Training Log Archive: PG

Brown course at Earls Trails from last May. Went with now lavender-tressed Julia. She did the Green course, which was more than I wanted/needed, plus I had Phil's time from a couple of days ago (37:10) as a target. :-)

A+ for navigation. Only had one instance of being off my line and corrected immediately. The virtue of using a compass properly and frequently, a skill that seems seldom used or appreciated.

B for physical effort. Would have been an A+ except I fell once, not supposed to do that. Was going down the steep but short hill on the way to #2, being careful, when my feet went right out from under me and I was on my back before I knew it. Must have been ice under the leaves. A rather hard landing, but at least it felt jarring more so than damaging. Didn't notice it during the rest of the course, which is a good sign, but it feels a little sore now.

Otherwise the effort was good, though I seemed to run out of gas about halfway. Right about where the course changed from going down to going up. But at least I am managing to run some.

Julia is planning a second training this evening, rollerblading at the mall. I think I'll show some common sense and pass.

C • nice! 10

Brown - Splits

Pine Nook Road.

One loop of the Mt. Warner trail, clockwise. Excellent mid-winter conditions, just a few spots with frost heaves and even fewer with a little mud/ice.

Focused pretty much the whole time on picking my feet up, figured that was the best way to avoid tripping on a root (of which there are many). No falls, no close calls.

Went about as I expected. Walked a few times on the longer uphill and the whole thing was reasonably hard work, but I got around at an acceptable pace. Slowly getting a little better.

7 on, 1 off. Moved the walking breaks a bit so I get to jog all the ups.

The running a little every other day seems manageable, so far, alternating with hikes with Gail. I think the latter helps a lot. My butt is certainly doing better.

Got to keep the goal in mind, which is to be able to run just enough that orienteering becomes fun/interesting again, in the process not getting hurt. The goal is surely not to run fast, or run a lot.

A daily check to make sure I am not pushing things is how it feels walking down the stairs first thing in the morning. If it doesn't feel easy, then it's time to back off. There have certainly been times in the past when it was not easy. So far it feels fine, though I always hold onto the bannister. Trying not to be stupid.

Jackson Hill Road (dirt).

Map from yesterday (Westmoreland) --



While I'm at it, map from Huntington (January 15) --

C • looks so easy 6

Green at Westmoreland, 4.9 km.

The reports were that there was bare ground at Westmoreland Sanctuary, and it was a nice day, so it seemed a good time to go do #3 of the winter series. Seemed reasonable to do the Green again (as I did at Huntington, #2), not too long, not too short, just right.

I'd looked at Charlie's route and comments, so an advantage I suppose, even though it's remarkable how little I remembered once I got going. I remembered that the route to the first one started off going down a trail, and that there was supposed to be a really steep slope just below #10, but not much else.

On the way to 10 it occurred to me that what I should do was go up the slope that Charlie did, just to see what it was like. But as I was getting close, a still steep but I'd guess much nicer slope presented itself, so I climbed up that and then there was the control in plain sight some 50 meters to my right, right on the same control. When I got there, I did look down, and it did look rather steep. I was happy not to be going up it, and especially happy not to be going down.

My orienteering was just fine. I could find a few seconds here or there that could have been saved, but not much. Every control pretty much popped up right in front of me, and there really wasn't any foolishness along the way. So an A+ for that.

As far as moving, I certainly put out a good effort. Ran what seemed to be quite a lot, though hardly at all if the ground tilted upward even a slight amount. Climbed a lot as it was not a flat course. Put a hand or two down twice but no real falls. Legs (especially quads) were very tired by the end -- the walk back up to the parking was very slow. Still, an A+ for this too.

The one place I would give myself a lower grade, actually a much lower grade, was on clothing. I was dressed just right for the weather, breezy and upper 30s, so that wasn't the problem. I believe the general term for my problem was a clothing malfunction.

I took my phone along for safety in case I got hurt, as I did at Huntington. I zipped it securely in the rear pocket of my O pants, as I did at Huntington. But today -- had my phone gotten heavier? Had my figure changed in some way. Had the elastic in the waistband of my pants taken the day off? Because my pants were really not wanting to stay up whenever I jogged, and especially whenever I jogged downhill. I managed to cope, and I suppose a good training program trains for the various things that might go wrong (a busted compass, a lost contact), but it got a bit tiresome holding them up. Give myself an F for that, not necessarily for any time lost but certainly for style points. Or, more accurately, a lack thereof.

But overall it was as good as I can do for right now. Very satisfying.

And the pants can be fixed.

Green WS#3 - Splits