Training Log Archive: TomN

Classic Champs Day 1, Green X. This is fine orienteering terrain, with open woods and plenty of features large and small. With the exception of one control I had a decent run, navigating well but traveling slower than necessary. The exception was #5, which was simply wretched. I had no clear plan leaving 4, just trying to avoid the green and stay to the west side of the marsh. When I hit a trail, I took it, figuring it for the one that ran down the west side of the green. But it wasn't, it was on the east side of the marsh. It didn't take long to figure out it was wrong, but it took forever to figure out where I was, because I never thought I was that far east. 15 minutes lost there, and it kind of sapped my enthusiasm.

Saturday - Green X - Splits

A ride to work along the river trail network. Cooler today, low 70s and cloudy. A bit of a breeze up on the Anacostia levee. Route.

A few hours after the run yesterday my right achilles started to ache again. It wasn't a problem after orienteering on Sunday. This morning it was burning a bit. It's not clear if the ride is good for it or bad for it, maybe neutral.

And back home again. Much slower, due to two factors: (1) exhaustion, and (2) traffic. Factor 1 was clearly dominant. I dragged out a Gu after about 20 minutes, and it helped for the next hour. At that point I was only a couple miles from home, but man, they were hard miles. As to traffic, there was tons of it on the cross streets, making it hard to find a gap. Also tons of it on the bike path itself -- fewer dog walkers, but lots more joggers and cyclists than in the mornings. At this point I can say once a day is a joy, but twice a day is a major workout.

Perimeter road at GSFC. Going into the mid-90s today, but not there yet (noon). Low humidity and it felt pretty good. Took a while to cool down, though.

Bike to work. Considerably faster today, which I'm sure is just getting used to riding again. I haven't done any significant bike riding for about 30 years. Split times: 46:00 to jct of Sligo Cr. and Northwest Branch; 56:00 to Rode Island Ave.; 1:16:00 to Greenbelt Road; 1:33:00 to Goddard entrance gate.

I did a fair amount of work on the bike in the last couple weeks. New tires and tubes, replaced the entire crankset (I had a spare matching vintage crankset, which I had tapped out for 9/16" pedals, 50 years old like the bike). New pedals, platform MTB-style without toeclips. It's running well, and it's fun to be riding it again. Oh, and new helmet and pump.

It's really fine to be able to ride 15 miles on paved trails without getting on a road. And the last 5 miles has well-marked bike lanes. Really enjoyable.

QOC season opener at Lake Accotink, Red course. I lost a lot of time onf #1 -- extra trails not on the map, shaky attack, control may not have been in the place it was marked. Likewise on #2, how hard could it be? Yet I was convinced I overran it and backtracked until I knew I hadn't. Probably 10 minutes on those 2 controls alone.

Better after that, with only a couple more time losses, but certainly not moving at great speed. Frustrated with 14 and 19, I had been to a lot of these control locations before, but in the case of these two controls I made the same mistakes I made before, which is pretty sad.

Red - Splits