Training Log Archive: davelevine

BP: 96 / 62

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Event: QOC Gunston Hall
 

Prince William Forest

I hiked all over PWF, I started by the Visitors Center and hiked down to the South Valley Trail. I took that for close to 8 miles (mostly along the South Fork Quantico Creek) before I started to head back. Instead of returning on the SVT, I came back along the Oak Ridge Trail for a little over a mile and then turned right on to Old Black Top Road, I took that to Taylor Farm Road where I turned left. After crossing Scenic Drive, Taylor Farm Road became Burma Road which I took down to Quantico Creek. At that point I my Garmin said I had covered about 11.75 miles.

I couldn't find the North Valley Trail so I did a bit of off trail hiking, which probably added to the climb and definitely slowed me down. The woods I cut through weren't too thick, for the most part. Eventually I found the trail and stuck with it for a mile or two.

I left the North Valley Trail around the Old Pyrite Mine and followed Quantico Creek south to what I though was the meeting point of Quantico Creek and South Fork Quantico Creek. There I decided to leave the trails again and botched it a bit. I turned southwest sooner than I should have. After stumbling around bit, unsure as to why the terrain on the map didn't match what I was finding on the ground, I figured out what I had done wrong. In the end I found the bridge across the South Fork Quantico Creek that I wanted to use to get back to the trail to the parkng area.

I stopped a few times to stetch. I didn't take much with me to eat, just a bar of some sort. I had plenty of water with me and drank about 1 liter while I was in the woods. I had three maps with me, two orienteering maps and the park's trail map. The o-maps didn't cover the entire area I hiked but were of course much more detailed.

I saw some parts of the park that I had not seen before. Some parts were beautiful, some not so much. I ran into quite a few people out on the trails, more so in the southern section of the park.

This was my final hike in preparation for the Hyner View Trail Challenge which is this Saturday, April 23. I don't plan to push myself quite as hard in the first few miles of the race as much as I did last year. I think it hurt me much more than it helped me. On the whole I am feeling prepared and good about participating in the 25K HVTC for the 4th consecutive year.

C • Hyner this weekend 2

BP: 96 / 62

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BP: 100 / 67

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BP: 106 / 66

C • BP readings 2

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BP: 104 / 70

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