Training Log Archive: TomN

U.S. Classic Champs, Day 2, BOK Birkhead Wilderness, M60. Another fine day, in the adjacent section of the same woods, similar terrain, fine woods, and pretty easy control placements. I was a little slow on #1 (went straight over the three ridges) and bobbled #2 (straight up the ditch south to the trail, hmmm, don't see a trail, wing it for a while towards the big reentrant, don't see that either, back to the trail, there it is and there's the reentrant and life is good). Istvan Nagy caught me at the control, having been somehow rescheduled to 2 minutes after my start time. I was unhappy about that, but if I had executed correctly I would still have been ahead of him, so who's to blame? We traded controls, I got 3, he got 4 and 5, I got 6, then I ran hard over the hill to 7 and never saw him again. On the way down the spur to #8 I caught Walter Siegenthaler, who was in 3rd after yesterday, and dropped him on the big hill up to 9. Something tells me hill climbs are my friend. No. 12 was a nice leg, a mess of complex reentrants, which I counted carefully, and having drifted low I climbed straight up the hill and spotted the control a couple of contours farther up. Small errors on #13 (suckered into the wrong control down the spur a ways) and 14 (missed the trail, tripped over a wire fence and hit the ground flat, got up, bashed west, and finally saw the trail and field). Great run and a lot of fun, first in M60 by a couple of minutes, and managed to slip into 3rd place overall for a medal.

Green Day 2 - Splits

U.S. Classic Champs, Day 1, BOK Birkhead Wilderness, M60. I evidently missed my start time by a minute (I was there 3 minutes early, but found that my start time had been given to peggyd, who had also missed her start time, so there was some kind of chain reaction happening). For what it's worth, I thought that although the start was undermanned, the guy at the call-up line was good-humored and reasonable, and was doing his job just fine under the circumstances.

The minor snafu at the start didn't bother me at all. The forest was beautiful, fast running and good visibility. I ticked off controls pretty fast, and by #8 I knew I had a great run going. Disaster struck at #9. Running hard, I punched a control that looked right and continued on, but the next leg didn't look right at all. When I came to an unmapped reentrant, it occurred to me that I might have punched the wrong control. So back to #9, sure enough, wrong code, and given what I had just seen I had a pretty good idea where the right one was. At least 6 minutes lost. Then at #11, still mentally out of it, I ran the wrong way out of the control with the map upside down. Damn it, what an idiot. Another 2 minutes lost. OK, back the way I came, and everything else went fine, good running to the finish.

Ended up in 4th place, a couple minutes out of 3rd, but obviously I had first within my grasp and blew it. Disappointing result.

Green Day 1 - Splits

Slow jog out and back on the perimeter road. Too nice a day to squander, not running tomorrow.

Intervals at DuVal HS track. 3x1000 in 4:06. 4:07, 4:07 with a 4 min jog between. Pace was a little fast for VDOT 46, just right for 47, but it felt good so I stuck with it. Plus a 15 minute jog there and back and a couple of strides before starting the intervals.

First of season Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) flying to a dandelion.

Drumm loop, short version. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5332529