The Chase: Patuxent River Park

 Today was the last orienteering meet of the QOC season, in beautiful Patuxent River Park, where I took my youngest back in December. This time there would be a chase start.

The way it works: Depending upon your course (I chose Beige, since it's been months I last ran an O), you have to do a certain number of loops. Each loop is different. While we all start at the same time, you don't necessarily want to chase the person in front of you. They might be on a different loop. Some courses share loops: brown today ran T along with beige. 

But before you can run your course, you have to drink. You have a choice of water or beer. Once the horn went off at noon, you had to drink your cup then run. When you finished your loop you had to again drink before starting the next loop. 

QOC also had a meeting. Officers were elected. A rough schedule for next season was decided upon. Food and drink were provided. Merriment prevailed. 

My first loop was T.

Control 1 was quite marshy, as was 2. To control 3 I stayed down by the water, but about 2/3 of the way I moved up till I found the control. Then the long march to 4. I took a bearing and just went for it. Past the trail and on to the road. Imagine my surprise when I hit that little square on the map on the north side of the road. It was a deer enclosure.

Then I took a bearing from the enclosure and ended up at control 4 perfectly. I got cocky at that point and congratulated myself on the perfect navigating. On the way to control 5 I went too east and saw the building and went straight south to the trail. Control 6 was back at the start and control 7 was the drink station. Then on to map O.

For control 1 (8) I stuck to the trails. Didn't see the control till I was on the eastern side then it was down in that reentrant, which I scooted down on my butt. On the way to 2 I went north from 1 to the trail and south till I was parallel to control 1. There I took a bearing and walked to control 2. I stopped at the dirt road and went north to the trail and followed it to the road. The trail was called Green. It continued north from where it first hit the road, so I took it. I stayed on that trail for about 200m till it turned south and followed it for a while. The depression was easy to find. Back to the road and up to the open area where it was a short run to the tree, then back to the drink station, downed my cup of water, and beeped the finish control. 

1:22.15. Seventh place out of 16, so happy with that. 

Lifting last week

 Monday, 3 June heavy

• SQ: 4x5 @255
• OHP: 4x2 @112.5
• CR: 4x12

Squat was programmed for 4x5 at 255 pounds, but no. It was 4, 4, 3, 3. Same with OHP: 2, 2, 1, 1. Ugh. Tried something new with calf raises: Used the barbell and slid it up and down the squat rack. Tried it with 55 pounds. No prob. Added the 20# vest. Fine and easy. Next time will do heavier without the vest. 

Thursday, 6 June light

• SQ: 2x5 @215
• OHP: 2x5 @97.5
• DL: 275x3

Squat easy. Same with OHP. Deadlift, not so much. Only one rep. I suck. Going to have to read in Barbell Prescription what I'm to do next. 

Saturday, 8 June medium

• SQ: 3x5 @230
• OHP: 3x3 @102.5
• CR: 4x10
• Superset: chin-ups and hammer curls

Squat was only 2 sets, not 3. OHP was as programmed. For the calf raises used the barbell again and loaded 95 pounds. Could only do 10 reps. Will go till 4x15 then up the weight. Chin-ups were 6, 10, 10, 10 with varying bands. Hammer curls with 20# db: 10, 8, 8, 8. 

Lots of swimming last week too: 7.5 miles over 5 hours. Lots of chop in National Harbor this past week. Had to fight the water. 

Washington's Crossing: Avoided the bridge this year! (Edited w/results)

 I have not had to work so hard for a swim in a very, very long time. 

This year's Washington's Crossing was a blast. I earned it this year. The chop was significant in the middle of the Potomac. The wind was north, but the tide and current was south, and a bunch of us got pushed way south of the buoys and needed the kayakers to reorient us. But let me go back: What is Washington's Crossing?

So basically what you've got is a swim from National Harbor, MD across the Potomac to Jones Point in Alexandria, VA. At that point you're technically in Maryland, Virginia and DC, which is kinda neat. The Coast Guard shuts down the river for this event, which is also neat. There are also a ton of volunteer kayakers out on the water for safety. It is an all-around great swim.

Usually, I get pushed north and end up almost under the Woodrow Wilson bridge up there. I was intent this time on that not happening. Instead, I got pushed south (with a bunch of people) and had to be redirected toward the buoys. Here's 2022:

And if I had had my GPS in 2020, you would have seen a similar track. I ended up doing 2.8-ish miles from a 2.5 mile course in those years. This year though? Mucho better.

Right!?! Much better. GPS said 2.6 miles. We'll have to see what the official time is, but my phone said under 2 hours. 

So let's talk about how I get these track. I use a safety buoy which is basically a blow up orange buoy that floats behind me, attached to a strap around my waist. It settles somewhere between my butt and the back of my knees. I put my phone in it, after starting the track in the Runkeeper app. Thing is I have to start the track, then put the phone in my buoy, then flip down the top, clip it shut, then blow it up, then jump in the water, then wait for the start horn. Reverse that on the end. So that adds some minutes. Currently, my times says I swam that in 1:59.16, so official time should be under that. 

But there's more! When I jumped in, I started to move out of the way of the faster swimmers and saw my buddy Tom. I joked with him that the deal was I'd be on his back while he swam, then I looked behind me. My buoy was nowhere to be seen. What!?! I saw it floating away so swam to it quickly and caught it. I found the part around my waist where the clip should connect and tried t reconnect it; no joy. Then the race started. I kept trying. I finally looked at the clip and realized the part that should push in to allow it to clip to the hole had gotten pushed to the outside, so I was pushing two pieces of hard plastic against each other. I fixed that, connected it, then put my head down and started swimming. Pretty much everyone was already way ahead of me. 

Me starting late and concern that my buoy would disconnect again was in my mind for the first 500-odd strokes. Then I thought of nothing but the chop. Like I said, it was brutal. And I saw no other swimmers for a long time. In fact, I saw no one until the halfway mark (big yellow buoy and small green buoy, the turn-around for those doing the half crossing) when a very nice kayaker asked me to push north more toward the buoys. I had gotten pushed so far south! 

As I approached Jones Point I started to see a couple swimmers. Up to then my mind was playing with me: You're gonna get pulled. How embarrassing! I don't mind being the last swimmer. I just don't want to show up at the finish on a boat. So seeing other swimmers made me feel much better. Then after the turn-around I ran into (almost literally) Tom and another swimmer with a bright red buoy. Michelle the kayaker came up to us and gave us advice on getting back considering the current. We put our heads down and swam. I'm not as fast as them, but with some clever navigation I stayed with them almost to the end. Then they gunned it; I think they were back about 3-5 minutes 70 seconds prior to me. My result, first in my age group! All one of us, with a time of 1:55.58. 

It was nice to be done. Everyone was talking about the current and chop. Brutal! But we did it. Now, an hour after finishing and post-shower, I feel like I did some horrible lifting workout (overhead press with 45lb bar for 30 minutes: Go!); I can't lift my arms. Going to the couch to read/nap.

Tom and I at the finish

Lifting week of 27 May

 Monday, 27 May, heavy

• SQ: 4x5 @250
• OHP: 4x3 @110
• DL: 270x5

Well, only the squat went as planned. For OHP it was 3,3,2,2. So next time I'll attempt 112.5 4x2. DL I could only do 3 reps. Next will be 275x3. I'll keep going till I can only do 2, then 1. 

Wednesday, 29 May, light

• SQ: 2x5 @215
• OHP: 2x5 @97.5
• CR: 4x12
• SS: chin-ups and hammer curls, 4x8 each

Squat and OHP went well. Calf raises with the 20# vest and 24kg kettle. Looking to maybe get a 30# or 45# plate for the vest, but they're so damn expensive. For the chin-ups I started with my second least helpful band (30#). Second set was the 40# band. Third was 48# (blue and red bands) and last was two blues giving me 60# of help. Next time will try the chin-ups with the red band (18#) and keep going till I can do all 4x8 w/o bands! Hammer curls with the 20# db.

Friday, 31 May, medium

• SQ: 3x5 @225
• OHP: 3x5 @102.5
• CR: 4x12
• SS: bb row 4x10 and monkey row 4x8. 

Squats were fine, but the OHP turned out to be 3x3. Probably that for the foreseeable future. CR as usual. Barbell row was 105# and monkey rows with 25# db. Those kill me. 

Songs this week: "Liar, Liar," by The Castaways; "I Wanna Destroy You - B Side," by Uncle Tupelo; "Seventeen Seconds," by Cowboy Junkies.

Books this week: Finished P.G. Wodehouse's The Small Batchelor and Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. Started Cheri by Colette.

Lifting week of 20 May

 Monday, 20 May, heavy

• SQ: 4x5 @245
• OHP: 4x3 @107.5
• CR: 4x12
• SS: barbell row 4x10 @115 and monkey row 4x10 w/25# db

Everything felt pretty good although the OHP is getting heavy. Calf raises as usual: 24kg kettle and 20# vest. Have no heavier. Either buy a 35# or 45# plate or do 4x15.

Wednesday, 22 May, light

• SQ: 2x5 @210
• OHP: 2x5 @97.5
• CR: 4x12 as usual
• SS: chin-ups (4x8 w/bands) and hammer curls (4x8 w/20# db)

All easy. Did first set of chin-ups with only one band assistance and felt great. Will try first two sets w/only one band. Burns the arms.

Saturday, 25 May, medium

• SQ: 3x5 @225
• OHP: 3x5 @102.5
• CR: 4x12 again
• SS: row and monkey rows, same as Monday

Decided I'd cycle through those two SS. Also going to pause between deadlifts equal to one week plus a workout. In other words, if I had done DL this week on Monday, 20 May, I wouldn't do it again till light day next week (29 May). I just can't do it every single week. Too heavy. (Spoiler alert: Just did DL. Supposed to be 270x5, but could only do 3.)

Also managed to swim this week, including a 2-mile race. Blog post here.

Great songs this week: "Wow," by Beck; "Violent Times," by St. Vincent; "Hurdy Gurdy Man," by Donovan; and "Dreams," by Sjowgren.

Books this week: Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin; and The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa.

First open water race of the season! (Edited to add Lessons Learned)

 Swam in the Jim McDonnell Lake Swims today. First open water race of the season. I did the 2-mile race. No idea why I didn't sign up for both the 1-mile and 2-mile. Oh well. 

I've done this swim a couple times before, first time being in 2010. I wore that shirt today and one of the volunteers at the check-in remarked on it. The shirt we got today is very nice, but if/when I do this swim again (it's terribly expensive), I'll still wear the 2010 shirt. Maybe the Swim should have a contest for the oldest shirt to show up!

Lake Audubon is the location for this swim. It is very well run, with lots of safety volunteers (I think maybe 15 kayaks & SUPs on the water). 14 buoys, one mile loop. Water was deliciously cool. I was way out of shape! (I only swam 8.5 miles this month prior to today; for that matter, counting today's 2 miles, I've only done 25.5 miles this year! But I'm back in the pool now so more miles are coming.) I grabbed my index card (this is how they track swimmers going in the water) and got in line. 

Back to the JMLS: We all had sensors, and were lined up based on our mile time. There were kids here with 18:00 seed times. I sent in 37:00 and sure enough, my first mile was 37 minutes. Second mile was not. Final time: 1:21. But not last in my age group!

The fun part was my friends who came. I got a pic with one of them (Jen); next swim we'll get a pic, Annie!

Late addendum: Lessons learned. 

Bring a hat. I walked the event shirt back to my car because I thought I had a hat in there. No joy. Lots of sun and look at my head. Shade was my friend. 

And park on the opposite side of Twin Branches. That's where the shade be! (Red arrow is my car.)

Lifting week of 13 May

 Great week again!

Monday, 13 May

• SQ: 4x5 @235
• OHP: 4x3 @105
• CR: 4x12

All felt good. Too tired after calf raises, couldn't do superset. CR was with 20# vest and using the 24kg kettlebell.

Wednesday, 15 May

• SQ: 2x5 @205
• OHP: 2x5 @95

All smooth. Went on a walk with the wife instead of lifting any more.

Friday, 17 May

• SQ: 3x5 @215
• OHP: 3x5 @100
• DL: 265x5

Totally f^cked up and loaded 235 instead of 215. Whoops! Will do 245 on H day next week. 265 deadlift was heavy!

Best songs this week: "Dancer," by IDLES; "Mickey Mouse," by Sparks; "Dancing Barefoot," by Patti Smith; and "Nice 'N" Sleazy," by The Stranglers.

Book read last week: Ill Met by Moonlight, by W. Stanley Moss, and The Boys from Brazil, by Ira Levin.