Training Log Archive: jtorranc

Event: QOC Combat Village
 

QOC Combat Village Blue - ran without a compass as I have been at local meets in general this season. Unwise in this case - Combat Village is clearly somewhere I need a compass, at least Combat Village East. I might have got away with it with little time lost if we'd been running on Combat Village West - I think East had generally thicker vegetation when the maps were new but I don't think the difference was quite as much as it has since become, judging by the terrain I saw last spring and today. I made a few large parallel errors amid the broad reentrants and spurs, with the first truly epic one beginning as I wandered too far south of my intended course crossing the stream floodplain on the way to 3.

Achilles tendon held up to running and didn't bother me much during the event. Feels a bit inflamed again in the aftermath.

Blue - Splits

2/3 of the time I spent doing a first sweep of India Point for mapworthy features and taking a track on all or almost all of the remainder of the MTB trail network I didn't get to last weekend.

Last day of my three day weekend field checking blitz. No better at getting out there early in the morning - oh well. Arrived and was surprised to find the MTB trail closed - hadn't noticed we'd had enough precipitation overnight for that to be expected - so I changed plans slightly and made my way out to the east end of the terrain by walking the trail taking a GPS track. Did the same on the return trip. In between, I managed to cover the remaining area in the far eastern peninsula (unnamed as far as I know) that I hadn't yet laid eyes on at all since the last time we ran there in January 2013. Also, having seen no wildlife larger than a squirrel yesterday, saw two deer and one turkey (plus a few squirrels).

Another slightly longer field checking session at Fountainhead. Still nowhere near taking advantage of all the hours the park is open - maybe tomorrow I'll get close.

Minor addendum - among the features Mikell either didn't notice or didn't consider worth mapping way back when, I found an apparently deep well about 25 meters above the reservoir water level and only ~150 meters from the water's edge. I'm amazed at the idea that it ever would have produced enough water to have justified the effort of digging it - in the pre-reservoir era I presume it dates to the water table would presumably have been even lower and it's hard to see how the area whose rainfall percolating through the ground it could have hoped to draw on could have been more than a few acres. Maybe it just wasn't supplying a very large household. Or it served only to provide drinking water that had been filtered through a lot of soil rather than water for all uses.

Just over six hours of fieldwork at Fountainhead, discounted by 1/3 for the unavoidable standing still.

No alarming new aches or pains on waking so cycled to work again. Ad back in the evening by way of PCRM in upper NW.

Back cycling - some traffic light timing has changed and construction both vanished and popped up while I've been condemned to Metro. Wrist seemed happy enough as long as I avoided putting a lot of weight on it - think an out of the saddle panic stop would be uncomfortable but will declare victory if I get home again tonight without feeling any worse discomfort than I did on the way in.

Note: right Achilles tendon now feels normal and doesn't appear to be inflamed/swollen anywhere but I'm not going to assume I'm out of the woods yet. Will see how it takes the weekend before I declare that scare over.

Remainder of the days cycling, to and from a PT session for my formerly broken wrist, to the Rumsey Aquatic Center and then home by way of Whole Foods to get yogurt for Dan.

Right Achilles tendon still more or less happy feeling.

Might have been flirting with 3 intensity. Didn't want to spend all evening to make a legitimate LSD workout of it.

Again at Rumsey Aquatic Center. More lanes given over to lap swimming on Monday evenings than at least one of the other times I've visited. A pity they put the very fast lane rather than the slowpoke lane right next to the non-lap swimming area in which I was running - highly fit people doing the butterfly splash a lot more than most slow swimmers. Although I have seen exceptional slow swimmers with abysmal kick mechanics who manage squeeze a lot of splash out of otherwise not very effectual movements.

Beginning to think I may have been taking my right Achilles tendon problem too casually - closer examination has me thinking that despite the lack of any perceptible trauma associated with the onset of symptoms, it may well be more than just some inflammation. Worst case, looking at WebMD and the like and given that I can still walk more or less normally, would appear to be a partial rupture.

Once again, two thirds of the time I spent on my feet at Fountainhead. Covered the area encompassing the eastern half or so of the MTB trail network.

Event: QOC Patapsco
 

Decided it wasn't worth testing whether my right Achilles tendon would be fine with orienteering or not. Just worked a shift of beginner instruction and stayed mostly out of the rain at Patapsco.

Various things but more breast stroke than anything else. PT thought it would be good for wrist provided I didn't do anything crazily intense.

Damned if I know why but early to mid-morning my right Achilles tendon started giving me grief, feeling inflamed/stressed/something.

Warmup/cooldown.

Silly walks and uphill bounding.

Evening jog in RCP to Pulpit Rock and back. Ended about 1.5 hours before the deer cullers are supposed to start shooting. Had quite close near encounters with a couple of the intended victims.

Warmup/cooldown.

Silly walks on the grass alongside Arkansas Ave - it was late so going into the wooded parts of RCP would have meant at least some theoretical risk of being shot by mistake by deer cullers.

Event: QOC Patuxent - rescheduled
 

QOC Patuxent Blue - first orienteering after breaking wrist at Great Falls. Managed not to fall on it again - splint might have protected it adequately but better not to find out. No compass - having one would have saved me from my one bit not-actually-parallel error. That aside, after no running from Nov 25 through Jan 1, could hardly expect to be much faster than I was. Definitely was feeling unable to push as hard as I did at Great Falls, though spending so much time Saturday on my feet at Fountainhead can probably take some of the credit for that.

It was actually quite a nice day from 2 inches AGL to the top of the atmosphere. Just messy below that with the wet remnant of the week's snow. I feel for anyone running orange or advanced courses who didn't have at least aggressive cleats, if not studs as well.

Blue - Splits

Giving myself credit for 2/3 of the time I spent at Fountainhead getting a start on field checking. It's quite liberating doing this on terrain with a preexisting O map so you know going in that you're really only looking for new rootstocks and manmade features plus changes in the vegetation and don't need to cover the ground thoroughly enough to spot pits and cup depressions - you can cover a lot more ground even in high visibility woods when you're only looking for things that stick up above ground level.

Big day tomorrow and a deer cull in Rock Creek Park set to start at 10pm so I went short, out and back in a U shape each way along the sides of the valley our dining room window overlooks.

DWR at the William Rumsey Aquatic Center for the first time. Fairly nice. Might have been busier if it hadn't been snowing but I won't mind at all if my now most convenient to work pool is usually like it was this evening.

From home, west into Rock Creek Park, north on the Western Ridge to the visitor center then back south on the west side of the creek before turning for home again.

Also joined Dan on a jog during the afternoon but won't log that as I was walking (vigorously but still walking).