Training Log Archive: vmeyer

Nice enough out that I didn't hesitate (too much) about going out. Lungs burning the whole time, and I was struggling to take a pain free deep breath, so I finally decided to walk the return trip.

Pushed as hard as I could including up the big hill. Chest felt better when I got off the main street. Cold air and car fumes are not my friends. Still happier going out than I would have been on the treadmill.

Seven months since I have done this, or even one sit-up, and it WAS NOT pretty. The first time I have had to pause it to catch my breath.

Hopefully, I'll get my act together to do it again before seven months passes me by.

C • Pausing it 14

Jog down to the track, and then walked a lap between 400s, then walked home. Beautiful evening. Ran the last 20 minutes in the dark. Was joined just as it was getting dark by morons from some running group running the opposite direction on the track in all black. One women kept getting back into my lane even though she knew I was there.

Had a pear around 3 PM. I don't think my stomach liked it that soon before running.

C • unrelated... 9

10 x ~400 (lane 3)
230 230 228 227 219 213 215 210 213 209 (last one 832 pace).
This felt good. We'll see how the right hip feels later.

Tomorrow, maybe I'll try THE DVD again, or maybe not. Definitely a mental challenge just getting started on that one.

C • THE DVD 1

Wore my orange shoes which match my orange shuffle. :) I really need to get some better songs on that. I have too much of the same type of music, and the same artist. Music is so undistracting to me. My mind continues to race, and I can't turn it off. Topics today were electronic controls & epunches, and how I am getting them to where they need to go over the next month. Seriously, I need to chill, but I can't.

Anyway, I planned on 30 minutes, but was able to "run" an hour. Started running at slow pace of 3 mph, and increased it .1 mph each minute up to 6 mph. Then started back down. But it was too slow once I got back below 5 mph, so I went up and down every minute in that range.

Breathing felt good, and I did go fast enough at the higher speeds to feel it.

I tried to use Mary's little pep talk to get me outside, and though I didn't go out, I did do something. So, thank you, Mary.

My excuse for outside tonight was that the backup on 395 had put a ton of cars on my regular (and safe in the dark) route, and I just couldn't bear the thought of all those car fumes.

Event: QOC: Lake Fairfax
 

Went out early on the easiest, but longest of the 3 sprints. Tasting copper right away. Ah, what a couple of weeks of inactivity will do to a person. I have quickly gone from Fab F45 to Flab F50. Yeah!!

I wore road shoes thinking that I was going to be on pavement a lot. Little did I know that they had so much more snow out in Reston than we did in Arlington. Trails were snow covered and hillsides were slippery.

But, it was a beautiful ~35 F day, and I was outside.

What I can't figure out is why I couldn't get myself outside to run in the same temps this past week - too cold according to my mind.

C • Temperature 1

A short break, and then out again on the next sprint. Again, it was early enough that I am all by myself. Struggled with #6, as did many others.

Download only to find out that I had missed #3. I wondered at the time why Jon was leading us over the stream at the point I crossed it - I got my feet wet. If I had gone to #3, I would have stayed dry. Bummed by the MP - the first time I have ever skipped a control accidentally.

Flab F50, and now the mind is gong too.

Beginner - Splits

Stayed home today and met the fence repair guys. And then called a roof estimator and accepted his company to replace out roof. After that I ran errands - stopped at the lumber distributor, then the larger hardware store, and then the car dealer.

This was a mixed day towards my goal of trying to overcome the paralysis I experience when dealing with people in common situations. I get very anxious having to call and make appointments, dealing with tradespeople asking for help in a store.

For tasks I need to complete over the phone, I am making index cards with the information, like what I need to say, and what the result of the call was. When I kept a list, I spent much time rewriting to perfect the list and avoided doing the task.

Over the last year, the fence became a symbol of my inability to deal effectively with situations which I should be able to handle easily enough.

So, leaving the fence to last, my grades for the other things I did today...
The roof guy - A - called, left a message at his office, also called his cell to follow up. Met him at the house and signed a contract. Though I get a failing grade for not following and getting a second estimate.
Lumber distributor - C - I stuttered when asking for the two items I was looking for. Stuttering and freezing up is something I do in these situations. I get credit for accepting help when it was offered to me.
Large hardware store - A - asked for help and did not stutter.
Car dealer - A - but only because I happened on the general manager outside smoking, so I was able to ask him my question without having to go inside and deal with a salesperson. He did want to escort me inside to do that, but I was able to state that I just wanted to ask him a question before any purchase was considered.

So, now the saga of the fence - D...

The fence was put in last February. Here are some pictures, if you care to look.

It took me until August to call the company and have a supervisor come out to review the warping, and poor board alignment. It took me until January to follow up. So, today the repair crew was out. I had to point out what I think needed replaced. The obvious issues - warped posts and the gate not opening - were easy. The other issue of the jagged line of the boards was harder. This was attributed to the uneven & sloping ground - yeah, right. We settled on about 20 boards, and I went off to work. While at work, I reviewed my pictures and was reminded of a few things I had missed, so I came back home.

Got those things addressed and met the roof guy. The fence guys finished up, but I noticed that a replacement board was worse than the original board, so I asked them to replace it again. They did, but now it was worse than ever. I let them go, and I undid the board, turned it over, re nailed it, and now it is fine.

Another part of the poor grade is the fact that I could not call the company and get the approximate time the crew was going to show up. They came at 9:30, but I got up at 7:30 just in case. And, I probably would have waited until 2:30 before calling to ask when they were coming.

And, that is how my day went - some positives, some negatives, and hopefully nothing I will obsess over too much in the long run.

C • Home Improvement 8

Event: QOC: South Fork
 

Put out the controls on the trails, two more gallons of water at 7:30 AM.
Long day. Home at a little before 6 PM after dropping Jon off in DC.

Kris (meet director) managed to order up perfect weather for the event.

We had 171 starts - some people doing two and three courses. With epunching on all courses, and a teenage club member pressed into service changing punch numbers for reuse, everything went smoothly.

One control description was incorrect. I changed the control from a hilltop yesterday - changed the circle, but not the clue. I think all of the controls were located close to where they belonged. Though, I like someone's suggestion - a new control description of "Somewhere in the circle."

I guess my first (AND only) effort at course setting went OK enough. I liked the setting out the controls part, but I didn't like the part of figuring out where people should go next.

Nobody said anything mean to my face. I guess they heard what happens if you make me cry...

C • First of Many, Right? 10

C • How do I improve? 8

Wheat Thins - Parmesan and Basil - very good - very bad. 140x9, though I haven't finished the box yet. Ironically, I am listening to the Lifetime showing of Queen Sized.

Met Kris at 7:30 AM to put out controls for "my" courses tomorrow. Needed to go early since I was meeting Glenda for the 2 PM UConn vs Georgetown game. I put out 15 and Kris put out 15 as well. So, I only have an easy loop of on trail controls in the morning.

It went better than I thought, though I was fumbling with things initially not wanting to take my gloves off. The control bags had both the hanging string and the punch string wrapped around many times. What a pain. It seemed to take forever standing there getting them undone, but I managed it.

A beautiful day, and I warmed up quickly. By the 4th control, the long sleeve shirt came off, the next control the gloves went, and the next control saw the hat get tucked away in my pack. I was still fully clothed though, Bash. :)

My apologies to Lisa in advance. I hit a squirrel on the way into the campground area. I was so worried that I was going to hit a deer, but I nailed a squirrel instead. And then on the way out, after being egged on by Kris, I took a picture of the road kill. Umm, yes, a picture of the dead squirrel, and my car. No, the front end damage isn't from hitting the squirrel. That's from hitting a tree at work.

Oh, and Georgetown won on the last possession with a 3 pointer from their center.

C • Resting? 4

C • storing control flags 8

C • 3 Pointer at the end 4

Lovely early evening. Lungs hurt the whole way - tasting copper at the end. Too much car fumes, I guess. Might have to resort to the treadmill if this keeps up. But, I got out and got something in, and no other body parts hurt, so I am not complaining.

Up the hill to the house.

Dropped the car off for emission test and routine service. Ran back in the dark wearing my safety vest and head lamp. It is 72 F here this evening!
Body parts felt good except for the pesky lungs. The burning eased at about 20 minutes.

C • 72F 4

Walked the part on the bridge over the highway, and then the last part up the hill and home.

Final trip to the park before setting out the bags next weekend. Did two loops - each about an hour. First one was to look at a couple of new Yellow controls, and to see where an unblazed trail will need to be streamed for the White course. Trail used by White and Yellow still covered in leaves in many places. I did a lot of kicking leaves as I went along.

Came back and did a second loop to check a couple of streamers, one on the spur. I think it is good, though maybe a bit low. From there, I ran out to the road and around to extend my time to an hour.

Beautiful day in the woods. I hope the weather is as nice as this next weekend.

Left knee has pain through the front, and right hip is painful. But nothing really different than how I feel most of the time.

Today turned into a "home body" kind of day. I meant to go to Prince William to check a few control locations for Yellow next weekend, but I didn't get out of bed until 10 AM!!

So, I had breakfast, and then lunch an hour later.

I did work for about 3 hours in the yard raking and vacuuming the leaves. Damn, that vacuum gets heavier each year.

C • Leaves 7