Training Log Archive: Sandy

TNT - At Tyler Arboretum. I kept up a very slow but steady jog. I am slow. But I did it. Which I was very pleased with. Tom and Dasha jogged some but mostly walked and easily kept up while Clem ran around.

Nice conversation afterwards.

Absolutely no motivation to do anything except eat. Not good.

C • hey 2

TNT - easy hike with Sandy in the Wiss. while Karl ran.

Unbelievably, enough people showed up at 8:30 willing to pick up controls that together with what Petr had done Sunday evening, I didn't have to go get any!! Thanks Amy, Bob and Carol, Bradley and Brennan, Clem, Tom, Samuel and Petr!

Instead, I got the much more fun task of helping with the last little bits of clean up at Shehaqua and checking out with the rangers. :)

Luckily, everyone was pretty good at cleaning up after themselves and Denny and Janet Porter were superstars and had done just about everything that needed doing by the time I got there. Thanks Denny and Janet!

C • Thanks Sandy! 4

And a fox sauntered across the yard while I was drinking a cup of coffee before heading out. Great house - will have to consider staying there for the training weekend. We'll see.

Event: Hickory Hop: DVOA Hickory Run Mini Rogaine
 

Event: DVOA Hickory Run Sand Spring Lake Night-O
 

Event: DVOA Hickory Run Sand Spring Lake
 

Relay - Brown - Splits

And the rest of the rogaine controls. Sandy did one loop and I did a second and everything is good to go. Once again, got relatively lucky with the weather. The forecast called for rain most of the day: it rained on the drive to the park, didn't rain while we were out in the woods (almost - it did start just as I hit the trail back to the car) and is now raining.

Deer in the yard this morning. Wild turkeys sauntered by just now.

Putting out controls for the Rogaine with Sandy Ahlswede.

Weather prediction was for rain all day with scattered thunderstorms. We had drizzle for about 10 minutes and the sun even came out a few times. Don't think we'll be so lucky tomorrow.

Lots of dog ticks but haven't found any deer ticks yet.

Rented a really nice nearby house for the weekend - sure beats the two-hour drive each way.

C • hope 2

TNT - did the Indian Loop with Sandy and Bob while Karl ran on his own. We started with the intent to run the whole thing and we were well on our way but Sandy hadn't eaten all day and with the heat she suddenly knew she was done so we walked it in. It was delightful in the meadows with the breeze blowing. So nice to run in shorts and t-shirt.

Rogaine prep afterwards. I'm glad a lot of people have decided to come, but I need to find a better way to deal with late sign ups.

DVOA local event at Pakim Pond, aka 4 Mile Circle. I like running in the Pine Barrens and I was doing great up until I went totally brain dead at #9.

I had a 20 minute error on a totally trivial control. I kept trying to make sense of some trails instead of just following the edge of the lake. The trail on the map was no longer in the terrain and the one in the terrain was not on the map. But the control was 10 feet from the edge of the lake so I should not have had such a large brain fart!!!!! The only thing I can say is that I had been pushing hard since I can actually run in Pakim Pond as there are no rocks anywhere and I must have been way more tired than I realized. At #8 I was only a respectable amount of time behind Tom and Petr and Len and then it all fell apart.

After the error, I had nothing left and on my way to #11 I realized that I was seriously bonking. I had already eaten the Shot Blocks I had with me and there were no more water controls either. But I was having trouble following my compass and my legs were toast. But I pushed on and kept making errors but managed to finish. I was clean to #12 but on all the other controls I wandered around for a bit. It was a mental battle to finish.

I enjoyed parts of this course very much. I think I took good routes for the most part taking round about routes on trails instead of straight in many instances. I wasn't totally clean in the first 8 controls, but only had minor bobbles. Perhaps straight would have been better and tired me out less since I wouldn't have pushed as hard to run. Who knows.

C • Just looked . . . 1

Red - Splits

Very slow this morning. Head is stuffed up big time.

Exercise routine. Gets me sweating and my heart rate up, that's for sure.

At the Schuylkill Center. Had to go over for something to do with work and figured I might as well run there for a change of scenery. Decided on a "go as slow as necessary but do not walk pace" and did a tour of most of the trails. Some of the uphills were a close call but I did not walk.

C • woohoo 1

TNT - with Dasha in Tyler. Second half was mostly walking.

Nice dinner conversation afterwards with Tom and Clem.

Very stiff and sore this morning, the culprit being the exercises not the run I think.

A bit of yoga to stretch a bit.

Need to update my log big time but I'm waaaay behind at work so it will have to wait.

OK - long and middle analysis done. Sprint will have to wait.

C • Yes . . . 1

How cool is this?

Morning hike.

A quick strength routine I found on the web which I hope to do regularly:
jumping jacks
wall sit
push ups
crunches
step ups onto chair
squats
tricep dips using chair
plank
running in place with high knees
lunges
push ups with rotations (lift one arm up and twist)
side plank (to each side)

Each exercise is done for about 30 seconds with 10 seconds to move from one to the next. Short and sweet.

TNT - ran with Sandy on the drive while Bob ran a PR on the Indian loop. My legs were pretty dead from the weekend. But, we were running just a little over 11 minute miles in the middle talking the whole time so that was good.

Disappointed in this race. I didn't make any big mistakes, always knew where I was, but I guess I just didn't move purposefully enough or fast enough and perhaps took some poor routes.

Turned the map over and did a double take - this looks like 1:15. What's going on. But the run to the trail convinced me it really was 1:10 so the fact that I could barely read the map meant that it was my eyes. (And apparently the black is really too dark. We had the same issue with the NAOC maps so I sympathize.)

Okay to 1, just off the trail. 1-2 was sloppy. Came back out to the trail the way I came in instead of to the other side of the small hill - dumb. Then left the trail too early and fought my way through some junk and swamp. But then ran on a compass bearing and spiked the control. But lost time, maybe a minute.

I lost more time on this control. My plan was solid and I executed it reasonably well. Got out to the trail (the one we used to get to the start) by just going for it and i don't think I lost time there. Then ran down the trail - I suppose people were running the trail faster but I did run the whole time. Left the trail just before the turn and the water made sense but I didn't see the indistinct trails that were mapped so I hesitated a bit wondering if I really was where I thought I was. In retrospect, I'm just not really sure whether I left the trail early but I think I did. At least I have company if I did - PG did too. I hesitated a lot wondering where exactly I was but realized it didn't really matter - I needed to climb hill anyway and it wouldn't be that hard to relocate from the top. I ended up underneath the large cliff faces to the north of my control so it was easy to sort out where to go but I did end up climbing through more rocks than I probably needed to. So several minutes lost here. Perhaps wearing a Garmin would be useful after all.

3-4 was a short easy leg. 4-5 I decided to go straight and not out to the road. I lost another minute or so here according to AP but AP doesn't know that I don't run the roads much faster than I tramp through the terrain. There were lots of obvious features on my route so had no problems finding the control. But, it was slow going since there were a few sections of logging slash. Not sure if the road would have been faster or not. My route did tire me out though - both mentally and physically - and I had very little left for the last part of the course so that might have been the bigger consequence.

I went straight on 5-6, swinging to the right of the marsh. Checked out one set of rocks to the north first - they didn't seem to be in quite the right place but they were the biggest ones around. The circle was around 2 large and and 2 small boulder dots that blurred together and looked like one large black pointy thing to my eyes so I just went to the rocks that looked the biggest thinking I was hunting for some sort of monolith looking thing. Checking the control description told me I was looking for the control between two boulders and I corrected reasonably quickly.

The rest of the course was straightforward, but I was out of gas and couldn't push and it was an effort to read carefully and not do something stupid.

Still when I finished I felt pretty good about the run - no real mistakes. But several people did better. I guess I'm getting a bit complacent and if I care about how I place (I do) I need to step it up a notch.

And figure out a solution to the fact that I can't really read the map very well any more.

C • So how much of it was the m... 5

Long Brown Y - Splits

Huge error but had so much fun on the course and love this terrain so much that it's hard to get too down about it.

Long walk up to the start, in the rain and fog. But it actually felt shorter and less steep than I was expecting after Friday morning's escapade. Guess the bus drop off took care of a lot of contours. Totally misremembered where the Billygoat control was along here.

The plan was to always have a pace count going and go straight as much as possible and pace, but keep map contact as best I could. On the way to #1 I hit my pace count but knew that I hadn't yet hit the swamp just past the control so just kept going. There is a form line hill inside the circle just before the control that I can see now with reading glasses on, but I definitely didn't see it during the race. So was surprised that I needed to go over another hill but then saw a flag in a depression and knew it was mine. But I was rattled that my pace was so far off. In thinking about it, I'm guessing it's because of all the up and down but at the time it really made me second guess myself.

Don't remember much about the route to #2 - I got to the swamp and said this is my swamp and there was a control to the left a little on a cliff. But again, it was further than my pace count.

To #3 I wove between marshes and climbed the hill knowing I was left of the control. I thought I went far enough right (north) that I should be seeing the control but I wasn't seeing anything. I knew I didn't want to climb any more though so decided to go further north and saw the control.

Counted hills and swamps to #4 and arrived what had to be my spur but couldn't read the detail in the circle to know where to go look for the control. Searched a few rocks and cliffs, double checked that everything was lining up correctly, knew that I had to be in the right place but wondered where the flag was and what had I done. Just as I figured out (with the aid of the magnifier) that there was one more feature in the circle than I was originally seeing and I needed to go down and check out the bottom of what seemed like a cliff (control description was knoll), someone else came through down below and looked like they were punching. Not a lot of time lost but some. But my confidence was now really low.

Tried to be careful going to #5 and I'm sure I was really close on the first attempt, but I either didn't see the flag or wasn't looking soon enough or maybe I didn't go far enough or something. Without a GPS track I can't be totally sure of what I did. I was in the general area for a long time trying to figure out where I was. I'm not sure what I saw that finally made me sure of where I was but eventually something clicked and I ran right to the control. But not until being stupid for 10 minutes.

#6 was straightforward. Took the trail towards 7, then hugged the edge of the swamp for a while, then paced and counted more swamps and knew where the control would be. Looking at the map now, this looks a lot harder than #5 but I nailed this one. Perhaps I was finally getting into the map.

AP shows time lost to #8. I was quite a bit south but that was just because I saw a good way down the hill so took it. Recognized some rock features and knew where to go to get 8. So probably lost time to people who went straighter and ran harder but don't really count it as an error.

9 felt easy, the big reentrant halfway to the control was obvious. The circle obscures a lot of the contour detail right around the control but there really wasn't a lot going on so not too bad. And then there were streamers for the white course all the way to 10 and the finish.

A GPS would be nice to see what I actually did around #5 but my Garmin is too big and clunky to wear orienteering. Or maybe I just need to get more used to wearing it. This is the first time I can't really reconstruct what I did. But part of that is the inability to remember as much.

Anyway, thought this was an absolutely fantastic Brown middle distance course. I think I could have done 45 minutes with a cleaner race but not Natalia's 37. She is impressive. Shocked that I was the second woman on the course and as high up in the placings as I was. I guess a lot of people had more trouble than I did.

Middle Brown Y - Splits

Event: 2013 U.S. Individual Championships/Team Trials
 

Hike up to the start/finish area of Moreau early in the morning to test out whether we could relay a radio signal down to the results area. We couldn't. The climb from the parking lot is steep and there was a bit of being on all fours in a few places trying to get to the high point to test the radios. The climb down was worse.

A reasonable sprint outing. I always think I'm no good at these but I'm not all that bad. I made two errors. Out of 3 I didn't have a good plan and waltzed around in some rocks before yelling at myself to just climb the (tiny) hill and run. Towards the end started getting tired. First got all confused because the map printing at #9 made it look like 3 large rectangular buildings not 3 clusters of 2 small square ones and so I was momentarily perplexed at why I wasn't seeing what I expected to see. But I knew I had to be in the right spot and eventually went to where the circle was and found a flag. But that interrupted my concentration enough that on the way to #10 I jumped ahead a trail junction and then made the best of it by cutting across the woods whihc turned out to be pretty bad footing and then didn't read ahead to realize I wanted the earlier, smaller of two buildings (good thing I checked my code - saw a flag and just ran for it). So definitely could have been better, but still a lot of fun. And while I wasn't fast, I wasn't too pathetically slow so I'll take it.

Sprint Brown - Splits

I have had a ache in my lower back since Sunday. I just thought it was a muscle strain or something but it's not getting better, in fact it's a bit worse this morning and more like a sharp pain. It doesn't hurt when I'm doing anything, only when I'm sitting. I'm guessing some nerve somewhere is getting pinched or something like that. The car ride to EMPO land is not going to be fun.

I need to start doing yoga again. I don't know why I got out of the routine, but I did, and I'm paying for it. I am determined to some tonight but need to be careful not to overdo it.

C • Aching back 4

TNT - Did 3 x (5 min hard, 3 min easy) plus a short warm up and the hike down to the drive and back up again. Felt good - had to work but it felt smooth.

Shady looking guy down on the drive helped me pick up the pace on the way up the hill. :)

Core DVD. I think I could get used to staying home in the mornings.

Event: DVOA French Creek State Park Central
 

Was having a decent run until the boulder in the green. I thought about swinging left and attacking from the cabins and the relatively white woods, but it looked like I should have been able to read things from the field corner. Wrong - it was a jungle on the way up the hill towards the control and I must have gotten pushed a little left. I thought I read those boulders but must have passed by the control a little to the west. Relocated off the trail above the control but took two tries to find a way back down that wasn't a wall of briars. Pretty annoyed at this point. Finally found an elephant track and figured it must go to the control - it did. Probably lost 6-7 minutes.

I promise not to put any controls like that on the A event courses in November.

Brown - Splits

Walking laps for Dennis and Emily's Relay for Life team. My knees were aching by the end - the combination of an asphalt track and the repetitive plodding were tough. But happy to put up with a little discomfort to help out.

The bathroom stops are obvious on the pace graph. The stops for picking up/dropping off various layers of clothes and food and drink were quick enough that they don't really register.

Hopefully can recover quickly from downing large quantities of caffeine in the middle of the night and too little sleep.

C • Congrats 2

Slow steady run on the drive and then ran up all the hills home - took the hill repeat trail and kept saying if Sandy can run the Indian loop I can run this.

Was going to stop at 1 hr or whenever I got home - went out for 29 minutes and turned around figuring I'd be a bit slower up the hill than down - and they happened at just about the same time.

C • Hill repeats 4