Training Log Archive: vmeyer

Walk through for Saturday's A-meet locations with Heidi.
Also did Friday (no real walk to speak of) and Sunday (forgot to turn off my watch, so it includes the driving between sites).
A little windy. Glad to be out on my feet today.

The week before last went by without having done the core workout at least once in the week since the first week in December. It is a tough workout, so it is easy to get used to not doing it, but I got it in today before going to the Georgetown game (they lost).

It was a tough week of feeling exhausted, a bit under the weather, and also unmotivated, mostly because I felt exhausted.

Not feeling too great - a bit of chest congestion, and pretty tired. Took a two hour nap after work yesterday and went to bed at 8 as well, though I read until 10. Will try yo do the DVD after work today before I get too used to not doing it.

I did get a bit of a workout in this morning by loading boxes onto the truck for the incinerator.

Dehydrated weight...

Right second toe very painful today, but otherwise the body parts are sore but not injured.

Here is another picture from Saturday. Found this deep in the woods. The three streamers hanging down have "ZIP" written on them.



And at the cemetery we visited:

Event: QOC: Patuxent
 

Arrived early to fix some controls I had reprogrammed for the last event and had forgotten that I needed to reprogram back to what they were labeled as originally. Actually, Sandy took care of this while I sorted out things for the day. Discovered that the printer I brought was out of black ink, and all of the spare cartridges were at home. Another screw up, which, because of the recent pattern, is making me feel quite inept. Sandy headed out for ink, but I called her back after a local let me know that the closest possible resupply was not in the direction she had headed. I was able to snag Greg, via Kathleen, and ink was delivered before the first finishers.

Sandy went out on Brown, and I finally got to go out as well on Brown, though I really could have passed. [Edit: Many thanks to Dan J for taking care of the epunch operation so I could go out.] My total focus was to beat Sandy today :), and I was so very close, at least in terms of how close I usually am - 50:38 vs 52:53, and we were 1 and 2 on Brown, so that was pretty cool. Error free time was V 46:31 and S 49:39, but I can't get too excited about that because I wasn't error free! Biggest error was 6-7 when I had to relocate off of 1. The control was on the flat upper part of the reentrant, and I probably went right by it, but I was looking in the reentrant. Got to read those clue sheets some more.

I did gain some time in places by just wading through the streams or jumping into the muddy parts. It was sort of fun. The course part of the day went really well. Some of the other parts could have been better...

C • Nice Job 2

Well, I am a lot of hot air. I claimed that I would get into my car and drive away today and leave the sorting out of the control pickup to others, but I ended up picking up controls myself.

Frustrating day for several reasons. I don't think the meet director got any volunteers, so I was on my own to handle the 130 race day entries, including the explanation to newbies on how epunch works. An assistant would have been nice, but Sandy, and then Mihai pitched in when they saw how long my line was.

Participants had to draw their courses on the map from a master map, and only one master map per course was provided. So, there was a bottle neck at the maps. And people were allowed to go out late, one family as late as 53 minutes, and they returned 35 minutes late as well - blow hard guy thought it was 3 PM - no apologies, and this is the guy that thought he could take his 3 & 5 year old (and wife) out on the orange or green course with a stroller. Jerk! And, I noticed that the stroller was parked way down the row of cars, and not by his car. Guess it got old fast.

Course setter did not stay for control pickup, and since the MD didn't make any arrangements ahead of time, there were just a few people to pick up controls, and the MD was making the assignments, and he didn't do that very effectively. So, I ended up going out at 4 PM (an hour after course closing) and picked up 10 controls. Probably could have gotten these in an hour but I did one control on the one side of the road, then noticed the two controls on the other side of the road, so I did those, and then back to the original side, and then I even had to visit a location because he was unsure it had been assigned or not.

Oh, and the CS only provided one, that is one, master control map. So, they had to transfer the controls to their own maps to pick them up. When I arrived back (last, and people were concerned), we discovered that one control was still missing. We figured out where it was...no, thank goodness, not in the far reaches of the park, but on the corner of the nearby field. Sam was able to get in his car and drive down and get it. Whew!!

Anyway, stupid, piddling things like this frustrate me, but like Sam said, I am training for a Rogaine, so, yes, it was good Rogaine practice since I was so pooped already to start! So, I am going to HTFU and be happy that I was offered this opportunity today for additional effort and stop whining about the little things.

C • Details 8

I thought I had scored a bigger rootstock on Saturday, but the one from December is bigger...or I am bigger. I think it is the rootstock...

Brown - Splits

More training with Sandy, and apparently, it is up to me to elaborate...stay tuned for full details and pics.

Ok, so it looks like I have to knock out the details, and I should do it while it is somewhat fresh in my mind, or sober, or both...

First, I will start with the biggest thing on my mind - that is, how much my feet hurt after eight hours, or more specifically, my heels, or Achilles tendon hurts (or is inflamed). Now, I am a bit hesitant to complain when I am out with Sandy (though I do complain), since she is missing some important knee stuff and is wearing a brace. So, I feel like I need to HTFU, but it is a bit hard to convince my feet (heels) of that. At about 5 hours they start to hurt, and at about 8 hours, I feel like I can't take another step. I start to question if I a really strong enough to go any further. That is an evaluation of my mental state during these long workouts.

For the workout specific details, well, we went to Prince William Forest Park. Using a 1:24 USGS map, we went all over the place in two ~four hour loops.

This is the team dynamics - Sandy is the navigator. I am happy/pleased/content/thrilled with that. Point me in the right direction. Don't discuss it too much. I am cool (I am dead weight?).

Nice day. Saw one blue car with bike rack. Saw one deer. Kept feet dry.

One navigational error - had to back track or find a place to cross the creek. Found a place - photo op (notice that I am not the one in the photo).





Since I get bored a bit easily sometimes, or maybe just because I am easily distracted, I look for a photo op with a big root stock, and now I have Sandy on the lookout as well. This was the first option. The other option is in the log above. Both of them were kind of weenie in comparison... (To tell the truth, I am really hoping to find snakes in the root ball.)

I have been working on finishing a quilt every spare moment since the aborted bike ride on Sunday. This quilt has been on my conscience for a long time, so I am blowing off training to make the final finishing push while I am in the quilt zone. I have about four hours of quilting left to do.

About 15 years ago, I agreed to make a T-Shirt quilt for a sister of a woman at work in exchange for a fairly valuable Hallmark ornament. She gave me the ornament right away, but she took forever to get the T-Shirts together. I had it in the back of my mind that I would be making this quilt for her one day, and she finally gave the shirts and fabric to me about a year ago (though it may be two years ago).

Finally, I have gotten it together in my usual "all or nothing fashion" - work hard on it, don't work at all on it, work hard on it... I am so relieved to finally see an end to this project.

A few ironies...I no longer collect Hallmark. The value of my time has gone up, while the value of collectibles has gone down. :) And, I really dislike making T-shirt quilts (though this one has turned out quite nicely), and this is the only project I have finished in the last year.

C • "all or nothing" 3

A really lame log entry.

Warm today, high near 70. I couldn't decide whether to ride early when it was 50, and the trail was less crowded, or in the afternoon when it would be warmer, and the trail would be more crowded.

A late night, and sleeping in kind of decided it for me. However, I didn't hear about how the afternoon would be VERY windy. I was barely able to peddle down the street in the direction of the bike rail. Knowing that I would be miserable going into the wind for any length of time, I turned around and came home.

I am working on hand sewing the binding on a quilt and watching trash TV.

Skipped the Georgetown game in order to get this in today. Too beautiful out for anything less than the great PWNF trails.

Garmin said 8.5, Gartrip said 10.5 - a pretty big difference. I'll go with the middle number again.

Had to stop had Ft Belvoir on the way down, so I didn't get out until about 9:45. Had thought to redo some controls from the last A-meet, but I really wasn't feeling that, so I just stuck to trails. Only repeated a little section at the end, otherwise no repeats and no roads. Ice on the creek was pretty. Trail thawing out in parts near the end, but it was not too bad yet.

Walked the whole time. Turned my ankle over at 6 miles. No pop, and just short term pain. Red Ice Bugs are too small for my inserts which I wanted to try out today. I think I need to retire this pair of shoes because they make my feet hurt.

Had my physical today a month or earlier then "annual."

Doubling the BP meds, halving the Advair.

I was 183 with all of my clothes on. Weight is my (almost) naked weight. :)

A minute @ increasing speeds until I reached 1 minute @ 6.6. moh, and then back down again. I think 6.6 is the highest I have done on the treadmill without holding on.

I have to do the DVD when I get up from my rest after work. I don't want to have a seven day period without the blue on my chart.

I wrote a letter today to the only person I am in contact with from high school, college, or graduate school (Mary). Three years overdue. Kind of sad on two fronts - how I only stayed in touch with one person from a 10 year period of my life, and how I suck at staying in touch with that one person.

Had a weird dream last night about the registrations for an A-meet. Thirty people registered on-line, and they only put their last name. In first name, they put Mr., Ms., Miss, or Mrs.

I haven't slept in two nights. I wonder what tonight will bring.

Got it done, though I wanted to lie in bed instead.

Event: QOC: Lake Fairfax, VA
 

With Kris around 1:45 PM. This was a good thing going with Kris, because I had to work hard not to be a total anchor, and I probably would not have gone out again otherwise after running the first one at 9:45 AM.

Footing softer than this morning, and plenty muddy in spots.

Final A - Splits

Qualifier - Splits