Wednesday Nov 29 |
 | Orienteering 1:20:00 [2] 4.5 km (17:47 / km) | |
| |
| Picked up most the rest of the controls from Mt Tom. Started out running, but my back was worse than usual, and ended up all walking.
I'm leaving streamers out at control sites 11-22, which makes a very nice (challenging!) red course for winter training (5.8k, 280m climb). I moved the start/finish to the parking area a couple hundred meters down the road (with the white strip) to make better first and last legs. Then do 15, 16, 18, 17, 19, 14, 12, 20, 22, 21, 11, 13. Preprinted maps available. Maybe I can figure out how to post a JPEG. |
Tuesday Nov 28 |
| machines (Bike, L10-14) 45:00 [3] | |
| |
| Increased the level by one every 8 minutes; finished with the 5 minute cooldown. Starts to get hard towards the end, since I keep the RPM at 95. MHR: 140. |
Monday Nov 27 |
| Trail Run 36:46 [3] 4.4 mi (8:22 / mi) | |
| |
| Frost to stone wall and back. My first trail run since the Greylock marathon in September. I've had to keep off trails, except when orienteering, because of my foot, which held up OK today. The back got progressively stiffer and sorer on the way out. Then, improved with a good stretch at the turnaround. But sore and stiff again by the time I got back. 8:45, 10:31, 9:42, 7:47. |
Sunday Nov 26 |
| |
| Event: NEOC Mt Tom
|
Saturday Nov 25 |
| Orienteering 40:00 [2] 4 km (10:00 / km) | |
| |
| Put out the rest of the controls at Mt Tom, jogging a bit more vigorously. With my back feeling better than yesterday, this was a very pleasant outing. |
Friday Nov 24 |
| Orienteering 40:00 [2] 4 km (10:00 / km) | |
| |
| Putting out controls for Sunday's meet at Mt Tom; just logged the time jogging. I'll finish tomorrow since my back was complaining quite a bit today. The woods are just perfect. Any able-bodied orienteer will be very sorry to miss Sunday's meet.
I talked briefly with a couple of guys putting 8 foot cages around some small hemlocks deep in the northeast kingdom. Something about introducing predators that feed on the wooly algid. They had also put out a huge number of streamers, in many colors. When I first saw the streamers, before I talked with the two guys, I thought maybe they were for a network of new bike trails. Now it's obvious what they are for! |
| |
| C • able bodies... 3 |
Wednesday Nov 22 |
| Orienteering 20:00 [2] 2 km (10:00 / km) | |
| |
| At Mt Tom for a bit over an hour, about 20 minutes of which was easy jogging. |
Tuesday Nov 21 |
| machines (bike) 12:00 [3] | |
| |
| Short warm-up. |
| grass 8:47 [2] 0.95 mi (9:15 / mi) | |
| |
| One lap around UMass field. Nerve pain in my toe was so bad it kept my mind off of my back: counterirritant. |
Monday Nov 20 |
| machines (bike, h12) 45:00 [3] | |
| |
| |
Sunday Nov 19 |
| machines (elliptical) 30:00 [3] | |
| |
| Back not happy doing this, maybe from the stretching and strengthening exercises beforehand. But going "cold turkey" on exercise doesn't work for me, physically or mentally. |
Saturday Nov 18 |
| Note | |
| |
| An hour and a half of walking/orienteering at Mt Tom. Wide open woods. Back sore, but improving. |
Thursday Nov 16 |
| machines (bike) 40:00 [3] | |
| |
| Some progress. Haven't solved the sleep problem. |
Wednesday Nov 15 |
| machines (bike) 35:00 [3] | |
| |
| Good to do something, although running is still a long ways in the future. |
Saturday Nov 11 |
| |
| Event: BATONA 500
|
| Orienteering race 1:09:20 [3] 6.35 km (10:55 / km) | |
| |
| DVOA "Batona 500", Day 1, Green, in the NJ Pinelands. Interesting terrrain with subtle contours, but too much blueberry for my taste.
My back, which had been hurting all week, "went out" as I was leaving 5. No fall: I had messed up 5, thought "let's pick it up a little", and with a slight twisting motion, it "snapped". Then, I lost concentration and wandered around NW of 6 until I finally went to the trail to relocate. I continued on, trying to ignore the pain (my legs were working!), using a very short stride to minimize twisting, and I finished the course with just a couple small errors. I'm not sure it was wise to finish, but that's what I'm programmed to do: after 5, find 6, then find 7, ... then head to the finish.
When I finished, it quickly became obvious my weekend was over - my back muscles seized up, and any twisting or bending was very painful. So, after hanging around for a few hours, I headed home. Ten hours of driving for 69 minutes of not very good orienteering. Well, you take your chances ...
As I write this on Sunday morning, I'm totally crippled, unable to stand up straight, or walk without holding on. There's no position - lying, sitting, or standing - that isn't somewhere between discomfort and pain. I'm about to fill a presciption for a muscle relaxant, which I hope will help. The only question is whether this will take weeks or months to heal. No more racing this year.
I'm sure Charlie had something to do with this: some sort of actuarial voodoo. |
| |
| C • Ouch 7 |
| |
|
Day 1 Green X - Splits |
Thursday Nov 9 |
| machines (elliptical) 30:00 [3] | |
| |
| |
Tuesday Nov 7 |
| Orienteering 1:15:53 [3] 5.4 km (14:03 / km) | |
| |
| Norwottuck, made a "green" course using points from my 2004 score-o, coming at most of them from new directions. Pretty accurate overall (except for mistaking an unmapped trail for a mapped trail losing 3-4 minutes), but a lot of hesitation and not moving very fast: partly a sore back, partly low energy, partly just the amount of thick vegetation, deadfall, and rocky ground.
Came at the junk car this time from the south and nailed it: it never saw me coming (it points to the north).
Had an orienteering first: while reading the map I head-butted a tree - not a branch, mind you, but a 1-2 foot diameter trunk. Staggered around for 10-20 seconds, then went on my merry way. |
| |
| C • I head-butted a tree
Just b... 3 |
| Trail Run 20:00 [2] 2.0 mi (10:00 / mi) | |
| |
| Some easy jogging getting from the visitor center to the south side and back. They've expanded the quarry south, engulfing the trail that runs by it. |
Monday Nov 6 |
| Road Run (tempo) 35:10 [4] 4.9 mi (7:11 / mi) | |
| |
| UMass loop after dark, but still around 50 degrees. A decent effort, but didn't feel very fluid with my foot and back both bothering me. |
Sunday Nov 5 |
| Orienteering 1:00:00 [2] 4 km (15:00 / km) | |
| |
| Mt Tom. Nice outing, but didn't feel like exerting myself. |
Saturday Nov 4 |
| |
| Event: WCOC Sessions Woods
|
| Orienteering race 1:03:25 [4] 6.14 mi (10:19 / mi) | |
| |
| Sessions red course, had a bunch of legs the same as the the green I did last year in the snow. Perfect fall weather. A good physical effort, and worst miss was about one minute, plus lost a minute or two doing some extra rock climbing on the way to 11. |
| |
|
Red - Splits |
Thursday Nov 2 |
| Road Run 25:18 [2] 2.8 mi (9:02 / mi) | |
| |
| Late night run at UMass, after a long day. Foot complaining again. |
Wednesday Nov 1 |
| Orienteering 1:00:00 [2] 4 km (15:00 / km) | |
| |
| Mt Tom, flagging the rest of the controls. Blew off work to take advantage of the Indian summer. I was out for two hours, but no more than one hour counts as aerobic. |