Training Log Archive: JanetT

Event: Flying Pig XII
 

Will post on Monday (and maybe even post maps).

Middle distance race at Rentschler Forest (NW of Cincinnati), which seemed more like a long sprint race with many short legs. 4th fastest on the course out of 13 who competed on Brown Friday (George and Lyn Walker were two of the three who were faster), which was a fine start to the weekend and my 1st year as F55. :-)

I could have taken a more direct route from 6-7 rather than skirting the green and tops of reentrants. I forgot the contours were 3m rather than 5m so the straight-line route would have been faster, but I did find the ditch without much problem.

Nice use of the often-green woods and this area.

Warm-up (not counted on the other races as I usually only do a few minutes of jogging to get the muscles going and a few stretches) was 1.2 k, including about 3/4 of a mile along a busy road (before we turned off onto a side road where I did *not* so much as look at the fence. Muscles were definitely ready to go by the time I got there. The light rain of earlier in the day had stopped by the time we went out late, but it was still plenty muddy. :-) Lots of mud to get off the shoes so I could get them dry enough to use Saturday afternoon.

Route Gadget route posted.

Brown - Short Pig - Splits

Long weekend ahead. :-)

C • Flying Pig results 7

Class in Chatham, again without the step. Knees are feeling slightly better on going up and down stairs (fewer "ouch!" moments), so I have hopes that skipping the stepping for this week (and next because of a session break) will help calm whatever's going on in my left knee.

Then I'll go back and pay attention to the aches in my right hip and knee. :-)

For my hip, the instructor suggested an alternative to purchasing a foam roller -- two tennis balls tied into an old sock. Then roll the affected area until you find the painful part and hold it there for a little bit. Related pdf.

To give my knees a break, I took a leaf from Peggy's book and pedaled the recumbent bike for 40 minutes. This was the first time I'd used this machine. I think I had the resistance set at "6" (whatever that means), and pushed the "fitness" program button, and think I felt slight resistance changes as I pedaled (I was reading a book and not paying much attention to the display). I did look at the display panel enough to note that my "speed" was about 14.8 to 15.1 mph; and I broke a gentle sweat, so it wasn't all fun and games. But it was nice to be able to read and exercise concurrently; made the time go faster.

As often happens with bikes, however, my butt got numb after about 30 minutes, with some of the numbness going down my left leg. I guess the seats aren't as comfortable as they look.

C • numb body parts 6

In Chatham. I did the "step" portion without a step (it was only slightly confusing, but still good exercise). I hope my knee(s) is/are better by this weekend.

Event: NEOC Rocky Woods
 

FR measured 5.53 covered distance. Again, no trouble finding the controls once in the circle, but actual route taking was sloppy, especially out of # 4 (trying to find a trail). May I be excused because of the 1:15000 map? :-) (I was wearing glasses, so I guess that's no excuse.)

Woods are thicker in many areas than the map shows, but map is almost 20 years old, too. Young pine trees in many places, some of which obscured the mapped trails.

For the most part, my left knee behaved better today, though it didn't particularly like stepping over the rocky ground in places. Where the footing was soft, however, or on the trails, it was fine. I hope that bodes well for next weekend, and I'm going to give it a break this week (no stepping!).

Green - Splits

Event: WCOC Trout Brook Valley
 

WCOC's One-person relay (thanks, Pavi!) -- run a course with 5 controls, come back to the start and get second map, run 5 more controls, repeat.

I did the A-C-B variation. (Some people added a fourth 2.1 k loop with more climb, but this was quite enough for me.)

FR measured covered distance of 8.28km; SportTracks is very confused; I probably lost signal a lot. Bummer. Time estimated (what I remember after looking at my watch at the finish) because I apparently didn't turn the watch off then. Sheesh!

First two laps went well, then my left knee started hurting more, and I was getting tired, so I slowed down a lot. Orienteering was relatively straightforward because of all the stone walls and trails; I count my non-spike as one where I could have taken a better route, though I had no trouble actually finding it. There may be two or three others where the direct route (rather than my trail route) would have been a bit faster, too.

Fun day; lots of familiar faces.