Training Log Archive: Sandy

Cranky Monkey Mtn. Bike Race at Wakefield Park in Annnandale, VA. Free entry courtesy of Valerie. The time is approximate - I think my two loops were 53 min. and 51 min. A really fun time on a great course - not easy but not too hard either. I highly recommend this park for anyone trying to improve their biking abilities. I got to the point where I was comfortable going over the built up log ramp thingies and going full speed down the little down and ups that were all over this course. I wasn't lapped and I wasn't last (barely - passed the last person in the last minute or two!). Not too shabby for not having done any single track since last fall.

Just pedalling around to convince myself I really wanted to do the race.

Almost afraid to go to sleep tonight in fear of more spasms in the leg. Had lots of salty pizza after the race - maybe that will hep!

QOC summer series since I was in town...
Felt good running (took a hit of my inhaler again) but not a very good run navigationally - very sloppy and a couple errors. Shows a real lack of O-specific training. Will have to work on how to change that.

Woke up in the middle of the night with severe spasms on the inside of my right leg, just above the knee. Have never had cramps there before and they were painful and difficult to get the muscle to relax. Woke again an hour later with more cramping.

C • Leg cramps 2

New contacts worked well for reading the map but not so great for seeing distance. But probably a better overall situation than previously.

A quick bike around the neighborhood. The gears weren't shifting correctly and I attempted my first ever bike "repair" and wanted to see if I had been successful. I wussed out though and stayed on the streets - they were dry and lit and I was afraid of trying any of the trails in the dark woods that were really muddy from afternoon downpours.

TNT - Delaware. Ran with Anne and Tom. Started in the Nature Preserve and ended in Brandywine SP but I don't know the park well enough to have had any sense of where I was. Some good hills - Dasha would be proud!

Used my asthma inhaler before I ran and it seemed to help.

Tom is wrong; the highlight was the dinner at his place afterwards.

C • TNT Delaware! 3

Amazing lightning displays all the way home. Sky was lighting up every 5 seconds or so but we were hardly in any rain at all.

Saw the optometrist today as I've been having trouble reading the map. I've been doing the monovision thing - wearing the one contact for reading and one for distance for a couple of years and it's worked great but recently I've noticed I've been struggling to focus when reading map detail. The optometrist said that as you get older the eyes have more trouble adjusting to the discrepency in the two focal points so he wasn't surprised. However, there's a new kind of bifocal contact out now - the center is for reading and the periphery for distance - and he thought those might work for me. They work well for about 2/3 of the population, but unfortunately not for me. But - one contact for reading and one of the bifocal ones worked great. It's unusual, but he had a golfer who did the opposite - one for distance and one bifocal - so he figured we might as well give it a try. And I had brought along a French Creek map and could read all the little boulder details. The distance vision is a little weird - I have to concentrate to just use the one eye - but it seems to be a good solution for me.

C • Bifocal contacts 1

TNT - just me and Anne. Did the usual 5 miles on the drive plus the jog down and walk up. At about 4 miles I had some GI issues and had to walk a bit. Ran at a just a tad under 10 minute pace and felt okay but not great. I was surprised since it was cooler and much less humid this evening so I was expecting to feel pretty good. A little depressed by the fact that I have not had a strong outing since getting back from RAAM.