Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Oh such a nice ride out to Stow. Out through Harvard on Concord Ave (all the lights!) and over the hill (and more lights) and in to Belmont (more lights) and then … a hill! And then not many more hills.

Really nice biking, people would pass me, and then I would pass them when there were 50 cars backed up. Stupid narrow roads with no shoulders make it hard to pass cars. But only about a mile on 126 and 27, the rest on back roads. Hit Sherman's Bridge a little too fast (wood!) and then went past Aim's house, then back to his house, then realized it was probably at the park and it was! Beautiful day for riding.

I guess I should warm up? Or something?

So we all mispunched. I ran out real quick, and won most of the first splits, even though my legs felt heavy. Messed up 4, though, and then met Alex at 5, which was on the wrong little hill. Then the beach volleyballers sort of pointed at it and we found it.

Then we ran together, and I even led some legs, and we took some different route choices—with me bashing more because why not—and came through the field together. Then I bashed to 14 and she took the trails and I lost 30 seconds. Navigated well to the house, and then mispunched one of the four controls around there reading ahead. Whoops.

In through the big hole and to the end. Fun race, and a nice little area with enough foliage and little terrain and such to be interesting.

I had offers of a ride from Larry and Sara Mae and from Alex and Ed, but figured each would take just as long as the train, and with Alex and Ed, I'd have to bike home in the dark. It was still light, and I donned my gear and biked up for the 8:15 in South Acton. Really nice ride. A KOM painted on the first turn and a nice hill with a polka-dot shirt spraypainted at the top, which was more climbing than I wanted to do, but so be it. Then a nice flat cruise to South Acton, and in in time for the train, which was early! But then lost a couple minutes with all the construction slow orders on the way in.

And the the ride home from Porter, sprinting down Mass Ave, making the right guesses as to what the dumb cars were doing.

Sprint - Splits

Oh, wow. So I went to November Project expecting to run 50 sections. Instead, we did 5 minute intervals racing people all out. It was very, very hard. Basically 1 mile repeats with 2 minutes rest.

After three, I puked a little bit and took a breather.

Yum?

I'm not a sprinter.

Boss wanted something delivered. Asked if I wanted to go on a bike ride. Does the pope shit in the woods?

Strava on my phone pooped the bed, so time and distance estimated.

I was going to go for a run. All my shorts were recently laundered and drying on the porch which, given the weather, meant not drying. "It's cold," my roommate said, "wear tights."

Sure thing. Wind briefs on (because why not) and then tights. Except I couldn't find tights. Or anything ski tight related. In neither of the drawers under my bed. Or on the porch, or the back stairs, or any drawer, or my car. I began to think that I gave them away during a very successful Spring Cleaning. But all of my ski suits? Some of which I quite like? Jesus.

Well, after 25 minutes of apoplectic searching, I found the other box under my bed with all the winter stuff. So there's that. But now it's 8. I think I'll go play rollerboard instead.

Got home in time for a run, and it was spitting rain. So cool I wore a jacket and gloves! High of 49, second time ever that a June day in Boston has stayed below 50. Ever. (Ocean still cold from the winter!)

Anyway, the run was fine, did a few 200-ish pickups on the bridge and along the river. Then came in to Cambridge and ran to Star Market because I needed cranberries for my smoothies. Fun fact: frozen cranberries are cheapest at Stars:

Hannaford: Not available.
Market Basket: $3.99 for 8 oz ($8/lb)
Whole Foods: $3.99 for 16 oz (4lb, but I have a 10% off gift card there for now)
Stars: $1.99 for 12 oz ($2.65/lb)

Amazing how it's triple the cost at Demoulas!

Anyway, I got my cranberries (five bags!) and also needed milk. But before I got milk I checked out cereal: Rice Krispies 4/$10 for 12 oz boxes. I got two. Then I noticed "buy four boxes of Rice Krispies, get a free milk." So I bought two more boxes, and a gallon of milk. And then Haagen Dazs was on special for $2.49 for 14 oz (not a pint!).

So for $26 I got:

4 boxes of Rice Krispies ($10)
1 gallon of milk (free)
~4 pounds of cranberries ($10)
A bag of chocolate chips
A "pint" of Haagen Dazs

So as much as I rag on Stars, even a blind squirrel is right twice a day.

This has been the most pointless long log entry.

So my sister has been telling me to come to yoga for some time now, and since it was raining out and I put in 4 hours yesterday I figured what the heck. Went to a yoga for runners class which apparently had more core than usual. Minimal bullshit although there was the a shavasana which apparently is the end of every yoga session which is nice, but basically nap time, so I guess that's okay. Anyway, seems moderately useful. I could certainly afford to be more flexible!

Then it went from 70 to 50 and it's cold and pouring rain now.

C • Nap time 1

Canoeing around the lake. Canoeing is fun, and the views here are great.

After a lazy morning, I wanted to go on a trail run / hike. I settled on the Kinsman Pond Trail to the Kinsman Ridge Trail and down the Lonesome Lake Trail (the top part). A few trails I've never been on. A warm, muggy day, but a bit of a breeze, and few bugs. Jogged down the Cascade Brook trail and up Kinsman Pond, which got wet and very rocky, but not too, too bad. Trail run or hike? I was trying to run, it was just super rocky. Some melting snow pack where the snow had blown off the frozen Kinsman Pond in to what must have once been an impressive drift (only snow of the day) and then, heck, up North Kinsman. Nice view!

Passed a party of about a half dozen guys on the way down, hung a left on to the Kinsman Pond trail for up and down and up and down. Fun trail. One group of college kids in over their heads, but they're probably fine, just very tired. Asked "where's Kinsman" and I said "a couple miles that way" and didn't have the heart to say it was up and down and up and down. Hit the LLT for a nice jog back to the hut, and a jump in the lake, which was very refreshing and cool but not cold.

Packed up my bag and took a nice, easy hike down the LLT. About halfway down I passed the party of guys I'd seen on North Kinsman a few hours earlier, one injured (ankle, state unknown but not walkable), and they were carrying him down. I offered to help out but they said they were fine, I offered to go down and get ice for them and maybe some other supplies; there are so many search and rescues out of that parking lot I figured maybe the state park would have some SAM splints or something.

Ran down to the state park office: nothing. Great. It didn't seem worth calling in Fish and Game or Pemi SAR; by the time they got there the party would probably be most of the way down; they were moving, but slowly. But there was a guy who had gone down for their party to drive a car to the trailhead. I went to check the packhouse to see if there was anything—a SAR box, perhaps?—but figured it would be empty. It very nearly was. There were three items: a gallon of bleach. A camp stove propane canister. And a litter. With shoulder straps! Well that might be useful. Drove it to the trailhead, and while the other guy (an older fellow; most of the party was although the patient appeared to be in his 30s) called them to tell them to wait I shouldered it and ran up the trail.

They were about a third of a mile in. We put the patient on the litter, packaged him in (okay: everyone with extra clothes, take them out of your packs!), and began the much more comfortable (for everyone, especially the guy with the sprained/broken ankle) walk down to the car. Strava weirded out but it probably took 20 minutes, not bad for a litter carry with only about 8 people who had never done one before. It took a couple of tries to get protocol down ("one two three, lift on three") and get people using the shoulder straps, but it worked. Definitely worth it, prevented other injuries, and was safer for everyone. Wished them well and walked the litter back to the packhouse.

Now, I have no idea if I was supposed to grab a litter like that from the packhouse (my guess: no, probably because lawyers), especially without a radio or a go-ahead from the AMC or Fish and Game. But it seemed like the best thing to do, and in retrospect all worked out well, so I was happy to help out. And while this is filed under hiking, it is a good strength workout too (both "running" up the trail with a litter over your head, and carrying a guy down it.

Was going to leave early-ish to head up to visit Beo at Lonesome, but then there was traffic up the wazoo and I decided to wait it out. Around 6 it looked like it was easing and by 6:25 when I hit the road it was all gone! Rolled through Cambridge and didn't touch the brakes a lick on 93. 2:23 to Franconia Notch including a scotch stop at the liquor store.

Ran up the LLT with about 20 pounds on my back. Always deceptively hard. Not surprised my fastest time up the trail (thanks, Strava!) was in the winter (and across the lake). It would be fun to run it for time on a good, hard snowpack in cool weather. 1000 feet in 1.5 miles or so.