Training Log Archive: jtorrancIn the 31 days ending Jan 31, 2006:
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Tuesday Jan 31, 2006 #
Cycling 59:00 [3]
Rain had all but stopped but roads were still fairly wet for the ride in. Dry on the way home with a tailwind. Avoided the State of the Union by going to see ABT at the Kennedy Center.
Monday Jan 30, 2006 #
Cycling 1:20:00 [3]
Warmish commute in. I'm slightly alarmed to learn that the Ottawa forecast has taken a turn for the milder over the weekend with cold predicted mid-week and then some hovering around/just above freezing later in the week and over the weekend. I suppose the good news is that only a small correction is required for everything to turn out well.
Home with food shopping and dance class en route.
Home with food shopping and dance class en route.
Modern Dance 40:00 [1]
Dance class. After the warmup, my group of four pairs got sent to the lobby again to learn another sequence. For the first time in my dance experience, a choreographer is requiring a quantity of women less than two to lift me (truth be told, I think the previous low was three).
Core exercises 6:00 [4]
While catching the tail end of 24.
Sunday Jan 29, 2006 #
Event: QOC - Great Falls, MD
Orienteering race 22:08 [4] 3.5 km (6:19 / km) +120m 5:24 / km
QOC Great Falls Brown - glad to have a race to go to at all. Fairly good race once I finished screwing up the second control - didn't quite pay enough attention to my rough compass to ensure I'd see my intended collecting features on the way to the control and ended up stopping south of the control looking down into the big reentrant running northwest with the trail in it and thinking, "This isn't right". I also failed to read enough of the detail in the control circle on 4 and ended up checking the code on the white control thirty or so meters away from mine. The long leg to 5 and other running through the open woods/subtle contour detail areas were a blast.
Saturday Jan 28, 2006 #
Cycling 1:13:00 [3]
Got out the door a little later than intended and decided my usual plan of taking Metro to Vienna and cycling to Great Falls from there was vulnerable to even the slightest wait for an Orange line train so I took the C&O Canal towpath to Chain Bridge, crossed the Potomac and continued to the meeting at the Difficult Run parking lot from there. Didn't bring a map so I was lucky not to make any serious wrong turns doing this. Arrived a few minutes before the scheduled time.
Orienteering 1:00:00 [3] 6.0 km (10:00 / km)
Handrail course designed by Peggy. Time and distance are approximate. People did this in pairs leapfrogging as to who led each leg but I was the odd man out and did it solo. Then I picked up the course after a few minutes rest. A few of the handrails were subtle and/or not things one typically thinks of as handrails in quite the obvious way trails and streams and so on are.
Orienteering 30:00 [3] 3.0 km (10:00 / km)
I didn't have time to do the compass course (seven? legs involving going up and over something to the control to force you to use the compass to hit it though there was inevitably some possibility of correcting your direction by reading the terrain) but Dave Onkst and I each picked up half the course and then converged on the fourth control, then continued from there to meet everyone else for lunch beside one of the parking lots inside the park.
Orienteering 1:00:00 [1] *****
Line-O in the technical flat rocky (though vast amounts of the rock is bedrock mapped as knolls rather than boulders) area downstream from the visitor center above the cliffs. Map printed at 1:5,000 and would really need to be resurveyed to sprint standards to be only moderately difficult to interpret. I moved very slowly but I'm happy that I was able to stay on the line everywhere but the last hundred or so meters approaching the last control where the map utterly stopped making sense. I rehung the second last control when I spotted it slightly off the line, turned my map over to check and found that it was on the memory course and was supposed to be on the line. Very good thing to do, particularly for us in QOC with our generally less detailed terrain. I'm a little bit surprised at the amount of reported difficulty from some experienced orienteers making sense of this area. It was admittedly hyper-technical and deciding what met the standard to be on the map was tough but a lot of the difficulty seemed to consist of a stubborn refusal of the mind to look at all these things made of stone and think "dot knoll". I would have expected that adjustment to be easier to make than it seems to have been.
Orienteering 30:00 [3] *** 3.0 km (10:00 / km)
Memory-O using the controls that were on the line-O plus two more. Challenging but not intimidatingly so and a helpful reminder of the need to simplify and decide on attackpoints and collecting/catching features before you start running. I had to work to not dash off after only the amount of map reading I typically do during a standard course when I can look again to flesh out my mental picture of the leg.
Orienteering 30:00 [2] 3.0 km (10:00 / km)
Picking up the memory/line-O controls and jogging on to rendez-vous with the remainder of the group down in the southern part of the park for the final exercise.
Orienteering race 13:45 [4] 1.8 km (7:38 / km)
Sort of a control picking/starburst/sprint - somewhat fewer than 20 controls all very close together and everyone started with a different one in a mass start then circulated mostly counter-clockwise through the remainder with different routings through small clumps of controls to raise the confusion engendered by seeing other runners. Overran my first control low and missed another on about midway through that I was reading as being on one side of a spur/ridge when it was actually just over the top of it.
Thanks to Peggy and Nadim and the weather gods for a great day in the woods.
Thanks to Peggy and Nadim and the weather gods for a great day in the woods.
Cycling 20:00 [2]
Peggy and Nadim kindly dropped me off on the District line just off Connecticut Avenue. I biked home from there with grocery shopping on the way.
Friday Jan 27, 2006 #
Cycling 1:00:00 [3]
Cold but not windy this time on the way in. Headed straight home, cancelling notions of Fellini and/or Cronenberg films at the AFI or a piano recital at the Freer in favour of being well rested for Peggy's training on Saturday - almost certainly a good idea.
Thursday Jan 26, 2006 #
Cycling 1:43:00 [3]
Commute in on a genuinely cold morning by DC standards against headwinds up around 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 30. Then to PCRM, then to the AFI in Silver Spring, then home with a stop at a Safeway on the way so I could buy stamps with which to mail my Florida A meet entry.
Wednesday Jan 25, 2006 #
Running 1:17:39 [2] 8.0 mi (9:42 / mi)
shoes: NB856
Run in through Rock Creek Park - short snow squall just after crossing the district line.
Tuesday Jan 24, 2006 #
Cycling 1:06:00 [3]
Bike in. Sunny day. Felt warmer than the weather channel that gives conditions at BWI claimed - may have to return to opening a window to gauge the temperature.
Home with some grocery shopping along Connecticut Avenue.
Home with some grocery shopping along Connecticut Avenue.
Note
Cool - we appear to have Ivar Helgesen logging his training. (I'm going to stipulate that this is cool even if I'm way off-base and that isn't the name of one of the world's premier basemappers).
Also, I think it's kind of cool that looking at the Browse Training view seems to give me (on one occasion, at least) Google ads for Canadian florists. I can understand the Canadian bias since there are way more people showing as "******, Canada" than for any US state or other country, but I haven't figured out the floral angle yet - if there are any, let alone many, floral themed names on AP, I've failed to pick up on it.
Also, I think it's kind of cool that looking at the Browse Training view seems to give me (on one occasion, at least) Google ads for Canadian florists. I can understand the Canadian bias since there are way more people showing as "******, Canada" than for any US state or other country, but I haven't figured out the floral angle yet - if there are any, let alone many, floral themed names on AP, I've failed to pick up on it.
Core exercises 8:00 [4]
Abdominal/back/glute exercises.
Form exercises 23:09 [4]
Silly walks starting outside my front door - meant to go to grass but it was raining lightly so I decided to stay on pavement.
Monday Jan 23, 2006 #
Cycling 1:20:00 [3]
Bike to work on damp roads - could have been much worse. Home by way of Takoma Park and my dance class.
Modern Dance 50:00 [1]
Class started later than scheduled and ended yet more later than scheduled and included slightly less standing around watching others dance. Turns out my apparently inadequate efforts to retain the choreography Helanius taught us last week were more than adequate because the first thing he did after the warmup was pair me and 7 other people up and send us off to learn a completely different bit of choreography from a couple of dance majors who had worked with him on another piece that he'd decided to extract some movements from.
Sunday Jan 22, 2006 #
Orienteering race 1:15:34 [4] 10.2 km (7:25 / km) +355m 6:19 / km
QOC Great Falls, VA Blue - nice day in the woods but not quite all there physically or navigationally, must have lost two to three minutes on control 17 due to lazy attack. Physical less than feeling greatness could be due to not so much sleep the night before (or, why not, too much sleep the night before that) but will develop concerns about possible overtraining if next Sunday feels similar.
Had what I believe was my closest ever encounter with a deer while orienteering - it must have been lurking in a gully because I didn't see it until it ran across my path perhaps 5 meters in front of me.
Dan's successful completion of her first solo orange I'll leave interested parties to read about in her log.
Had what I believe was my closest ever encounter with a deer while orienteering - it must have been lurking in a gully because I didn't see it until it ran across my path perhaps 5 meters in front of me.
Dan's successful completion of her first solo orange I'll leave interested parties to read about in her log.
Saturday Jan 21, 2006 #
Cycling 50:00 [3]
Miscellaneous cycling to dance class, library, etc.
Modern Dance 1:30:00 [1]
Finally managed to get to a dance class taught by Deborah again. Felt relatively graceful.
Friday Jan 20, 2006 #
Running 1:18:00 [2] 8.0 mi (9:45 / mi)
Run in through Rock Creek Park.
Thursday Jan 19, 2006 #
Cycling 32:00 [3]
Commute in. Note - I've decided to stop logging cycling distances and any other kinds of non-running distances. It seems more relevant to track my running mileage than a mixture of different forms of locomotion.
C • RTs 6
Note
Just made my flight reservation for Florida. Used Orbitz, clicked Purchase and, after it mulled it over for a bit, it came back and said the total price had dropped by $30 and would I kindly click Purchase again to buy at the new price. Did so and had the same thing happen in reverse - they dropped the price for one minute then jacked it up again? Oh well, click again and, lo and behold, the price drops once more. Dread of infinite loop grows but there was a happy ending - I eventually got the flight at the lower price with only a slightly exhausted left mouse button finger.
Cycling 40:00 [3]
Commute home by way of volunteering at PCRM - guacamole and chocolate cake were on the menu.
Core exercises 8:00 [4]
Abdominal, back and glute stuff while on a nostalgia trip - ran across an old ST:TNG whil flipping through the channels.
Wednesday Jan 18, 2006 #
Running 1:20:00 [2] 8.0 mi (10:00 / mi)
Run in on wet trails through progressively heavier rain - stream crossings were dicey. I hope everything dries before I have to go home.
Running 1:20:00 [2] 8.0 mi (10:00 / mi)
Run back south through Rock Creek Park, emerging at Cleveland Park to restock on produce by taking the Melvin Hazen Trail. Walked home from there. No moon this time so I had to use my Petzl for light on almost all the trails - very effective at keeping the pace slow.
Tuesday Jan 17, 2006 #
Cycling 1:00:00 [3]
Another commute in that I had been toying with doing on foot. Cycling this one may have been justified but the discipline to get myself out the door soon enough to run to work is clearly going to be a challenge. In aid of harnessing AttackPoint to help with that, I plan on running tomorrow.
Also the commute home. I'll have to time this as well but I assume it's slightly quicker than coming in in the uphill direction.
Also the commute home. I'll have to time this as well but I assume it's slightly quicker than coming in in the uphill direction.
Core exercises 6:00 [4]
Abdominal/back/glute exercises.
Monday Jan 16, 2006 #
Cycling 1:18:00 [3]
Bike commute in and home with stops for groceries and the first session of the repertory and performance class I'm taking this winter through March.
Modern Dance 40:00 [2]
Modern dance class with Helanius Wilkins - actually 75 minutes but there was some standing around to be excluded. More vigorous than my usual modern classes and all over the map in terms of movement styles he was asking for. Also he seems to have faith in our ability to handle lots of changes of facing, many of them involving large backwards turns. Hopefully that isn't misplaced. Arrived in time to do about 15 minutes of stretching beforehand. I hope to do more than that before the classes to come, and effect some reversal of the tightening my hamstrings have undergone over the last year or so.
Sunday Jan 15, 2006 #
Running 2:05:00 [2] 12.0 mi (10:25 / mi)
Long afternoon trail run in Rock Creek Park. Had been thinking about trying the Potamac Heritage Trail but RCP is so convenient... another weekend.
Core exercises 4:00 [4]
Brief bout of abdominal exercises post-run before getting down to preparing supper in earnest.
Saturday Jan 14, 2006 #
Cycling 30:00 [3]
To and from dance class.
Modern Dance 1:30:00 [1]
Class with Carla since I needed to get free in time to meet Dan at the National Gallery at 12:30. Which I did, blowing right through the front door without noticing that Dan was waiting outside (I was verging on being late so my excuse is that I thought she'd already have been inside).
Friday Jan 13, 2006 #
Running 1:16:46 [2] 8.0 mi (9:36 / mi)
Finally ran to work. Somewhat misty.
Running 1:40:00 [2] 9.0 mi (11:07 / mi)
Running home by moonlight. Nothing like spooky light conditions and rough trails to ensure LSD is done at an appropriate level of S-ness.
Thursday Jan 12, 2006 #
Cycling 32:21 [3]
Another good intention to run down the drain. I got punished for this one when I found my rear tire was flat and had to put a new one on - I'm sure it didn't used to be this way but wrestling a Continental Town and Country onto a 26" rim must be almost as hard as making a camel pass through the eye of a needle. At least with the camel, you can give up on the grounds that it's impossible. I may have to rethink my preference in tires.
Cycling 42:00 [3]
Home by way of volunteering at PCRM.
Core exercises 10:00 [4]
Miscellaneous adbominal, back and gluteus maximus exercises.
Wednesday Jan 11, 2006 #
Cycling 33:00 [3] 6.3 mi (5:14 / mi)
Misty commute in. Meant to run but felt not quite caught up on sleep when it would have been necessary to get moving for that. Exhibit A of why boot camp works better for Valerie than it would for me.
Cycling 56:00 [3]
Home by way of the library Board of Trustees meeting at the Georgetown Branch. Not only were two employees (one the director) of the DC Library Renaissance in attendance but Ralph Nader showed up himself. Seems they're frustrated/irate over the board's failure to let them help them.
Tuesday Jan 10, 2006 #
Cycling 1:10:00 [3] 13.5 mi (5:11 / mi)
Bike commute in and home with some more grocery shopping.
Core exercises 7:00 [4]
Almost forgot to log this session of abdominal and other core exercises.
Monday Jan 9, 2006 #
Cycling 35:00 [3] 6.8 mi (5:09 / mi)
Bike home getting groceries on the way - the larder would have been very bare otherwise. Cherries and cauliflower were both on sale so supper was steamed cauliflower with cherries for dessert.
Sunday Jan 8, 2006 #
Orienteering 1:29:49 [2]
NAOC Training on Hilton Falls West map - almost a replay of last Easter with more controls and shallower snow. No change to my previous feeling that this terrain is manageable at speed when visibility is good and you can often steer by the more prominent boulders and cliffs but would be very tough in summer or early fall. Not that I was running fast this time since I was definitely somewhat run down in body by this point. Fortunately, my older niece didn't feel the need to beat up on Uncle Jon quite so much in the afternoon as during my previous visit.
Much thanks to Hammer, many other GHO types (well done on the THOMASS, Bash) and Sandy and Holger - it was a great camp. The inspirational/motivational boost alone was well worth the trouble of going.
Addendum - after all, how long will it be before the next time my log shows over 9 hours of weekly training with over 90% of it orienteering?
Much thanks to Hammer, many other GHO types (well done on the THOMASS, Bash) and Sandy and Holger - it was a great camp. The inspirational/motivational boost alone was well worth the trouble of going.
Addendum - after all, how long will it be before the next time my log shows over 9 hours of weekly training with over 90% of it orienteering?
Saturday Jan 7, 2006 #
Orienteering 1:03:28 [4]
THOMASS fundraiser - huge mistake on... I believe it was A in the inital box (let myself read what I expected to see into smaller scale topography not far enough west when I should have just kept going until I hit the trail the control was beside - very stupid) and two smaller but too big mistakes in the subsequent cross country orienteering. Not sure of precise duration since the SI system only covered the numbered controls and I'm not sure how much after 10am we started. Very fun format running through as much of the field as possible - may have to try emulating it sometime.
Orienteering 1:46:30 [2]
Route choice exercise designed by Sandy and Holger - naughtily did this alone rather than in groups testing different routes as intended, trying to focus on the basic techniques I think I've been getting lazy about (thumbing, attackpoint, control taking system in general).
Friday Jan 6, 2006 #
Orienteering 16:21 [4]
Rattlesnake Point Sprint - fifth (satistfactory), didn't quite have the legs after the previous day's exertions to make a level five effort.
Orienteering 45:00 [4]
Relay training at Bronte Creek - enjoyed this except for waterlogged fields, though Hammer got the worst of that with an ill-advised attempt to walk on water not enough of which was in solid phase. One big error just after turning back east in the zone of very complex vegetation.
Orienteering 18:00 [2]
Pickup of three controls at Bronte Creek.
Thursday Jan 5, 2006 #
Orienteering 47:37 [4]
GHO World Champs Test Run before the camp officially started. This appears to have been a decent time relative to the record and to others' runs on the day.
Orienteering 1:30:14 [3]
Control Picking at Ancaster Creek, designed by Ted de St Croix - a tough slog in the conditions. Will have to take a close look at the maps for Denmark and decide whether climbs are really going to be quite so steep as many of these were. Though they wouldn't be so fearsome with drier footing.
Orienteering 43:00 [4]
Street and a bit of park/woods O designed by Nev-Monster - fast and furious, easy navigation. Mike S., Sudden and Mr. Pither all tending to pull away from me towards the end.
Tuesday Jan 3, 2006 #
Cycling 33:00 [3] 6.3 mi (5:14 / mi)
Commute in. Not home since I walked to Silver Spring to see Labyrinth and six Henson short films at the AFI.
Monday Jan 2, 2006 #
Running 1:35:35 [3] 8.0 mi (11:57 / mi)
Run home through a dark wet Rock Creek Park. I may have done something bad to the battery pack for my new headlamp after all - this time it died less than half a mile out after having been charged for around 15 hours. At least I was carrying my Petzl as a backup.
Sunday Jan 1, 2006 #
Note
Was committed to hanging some streamers so Dan could introduce a visiting friend to orienteering but said friend was sick enough to preclude this. Dan and I followed through on an also planned and my first visit to the National Arboretum, which would make a lovely O map if one didn't mind not being allowed to use it. It would be particularly fun to make an inset map of the coniferous and dwarf tree section blown up to some ludicrous scale.