Training Log Archive: kissy

Red course at Fair Hill A-meet. I am not unhappy with this race. I'm frustrated with a stupid mistake at #21. The description for this was "bend in trail," and I was ridiculing this on the way to the control, thinking that a bend in trail control was *not* a Red control. And then I proceeded to totally blow it...argh! Other than that, I made a few seconds of mistakes at other controls, but nothing too bad. I was pretty tired at the end, but still moving at a good pace for me, so that was good. Yes, all in all, not a bad outing.

C • Fast! 3

Red - Day1 - Splits

Event: DVOA A-Meet (Interscholastics)
 

Some last minute stretching before the weekend.

A quick run through the neighborhood. This brings me to my running goal for the month and is a good ending point before Fair Hill. It was a beautiful, cool morning and I felt good today. I wasn't feeling so spritely at Gettysburg, so this was a nice boost.

The DVD. Good way to start the day.

I went up to Gettysburg to show some out-of-town friends around. Afterwards, my friend, Meg, and I did a lollipop loop out of the Visitor's Center, over Little and Big Round Top, down to Sickles Ave. and back over towards the Visitor's Center. On the way back, it was getting later than we thought, so we tried to take a shortcut across a former wheat field. Instead of feeling like Civil War soldiers, however, we felt like water buffalo as we slogged through swamp-like conditions in an area where we should not have been. Maybe we were channeling Francis Marion, instead. Definitely a Lucy move!

C • You are lucky the Park Service... 1

My legs were still pretty tired from the weekend, so I did a relatively easy trainer session.

QOC meet at Little Bennett Regional Park, Clarksburg, MD. I wasn't sure which course I wanted to run today, but when I found out Peggy was out on Blue, I figured I needed to run Blue, too. It was a good day. It started out a little rough because my stomach was acting up, and by the 4th control, I was in a bit of gastric distress. But the gods were looking out for me because on the way to #6, while coming out of the woods and into a field, I spied two port-a-potties, and one of them had my name on it! Yahoo!! After that, I felt much better and could concentrate on the course. The biggest trouble I had was on #9...I contoured around from #8, but stayed too high, didn't see the field and hit the stream on the far side of the ridge. I just circled to the NW, saw the field and found the cliff. Not too bad. I also missed the last control because I had shut down my concentration, thinking the race was just about over, and overshot the control by a bit. Rats! There was some significant climb towards the end of the course, and I could feel it in my legs after yesterday's run. All in all, though, I was pleased, and it was most excellent training for Fair Hill. Tanner and Graham had great runs, too!

Blue - Splits

I decided that I liked that run last weekend so much, I wanted to do another 10 miler. I tried to rope Valerie into doing it with me, but she was already promised to her husband...something about being a yard work slave for the day. As luck would have it, my neighbor, Carol, e-mailed me to see if I was interested in doing our neighborhood run this morning. I managed to convince her to do a 10 mile trail run at Fountainhead instead of a 4.6 mile road run...see, I'm a good salesperson. It was another grey morning, a not so good morning after all. But, we made it through in quite good time, and Carol likes to chit-chat, so that makes the time go by faster. I'm not always a big fan of chit-chat, but on a run, it's fine. Other times, it's not so fine.

I went on a little ride around the new Marriott Residential Inn that's going up, through the new office park with all of the parked office buildings, down Rt. 1 past the new hospital that will take of the injured weekend warriors with aching hips, a quick spin through muscle beach with a touch of eye-candy and then home just in time for Drs. McDreamy and McSteamy. Yum!

C • Ahem... 2

Sorry, Peggy, Now you're an hour and one and a half minutes behind me. I couldn't resist. Yea, you really got me going, you got me so I can't stop exercising.

C • Training 2

I spent the last two days in Boston on a business trip, and now I'm trying to catch up with things at home. So, this was all I could get in for the day.

I went to Hemlock Overlook today to run in a 10 mile trail race. However, once I got there, I thought it would be more fun to help Valerie time the race and then run the course with her afterwards, which is what I did. The run itself went well and gave us a good confidence boost for the GRR in a few weeks. It was a pretty chilly day, but once we got going, the layers started coming off.

C • Great Training! 2

A very aborted effort at Lake Accotink Park. I was going to run an old Green course backwards, so I started with a loop on the east side of the map, which is very small. Then I headed towards the western, larger mapped side, but to get there you have to cross a spillway at the foot of the dam for the lake. Well, with the recent torrential downpours, the lake was pouring over the dam and the spillway was a raging river. Even the rocks that you could potentially use to cross it had water rushing over the tops. Oh, well. I'll have to remember this for next time.

A good session on the trainer while watching Xavier vs. Ohio State.

The weather has definitely changed from the other day. It is now in the low 40s and I will soon need an ark to get through the flood waters. So, instead of running, I did a lunchtime trainer session.

C • Ark 1

What a day! Valerie and I had planned to run 2 hours together along the Bull Run Trail. It became apparent that we weren't going to make that, though. Between the weather (80 degrees for the first time since last year) and just not feeling up to snuff, we ended up doing more of a walk/run for the first hour, at which point we were passing back by our cars and decided to call it a day.

I got my car keys from Valerie's Camelback, but the car door wouldn't unlock. Valerie said, "Just use the clicker," at which point I realized my truck doesn't have a remote keyless entry, and I had taken the wrong keys with me. I peered into the window and saw the truck keys on the front seat. Rats! Valerie was very gracious and stayed with me while I used her cell phone to call Roadside Assistance (with some help from Caitlin at Virginia Tech, who looked up the number for me since the card was locked in the truck, too!) So, in the end, we did have a 2 hour outing, but not as originally planned. Thanks for the help, Valerie!!

C • But at least some senior citiz... 3

This run didn't feel quite as nice as the last few because I had a rattling in my lungs that wouldn't go away. I kept coughing the whole time, which made me run a little tighter. Not so much fun.

C • rattling 1

After almost a year of little activity in my job, I'm taking on a new role and things are heating up again. It's very exciting to actually be doing something again, but I fear I will soon be yearning for the easier times. All I could fit in tonight was a spin on the trainer after a nothing day yesterday. Slacker!

Met Valerie at a local park for some early morning Memory-O training to try and help my concentration...or lack thereof. Valerie and I stayed together for the whole course just because sometimes it's nicer to run with another person. We were chitchatting a bit too much once and almost missed the cut-off feature, but Valerie caught it in time. This was a good workout; it made me realize that I still wasn't seeing everything I should when I looked at the map, so I'll have to do this more often. Saw a couple of beautiful woodpeckers and some deer, which surprised me because there is absolutely nothing left in those woods for the deer to eat.

C • Orienteering 2

This was a trail run, hanging streamers for a white course I was putting on for the Girl Scout troop of the daughter of my best friend, Meg. I had drawn the original course yesterday and it measured at 4.8k. I looked at that and thought that might be too far for all of the girls, so I cut off about 2K for the younger girls. Well, while I was hanging the streamers, I realized that the original course was way too long for *any* of the girls. Valerie had been helping to hang the streamers, so when we met up on the loop course, I told her I was cutting it short and she very graciously offered to retrieve the streamers that would not be used after all. And that was very much appreciated!!

I also walked the course with the Girl Scouts, which was very nice. It was a beautiful day, with temps in the upper 60s. The park was packed with people, even orienteers. I saw Dave Pruden as I was heading to meet up with the Girl Scouts and gave him the map with the Memory-O course to do. And, at the end of the hike with the GSs, I met the Lennon family, off for a family hike to map the deer enclosures in the park. You just can't keep orienteers out of the woods. But best of all, the girls really had a good time, not a whine out of any of them. And a couple of them caught on quickly and seemed to have a special knack for map reading, so that was encouraging.

C • Cutting short 4

A very busy day at work trying to amass a new empire. Not much time for working out.

A session on the trainer just because I can.

C • trainer 1

I ran the neighborhood circuit today...in the snow! This is getting a little ridiculous. Although, it did feel warmer than yesterday, mainly because there was absolutely no wind. I felt really good today, except I realized that I must have bashed my toes this weekend in NC. They felt a little sore on today's run.

I had two nice AOWN sightings: one was my first ever encounter with a woodchuck near my house, and two, a huge red-tailed hawk with a wriggling squirrel in its talons. Very cool.

C • Please to beg to send a few of... 10

The cold weather kept me indoors today. I am soooo ready for spring!

C • me too! 6

This is all I could muster today. I was not sore at all from the weekend, but just very exhausted.

Running back and forth on the trail, mainly trying to stay warm vs. warming up.

Ha, ha...what a disaster. My cold hadn't gotten any better over night, and I was even more congested this morning. I decided to stick with Red, though, and use it as good training if things got really bad. Well, they got really bad. I missed #1 because I was too low, but I found out later that alot of the women were too low, so I'm not sure what was going on there. My next big error was coming out of #4. It was very confusing in that area because it was right next to the finish, and there were streamers everywhere. I remembered there was a spectator control, so when I popped into the field and saw a control (the finish), I was confused. I finally figured things out, but was a little rattled, so when I hit the trail by the lake, looking for the bridge, I turned the wrong way and ended up at the boat house. I turned to look out over the lake, and saw the bridge back where I had just come from. Rats! After that, I got to #5 cleanly, but then disaster struck. I had heard some tales about previous A meets at Umstead where mislocated runners had found themselves standing at the edge of the tarmac at Raleigh International Airport, and I laughed and laughed. Well, I'm not laughing anymore because that's exactly where I found myself. I was so intent on picking my route choice to #6 (our first long leg), that I went the totally wrong way out of #5 and hit the aforementioned airport. I ducked back into the woods, and ran to the road that I should have hit originally, and on the way I saw Pavlina in the vicinity of #9, looking a little bewildered. ("Note to self: be careful at #9".)

After that, things started clicking, and my later splits look much better. The good news, too, was that I felt strong throughout the race, which was a small bit of encouragement in an otherwise dismal day. It just amazes me how things can go so wrong. And I was careful at #9, but still didn't spike it. I have found my concentration at the last several events has been severely lacking, so I now know that at the next few sessions of the OLTC, that's what I'll have to work on.

Other than a rather poor showing, I had a fun time and BOK and the Team put on a very fun event, with great courses. Thanks, Vlad, for all of the hard work you put into this meet. And for everything else you do. The Team is very lucky to have you around!

C • magnifier 3

Sunday: Red F21 - Splits

I went over to the Model area this morning since I arrived too late last night. It was enough to confirm that it's the same type of terrain as at home, and that the downed trees weren't really a big obstacle. Plus, it was nice to get out for a little warmup. I was surprised at how many people were already in the park at 7:30 am.

Red F21 at Reedy Creek, Umstead State Park, Raleigh, NC.
I would say that I am satisfied with this run...not exactly overjoyed...but satisfied. My lungs did hurt from my cold, and it was a little tough to breathe, but my navigation was pretty good. I messed up on #9, mainly because somewhere along the way, my brain switched to thinking that I was heading to #10. So, I was scouring the north side of the spur just east of #9, thinking that I was looking for the ditches at #10. Finally, a check of my compass...and the realization that I was looking for the wrong control!...set me back on track. Just a little frustrating. It was quite warm (probably in the mid-60s), and I could feel that I hadn't run in warm weather in quite a while. The course was a lot of fun despite my brain fart. You did a great job, Peggy! I can't wait to see what tomorrow, and 10+ km., feels like.

Saturday: F21 WRE Red - Splits

Event: BOK/US Team Umstead 007
 

I was not as successful with my training in February as I was in January. A combination of travel, illness and cold weather. I agree with BorisG...here's to a better March!
Feb YTD
Orienteering 30% 75%
Running 60% 85%
Cycling 91% 107%
Strength 92% 108%
Other 24% 25%
TOTAL 60% 82%

I was still sick today, so took it a bit easy with a "power" yoga session.