Sunday Mar 23 |
 | Orienteering 1:59:22 [4]11.5 km (10:23 / km) | |
| spiked:20/22c |
| "Rhino Goat" (Blue course with a mass start) at Avalon/Orange Grove. Could skip any one control or go to all and get a 3 minute deduction. I figured I'd lose more than 3 minutes going to the most obvious skip controls. Only 6 of us on Blue but the Red, Green, and Brown all started off with the same controls, just breaking off at varying points. The lead pack of Jon Torrance, Randy Hall, and Nadim all missed control 3 (Jon navigated them to #4 nearby) and our second group, including me, Tom Strat, Greg Lennon, and Sam Listwak, beat them to it. Then Nadim and Jon blew #5 and we passed them. I didn't see Jon until #11, just before the Red course turned off, and Nadim didn't catch me until #18. I stayed with Tom and Greg for a bit then Tom and I pulled away -- I made a different route choice on one leg but we came to the control at the same time. Once he turned off to finish the Red course, I was mostly alone. Fell on the way to #16, throwing my head to one side and pulling (straining) the muscles on the other side of my neck. Still hurts. Nadim passed me going to #19 but missed enough for me to catch him. But then he was clean and fast, putting 5 minutes on me in the last k. Randy won, Jon 2nd, then Nadim, me, Francis, Valerie. My hamstring didn't bother me at all, but lack of fitness did -- I had to walk up most of the hills and felt pretty tired most of the time. That is probably also due to my work schedule -- 47 hours last week, until after 1 am the previous 4 nights (yes including Saturday). But the race was really fun and I enjoyed it more than I would have if it had been a regular staggered-start Blue. Thanks Ted! |
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Blue - Splits |
Saturday Mar 22 |
| Trail (paved bike trail) 1:04:39 [3]6.0 mi (10:46 / mi) | |
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| Rock Creek trail from KenGar north & back. Hamstring -- which has been bothering me a lot this week after apparently overdoing Tuesday's yoga -- felt very stiff and achy at first but gradually warmed up and actually felt better after running. Knees a bit tight at first. Finally warm enough to run in shorts! The trail was a bit wet/muddy in places. And not always well signed: I missed a turn and ended up in a crappy little neighborhood and had to backtrack. Missed the same turn on the way back. Pleasant morning. |
Wednesday Mar 19 |
| Trail 34:35 [3] | |
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| Easy run before work on Tanglewood trails. #2 - 1 - 1 extension - 2 - 5 - 2 - 3 - 2. Hamstring rather sore from Tuesday's yoga. |
Tuesday Mar 18 |
| Yoga 1:30:00 [2] | |
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| Lots of backbend things and leg stretches. Didn't push the hams too much I hope. Very sweaty poses today. |
Monday Mar 17 |
| Fieldchecking 4:44:00 [1] | |
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| Fort Marcy in Virginia. This is a neat little park not far from my work; I've run on the trails to here many times and have long wanted to map it. I've had the base map for a few years, just waiting for the right time. Now is it! After spending some time in the morning figuring out the scale and sizing it to 1:5000, I was off for the park. My goal for today was to get in all the trails and fields etc so I could have a good strong base to work from. One interesting thing did happen: I was putting in a trail not far from the parking area where I was parked, which is just a dirt pull-off with space for about three cars just off of Chain Bridge Road -- across the street from several seriously-guarded houses and/or official buildings (I always assumed foreign entitities) -- when three guys in suits walked across the road, into the park, and up towards me. Oh oh. One pulled out a badge & id and told me they worked for some gov security thing -- I don't even remember exactly what. They said their security camera had seen me and they thought they better check me out. I explained what I was doing, and even told them where I worked to prove what an upstanding citizen I am (then they wanted to see my work id! Luckily I do carry my badge in my car). They were very nice and it was no big deal, but definitely something new for me! I did get all the trails & fences mapped, as well as the fields. This small park was a Civil War fort and it has a few cannons, batteries, & other neat earthworks. Most of the woods are really nice, with some interesting reentrant systems; unfortunately right near the coolest earthworks there are a lot of thorns. If I finish the map in time, perhaps I'll hold an Easter training session there. Otherwise, I'll debut it in the Summer Short Series. |
| Other (stretching) 10:00 [1] | |
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| Hamstring exercises. The muscle feels remarkably good considering I did an 8+ km o' course yesterday. Yay!! |