Training Log Archive: Charlie

Event: QOC Quinquagenary @ Quantico National Meet
 

Day 1 Brown x at Quantico. 1st in M-70 when I left. Felt reasonably good during the race. Before the start I was feeling a bit unsettled, like I had forgotten something, then thought I needed to turn on the Garmin to pick up satellites, but it wasn’t on my wrist. Instead it was back in my room at our rental house. So no track. A good incentive to just go straight.

Map but no route

1. And I did go straight to 1, from the triangle on compass, across the last reentrant just left of the small marshy clearing and saw that the subtle reentrant would take me up to the flag on the spur. Spike.

2. Started well, a bit left of line to save climb, then along the line down the spur and across the stream, up the reentrant onto the round hill r of the line, past the pole at the black x, then to the reentrant with the gully looking for the trail with the markers, figuring I’d go on compass from there, but never saw the trail and drifted along the reentrant before giving up on it. I was too far left and ended up banging into the heavily streamered fence beyond. Then I was freaked out because I thought streamers meant the OB another 150 m further, but calmed down and turned around and it was just behind me. Lost about 1:00 or 1:30.

3: on compass, mostly down but climbing 5e last hill before the stream to make sure I was on the trail. Then trail to the elaborate bend, where I saw Rhonda and promptly got ensnared in some particularly aggressive smilax. Seemed like about 30seconds unwinding it from my shirt. Kept drifting right for a bit, but imposed some compass discipline and got back on track.

4. Straight along the line, across the stream, up to the trail. A few steps left on trail, then up hill and angling across the small stream. Got confused by the tiny marsh symbol at the foot of the spur near the control and thought it was a slope tag, and therefore not a spur but a reentrant, with the result that I was drifting left looking for a reentrant,not finding one I slowed down to contemplate, then saw the flag odd to my right, checking the code carefully. Maybe 45 seconds.

5. Good leg. Just right of line, hitting the stream near the black X, then left to the small streamlet coming from the east, then left of that on compass, and could see the flag before I got there.

6. Not a very disciplined approach. Aimed left to arrive at the trail junction, S from there on trail past 3 more markers to the sharp bend, then thought I would go right of the small hill and count reentrants. And I did, more or less, but there were some extra small reentrants, and then I saw a flag, so went up and checked it, before continuing on with a sense of dread. First deeper reentrant, and Phil H-T showed up, my shoe was untied, and pressed on to the second and the flag. Whew! But probably squandered another minute or so,

7. Several misadventures on this one. First an attempt to retie the shoe, not all that successful with cold fingers. By the time I finished, Phil H-T was almost out of sight. Then SW to the trail, angled up to the N-S trail, but climbed a line too high. Not so bad, but just a lack of attention. Approached the stream and was stopped by a young kid asking for help. Inclined to blow him off, but then I thought, gee, he’s just a kid, maybe 11 years old. Don’t be a nasty old man. So I stopped and showed him where we were. Across the stream on the bridge, turn right through the clearing and then on compass from the next bend, checking off the rootstock just NE of the circle, then checking the map again when I came to the first gully, yeah, there are two of them. And in.

8. On compass, maybe getting a bit tired. Crossed the two streams with the pointy spur in between, and Alex came whisking by. Aimed off left a bit, and maybe a little more than I expected, because I hit the road right by the trail junction, but that was fine, a yellow control from there. Across to the trail, right to the narrow spur, across the spur at an angle and down the reentrant to the control, easily visible from a distance.

9. Seemed easy, across the stream, keep it in sight on my right, follow the compass right in.

10. Worst control of the race. Just turned my brain off. Kept trying to go south, but each time I looked I was going west, even bad enough I wasn’t deterred by the top of the ridge or the stream. Lucky I got there at all. Eventually ran into the building due west of 9, and struggled in from there, just right of the small building N of the control. Seemed like about 1:30 squandered there.

C • Way to go! 4

Day 1 - Brown X - Splits

Spirited, but not pushing it. Maintained 22spm as the pace quickened. Gradual speeding up from 2:19 in the first 600 to 2:08.9 in the last. Kind of stiff this am, so warmed up a bit first on the mat. When I say a bit, 20 min or so.

In the gym with Eric. Usual stuff, stretching rolling, core, deadlifts, goblet squats, rowing.

Evening stretch yoga with the neighbors. As inflexible as I am, it appears that Tom is worse off than I am.

Spread the last of the woodchips we got yesterday. I passed a house down Wright Rd a bit where Bristol's was taking down a tree and chipping it into a big dump truck. Stopped and asked for the chips, told him where to put them, and when I returned from voting they were already in place. Spread half of them yesterday, the rest today. A total of six manure spreader loads. 3 yesterday, 3 today.

C • Nice 3

in the gym with Eric. Rolling, stretching, core, deadlifts, goblet squats, TRX rowing.

Out strolling with the dog, came upon 3 pileated woodpeckers flitting about the yard. Nice sighting as they checked out various trees, and then they were gone.

Stretchy yoga session with neighbors Tom and Jackie in the gym. Very beneficial.

part of Rhonda's morning class

At the Y with Rhonda. Generally pleasant, but somehow causing some trouble in my L forearm, along the ulnar side. Not in the elbow, but from just below the elbow down to the fingertips of my pinkie and ring fingers. Massaging it and wondering about it.

Nice and easy, relatively slow cadence, 22 SPM. My forearm was fine with this. The L forearm is often the weak link for me in rowing, but the part that is vulnerable to rowing is on the other side, the top middle when the palm is facing down. The part that was hurting this morning is calmed down to where it is just a knot about midway, which seemed to respond to massage.

C • Nice. 2

Event: DVOA Mount Penn - Antietam
 

Event: NEOC: Baldwin Hill
 

Lucky I am going orienteering today, as it allows me to dodge yard work. I am pretty stiff in a lot of places. Last night Zack was giving me my assignments for today and I had to remind him I wouldn’t be here.

Baldwin Hill Green course. Not too bad, except for a really long excursion in the area of #4. Finally climbed up a line to a place I was reasonable sure it wasn't, and there it was! Otherwise, trying to pay attention to compass, and doing pretty well.

1. More or less on compass, crossing the stone wall, picking up a bit of trail and heading on compass when I got to the part where it paralleled the second wall. Saw the reentrant, but slow approaching because the flag was hiding behind a tree from the direction I was coming.

2. Got passed quickly by a guy in an orangish shirt. Headed a little left of the line toward the wall, saw the depression near the wall, two bumps before heading down to the stream, caught orange shirt and was more or less even going up the hill, but he was right of me and the control was left, so I got away,.

3. Keeping a good compass line and heading up the hill. Otherwise not much to do until I got on top, where I saw the hill, the marsh and the flag. Nice.

4. Would have been very fine to head down E of the big hill top and west of the marsh, but I got it in mind to go on top of the hill, and once I was up there it seemed to be a good idea to be on the west side of the top. So far so good. Climbed down, around under the southernmost cliff and tried to find the depression just S, but got sucked into the reentrant just W of there, convincing myself easily that it was a depression, so I continued on to try to find the depression past it, and there was certainly a lot of topography, back and forth several times, and then expanding the search area, alas first to the west, going way too far, and then East, before climbing a line and finding it. 14 minutes squandered!

5. This was not too hard, but really gloomy and spiky woods in between. I had an eye out for any possible Rodents of Unusual Size. Anyway, over to the little ridge line, and then south a bit to the right knob and the control behind it.

6. Generally thinking I was on compass, but drifting a bit left, until I had gone about the right distance and saw a big boulder. Yay!, Except not my boulder, and gee, there are three of them. So I realized I was 100m too far N and quickly corrected. Not too much time lost, really, maybe a minute.

7. More or less on the line to the wall and the trail, along the trail for a bit until it seemed like the right place to get off and go across the knoll in the middle of the marshy stuff. Crossed the two SW facing reentrants, and then it wasn't too much farther, just a couple of bumps.

8. Aimed for the spur and headed up, across the hill bending left with the two dot knolls on it. A bit of uncertainty because the feature looked more like a boulder than a cliff, but got a bit closer and there was the flag.

9. More or less on line, not making much speed. Crossed the stone wall near the boulder R of the line, then angled down, along the very faint trail for a bit, then on compass over to the really steep part of the hill in front of me, and headed a bit left to where it was a little less steep and crossed the wall right where it climbed and went over the hill at the top, so knew where I was and checked off a bunch of boulders, the first marsh, then ujp on the hill to make sure and in.

10. Somehow got R of the line, just past the marsh east of 9, across the wall near the little bend, down on an angel across the EW wall segment, crossed the streamlet pretty high, over th two line hill, past a hunter's stand and read my way in, slowing down and looking around as I got to the more complex terrain, but the flag was right in front of me.

11, Easy leg, going along the wall a bit off, wavered a bit left just before it, but then saw the big rock.

12. Thought I would go W to the trial, but easier just to cross the stream and get out to the trail by the ball field. Miscounted trails and got off too soon, but cut through, picked up the trail again and attacked from the bend. No problem.

Bill D was kind enough to drive, so hard to pass up a fine meet like this.

Map

C • Bladwin Hill 4

Green - Splits