Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Ran around the lake the other way. Timed well, cooled off, clouded up, very light rain to keep me cool. (Spent about 45 minutes on trail work earlier, cleared about 50m of trail, but then ripped open a thumb blister even with rollerski gloves on; I should probably find work gloves which we probably have here.)

A few FDFs but never got too bad.

Legs quite tired after yesterday.

Seemed like a good day for a bike ride after shopping and berry picking. Mostly cloudy, not too windy, and in the 70s. So I went for my 100k. Felt good up the hills headed down south and then across to hit the 30 mile valley going north, thanks, glaciers. Took a wrong turn and added a couple of miles, turned around when I realized (well, at the top of a hill) and then took 106 straight to shave the ride down by a mile or so.

Started feeling pretty bonky up Chesterville and stopped at the store there for snacks. I only had $6.25 in my emergency stash, which was enough for two snickers and a gatorade, which were duly inhaled. Then felt a little sluggish from the 700 calories (didn't take my emergency goo) up to 156.

Decided not to add the extra hill on Tower Road and stayed on 41, which is nice and repaved, but started having mechanicals. Dropped the chain off the front, and then it wouldn't shift to anything smaller than the middle in the back, so I coasted a lot of hills. Slowed down, hungry and all, although I pushed up the last hill to Kent's Hill, but that was only to get away from a swarm of FDFs: motivation!

A little chafing, but nothing too bad. I think I could probably do 100m with a bit more planning, nutrition, and maybe a cooler day (or earlier in the day).

Okay, this was the way to do Saddleback. The drive up was longer because the last three miles were on something sort of resembling a road. 5:15 alarm again, set out by 7:20. The first mile and a half was up the road, I maybe could have driven the next mile of it, but was fine parking where I did. Then the road became an ATV trail, although it hardly changed, passed the Berry Picker's Trail where I'd loop back to, and climbed steadily. I did some bounding-ish things on the steeper pitches, and mostly kept to a jog, so I hit the AT 43 minutes in, and way less frustrated than the other day, also knowing I wouldn't have to go down it.

I passed a thru-hiker at this junction, and jogged up the mountain. This was my only >20 minute mile, but it was the steep bits, gaining 1200 feet, and then there was some fabulous running across the top. I had plenty of time to skitter down and across some of the granite slabs, at times where I could really lay out, and up to the Horn. Then turned about, ran down and hit the Berry Picker's Trail.

The trail is new, and very lightly used. It was a bit spongy up top, but then was nice rock slabs. More running! Then buggy down to the bottom, but pretty runnable, before I turned and ran the road down to the car. Really nice run.

[Glad I went running in the morning! It's raining now. We do need the rain.]

Another morning lap of the lake. No meeting to get home for, and a bit later start, but it was a lovely morning with the temperatures in the 60s and the humidity blowing out. I ran 9x1 minute intervals on the other side of the lake around marathon pace (or a bit faster) to keep my legs in order, but otherwise took it pretty easy enjoying the dry breeze.

Lake run before a meeting. Cloudy, clammy and foggy. 9:30 up the hill, then low 7s around the lake to the Dam and a push up the Dam hill. 71 minutes, including a run down to the dock for the lake.

Nice SUP trip before the storms. And I think I've been holding the paddle the wrong way. Still, on the way back with the wind I was approaching theoretical maximum hull speed, I think, at about 4 mph (MHS would be about 4.3 knots, or 5 mph). But I don't think it's particularly efficient.

Not sure if it's a decent workout; HR never really comes up (not that I was wearing a strap, because the strap seems not to work) but it's core and balance, so, something.

Mapping septic lines, which infuriatingly weren't mapped in their final alignment a few years ago.

Water lines, which are nearly a century old, will be even more fun.

First rollerski in a long time! In normal times, I'd be out once a week with CSU, at least, by now. Oh, well. Drove to Kent's Hill, then down Route 17, up the Thunder Castle Road to the Chase Road and out its two ends, then a long climb up the Church Road, down to Readfield, and back via the Chase Road and Old Kent's Hill Road. Good pavement, not much traffic, a lovely ski. Cool and breezy, albeit humid and sweaty. Then a lake jump of course.

So, getting on an earlier schedule and without early meetings, I decided to try an early trail run, since I am an hour from the AT.

This sort of worked. It was cool and cloudy, which was nice, and 1:08 to the Saddleback parking lot on Route 4. The original plan was up the mountain, down the Berry Picker's Trail, and back on a road to the trail. I ran up the trail, felt pretty good, and then around mile 2 remembered, this was a wet, slimy (it rained up there), cobwebby trail and it was 3.5 miles to said road.

I decided to just run up the mountain down down. This was good. The mountain was in the sun, cool and breezy, and just gorgeous as the fog was burning off in the valley. Turn around and down, which took a while, because when a trail is wet and slippery you can't go much faster down than up.

But next time! I'll go up the dirt road and do a loop out the road, up the peak, and over and then down. I'm very excited about this, because I think it will be more like a 2:30 trip and I'll get home at a more work-appropriate time (no meetings today, anyway). Also there was a ton of one-lane-road construction on the way home, so it took an extra 15 minutes.