Sunday Aug 31 |
 | Biking 1:48:00 [3] 24.5 mi (4:23 / mi) | |
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| "Nonexistant Nottingham" ride. We drove down to southern Prince George's county for a pleasant bike ride on country roads, starting at the Southern Md hospital, going through Boys Town, crossing Rt 301, and then into a pleasant rural area. The roads on the east of 301 were lightly traveled and very pretty. Turned around at Nottingham on the Patuxent River (once the county seat of PG, now just some houses & farms). Had to get used to the braking & shifting all over again, and still am not in shape for the hills (and they weren't too big...). A nice day, not too hot and the humidity was a bit lower than it has been. First day without rain since Monday. |
Saturday Aug 30 |
| Road run 40:12 [3] | |
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| Roads in Greenbelt Park. Finally felt motivated to run, and I felt pretty good overall. Slight aching in ham & knees, not too bad. Felt pretty strong initially but reined myself in knowing I wasn't in shape to continue running at the pace I had set. Did the campground loop but skipped the campground road to Good Luck and back. Temps were pleasant (70s) but very humid. Another stormy day is on tap (and for the next five as well...will I get to go on a bike ride anytime soon?). |
Wednesday Aug 27 |
| Road run 12:50 [2] | |
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| Procrastinated too long...by the time I was out the door for my first run back home, the second strong thunderstorm in as many days was rolling in. I decided to be prudent when I noticed how dark the advancing clouds were and I turned back toward home. Treated to a lightning show and some thunder. Made it back with about 5 minutes to spare. Very warm, very humid. |
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McKaig 3.3km - Splits |
Sunday Aug 24 |
| Trail 33:42 [3] | |
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| Around the grounds of the Wanderers sports club adjacent to our hotel in the suburbs of Johannesburg, early morning. Warmed up running around the tennis courts & cricket field, then did pickups on the sides of the bowling greens. Not big -- took about 10-11 secs each side at my slow "fast" pace. Hamstring didn't complain too much and everything else seemed ok, too. Short run but nice to get something in before the long trip home. Chilly but sunny morning. |
Friday Aug 22 |
| Hiking 15:00 [2] | |
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| God's Window, SA. Hiking up through the "Rain Forest" to the view overlooking the timber and farmland below. Some stairs on the trail. Back down and to some other viewpoints as well. |
| Hiking 12:00 [1] | |
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| Three Rondavels, Blyde River Canyon, SA. Along the escarpment over South Africa's Grand Canyon. Does look similar in places. The view includes the "three rondavels," three Zulu-hut-like rock pinacles. Very neat view; unfortunately, it was mid-day so the light was very harsh -- not good for photos of the famous things. Fun to scamper around on the rocks at the edge. |
| Hiking 15:00 [1] | |
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| Bourke's Luck Potholes, Blyde Canyon NR, SA. Trail down to the confluence of the Truer & Blyde rivers, which over the years have scoured the rock into cool potholes. Quite picturesque, worth lots of pictures. Three bridges over the rivers give good, varying, views of the rivers & the potholes. |
Thursday Aug 21 |
| Trail 20:44 [3] | |
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| Pretoriuskop, Kruger National Park. Inside the fenced camp, on various surfaces: brick roadway, grassy field (with impalas!), around the natural/manmade pool, which was built around a neat stony outcrop. Went over, up, down, around the outcrop. Saw a duiker outside the fence. Nice end to a day of game driving in the park. |
Wednesday Aug 20 |
| Trail 39:07 [3] | |
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| Piggs Peak, Swaziland. Morning before getting back on the bus. On the hotel's "hiking trails" which were really dirt roads. Passed Laszlo (on the IOF mapping committee; he's on our tour) going to the waterfall. Then into the eucalaptus forest roads, out & back. Nice run. |
Tuesday Aug 19 |
| Trail 48:39 [2] | |
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| Bushlands Game Lodge, SA. Daybreak run on the trails around the lodge; saw lots of animals (giraffe, zebra, etc) but it's a stocked lodge so not too exciting. Nice run. |
Saturday Aug 16 |
| Road run 49:02 [3] | |
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| Durban, South Africa. From the Hilton down Old Fort Road to the beach. Along the beach, sometimes in loose sand, sometimes on hard-packed near the surf, and sometimes on the brick walkway. Although it was before 9 am, the beach was bustling, with swimmers, surfers (the Jr World Champs starts here on Sunday), strollers, and of course vendors selling all things African. No one even looked at me; I felt very safe. It was pretty nice, about 65 and sunny; the water was warmer. Saw about 9 big ships out in the (Indian) Ocean waiting their turn to get into the very busy harbor.
Left knee hurt; other body parts didn't bother me too much but I didn't feel great or terribly energetic. But, it was a fun run nonetheless. |
Friday Aug 15 |
| Note | |
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| My plan was to go to the fitness room after the last session and work out before dinner, but George (McCleary, my grad school advisor and a Founding Father of OK, the person who really got me into the sport) was giving his paper in the last session and afterwards he invited me to join him and his wife for drinks & chat in the lobby. Can't turn that down! We did talk about O' a lot, and I ribbed him about not doing any lately. Maybe hanging out with me this week will get him interested again!
By the time we were done with drinks it was getting late & I had to eat dinner, then relax... so no workout today. |
Wednesday Aug 13 |
| Cross training 20:00 [3] | |
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| Recumbent ex-bike at the Hilton fitness room. Felt pretty hard despite low intensity level. Default was 20 min so I just left it at that. |
| Road run 28:00 [3] 3.3 mi (8:28 / mi) | |
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| Treadmill at the Hilton. I hate treadmill running but it's not safe to be out alone at night here (or, in some places, during the day, if you're a tourist!) and it's still winter so it's dusky by the time the conference ends at 5. Running outdoors will have to wait until Saturday. The beach is just a half mile away and I've been told it's safe for runners.
Ran a 5 km on the treadmill. Pretty boring, and a few aches and pains. |
Monday Aug 11 |
| Note | |
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| I got to the hotel around 7 pm, feeling pretty good (it was only 1 pm DC time) and I had the motivation to go use the fitness room. Unfortunately, my luggage had not made the connecting flight in NY so I had no clothes to work out in. (Good excuse, huh.) |
Sunday Aug 10 |
| Road run 36:14 [3] | |
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| Hiker biker trails in Northridge with Nadim. Wanted to get in some exercise before the looooong flight to South Africa. Only around 73, but 80+% humidity -- dripping wet in just a few minutes. Storm clouds moving rapidly in. Nice run anyway. |
Saturday Aug 9 |
| Trail 1:00:03 [3] | |
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| Greenbelt Park. Mostly Perimeter Trail (counterclockwise) with some Dogwood loops thrown in. Not feeling all that enthusiastic. Pleasantly cool -- about 74 -- but very humid -- near 80%. Very sticky. Just minor aches from left knee and right hamstring. Last tired Saturday morning for a while! (Work schedule changes when I get back from Africa.) Yay! |
Wednesday Aug 6 |
| Road run 30:30 [3] | |
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| Roads and paved trails in Northridge. Picking up the last 12 or so streamer controls from the SSS, before work. No streamers missing from this side of the road. Humid, feeling lazy. |
Tuesday Aug 5 |
| Road run 52:49 [3] | |
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| Northridge. Picking up a bunch of the controls (streamers) from Saturday's Summer Short Series. Didn't feel like driving all the way to the track to hobble around in the humidity and then argue about where to eat...This seemed a better use of my time, plus I needed to get the streamers down. 3 were missing. Still have a bunch on the north side of Fletchertown to pick up. Once again, no one even looked at me funny (okay, a couple people looked at me funny, but no one said a thing). About 80, quite humid. |
Sunday Aug 3 |
| Road run 47:46 [4] 5.4 mi (8:51 / mi) | |
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| Rock Creek trail from Aspen Hill, starting out with Nadim. That didn't last more than 20 seconds :-). Left knee hurt the first few minutes then loosened up. Had to struggle to run as fast as I did (on a flat paved trail). Lots of nagging aches have not helped the motivation to train. Only one more week of weird work schedule so perhaps this fall I'll get back to better training. Miles are marked on this route so I got competitive with myself to run hard. I did one mile near the end in 8:19 & felt tired from the effort. :-( Warm, mid-80s, very humid.
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Saturday Aug 2 |
| Biking 58:00 [1] 7.1 mi (8:10 / mi) | |
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| Putting out controls (streamers) for Summer Short Series Street O' Score O' in Northridge (Bowie). Rained a bit. Very humid. Bike performed admirably. Hard at times to operate holding bag of vettting tape etc & map and brake at the same time. 8 participants in SSS, much fun was had by all (or so they said). |