Training Log Archive: Sandy

course setting at HR

round two

Have an acceptable white and yellow although will have to streamer a couple legs and probably a trail since it fades in and out. Still thinking about orange. Advanced courses are okay. Used some "easy" controls since while I can usually sort out which depressions and knolls are mapped after wandering around a bit and using a 1:5000, they seem unfair in some respects since there are so many unmapped ones. I've used a few, but only when there are strong supporting features. Usually just used something simpler.

C • Thanks! 2

A low key class but I tried to focus on really holding things and stretching things and got a good workout. With the payoff being I felt much less stiff and creaky when I left class than when I started.

C • Learning yoga 2

TNT - aborted run with Sandy A. It was threatening thunder storms and we couldn't decide whether to run or not, finally decided to run the shorter meadow loop, got almost to the meadow and with a few more rumblings in the vicinity decided we had no interest in being either lightning rods in the open fields or crushed mush beneath trees that fell out of the already water-soaked hillsides.

Did the core DVD instead.

Course setting at Gould Run with Sandy A. Yellow and Orange need a total redesign.

Event: DVOA Star Village
 

Blue course at Star Village. Very slow hike around South Mountain. It was a good course for this time of year - lots of long trail/road runs with short breaks through the woods to connect trails or get controls. Normally I don't like that kind of course but it was exactly what I wanted today - it really felt like a mini-rogaine albeit with the control sequence fixed. Happy to finish the course in the time limit given that I didn't run a single step.

A few small errors - wasn't on the right trail to #1 for about 15 sec, didn't read the clearings correctly on #6 for another 15 sec, a little left on #7 for about 15 sec and way right on #15 for maybe a minute. I suppose there were slightly better routes a few times but nothing major. I did have to stop and use my magnifier quite a bit to sort out what was rock, what was trail, what was stone wall, power line, etc. Map printing was good but not great and the map is busy enough and my eyesight is going downhill fast enough that I needed to stop, squint and move the magnifier around to sort it out a few times.

Knees painful but at least no cramping like at the BG.

C • wow, nice one! 3

Dennis and Emily came and did an Orange course. They live close by and I offered to take them to lunch afterwards, but they said they really enjoyed themselves and would definitely do it again some time. Maybe HR in August.

Blue - Splits

Stair workout. Did 3 x (10 reps of double stairs, 10 single stairs) plus a bunch of single stairs before and after. Need to work back up to what I was doing in January.

Yoga class. I was worried that I was a little too stiff and sore this morning to make yoga a good idea but luckily we concentrated on core strengthening poses so not too much strain on the knees. Class seemed to fly by.

TNT - trails with Sandy and Bob and even Karl hung with us for a bit. Hiked up the hill to the meadow and then I decided to not push things and just kept hiking instead of jogging the flattish bit at the end. Knees aren't as sore as they were after the run two weeks ago so this was probably a good call.

Crowded class. A little more vigorous than Monday's have been. Knee pretty good.

Retraced my steps yesterday for the most part but didn't find the mp3. I figured it was a long shot but that I should at least give it a go. Added on a bit at the end. Knee a little tight the last 20 minutes; need to build up the endurance.

Same general loop as the last two long hikes but changed it a bit.

Battery died on the MP3 player about an hour in. This would just be a minor nuisance but when I got home, the pocket that I had stuffed in when I took it out had just the wires and ear buds and not the actual player. I guess I must have dropped it. Too tired to retrace my steps today and unlikely I'll find it in any case. I think I remember about where I was when I stuffed it in my pocket but not really positive. :(

Yoga class. Knee not so great and had to not do many things.

Random abs after I got home.

I have a cardinal's nest in a plant on the side of my house. It's not really a tree, more like a tall bush. It took some damage over the winter and so I was cutting it back to a couple feet when I found the nest (a bird came squawking at me out of the leaves which got me to look more closely). I stopped chopping down the bush, but worried I had already cut away too much, the nest was no longer that hidden. I've been keeping an eye on it though and most times when I look, I see tail feathers and a head with a beady eye just over the rim of the nest. Some times though the nest is empty and I fear that they've given up. But then the next time I look, she's back. I guess she has to go eat occasionally. Sometimes I see a male hanging around in the branches of the bush when the nest is empty but not always. I thought maybe the male was protecting the nest while the female went to eat, but now I'm not so sure. It would be cool if eventually there are little baby birds in the nest.

A nice hike in the Wissahickon with Sandy A. I strained a muscle in my back side at yoga yesterday and it's pretty sore. Need to get back Kili shape.

I like this instructor. Could barely hold poses long enough; lots of wobbly legs and arms. But feels so great.

Hike in the Wissahickon. Followed by some yard work. Knees better but not completely back to normal.

Knees pretty painful this morning although not much muscle soreness which surprises me.

Event: 36th Annual Billygoat Run
 

Billygoat. Knew I was not really in the kind of condition to be able to do this comfortably but figured I should do it anyway as a way to kick start my rogaine training. As expected, bonked at about 3 hours and it was a struggle to just keep moving. The little gnat things were annoying me horribly though and stopping to rest was out of the question so I kept moving. Got a bad cramp on the inside of both thighs right before #20 though and had to stop and work them out. Limped through the rest of the course.

No major errors but lots of fumbling near the controls for 30s here and 30s there. Just not able to focus especially as I got tired.

What a blast though - it's always a good day when you get to go find controls in the woods. And the weather was fantastic. And the people great.

C • you're one tough cookie 4

Billygoat - Splits

And the third yoga instructor.

And some yard work. Helps keep me loose: it's time not on the computer and I generally get up and down off the ground a number of times and twist a lot.

Hike in the Wissahickon. Not sure how I'll get through the Billygoat given how tired I am after that.

A second yoga class this week with a different teacher at the same studio; very different style from Monday but just as good a workout. Hopefully not as sore tomorrow as I was Tuesday from Monday's class - the massage scheduled for later today should definitely help!

Wasn't sure I'd make it to class this morning as I had major cramping last night in my legs (I assume from the TNT run) and my knees were rather creaky (definitely from the run) when I first got up this morning. But felt reasonably good by the time I had to leave for class and feel much better now.

TNT - Indian loop with Sandy from her house. It was slow and painful and I had trouble keeping up with Sandy but I got it done.

Good to get back to a class. Arms weak and everything else tight. Felt great.

The 2-5am shift on Emily's Relay for Life. Knee fine for about 2 hours then started to get uncomfortable. Tried to stretch a bit each lap after that.