Training Log Archive: TomN

Riding to work with the First Friday ride crew. Organized by a woman in my building. Every month she starts from downtown DC and picks up anyone who can join along the way. My route joins at 38th St. and the NW Branch Trail, but it takes me 10 miles to get there, whereas it's only 3 for her. She publishes the route map and the times at the various checkpoints. I couldn't do it last month, but I was all in today. On the trail just after sunup, glad for the headlight. Got to the checkpoint a few minutes early, and the 3 of them showed up on time. We pushed pretty hard the rest of the way (harder than I have been going alone). The total time includes more than 5 minutes of waiting in various places. Great ride.

The 82nd NASA Intracenter Running Competition, 2-mile. Not a great time as these things go, but I can't help getting older. But I felt great and ran a good race, with strongly negative splits. I was at 14:23 at the 1-mile, still 2-2 breathing, and kept that pace for another quarter mile or so before pushing it up a bit. It takes a lot of discipline in this race, where nearly everyone starts out too fast (except the good runners, who know what they're doing, but are too far ahead of me for pacing). But it sure makes the race feel better to not be grinding it out and desperately trying to keep up the pace in the second half. I got caught by another guy at the very end, I thought I had passed him for good but he kicked hard. I should have peeked over my shoulder.

A perfect day, low 60s, part sun-part cloud, a little breeze.

A good warm-up, jogging down to the race site, some strides, a half-mile at race pace, some more slow jogging until the lineup. Then a 1-mile jog back.

Core strength exercises.

Riding to work this morning. Man, this is the life. The Northeast-Northwest Branch and Indian Creek trails are particularly enjoyable. Up on the levee by the river, it doesn't get any better than that. And it helps a lot to have a spouse who'll bring your stuff to work so you don't have to haul it around.

QOC Fountainhead Red course. It was raining when I started, and the rain kept on until about halfway through. I started off with about a 10-minute mistake on #1. I thought I was being smart, taking the trail around the cemetery and threading through the white strip, but I was actually being dumb. I kept on thinking, oh, it's just the next reentrant, and after about 4 or 5 of those it was hopeless. Back to the field, straight down the big channel and there was the control, maybe hung a little low, at the bottom of one of the half-dozen reetntrants I had already visited.

I can deal with this map if I go slowly, so that's what I did, and it was working really well for the next 10 controls. Then I lost concentration and couldn't remember the plan in the middle of the leg, and blew a few controls that way.

Oh, and that #10 (Blue #8), which seemed to be in the only patch of white woods in a whole universe of downed trees, sometimes stacked 3 deep like the flyover interchange at I-95 and the Beltway. I was only a little off, but it took a lot of time to get over to where I should have been.

I'm not complaining, I'm just commenting. It was a good course in good orienteering terrain, and I'm happy to have done it (but my legs will need a little foam rolling to get over it).

C • #10 1

Red - Splits