Training Log Archive: maprunner

2018 Year in Review

Goal: Overall Training: 280 hours
Actual: 260 hours, a new PR. I had set this goal as 10% greater than last year, which is my usual pattern. But as the year progressed, I realized I wasn’t going to get close at all. I also thought about my lifestyle, and how much I chose to train. So I modified my goal to a 1% increase, which was 2.5 hours more than last year. Still increasing, just at a much slower pace. This is what I want to do at this stage in my life. (and for only the second time, I logged more hours on AP than Mike did :)

Goal: Orienteering: 95 hours
Actual: 83 hours. I need to keep up the orienteering even during the summer months.

Goal: OUSA ranking >66
Actual: Ha! Only 58.59. I slowed down a lot this year. On the plus side, I got more consistent and didn’t have any major blowouts.

Focus: sticking with "Ahead" for another year
Result: this faded away during the year, but that’s OK. I tried it and it wasn’t working for me (the idea of focusing on one thing). I did start a crazy habit of talking through my plans out loud (ie “down the spur, cross the stream, look for cliff halfway up the hill”) Seems to be working for me, but may annoy others who pass me in the woods.

Some other numbers:
45 women trained at “Orienteering for Women” events this year
28:18, my new 5K PR
9 garments sewn this year
27 books read
288 OK starts, another new record

Highlight of the year: hiking in Patagonia

Orienteering with Sandy at KU on a cold and rainy day. I'm having problems getting my Domo to work, so I'll add the maps later.

Maps:
http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

Another "Orienteering for Women" session. We had 13 show up today, and I did a better job of teaching and setting a shorter course. Several "Dirty Girls" came toady. It was a fun group.

I wanted to go orienteering at an area I don't know well, so I headed back to Lexington Lake. As I pulled into the lot, I realized that I had forgotten my O shoes. I was wearing some Sketchers with no traction, so I had to take it easy today. I had planned to make this a physical training, but it turned into map accuracy instead.



I missed 9 and 14. I skipped 11 because the stream was way too high to cross there. I found a log to scoot across near 12.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

Today's set:
10X single leg squat (body weight + 15 lbs)
12X lateral pull down (60 lbs)
20X walking lunge (body weight + 30 lbs)
12X standing double arm press (25 lbs each side)

C • single leq squat 2

I don't usually go this long on the Nordic Track (I get bored, even when listening to a podcast) but today I was reading a good book*, and the time just flew by.

*Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Another Christmas Day, another orienteering day. I love orienteering on Christmas. Mike and I went to the Riverfront Park. I was a bit tired from three days of training, so I just did an easy map hike. It was a great day to be outside.

Nice, small dinner and gift exchange at Pam's house tonight. Just Pam, Mike, Georgann, Ron and me this year,

Mike drew a course for Sandy and I to run. It was mostly trails, so Sandy wanted to run fast. I consider this interval training. We alternated leading at each control. We would rest for a bit, then run on. Sandy runs much faster than me. She slowed down a bit but I still had to push to keep up.

I forgot my Garmin, so this is Sandy's track. She was leading to 10 and she ran too far. I stopped and waited for her to return.

It was fun to orienteer with Sandy, as well as catch up with her. A nice day all around.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

I hosted another "Orienteering for Women" session at Woodridge today. We had a great turnout (11) and nice weather. I spent some time getting them to the first few controls, then I left them on their own. The course was too long and too technical, so they took much longer than I expected. I will have to revise the course for next week.

However, they all enjoyed themselves and a few seem interested in coming to a real event this winter. That would be great.

Mike and I started the day with a visit to my Aunt Kathleen in Clyde MO (returning her fixed-up iPad). We stopped at Wyandotte on the way home, I was just not that into it, so I just went for leisurely map hike on an old 1:15,00 map.

Dinner tonight was MeanGene and Dee's annual potluck . Nice to see so many orienteers and other friends. Also, lots of good food. A wonderful evening.

dancing along to the oldies (Pandora station: 80s cardio)

Mike said I should add more details about my training sessions.

I do four sets, with a rest in between each set ( 2? or 3? min)
Tonight I chased around my trainer's 3-year old son during one of my "rests"

Tonight's set:
push sled backwards the length of the gym
TRX row X12
squat press, 45 lbs, X12 (machine)
incline press, 15 lbs, X10 (free weights)
squat jumps X12 (body weight)

C • I like details. 1

We're still having unseasonably warm weather. I enjoyed getting out of the house while there was bit of light left, and moved around on west campus. Being outside was nice, but the moving felt blah. I walked more than I planned.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so I decided to practice moving through thick vegetation. I drew a control picking course. Sometimes I tried to keep an exact straight line, no matter what the vegetation was like. Other times, I used rough compass to pick out a feature in the distance, then allowed myself to veer around bad vegetation to get there. Took it slow and easy today.

I'm surprised that my GPS track shows that I missed 2. It was an obvious hill.
There is definitely an open area where I went to 6. Again, it was a miss, and that helps explain why I had to correct on the trail bend mid way to 7.
Spiked 11.
12 was a deliberate choice: there was a family using the shelter, and they had a dog with them. I didn't feel like dealing with that, so I skipped it, went back down the trail and approached 13 from a different way.
Slight miss on 16
Decided to stop at 17 (after I had been out an hour)

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

After orienteering, I ran on the trails to get back to the car

PTOC event at Burr Oaks. The long course was definitely for runners, with many trail options. However, there were also good route choices. I did fairly well, only some minor bobbles. I concentrated on pushing through the woods, at a fast walk if I couldn't always run. Looking at my GPS track, though, I see that I was "pushed around" by the vegetation and often got off line when the woods got thicker. Need to work on pushing through the tough stuff. In the end, I was under 12 min/k, which is good for me.

Nice day, 8C and sunny. Better yet, Mike and I carpooled with Sandy, so I got to spend 2 hours in the car with some of my favorite people.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

Listened to a Planet Money podcast about the beef trade with Mexico.

I finally remembered to charge up my headlamp this past weekend, so I went for my first nighttime short jog on west campus. Temps were mild and I felt good. I saw Mike near the end.

The only bummer is that my headlamp ran out after 20 minutes. I wonder if the battery has a problem holding a charge? Or if I didn't charge it enough?

Mike and I went out to Woodridge so I could hang some mini-markers for an Christmas training course. We'll leave the markers up until Jan 5th, so if anyone wants to run around out there, check our Facebook page or website for the map.

Mike and I went out to Clinton. My plan was to get some terrain running practice. I was really dismayed at how slowly I moved through the woods at Lexington Lake last week.

I looked for some sections of crappy woods (as opposed to totally crappy, the default vegetation at Clinton). I even managed to find some decent woods around the disc golf course (they have recently expanded into the woods). It was fun to explore around this area, even though I had to avoid a few disc golfers on this cold day.

Whenever I found a patch of decent/crappy woods, I would run back and forth a few times. Then move on through the crap to find another stretch to run.

I finished at the agreed-upon time, but Mike wasn't back yet. So I played on the swings for a few minutes while I waited.

I am a glutton for punishment, so I went back to Lexington Lake to see if I could fix my mistakes and run the course faster. WinSplits suggested I could have run 1:10 without mistakes. I was much faster to 2 and 3, but lost time on 10 and 12 (tried a different route this time). Overall, I was only 3 minutes faster. The fields were a little bit drier, but it was colder today. I scared up lots of deer but didn't see another person.

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...

PTOC event on a new map at Lexington Lake. It was 8c and rainy, with temps dropping during the run. It had rained all night, so the trails and stream were muddy. As were the mowed areas around the fields. It was like running in quicksand.

I started out running in the open areas on the way to 1 and 2. As soon as I entered the woods, I took a hard fall. It was so sudden, I assumed it was barbed wire. But I looked around and there was no wire, just crappy vegetation, That set the tone for the rest of the race. I stumbled all the time, got wrapped up in vines, etc. I gave up the idea of trying to run, and walked briskly the rest of the time.

Big mistake on 2. Hit the open field and tried to go straight but got pulled off the rough compass line.

Another mistake on 4. This was weird. I just did not see the reentrant on the map, and was quite confused when I saw it in the real world. I convinced myself that the retentrant was the tiny wiggle in the contour line right near the control, so I stopped and looked around a bit. Still didn't figure it out, but I went on until the end of the hill. Figured it out once I got closer. This was really silly.

After that I settled down and moved well. I went out of my line on the way to 5 to avoid an annoying club mate. I saw Gene as I left 6 (he was going towards it, along the stream). After that I tried to keep ahead of Gene. I managed to hold him off until 8. Then I pushed to keep him in sight through 10. I lost him after that.

I was with Bill from 13 to the end, that also helped pull me along.

I was bummed about my mistakes on 2 and 4, but I ended up doing fairly well compared to others. I left right away to get out of the cold wet wind. Thanks to all the others who stayed to pick up markers!

http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=map...