Training Log Archive: RLShadow

Whiting Rd loop, with trailsnail. First time running here in something like several years. The hills are a lot tougher now than they used to be ... AP said 79 feet of climb but I know it's more than that. At one time I calculated the climb from the O map (with lidar based contours) -- I can't remember for sure but I think it was something like 200-250 feet of climb per loop.

Webster Park.

Not a workout at all. GPS track of our train trip on the Cass Mountain Scenic Railroad, at Cass, WV. Just curious as to the elevation, the speed, the exact path of the train, etc.

4.13 miles one way to the layover spot, then back down the mountain (trip down not tracked).

Walk, with Cheryl, Andrea, and Brian. Mainly along rail-trail near Douglas, WV. For the first part, it went along the north branch of Blackwater River. Some very impressive waterfalls.

Another walk with the crew (Cheryl, Andrea, Brian), this time in Blackwater Falls State Park (WV). From trailhead out to Lindy Point overlook. Very nice views of the Blackwater river gorge.

Grantsville, MD, visiting our daughter and her boyfriend. Ran on US40 for a while (nearly all uphill!), then ran on a forest service road (still mostly uphill) out and back, then on a long fairly steep downhill, mostly gravel, road heading towards our daughter's house. For not having any significant hill running lately, this was pretty challenging ...

Outdoors, at Webster Park, before any rains hit. Nice and windy. Guess I'm getting mentally used to playing in the wind since it doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Had several good games.

Rec center, indoors. Played pretty badly, and only 4 of us there. Got 4 games in.

HJ trail, with trailsnail. Tough getting going but then felt better.

Three games at Webster Park. Nice morning, not too windy, not too humid.

Afternoon play at Webster Park. Really windy, most wind I've ever played in. I tried not to let it bother me too much, and it actually wasn't as bad playing in it as I would have expected. Very small turnout (most likely due to the wind!).

Event: ROC - Highland Park Score-O
 

Highland Park. Interesting score-O course by Stina. There were 27 controls, and there would have been no problem getting them all within the one hour time limit normally, even being as out of shape as I am, but Stina set things up so that there was a huge bonus to taking the controls in numerical order. And of course numerical order was not the most distance-efficient way of getting them.

So I set out to get as many of the 27 as I could, in numerical order of course. I managed to get 26 of them. I had 6 minutes left, and it would have been maybe 600 meters of distance to get the remaining control and make it back to the finish on time. I was totally out of gas at that point though, and didn't have much if any more running left in me. In retrospect, I most likely could have gotten #27 and made it to the finish in time, by walking fast with maybe a tiny amount of running. My decision to forego #27 was helped though because #26 was quite close to the finish line, and like I said, I was out of gas.

It turned out it didn't matter in the standings. Five people got them all, led, by Chad Borden in an amazing 42 minutes. I finished 6th, right behind everyone who got them all. If I had gotten #27, since my time would have been the slowest of everyone who got them all, I would have still been in 6th place.

I had a few bobbles, without which I am pretty sure I could have gotten #27 comfortably. One where I took a round-about route because I must have thought I was on my 2nd loop and heading for #18, while I was actually on my first loop and heading for #7. Might have cost me 1-2 minutes. Then an earlier more minor bobble with #5, probably 20-30 seconds lost. Then going from 19 to 20, got distracted by some sort of rehearsal going on in Highland Bowl and wound up climbing and descending 7 or so meters that there was absolutely no need to do, which also added a slight amount of distance. Maybe a minute lost there, not to mention to energy expenditure which was pretty annoying at that stage of the race.

Webster Park. Nice weather for pickleball. Got in FOUR games vs Michelle and Judy, with four different partners. Plus two other games with less strenuous competition.

Urban run, from near Park and Culver. Got a hill into the workout, heading up to the Cobb's Hill reservoir (wimped out and walked that last approx 20% of the hill though).

Webster Park. Not too hot but pretty muggy. But overcast and no wind, so not too bad.

HJ trail from Klem Rd. Threw in three one-quarter mile accelerations (to slightly slower than 8 min/mile), just to try, probably fruitlessly, to increase my speed a bit.

Played 2 games at Webster Park. Was pretty worn out from running earlier in the day, in combination with it being a bit on the warm side.

Brighton 5K. Larger and much more competitive field than the Puerto Rican Festival 5K where I amazingly won my age group, with 12 people in my group. In this race, I was a lowly 6th out of 18. I would have had to have been 2+ minutes faster just to finish 3rd! And 5+ minutes faster to have won. Not going to happen, any time soon! But I had fun, ran a decent race for my ability (went out at an appropriate pace, didn't fade), and my time was better than my last race, so that's all I can hope for. It feels good to just be able to run again.

Surprisingly my GPS said I ran 3.14 miles, even though I started my watch right at the starting line. I'll have to see what trailsnail's GPS said. She was 3rd in her age group by the way! Congratulations!

C • good job & GPS 2

Rec Center. One very good player who normally doesn't play with us showed up and offered to play if we needed him to fill out a foursome, and we did. Had a number of very challenging and enjoyable games with him on the court. Some of the best play I've had in a while.

"Long", which for me at this point is pretty much anything over 3 miles or so. Started at Klem Rd and the HJ trail. HJ trail to Birdsong trail, to Rt 250, then got on the trail that leads into the Xerox complex, then roads for a while, back on HJ, and back to the car (with a 0.4 mile walk at the end). Took a walking break at the 4 mile mark.