long qualifier 1: I really had a fun time on this course - it was challenging and had all sorts of different legs. S-1-2 was all about following linear features that went right to the control; 2-3 had no obvious close attackpoint so I made sure I knew where I was leaving a road (actually, I was pretty sure but not positive) and did a pace and compass routine and luckily nailed it - it was a small clearing by some big boulders in some medium green completely covered with scattered boulders which was tough going; 3-4-5 were short legs but I took safe routes again; 5-6 I chose to stay on a road to a corner and even though there was nothing to follow through the medium green other than my compass, there were enough features on the way that I hit it pretty well. For 6-7 I chose a good route and was executing perfectly and then got careless in the last 150 meters. Things looked wide open when in fact my control was down in a ditch behind a downed tree and I went right by it crossing the ditch without realizing it. I was expecting to cross a trail before my ditch and I must have crossed the trail without ever seeing it since when I crossed the ditch I wondered if it was the trail but incorrectly decided that no I just hadn't gotten to the trail yet. Went a little further before realizing I had definitely overshot and spent a little time figuring out where I was before finding my control. Not sure how much time I lost - at least 3 minutes but possibly a lot more. I'll be curious to see the splits. The course got easier after that with lots of rides and trails and roads and other things leading close enough to controls to make it straightforward as long as you got on the ride or trail or road you wanted which I did. I tried to push hard and ran a good bit of this end part of the course. So a bunch of different kinds of orienteering. There were enough technical sections that I didn't feel discouraged and I was able to run a least some of the faster stuff.

Ended up in 19th for the day. The times for today and tomorrow are just added though and then the top 20 in the heat (we have four heats of 60 or so people) make it to the A final. There was a big group bunched together time wise from maybe 15th to 25th so seconds will matter in who makes it to the A final. Making the A final was my dream goal and with a good race tomorrow it might just be possible.

Pretty beat now though.

C • Great job . . . 4

Model Event for the Long. Interesting terrain - very different from anything in DVOA land. Good to have gone out as I learned several things - white woods were wide open but sometimes had a lot of stuff on the ground, light green was a little more dense but generally less stuff on the ground. Charcoal terraces are a bit smaller than those at French Creek but otherwise look the same. Distinct trees tend to be deciduous in the middle of evergreens and can be spotted by looking at the ground - not so many pine needles at the base of the tree.

I made an error trying to cut across rides - I must have missed one or didn't follow my compass or something and ended up somewhere other than where I expected. Took a minute or so to sort out. So need to be really careful or just take the sure routes. I was testing out following obvious features vs. cutting across; unless I'm going to save a lot of time by cutting across, the take away is that I should stick to the rides, trails, gullies, veg. boundaries, etc.

Checked out the castle at Weinergerode afterwards.

Tried to check out Brocken but you can't drive all the way.

Check it out!

http://www.obasen.nu/winsplits/online/en/default.a...

I have a fastest split. :)
And a second fastest split. :)

And as always was a snail in the finish chute.

C • Awesome! 2

17th in the B final. Another fun time running through the cobblestoned roads and passageways of Goslar. I don't think I made any errors today - just a bunch of hesitations to make sure I was taking the best route. Certainly could have run faster but I just have not cultivated a sprint mindset. So would have moved up many places with some more effort but I just wasn't thinking in terms of trying to run right on the edge of not too fast. But again, finished with a big smile on my face and thrilled to have had fun.

Almost got run over out of my 1st control - had to sort of deflect someone about to crash into me whose head was in his map. Then on the way to the third control things weren't really lining up with the compass, but other things were - like buildings and alleys - so I kept going. Stopped at one point to see if I could possibly have taken a wrong turn, but decided no, I was where I thought I was. Was very glad to see a control where I expected one and very, very glad when it was my control number. After that I ran with more confidence, and never had any more doubts about where I was. At one control at the entrance to a large courtyard, I wondered if there was a shortcut through the courtyard to the next control. Did not want to miss an obvious route like yesterday so took the time to check carefully, but no - there was no way out of the courtyard in the direction of my next control, I really did need to backtrack out the way I had come as I had originally thought. Towards the end I took a quick glance at the end of my course (read ahead? who does that?) and thought I still had a good bit to go when in fact I was just about done. Not sure why I saw things incorrectly. So I took a bit of a breather when I really should have just been pushing hard to the end.

Sprinting is a whole 'nother sport in some respects and if I plan to do more of them, will need to learn how to do them properly.

C • Wow! 5

On closer inspection, I think I missed one optimal route - the left route looks to be a bit shorter, maybe 10-15 seconds.

Event: WMOC 2012
 

Woohoo! I did a sprint and had fun!! I was really surprised at how much fun I had. A lot of it was just hoofing it to the next control, but there was a neat park section with only a few ins and outs that made things interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't see one of the gates - my red line to the next control went through it and despite looking several times, I didn't see that there was a gap - so I went the long way around. Other than that, I was pretty good - a few hesitations but mostly moving and in the right direction. I ran (jogged) more than half of the course which is more than I expected.

Pretty sure I made the B final (top 27 in each heat made the A final and I think I was somewhere in the 30's out of 75 or so). If I had seen the gap I might have made the A final! In a sprint! Who knew.

C • Wahoo! 9