Training Log Archive: cporter

Event: QOC: Hemlock Overlook
 

Sprint at Hemlock Overlook - not a great sprint for me. There was a general consensus that #9 was hung wrong or mapped wrong, but even with that warning before I went out on the course I still managed to screw it up, which cost me over a min. I also over ran #3 because #13 happened to be very close by and I didn't look hard enough and actually ran half way to #13, fortunately I was able to cut through the woods and down a different trail to #3 without having to go completely back, but still there was easily another min lost and then I also bobbled #5 because I had a hard time reading all of the different veg boundaries in the field. All told I lost at least 2:30 on the course which, looking at who finished around 12 min seems about right for where I normally finish. Oh well, lets just hope I got all the screwing up out of my system so I'll run well at NAOCs!

Middle Distance (Red) at Hemlock Overlook - at least the middle went well for me today. No real major problems, kept a good momentum just until last couple controls which were uphill. Only really notable screw-ups are when I was high on my #5 and wound up hitting #16 in stead (luckily they were only about 150m apart.) In my defense though I found Patti Mace sitting on the ground on my way to #5 and stopped to make sure she was OK, she said she hurt her ankle, but that someone was already on the way for help and she waved me on. I still feel like a bit of a jerk for not staying with her though since I later found out that she thought she had actually broken her ankle - no word yet though if she did since the ambulance had been and gone by the time I finished. After my mistake at #5 I ran virtually error free (not too hard to do though in this terrain) until I hit #17. I meant to run around the hill top and drop down the reentrant in which #17 was hung, but I got sucked down into the wrong reentrant and then go tangled up in some deadfall that slowed me down. My route to #18 didn't go much better, but something just didn't seem right when I was running that leg. My bearing was also off when I didn't think it should have been since I was tired at that point and there was a lot of deadfall so I wasn't moving too quickly and paying a lot of attention to my map and compass. After the race I confirmed with some others that something was definitely off on #18, just not sure what (either the reentrant was mapped a little funny or #17 was hung too far down the reeentrant.) My #19 was also a bust, but that was my own stupidity - since I was confused at #18 of of the guys that I had been running with (not intentionally) caught up to me and took off ahead and out of sheer laziness and because #19 was the GO control I thought surely he knew where he was going, but we came out on the wrong trial and wound up having to run over a nice little hill to get to the right one. Even with the few mistakes I made though it was a pretty decent race. I felt a little bit redeemed after such a terrible sprint.

Short - Splits

Red - Splits

Odell Rd Loop (9.5mi) + 5 km each direction from/to my house. Long run in prep for MCM (still nervous about how that's going to go.) Angelica is probably going to kill me if she if she finds out that I ran almost 16 mi today since she was pretty persistant last weekend in trying to get me to run a half-marathon with her. Sorry, Angelica, if you (or Wyatt) happen to read this...I wasn't till the middle of the week that I decided to do this run.

So the run went pretty well. I had my ups and downs in energy throughout the run, but nothing really drastic. Felt pretty good on the hills too. The one odd thing that I have noticed for all of my runs, which became really apparent today is that it is taking me a reallllllly long (today it took nearly 45 min) time to feel warmed-up and relax into my usual stride. What is even more odd is that in my pre warmed-up state my legs feel like total crap and I can have so pretty sharp pains, esp in my shins and lower calves just above my achilles. After I'm warm I generally feel great though and don't have any pain until general leg fatigue sets in (which only happens on longer runs like today.) I've tried the usual remedies, extra stretching, icing (haven't tried heat yet though), massage, etc, but nothing seems to help. At first I thought it meant my shoes were shot already, which would be premature, but it happens, however it strikes me as odd that the pain doesn't persist. If any one reads this post and has any input I welcome it because it is really annoying me at this point and slowing me down.

Besides the leg pains at the start the run went pretty well. I really enjoyed the sections of the Odell Rd. loop that run along some pretty quite country roads. It felt just like I was running in my hometown which was a nice change from the usual busy roads around CP. I decided to do some new product testing on today's run as well and tried out a pack of Cliff ShotBlocs instead the usual GU. I was pretty satisfied with them - they reminded me of eating a fruit snack which was fun and the black cherry flavor is actually pretty good. They did seem to deliver a more subtle boost in enerygy than a GU shot, but since the directions indicated to take 3-6 per hour (I took one every 20-30min), they deliver smaller doses at more frequent intervals. I probably wouldn't use them for anything shorter than today's run, but they might come in handy for longer o-races, especially when you get to the point where a consistent stream of energy could really help with concentration (and where something solid in your stomach might be appreciated.)

Kickboxing - good class today, the cardio part was fast paced so we got through it pretty quickly which meant more time for sparring! Yay! My usual sparring partner wasn't there today so I was matched up with the only guy that took the class today. We were very unevenly matched since he had probably about a foot on me, but at least it meant that I could hit as hard as I wanted without reservation (which I did.) He was fairly impressed with me too which gave my ego a little boost (he's the only one in the class that has ever actually boxed) and said that I hit harder than he expected and that my power is evenly balanced in both arms (this is probably because I am a lefty, but am a bit ambi as well.) I did my best to keep up with him when it was his turn to spar, but being so much shorter it was hard to keep my arms up so high and absorb his hits, but considering I'm one of the taller women in the class I think he's kind of used to it. After sparring the instructors wanted to have a little fun with us so they had us do "dot chasing" for some agility training. Basically all it is is doing sprints back and forth between two spots (think back to your days of presidential fitness testing with the eraser sprints) but rather than two set spots they put these colored dots on the floor and called out a color and you had to run to it. It was actually a lot of fun and a pretty good workout. It was harder than you think though - blue and purple and orange and red look the same when you're traveling at high speeds so it was amusing watching people get turned around once they were tired. I actually like it so much I asked to go again, which may have been a mistake because of course the instructor doubled the amount of time I ran the second time around and started moving the dots farther apart on me! Finished up class with the usual abs and Susan's wonderful cool down/streching. As always a great way to start the weekend!

Mansion Hills Run - gave another new run a shot today and enjoyed it very much. My only complaint would have to be that in my own stupidity I chose to start the run from UMD on a football game day. It wasn't too bad when I left, but by the time I returned to my car there were people tailgating all around it. I also mistakenly wore the totally wrong color, bright royal blue rather that Maryland red, so I stood out like a sore thumb. Oh well, the run was pretty and I only lost about 5 min during the run by making a wrong turn at one point and also getting stuck at a seriously long traffic light (and forgetting to stop my watch). 15 miles tomorrow! Woo-hoo!

Run from the Archives down Adelphi Rd to University Blvd then up the Paint Branch Trail to Cherry Hill Rd, then down Rt. 1 back onto University and up Metzerrot Rd to the Archives. I've done this loop once before, but enough time has passed that I can't give too much of a comparison between them. I was actually feeling pretty distraught on my descent down Rt. 1, after the hill on Cherry Hill (duh) because I didn't think I was picking up as much speed as I had the last time I had run this way. However, the only thing I do remember about the last time I ran this loop was that I ran in exactly an hour because I HAD to be back in my building before 6:30 when they lock the doors - needless to say I watched my time carefully that time around. Since I ran today about a min faster I obviously wasn't going as slow as I thought I was, but I do think I was running all the hills slower and not recovering from them as quickly which would account for my distress over being slow. Really I should have run this loop significantly faster than I did, even though I did improve upon my last time. I blame my recent lack of motivation to get my butt out and run, also my total neglect to attempt any sort of speed/hill work out. I'm really starting to worry about how the MCM is going to go. I have enough time I think to get well enough prepared that I'll fininsh it OK, but it could be ugly.,,

Northwest Branch Trail between Columbia Pike and Wheaton Regional Park. Branched out on the NW Branch (haha, yeah I'm lame) and tried a section that is entirely unpaved. I started on the east side of the river which was much tougher going with a narrower trail that was steeper and rockier as it weaved its way across the floodplain from the edge of the river and up the steep banks at points. At least it made for a pretty, interesting and a bit more challenging of a run. For once I didn't get lost on the trials either because they were well blazed. I turned around once I got to the road that the NWB Trail crosses right before it heads into Wheaton Regional Park and then headed back down the west side of the river where the trail is much wider (its actually more of a dirt road at the top of the trail) flatter and much easier to follow. Thankfully I ran the trails in the order that I did because I started to lose visibility about half-way through the second trail on my way back and it was pretty much dark by the time I finished. Great run!

C • NW Branch Trail 2

Kickboxing - pretty good mix of cardio and strength today

Perimeter Trail at Greenbelt Park