Training Log Archive: kissy

I was not so enthused about running today because my stomach was not feeling so great. But, since I've been slacking all week, I decided I would at least give it a try. I'm never so far from my house on this circuit, so if things got really bad, I could just walk home. It went okay, just a few small slow downs, and I'm glad I went out.

A little time on the trainer while watching what is now known as the best night on TV.

Rocky Mountain Goat on Telephone Song map. I started out thinking I wouldn't complete the whole course because (1) it was cold, (2) the altitude would get to me, (3) there was still a layer of snow on the ground, and (4) it was 13 km!! But finish it I did, even when there was such an easy opportunity to go from #12 to the finish, skipping #13 - 15. I was feeling very good and was able to keep up with other people around me, so I decided it would be super wimpy to DNF. I found all of the controls dead on (which helps) and managed to keep moving at a good pace until the last few controls. That's when my legs let me know that I had done enough running for the day. Still, a good and motivating day for going into the NAs.

FG

Coming from 70 degree weather, it was a bit disconcerting to wake up this morning to a layer of snow on the ground. I was tempted to stay inside all day, but I ventured up to the trails at Happy Jack anyway. Ended up having a very enjoyable run in the snow, dodging cows that had somehow gotten loose. Glad I made the decision to go out today and I felt great!

C • Isn't it nice to feel great al... 2

Usual run through the neighborhood. The weather has turned decidedly chilly in the mornings.

Travel Day. It was a non-eventful trip until I transferred to the puddle jumper from Denver to Laramie. The flight attendant/co-pilot informed us that the weather in Laramie was "crappy", visibility was less than a mile, and that they would do their best to land us safely. Nice!

C • Visibility, schmizibility. Pil... 1

My usual run through the neighborhood. Still pretty humid, but I think fall is just around the corner.

Local QOC meet at Hemlock Overlook. I ran the Red course today and didn't have too many problems. There was a control (#6) in an area where the map was questionable, so that made me pause. The control was shown as being in the only ditch there, but in reality there were 3-4 ditches. Combined with a lot of deadfall, and things got a bit jumbled. Other than that, I felt like I was pushing through, especially the hills. The humidity has returned, though, and the spider webs were still out in abundance. Yuck and yuck.

C • ditches 1

I was going to meet a group to train with at Burke Lake, but when I woke up I had a pounding headache. So, I went back to sleep and did the training session on my own. Although I labeled this as a trail run, it's really more of a dirt road run. It was a very enjoyable run and I felt great. I was running at a good pace the whole time and just slowed down a bit towards the end where the trail network got a little jumbled and I wasn't quite sure which trail to take. Kind of like being on a hash. The weather was also cooperative for the run...grey and not hot or humid.

The second half of the workout was supposed to be two loops around the lake. Well, halfway through the first loop, it started raining and by the end of the first loop, it was coming down pretty hard. I'm not a wimp, but riding in the rain is not my favorite. So, I finished after one loop and called it a day.

An early afternoon jog through the neighborhood.

I got out on my mountain bike for the first time in a long time. I needed to get familiar with it again since I'm doing the Buff Betty AR in October up by Thurmont, MD. I didn't want to get out there and look like a total idiot...just a partial one. This was a nice session to get back in to fine-tuning the shifting, working the downhills and powering the uphills. All in all, a good day.

QOC Local event at Lake Accotink. I ran the Red Memory-O course. I hadn't done a memory-O in a long time and I had forgotten how much fun they were. There were 19 controls laid out in two loops, each covering the same area. Of course, the two controls I messed up on were the first two on the second loop where I was trying to memorize them in relation to controls on the first loop. Bad idea...I kept finding the first loop controls instead. Which wasn't a totally bad thing, actually, since I could then relocate on the maps at *those* controls. I also quickly realized how often I look at my map during a regular O-meet and how much I use that slowing down time as a rest time. I felt fine during most of the race but my calves started cramping big time for the last 2-3 controls, so I ran a bit like Frankenstein towards the end.

Some more LSD training, with a bit of L and D added back in. It was a beautiful morning, but the trail was a bit overgrown. If I don't have an outbreak of chigger bites after this run, I will be mightily surprised. I felt fine except towards the end when my left knee started feeling a little creaky.

A little LSD training (without the L or the D).

C • (L)S(D) 1

That's right...core conditioning, baby.

The first day of school proved to be a busy morning, so I opted for an evening trainer session. Since I have downgraded my cable service (read "no more HBO"), and there was nothing but drivel on network TV, I read my book instead..."The Woman at the Washington Zoo," a series of essays and profiles by the late Marjorie Williams, a writer extraordinaire for the Washington Post (among other media outlets). She died last year of liver cancer. Slate webzine called her "Washington's most dangerous profiler" and included this in her obit: "Among the many lucky breaks George W. Bush can count in his charmed life add this one: Marjorie Williams fell sick with liver cancer in the summer of his first term, so he and the popinjays and courtiers of his administration never felt the full wicked wattage of her penetrating gaze." Love it!

I went for a run on the Battlefield trail while Graham was at soccer practice and Tanner was at the new skatepark. The weather was slightly overcast and not too hot, and I felt great running. I think there definitely is some validity to thinking that the heat really effects me. There are two pretty substantial hills on this course (and it's an out and back, so I go over them each two times), and I just charged up them today. Yay for me!

Event: QOC: Wheaton
 

I shadowed Tanner on half of the Orange course at QOC's season opener in Wheaton Regional Park. He was navigating pretty well, just had to give him a few pointers. But he wasn't in much of a running mood. Halfway through, the course passed back through the assembly area, so I left him to finish on his own. I should have stayed with him because the control placement got more difficult, and the course passed through some pretty green areas. Tanner ended up DNF'ing on a somewhat difficult control in the middle of a thick green area.

I shadowed Graham on Yellow, and he had no troubles at all. In fact, it was all I could do to keep up with him. This was good sprint training for me!

I was waiting for the hurricane-induced rain to let up, but it never did. So, I took the plunge and did a quick run through the neighborhood. I was soaked through and through in about 2 minutes, but it was really cool running in the rain and wind. I felt great.