Training Log Archive: cedarcreek

One hill route with a loop around the rec center.

I haven't done this route in a long time. I felt great. Good songs kept coming up on my iPod, causing me to push a lot harder than I would have otherwise. I don't think that's the whole explanation, though---I was going a lot faster than normal. I wasn't plodding at all. It was awesome.

Coming up the big, long hill, the iPod kept me going. I started slow with U2, Beautiful Day, sort of a nice steady start. When it finished I had to skip about 4 songs. Then I got Blink 182 Aliens Exist (Live), which is kind of a moderate tempo song. Near the end, there was an up-change in tempo, and my legs just automatically tried to match it, but they were really heavy and they just found their own rhythm. As the hill slope diminished as I approached the top, another Blink song came on, Wendy Clear (Live), and I tried to shorten my strides to match the tempo. It worked pretty well, but I was breathing pretty hard. My legs were a little lighter. It was neat to feel both the lungs and the legs struggling.

Right after the crest (which is very subtle), *another* Blink 182 song came on, Carousel (again Live), which has an even higher tempo than the others. I did my best to run it in, and I did, but my stride was getting jerky.

Certainly this was one of my hardest training workouts in a long time. I hope I can run so easily in the weeks to come---that it wasn't a fluke. It felt so awesome to float for so much of the run.

C • Beautiful Day 2

Event: SMOC Silver Lake
 

(Didn't attend)

ARDF 80m Practice at England-Idlewild, Burlington, KY

Setting an 80m microtransmitter course for Bob, Dick, Brian, and Addison at England-Idlewild Park in Burlington, Kentucky (just west of the CVG airport). The microtransmitters are really neat. You just wait for the right time, then plug in the battery and it works. (Actually, a switch and a container with the battery inside would make it kick butt, but these are so small and so easy to carry, it's hard to complain).

I took longer than I expected to put out the course, and my lack of a master map and my own forgetfulness caused me to place the first 2 transmitters with numbers 1 and 2, rather than 3 then 1. So I had to quickly do the mental figuring on where I wanted the remaining T's. I settled on the "best order" being 12543, rather than the planned 31425. (This is arcane, easily ignored information that is intended for me when I read this in the future---sorry.)

The plan was to set a course that allowed you to draw bearings to each transmitter, *and* to have actual cross-bearings as you ran along the course. You orienteer to the crossing, then wait for the transmitter to start, and then you run it down. It is more common for an 80m course to prevent you from having cross bearings for 1 or more transmitters as a way to increase the difficulty. I think it was well-received. The vegetation made it a little harder than I'd hoped.

Brian came in first, then Bob with the "ideal" order. Then Addison with 3 T's (missing 2 and 5). Then some time later Dick with the order 14523, a really bad order, and a GPS that said he'd gone about 6 miles---about double the others.

Everyone helped take the course down, and Dick took Addison out so he could find 2 and 5.

It was a beautiful day, with temperatures well above what I saw predicted. I was dressed for a high of 50, and it was at least 60.

Event: US Team Trials & Return to Boggs Mountain A Meet
 

(Didn't attend)

Actual text conversation with my niece:

Her: What is the number of valence electrons in bromine, 35 electrons?
Me: Need to look at table.
Her: It's atomic number is 35..
Me: Find br what element is in top row?
Her: It's in row 17, period 4..
Me: Name top element above br
Her: chlorine(17)
Me: Then 7 right
Her: idk
Her: Oh i get it! Omg!

So there you have it: An actual Eureka! moment.