Training Log Archive: BorisGr

QOC local event at Lake Needwood.

I took Inara and Barney around the Orange Course. It mostly went well, despite a couple of creek crossings that made me nervous. On one of them I went knee-deep and Barney was completely submerged, but Inara stayed safe and dry. We managed to have the fastest time on Orange - Inara's first Orange victory!

After finishing Orange, I changed Inara, put her in her stroller, fed her a little, and waited for Alli to come back from her Green course. Once she was back, I got ready and started on Red.

I was feeling stressed for time from the start and was also feeling the heat, as this was the first hot day of the spring. So there was already not much spring in my step. My orienteering was very jittery from the start, and I made several small mistakes early on. As the course went on, I was starting to enjoy it less and less, especially because of the misplaced controls (1,6,9,12), some crappy vegetation, and a waist-deep crossing of Rock Creek.

At 12, I explored all the mapped rootstocks in the area before finding the unmapped one that the control was on. I looked at my watch and at how much of the course I had left and decided to call it a day. I jogged back on the bike path, with increasing pain and stiffness in the hip flexor and right lower back.

So not a great outing overall. I think this map is not easy for designing interesting advanced courses, and I think the course setter did a good job with the design, but I wish that more of the flags had been placed in the correct spots.

Red - Splits

Event: OCIN Flying Pig XXI
 

4x4 intervals on the cross-trainer at work.

Squats, side raises, calf raises.

I had an AOWN moment yesterday!
Towards the end of my walk with Barnacle and Inara, I saw an owl up in a tree, in a small park just a few blocks from our house. It was pretty cool, and I stared at it a while.
A bit further along, I saw two women sitting with binoculars. I asked them about the owl, and they told me the following story:

A tree blew over in the park a couple of days ago, falling across the trail I was walking on. Park officials came to remove the tree and discovered three owl babies (see below) in a cavity in the tree. They then spent the day building an artificial nest and hoisting it, containing the owl babies, up high on a neighboring tree. From then on, neighborhood folks took turns watching to see if the owl parents would find their relocated owl babies and be able to feed them. And today, they did! Supposedly, the owl babies will be fledgling and out the door before too long, so I'll be taking more walks here to take a look. I thought this was a very cool story at a time when cool stories seem hard to come by.

C • Awww 5

Some morning 4x4 intervals on the elliptical.

Two sets of squats and two sets of side raises and planks.

Elliptical while watching a House Oversight Committee hearing. Thrilling stuff.

Elliptical at the gym at work.