Training Log Archive: TomN

Walked the (loaner) dog, mowed the lawn, then went for a run. Temp in the 70s with dry air. Driving to western Maine tomorrow, 11 hours.

Hill repeats. 6xhills at 30-35 sec. I do these on a dead-end street with a steady grade, maybe 7-8%, flattening out a little just before the top. Today on the 4th repeat, a blacktop sealing truck pulled in and parked halfway down, idling. Truck fumes are bad enough, but sucking down a lungful at full VO2Max is ugly. I lost heart on the last 2 repeats, but finished them.

Another nice day with a noontime run. Perimeter road plus antenna range.

Around the Goddard perimeter road at noontime. Nice day, 80 deg. and cloudy while I was out.

Running felt fine this morning, but it sure was muggy. I can't find my watch or my running hat.

Finally feeling good enough to run. After symptoms abated, I was left weak and tired.

Ugh. Sick with something, achy and feverish. That explains the cruddy legs the last few days.

Longish run in the morning, felt like about 80 degrees at 8 a.m.

The normal 4-mile loop in the morning.

Early morning run.

Hill repeats. Adding one more for 7xhills this time. Felt pretty tired in the last half of the run (after the hill intervals) but that's par for the course. This one takes it out of the legs.

Noontime at Greenbelt Park. My legs felt tired all the way through. Why?

Volunteering at Peggy's ICC event at Fountainhead. This was epic. I arrived at 6 a.m., in the dark with pouring rain. Went out to pre-run a set of controls at the far end of the park, still pretty dark and still raining. I took advantage of every opening to read the map, because it was hard to see details under the tree canopy. The controls were hard to see, too, wet and sorry looking.

Rain continued throughout, with a few short breaks, and the low spots in the woods began to fill up with water. The little stream at the bottom of the first hill became a raging river, crossable only on fallen logs or the one bridge (unmapped?). The big stream after the second hill was crossable on the bridge until the bridge broke loose, and still the water continued to rise. Uprooted trees were ripping downstream. One runner was stranded on the far side of the river, and the SAR team geared up for a rescue. Happily, Keg found a way across, located the stranded runner in the woods, and escorted him back. Meanwhile I picked up a handful of controls on the near side, leaving the far side for Sid to pick up over the next few days as the water recedes.

The competitors, most of whom were experienced orienteers from various European countries, seemed to have had a good time. And it actually was fun to be in the woods, with the rain keeping things from getting overheated.

Through Forest Glen and the National Seminary down to Rock Creek, back up Old Spring Road.

Contours-only exercise by Daniel Heimgartner at Chinn Ridge, Manassas. Florence and I went together. We walked, but even so, we were slow. She has a tendency to overthink the small stuff, and her pace slows way down when she's doing it. She'd set out on the lead, then fall behind 2/3 of the way when I was focused on the circle.

There was one misplaced control, which we found on the way to the next control. Then the penultimate control was kind of problematic, and Yuri and John B. caught us as we were looking for it. A trail and an old ride join up near the mapped depression. We all agreed we were in the right place, and we bumbled into the streamer, but I'm not sure the contours accurately represent the terrain there well enough.

Anyway, a good exercise, and after last week on the moraine in Idaho I think maybe we need more contour practice around here. So thanks, Daniel.

Picked off 6 deer ticks and 1 dog tick. Seems like more than usual.