Training Log Archive: jtorranc

10 mile trail race in Prince William Forest Park with start 2 hours before the start window for the QOC meet. How much is too much? Hopefully more than this since I'm now registered.

Backyard Burn #1 10 mile trail race in Prince William Forest Park. 3rd overall, 2nd M30-39. The winner took off from the beginning and never looked back (not that I would have seen if he had after the first two miles). I was in second around the halfway point but was passed shortly thereafter and couldn't keep up. Also had someone audibly pulling closer for the last flat mile but he wasn't as good in the last uphill three quarters of a mile as he was on the flat - just as well since I don't think I could have done much of a sprint finish.

C • vdot 2

QOC Blue course at Prince William Forest Park. Had rehydrated and fed after the trail race and took some energy gel about five minutes before starting. Barring calves already feeling sore, I felt and ran fairly well though a bit below my usual O race intensity for the first half to two thirds of the course. Did a lovely sprawling full length fall leaving the first control and another somewhere else on the course though I have no recollection where. The course featured many long legs (only 11 controls) with risk of losing map contact and making large parallel errors but I managed to get away with rough orienteering through these at no more cost than a few moments of confusion and having to make an adjustment when I realised I was further south/downhill than I'd intended on the way from 7 to 8. Somewhere between 8 and 9 I ran out of muscle glycogen or crossed some limit of muscular fatigue or both. And just in time for some of the steepest climbing on the course. Probably should have eaten the gel I was carrying but that might have been a problem while moving. Or even standing - I ate it after finishing and had a struggle to open the package while sitting down with both hands free. In any case, I was stumbling fairly drunkenly and walked the steeper uphills the rest of the way to the finish.

Francis drove the two of us out to retrieve most of the westerly controls. I was so slow on the first set he got worried and went looking for me. Picked up control 113, common to red and blue which Tom Nolan thought had been mishung - on more leisurely examination I still think it was in the right saddle though it wasn't easy to be sure based only on the immediate vicinity, containing little but contour almost below the threshhold to justify even formlines.

Blue - Splits

Scouting the Houck area of Cunningham Falls State Park at walking pace- beautiful stuff as per Peggy and Nadim's comments.

My section to check out alone was the bit of the park immediately south of the Catoctin Furnace. Open runnable woods with interesting countour, areas of rock detail, charcoal platforms and rather fewer trails than would be ideal - I only found one place where one could do a loop that left the Catoctin Trail and came back. Note that the description above applies to the park for about a mile south of the Catoctin Furnace, just past Baugher Road. The stream marked as Sandy Run on the park map runs down the middle of a major rock flow. All areas south of it have tons of deadfall, generally thick vegetation, mostly greenbrier and mountain laurel and a general absence of point features other than charcoal platforms. I didn't run through much of the sections uphill of the Catoctin Trail - from afar it looked as though these had more of a problem with mountain laurel and other vegetation than the areas downhill of the trail.

Having written off the remaining area south of the furnace, I headed back north and followed the trail up to Bob's Hill, running into Nadim by the South Bob's Hill Overlook - massive cliffs with a jumble of rock below. Unfortunately, Nadim and Peggy correctly state that the vegetation thickens, though not to the point of impenetrability, as one climb up Bob's Hill and that the terrain is rather bland. I returned to the parking lot off trail, doing a curve east then south back to the Manor Area. The last third of this was nice terrain; the last half at least was acceptable though getting into the thick and bland - a more detailed examination would be required to decide precisely how far upslope from the area Dave Pruden and Sam Listwak loved it would be worth extending a map.

Wore my O shoes too long doing this - managed to raise a blood blister on the back of my right heel which I punctured in the evening.

Run to and from Rich Feliciano's and in Rock Creek Park with him and canine company named Shadow. Got the tour of most of the side trails I've seen but not followed before in the area.

Easily in the downhill direction of my commute.

Run in since my bike was left at work. I took a bit of a short cut inside Rock Creek Park (staying on the west side of the creek when the Valley Trail crosses to detour around a closed section) but I'm surprised this took less time than the runs I've done in the opposite direction given that this is the net uphill way and that the after hours book depository at the Petworth Branch Library was locked, preventing me ditching several pounds of large hardcover books one mile into the run as I'd intended.

Cycle home with grocery shopping and finally unburdening myself of the library books.

Commute in. Went home on Metro by way of American Film Institute.