Training Log Archive: kissy

Total Body Conditioning.

C • courses for meadowood 9-30 5

Finally made it back home after 2 weeks back East, just in time to go to my weight training class. My knees felt stiff after not being tested for so long, but it was nice to be back in class.

When I looked at QOC's schedule before I headed East, I was sure that the meet this weekend was down in Meadowood, by Lorton, VA. A little too far to travel if I was staying at Mom's for the weekend. Well, I am staying at Mom's for the weekend, but the meet was actually at Lake Needwood, much closer. So, I decided to go to the meet, but had no O equipment with me. So, I wore my yoga pants and borrowed a compass, e-punch, and Forerunner. I also wore my gym shoes, which have no support and no traction whatsoever. It was an adventure.

So, Mom and Don and Tanner and I headed to Lake Needwood. Tanner did the Yellow course and had a fun time. I did the Green course and found all of the controls just fine, but it was slow going. Almost all of the downhills were covered in acorns, so it took a lot of tree-grabbing and careful footing to make it down without sliding on my butt. It was a good training for NAOC, though. A reminder that eastern woods are NOT the same as the west.

I was also surprised at how many people were attending the meet. There was someone at almost every control, some of them even yelling out that they "found it" to their team mates. I also had a little issue with my last control, a "cliff" which was actually a small rock sticking out of the ground. I approached it on the wrong side, so the control was hidden. I eventually figured it out, but it seemed pretty suspect to me. Don agreed.

A little hike on the C&O Canal with Tanner.

Hiking with Marnie at Lord Stirling Park in Basking Ridge. What a beautiful evening.

On the road again...to NJ.

C • Good News: 2

Ran part of an old course for practice.

Re-ran most of an old course to see if I could figure out where things went wrong. It was much better today.

Quite a chilly morning. It felt good.

The instructor lost her iPod that had the program's music on it. So, to improvise, she borrowed an iPod from one of the students and used random music instead of the programmed music. It worked out really well, and I was impressed with her ability to improvise. I guess that's why they get paid the big bucks...ha!

I'm reading the book "The First 20 Minutes" by Gretchen Reynolds, the fitness columnist for the NY Times. It's really a good book and a lot of what she's written about has already been included in other articles about fitness and nutrition.

She's also a big proponent of intervals so I thought I should try to fit them back into my training wherever possible. I warmed up for 3 minutes, did 8 sets of 60 seconds hard and 75 seconds medium, with a 3 minute cool down.

The Core 7 class. I was the only woman in this session...the leader was even a guy. Usually the classes are dominated by women and led by a woman. A nice change.

It poured down rain today...the most rain I've seen since I moved to Denver. It even set a record at the airport. And, it was very cold. I think it never got higher than the lower 60's. It reminded me of the East. I'm glad this is the exception to the rule!

C • Frost in Leadville 1

Off to NJ again, flying out today and back tomorrow night. At least it's a quickie...my favorite.

C • Sounds like... 1

Total Body Conditioning. I think this is my favorite class.

No more Group Power. My gym has shifted programs to a new one...I think it's called Body Pump or something like that. It was pretty much like the old program, but more repetitions and a little more difficult, which is good.

After class, I drove down to Chatfield State Park to do some reconnoitering for the meet in October that I'm setting courses for. I mainly wanted to take a look at the close-in trails and pick out some good control sites for White, Yellow, and Orange. I might go back tomorrow with my mt. bike to take a look at areas further out. I'm even thinking of including a MBO course, but I'll have to think about that some more.

C • Seems to me, after reviewin... 4

I finally got around to watching "The Hunger Games." Why did no one tell me the sexy Lenny Kravitz was Cinna? I would have watched it much sooner!

Rest Day

Barre Class

Group Power. It felt good to be back in class. And, no issues with my knees from this weekend!

C • knees 1

Rest day. It looks like I'll be losing two toenails from this weekend.

After some split analysis, it looks like my problem on Sunday wasn't so much losing steam at the end, but instead my navigational errors piled up early on, and I couldn't make it up with my "running speed." Looks like I'll need to cram in some navigational practice before NAOC.

Western State Champs. Day 2. Green.

Not a great day. I made some stupid mistakes early on and then lost all steam going to #9. I was actually getting a headache and stomachache and was slightly concerned. I got in and got some water, and then filled my water bottle with Gookinaide for the drive home. I felt a little better, but by the time I got home, it was a mad dash for the bathroom. I think I'll be taking it easy tonight.

Overall, though, it was a very fun weekend. The courses were very thoughtful and fun, the dinner on Saturday night was great. Nice to catch up with old friends. Very entertaining all around. I'm very glad I went.

Day 2 (Sunday) - Green - Splits

Event: 2012 Western States Orienteering Championships
 

Western States Champs. Day 1. Green.

I made this race more difficult than necessary by sitting in the hot sun for 2 hours, calling up starters. I'll need to find cover tomorrow. I started out a little bobbly, getting messed up by the rocks at #2 and #3, but then settling down for good navigation from there until #9. I made a parallel error up a reentrant, but luckily saw the fence when I got to the top and knew exactly what I had done. Then I spent about 30 seconds playing in the rocks at the top. So, not stellar navigation but not too much time lost.

The best part was that I actually ran a fair amount and felt fine. I had my brace on to stabilize my left knee, and I felt really good. I think those strengthening classes are doing the trick, so I'll have to keep them up. Very excited that there might just be a teensy little bit of hope.

Day 1 (Saturday) - Green - Splits