Training Log Archive: Samantha

Warm up for the long in Buffalo. Freezing cold on Sunday. We camped and I just couldn't warm up in the morning. Of course I didn't learn my lesson from California and didn't bring a long or short sleeve polypro to wear under my o top. Luckily mom had a long sleeve lone which I wore. I rolled up the sleeves on the way to #5 and was worried I was going to get too hot, but it was just fine.

Buffalo A meet, Blue course. Oh man :) If there was ever a runners course, this would be it. I had a pretty solid race - Ross started 4 minutes behind me and didn't pass me until I was on the way to 10, which I thought was pretty good :) Unfortunately he cut across the trail too far ahead of me for me to actually run with him :) Also, my recently acquired cold (I didn't have it when I woke up Friday, but then was certainly sick by the time I went to bed) caused my breathing to feel wet and my nose to run constantly, which makes for unpleasant running. 1-7 all went really well and I was running hard across the fields and through the woods. I was hesitant coming into 7 and then missed 8 by a bit to the left. I like the route I chose to 10, even though Ross says aiming off is for babies. Whatever. It works for me. 12 was my big mistake that seems to happen every race! I chose to run along the east side of the river, which I think many others did too. It was junky and I was not making good time and about half way down the leg I suddenly thought that maybe I had already passed where I was supposed to climb up the hill. I thought back and simply couldn't remember what I had already done and what I had passed. I decided that I was probably where I first thought I was and kept going - and I was right. I simply suddenly doubted myself in the middle of the race. Then at the end of the leg I should have run the trails all the way to the control. Instead I cut the corner but never went far enough to hit the trail that runs alongside the control. I hesitated and stopped in the middle of the mess before running south to bail out to the southern trail. I ran along that and back up to the control from the south. I think I lost about 4 minutes on that leg, but I'll have to look at the splits. 13 was also a bit tricky and I almost ran right by it. The rest of the race was fairly clean - slightly off on 18 and a bit too low on 17... Nick Duca caught me going to 16 and Robbie Anderson caught me going to 20 so I was running hard at the end of the race in order to keep their pace (which I sort of managed to do... for a bit :)) The end of the race was similar to a sprint course and you could really run hard.

Tight legs so did a cool down with Ross.

Long - Blue - Splits

Event: Buffalo Orienteering Festival
 

warm up for the Buffalo A meet red middle.

Buffalo Red middle. Another fairly good middle course for me, which is exciting. Not perfect, but the mistakes are ones that I recovered well from. Took it easy in the beginning. Having a bit of trouble reading the map while running to #2 and #3 - didn't use my magnifier, but I'm beginning to think that it may be a good idea for me. On #6 I dropped down instead of staying up and was below the control. I figured it out as I was still moving forward and cut up, but then did not see either the hills or the control. The hills were formline hills and I only barely noticed them and didn't register them. The control was about 10 meters from me but behind a tree. Frankly the only reason I found it was because the person behind me had climbed up the hill at a different angle and he saw the flag and ran to it. Not exactly the best strategy for finding a control. I was safe on the other controls where the features were by the trials and aimed off so I could hit the trails early. On 15 I was confused about which trail I was on and cut down to the stream too early. I think I was a bit brain dead. I saw a flag hanging on a distinct tree and was determined to find it on the map. I did, but then when I glanced up and down again, I couldn't locate it and stopped to look longer. Really I just should have run down the stream that I was standing in since the cliff was in the stream. But seeing as my average HR was 182 I was pushing pretty hard! Overall happy with the race, but would like to work out some of these tweaks so I can have an actual clean race!

Warm up and strides before the sprint as the rain began - but it held off all day!

Ug. I love sprints. I really do. They just haven't shown me much love in return lately. I tried to start out calmly and rationally but that only lasted to #3. Way, way off on my compass to #3 - slowed to jogging and walking until I saw the control way, way off to my left. Then was running all out on the grassy sections, but was only a second or two ahead of dad (I mean really! :) ). Ran to the wrong third to last control as well - off on my compass and just ran. The sad thing is that I had checked my clues and seen that it was in a reentrant, and yet... Same panicked misplaced confidence that screwed me in Czech.

Middle - Red Y - Splits

Sprint - Course 3 - Splits

Ran over to Lost Pond for a short threshold run. Just after I entered the woods and was running down the trail, a raccoon, who had apparently been hanging out right next to the trail, jumped up from where he was resting. He was about 3 feet away from me, so I shrieked and he grunted and ran up the nearest tree. He kept on climbing up, checking every once in a while to see if I was still standing there. No longer scared out of my mind, I watched him climb - he was so adorable! So then on the way back I decided not to run back down that trail and scare him again. So I went the other way and what do I encounter but three turkeys standing right on the trail. Again with the shrieking from me and the turkey noises from them. Two smart(er) turkeys ran into the woods while the third ran down the trail. "you turkey" I thought, and laughed to myself :) So I chased this poor frantic turkey down the trail, as he wove back and forth, not quite willing to venture into the somewhat thick woods. Eventually the woods thinned out and he took off. I went back to see if the raccoon was still there and he was hanging out in the crook of the tree branches. Can he climb down? Or is he like cats - they run up and then can't figure out how to get down. Did I just doom the cute raccoon?:

Yesterday in the Blue Hills I scared up two deer (not unusual), but also a fox! He was also pretty adorable with his red coat and bushy tail. I'm pretty sure I've never seen a fox in the Blue Hills before. I feel like Dr. Doolittle.... but the opposite. Terrorizing animals wherever I go.

C • Fox 1

Threshold run on the trails in Lost Pond. Felt quite good actually - the rain stopped and it was wonderful running weather. Funny to think how much I didn't want to go before I left. I ended the 8 minutes in the middle of a hill so I finished pushing up and and running through it before I stopped.

So an air conditioner leaked on the server for my school and now EVERYTHING that I have done this year on my computer is gone. Forever. Everything any teacher or staff member has done ever is gone. Forever. Special Ed. Reports, worksheets, all my pictures of my class, my bookmarks, my lesson plans. Everything. It is very frustrating. As if my job wasn't hard enough.

C • that sucks :( 10

11 minutes warm up, 3 minutes jog back down.

Downhill orienteering exercise. Times running on the trail to the top: 7:20 and 6:45. Times running down: 6:30 and 6:10

Warm up and cool down.

Threshold run around Stoney Lea. Times: 4:37, 4:55, 4:47, 4:36

Park - o in Franklin Park. Ran through stinging nettles and my legs are still crawling. Heart not quite in it today, which I sort of knew, but having Ross beat me by 10 minutes is discouraging.

Note: I entered the wrong split for #1, since I had this workout tacked on the back of the workout from earlier and I got a bit confused. That makes my time look better :)

C • ... having Ross beat me by ... 1

Franklin Park - Advanced Course - Splits

ok, here we go - logging!

Went to the Blue Hills today for some compass practice. I thought that I forgot my compass bag, which was tragic since we were doing compass work. Then we discover that dad actually took my compass bag this weekend, and I his. So I was all set! Talk about fortuitous. Sam Levitin joined us as well today, which was fun. It's fun to have guest stars train with us - recently it was Cristina. I had a blank piece of paper with only the course drawn on it and I was trying to take accurate compass bearings to each control. Leg lengths were from about 75 to 200 meters. I was pleasantly surprised at how well I did. It makes me think that I'm trying too hard when I'm actually orienteering. Now, of course this technique won't work in all terrain, but I was very close to almost all the controls. Even nailed some from about 150 meters away, which I think it pretty good.