Training Log Archive: TomNIn the 31 days ending Oct 31, 2016:
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| Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | Mo | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday Oct 30, 2016 #
Orienteering race 1:22:47 [4] 7.1 km (11:40 / km) +300m 9:38 / km
shoes: Icebug olx 2nd
Hemlock Overlook Red course. I carpooled with Florence, Veronica, Rob, and Dan L. We got there pretty early, knowing it was going to be a warm day. In fact, it got up over 80 degrees this afternoon.
I started out strong, with great map contact. But after the first couple of controls, I was a little off. I could tell -- I wasn't thinking about things as carefully. I don't know what to do about that. Still, moving well and pretty accurate, except on #13. Bearing was off, no terrain features that I could understand, bounced off #6 and still had trouble with my bearing on the second try. Finally spotted the big rootstock (should have seen it on the initial approach.) Physically, feeling very good the whole way through.
I think Jon did a good job of minimizing the climb. When I set courses here, I had trouble getting anything under 5% of distance. I don't know what the climb was on this course, but it felt less than that.
I started out strong, with great map contact. But after the first couple of controls, I was a little off. I could tell -- I wasn't thinking about things as carefully. I don't know what to do about that. Still, moving well and pretty accurate, except on #13. Bearing was off, no terrain features that I could understand, bounced off #6 and still had trouble with my bearing on the second try. Finally spotted the big rootstock (should have seen it on the initial approach.) Physically, feeling very good the whole way through.
I think Jon did a good job of minimizing the climb. When I set courses here, I had trouble getting anything under 5% of distance. I don't know what the climb was on this course, but it felt less than that.
Friday Oct 28, 2016 #
Cycling 1:32:00 [3] 22.0 mi (4:11 / mi)
Biking to work. A new time record for this commute. The wind might have had something to do with it.
Thursday Oct 27, 2016 #
Road running 34:59 [3] 4.0 mi (8:45 / mi)
shoes: Adrenaline 15
Morning run. I had been planning to ride today but I left the key at home yesterday and couldn't bring the bike home. So, tomorrow instead.
Wednesday Oct 26, 2016 #
Trail Running 48:15 [3] 5.3 mi (9:06 / mi)
shoes: Adrenaline 15
Greenbelt Park Perimeter Trail. It took me a while to warm up, but I felt good after about 2 miles. Temp in the low 50s.
Tuesday Oct 25, 2016 #
Cycling 1:40:00 [3] 22.0 mi (4:33 / mi)
Biking to work. It was about 42 degrees when I started, and I was comfortable in windbreaker, gloves, buff under the helmet. Took off the buff and gloves halfway when the day had warmed up some. This helmet with the knob on top to adjust the size is great. Route.
Sunday Oct 23, 2016 #
Orienteering race 2:43:22 [5] 12.2 km (13:23 / km) +305m 11:54 / km
shoes: Roclite 280-2015
The QOC Goat, at Patuxent River Park. A long course, 26 controls, one fork, one skip. I skipped 11. Probably should have held off until 20 or 21 (because I was slow by then, so a greater time gain). But the real problem was #7. I was in front of Tori and had plenty of time on the road to think about the approach, but for whatever reason, it didn't work. Tori stopped and sorted it out, but I was like, it has to be in the next ravine . . . ok, the next one then . . . oh, it's in the one back over this hill . . . wait, I've seen this one before . . . and that went on for quite a while (like 10 minutes) before relocating off the road and finding it straightaway. A 22 minute leg. I was all alone on the rest of the course, going slower and more accurately than I could running in the pack. It wasn't until after the event that Peggy pointed out the smart skip, from the northern fork of 6 around the trail to 8, skipping, yeah, 7. Brilliant.
Nice woods, and nice course work by Nadim keeping us in the nice woods. And a rather nice day, full sun and a high temp around 60.
Nice woods, and nice course work by Nadim keeping us in the nice woods. And a rather nice day, full sun and a high temp around 60.
Wednesday Oct 19, 2016 #
Road running 34:30 [3] 3.9 mi (8:51 / mi)
shoes: Adrenaline 15
Neighborhood run at around noon. Whew, it was hot.
Tuesday Oct 18, 2016 #
Cycling 1:40:00 [3] 22.0 mi (4:33 / mi)
I rode to work this morning, which was the plan, having left the car there last night. The morning ride is more pleasant than the evening ride, for a variety of reasons. First, the automobile traffic on the cross streets is more crowded in the afternoon, and the drivers seem more impatient. Second, there are bugs and other flying debris in the air in the afternoon, some percentage of it getting in my eyes, but not in the morning. And third, my available glycogen reserves seem to be considerably greater in the morning. I bonk about halfway home in the afternoon, but never in the morning.
Monday Oct 17, 2016 #
Cycling 2:00:00 [3] 24.0 mi (5:00 / mi)
I put my bike in the back of the car this morning, left the car in the overnight lot and rode home. (Since Florence is on travel all week we had 2 cars in the lot that night.) Left around 4 p.m, got home around 6. It should have been 22 miles but I made a wrong turn, getting on the Anacostia Trail instead of the Northwest Branch, and going a mile before I figured out it was wrong. I must have been really deep into some daydream, because I know that intersection pretty well, right off of Rhode Island Ave.
Sunday Oct 16, 2016 #
Orienteering race 1:11:30 [4] 4.8 km (14:54 / km) +100m 13:29 / km
shoes: Icebug olx 2nd
Mid-Atlantics at Rocky Ridge (SVO) Green. I had a lot of trouble with this course, and I'm not sure why. It's as if all my bearings were off. Where I was able to correct using features, it was o.k., maybe even unnoticeable, but in other places it was ruinous.
The real stinker, #4 on the NE cliff, was an example. I took the trail network to the big cliff just to the SE, went in on a bearing, and found cliffs but no control. I circled back, found the circular bare-rock feature, took a bearing in from that, and found the same stuff but no control. By that point there was a crowd, and when one of them found it we all did. Seems like something was wrong here. Other little problems in the attack on subsequent controls, but nothing as bad as that.
The real stinker, #4 on the NE cliff, was an example. I took the trail network to the big cliff just to the SE, went in on a bearing, and found cliffs but no control. I circled back, found the circular bare-rock feature, took a bearing in from that, and found the same stuff but no control. By that point there was a crowd, and when one of them found it we all did. Seems like something was wrong here. Other little problems in the attack on subsequent controls, but nothing as bad as that.
Orienteering race 15:41 [5] 2.3 km (6:49 / km) +60m 6:02 / km
shoes: Icebug olx 2nd
First leg of the relay. I stuck with the leaders through the first control (we all went to the wrong rock) and the second. The third was a long uphill, which separated me from the leaders but also from a lot of others who fell even farther behind. Still in a train to the spectator control, then a split as some went for the wrong control out of the arena. I was running well and passed a couple of runners on the second loop. Punched finish and forgot I was supposed to hand off to Heidi, but she reminded me. Heidi chased Anna and Alex for some of the way and handed off to Tori who pulled through for the win among the 9-point teams. Yay!
Friday Oct 14, 2016 #
Road running 38:00 [3] 4.3 mi (8:50 / mi)
shoes: Adrenaline 15
I hadn't been on the Goddard perimeter road since midsummer, and it's a mess. It looks like someone tried to patch it, but screwed it up. They dumped chunks of rock and what looks like construction debris on whole sections of the road. It makes for bad running and terrible bicycling, and I can't imagine driving on it is any fun either.
Thursday Oct 13, 2016 #
Cycling 1:40:00 [3] 22.0 mi (4:33 / mi)
Rode to work. Used the sidewalk on Greenbelt Road to get from the end of the Indian Creek trail to the traffic light at Cherrywood Rd. It's not very far, but busy, with cars turning in and out in a couple of places. It was 50 degrees when I started and probably 60 when I finished.
Wednesday Oct 12, 2016 #
Trail Running race 47:05 [5] 10.0 km (4:43 / km)
shoes: Adrenaline 15
82nd running of the NASA Intracenter 10k. The usual course around Greenbelt Lake was unusable this year because of construction. There was a last minute scramble to find and measure an alternate route, which appears to have been a success. The course had a cross-country flavor -- most of the way around the lake on a wide natural surface trail, around the edge of a sports field on grass, through the St. Hugh's parking lot onto the bike lane on Crescent Road, then back onto the lake trail, 2.06 miles. Repeat twice more. The start was adjusted a couple hundred feet back to bring the length up to spec.
Tom W. told me it was 2.02 miles by Google Maps, 2.06 by the wheel. I don't know enough about course measuring to know whether that's expected. John Sissala, who is a USATF-certified course measurer, has certified all our courses, but there wasn't time for him to get out there and anyway he told me recently he was retiring.
I started out a little too fast but corrected in the first few minutes. My split times were 15:50 and 31:30, but it's hard to tell much since the first one was long. 2-2 breathing on the first 2 laps, then 2-1 on the third until about 2/3 of the way around shifted to 1-1. More than a minute slower than the last one, on June 9.
Tom W. told me it was 2.02 miles by Google Maps, 2.06 by the wheel. I don't know enough about course measuring to know whether that's expected. John Sissala, who is a USATF-certified course measurer, has certified all our courses, but there wasn't time for him to get out there and anyway he told me recently he was retiring.
I started out a little too fast but corrected in the first few minutes. My split times were 15:50 and 31:30, but it's hard to tell much since the first one was long. 2-2 breathing on the first 2 laps, then 2-1 on the third until about 2/3 of the way around shifted to 1-1. More than a minute slower than the last one, on June 9.
Tuesday Oct 11, 2016 #
Trail Running 34:54 [3] 3.5 mi (9:58 / mi)
shoes: Adrenaline 15
I had to go to Mt. Airy this morning, so I stopped in at Little Bennett on the way back for a trail run. Browning Run trail down to the Kingsley trail and back up the other side of Clarksburg Rd.
There were loads of butterflies in the meadow at the Browning Run parking area. A monarch, 3 variegated fritillaries, a buckeye, a few pearl crescents, a few cabbage whites, and a large pale sulphur, maybe a cloudless, chased away by one of the frits too fast for me to get an ID.
There were loads of butterflies in the meadow at the Browning Run parking area. A monarch, 3 variegated fritillaries, a buckeye, a few pearl crescents, a few cabbage whites, and a large pale sulphur, maybe a cloudless, chased away by one of the frits too fast for me to get an ID.
Core strength 12:00 [3]
Pushups, planks, squats, figure-8s.
Monday Oct 10, 2016 #
Cycling 1:30:00 [3]
A trail loop, with some fairly physical sections. I got onto the NW Branch trail from Dennis Ave, crossed Colesville Road (something should be done about this -- there's not even an island in the middle of the road and no traffic light that can be walked to). Carried the bike about a mile through the rocky section, went under the Beltway, on and off the bike, then finally picked up the paved trail. Another 5 miles or so down to the Sligo Creek junction, then up the creek back home. The NW Branch trail was deserted, but the Sligo Creek trail had a lot of pedestrian and some bike traffic.
Sunday Oct 9, 2016 #
Road running 34:30 [3] 4.0 mi (8:38 / mi)
In the neighborhood at mid-morning. I added a little extra bit to the normal route, mostly because I wasn't paying attention.
Friday Oct 7, 2016 #
Cycling 1:40:00 [4] 22.0 mi (4:33 / mi)
Riding to work with the First Friday ride crew. Organized by a woman in my building. Every month she starts from downtown DC and picks up anyone who can join along the way. My route joins at 38th St. and the NW Branch Trail, but it takes me 10 miles to get there, whereas it's only 3 for her. She publishes the route map and the times at the various checkpoints. I couldn't do it last month, but I was all in today. On the trail just after sunup, glad for the headlight. Got to the checkpoint a few minutes early, and the 3 of them showed up on time. We pushed pretty hard the rest of the way (harder than I have been going alone). The total time includes more than 5 minutes of waiting in various places. Great ride.
Wednesday Oct 5, 2016 #
Road running race 14:37 [5] 2.0 mi (7:18 / mi)
shoes: Adrenaline 15
The 82nd NASA Intracenter Running Competition, 2-mile. Not a great time as these things go, but I can't help getting older. But I felt great and ran a good race, with strongly negative splits. I was at 14:23 at the 1-mile, still 2-2 breathing, and kept that pace for another quarter mile or so before pushing it up a bit. It takes a lot of discipline in this race, where nearly everyone starts out too fast (except the good runners, who know what they're doing, but are too far ahead of me for pacing). But it sure makes the race feel better to not be grinding it out and desperately trying to keep up the pace in the second half. I got caught by another guy at the very end, I thought I had passed him for good but he kicked hard. I should have peeked over my shoulder.
A perfect day, low 60s, part sun-part cloud, a little breeze.
A perfect day, low 60s, part sun-part cloud, a little breeze.
Road running 30:00 [3] 3.0 mi (10:00 / mi)
shoes: Adrenaline 15
A good warm-up, jogging down to the race site, some strides, a half-mile at race pace, some more slow jogging until the lineup. Then a 1-mile jog back.
Tuesday Oct 4, 2016 #
Core strength 12:00 [3]
Core strength exercises.
Monday Oct 3, 2016 #
Cycling 1:45:00 [3] 22.0 mi (4:46 / mi)
Riding to work this morning. Man, this is the life. The Northeast-Northwest Branch and Indian Creek trails are particularly enjoyable. Up on the levee by the river, it doesn't get any better than that. And it helps a lot to have a spouse who'll bring your stuff to work so you don't have to haul it around.
Sunday Oct 2, 2016 #
Orienteering race 2:17:00 [3] 7.0 km (19:34 / km) +300m 16:07 / km
shoes: Icebug olx 2nd
QOC Fountainhead Red course. It was raining when I started, and the rain kept on until about halfway through. I started off with about a 10-minute mistake on #1. I thought I was being smart, taking the trail around the cemetery and threading through the white strip, but I was actually being dumb. I kept on thinking, oh, it's just the next reentrant, and after about 4 or 5 of those it was hopeless. Back to the field, straight down the big channel and there was the control, maybe hung a little low, at the bottom of one of the half-dozen reetntrants I had already visited.
I can deal with this map if I go slowly, so that's what I did, and it was working really well for the next 10 controls. Then I lost concentration and couldn't remember the plan in the middle of the leg, and blew a few controls that way.
Oh, and that #10 (Blue #8), which seemed to be in the only patch of white woods in a whole universe of downed trees, sometimes stacked 3 deep like the flyover interchange at I-95 and the Beltway. I was only a little off, but it took a lot of time to get over to where I should have been.
I'm not complaining, I'm just commenting. It was a good course in good orienteering terrain, and I'm happy to have done it (but my legs will need a little foam rolling to get over it).
I can deal with this map if I go slowly, so that's what I did, and it was working really well for the next 10 controls. Then I lost concentration and couldn't remember the plan in the middle of the leg, and blew a few controls that way.
Oh, and that #10 (Blue #8), which seemed to be in the only patch of white woods in a whole universe of downed trees, sometimes stacked 3 deep like the flyover interchange at I-95 and the Beltway. I was only a little off, but it took a lot of time to get over to where I should have been.
I'm not complaining, I'm just commenting. It was a good course in good orienteering terrain, and I'm happy to have done it (but my legs will need a little foam rolling to get over it).
C • #10 1