Training Log Archive: jjcote

Started feeling not very good around the time I needed to drive home from work, shaky and weak and achy, with minor digestive troubles, and I was pretty pleased to reach the house and crash on the couch. And I remained crashed until morning (eventually crawling into bed). That translated to no -ups at all today, for the first time this year.

Event: Crandalls Park Sprints
 

Crandall Park Sprint A. Ran in my O-veralls, because they were the only pair of pants that weren't in either the dirty laundry pile or the to-be-sewed pile, although shorts would probably have been perfectly fine (and suitably cooler). Wore the long pants all day, which was maybe not too bright. Not a complete sprint effort here, because I was tired from various goings-on yesterday.

Crandall Park Sprint B. Didn't boom any controls, although a couple of my routes may not have been as clean as possible.

Crandall Park Green.

Sprint A - Splits

Sprint B - Splits

Green - Splits

Flew a buncha times, carried the glider up to the 150' for the first one, then rode the ATV. Also jogged up to the 150' to retrieve an ATV that the paraglider instructor had driven up there and basically abandoned.
By request of Boris, here's what it looks like:


[Oh boy, I've posted something on YouTube!]

Also passed the bulk of the requirements to get my H-2 rating (Novice, a step up from Beginner). Just need to do a couple of things next time I go. Like an intentional stall at 500 feet altitude.

C • And then at some point, gettin... 14

Morningside 450' x 1. Don't actually know how long this took, the time is just a guess because I hit the wrong button on my watch.

Hanging controls (actually envelopes with puzzle pieces in them) for the orienteering field trip that Barb is putting on at Boojum for David's school class today, while she hung other envelopes and some regular controls. She did not show up sporting her new shoes. Maybe they're strictly for Capitol Hill.

C • Thank you! 4

Another nighttime fiasco run. Started out to do the Mystery Blazes loop at twilight, and for around the first 20 minutes, it wasn't too dark, kind of like what I think I once heard Boris describe as, "too dark to see, but not dark enough for your headlamp to do any good". We had clearly gotten some serious thunderstorm activity, because there were puddles everywhere, ringed with yellow pollen from the pines. When I got to the Christmas bridge, it had that fine teflon-like property that damp/wet wood gets, and my feet went out from under me and I landed on my butt, almost sliding off the edge into the raging Mulpus Brook. The next bridge was washed out (displaced by about eight feet and sitting at a weird angle). I walked carefuly across it, and all the other bridges. I think this kind of dim-light training is particularly useful for orienteering, because you have to run without being able to see your footing well, never knowing whether the next step will be level, or a hole, or mud, or a rock, or a root, or a snake, or whatever. You have to just be ready for it by feel. People who run primarily on pavement would hate this. Anyway, when I got to the low area in Hickory Hills, I encountered the Quality Muck that this region is famous for. I did better on the Mystery Blazes themselves than I have in the past, backing up each time I lost them, and using the high-beam to look for the paint spots and ribbons. Finally lost contact near the bottom of the hill, and failed to regain it when I backed up, so I just forged ahead. Things got ugly pretty fast (it was pitch black outside by this point) as I ran into some laurel, but I pressed on and the situation got progressively worse, with more laurel, and eventually marshes. I knew I'd hit something familiar eventually, but with no compass I was a bit concerned about getting turned around in the green and just doing circles in there. I finally reached one of the lowest tiers of desperation, the one that involves finding a stream and just following it downhill no matter what. And that worked, of course, taking me back to the Quality Muck (I had evidentally turned pretty far to the left in there). The jog home was mostly uneventful, except for the parts where it got so foggy and/or polleny that I had to carry the hatlamp in my hand at thigh level because of the retroreflective glare. A fine time was had. At least I got some exercise.

C • and my feet went out from unde... 9