Training Log Archive: RLShadow

At the Rec Center. Some very nice games, others not the greatest, but all in all, a good time.

The highlight was the last game I played. Scott Lipitz, probably one of the best 4-5 players in Rochester (he's a young guy, maybe mid 30's) showed up towards the end, along with a young lady named Cheryl who was also quite good. Mike S. and I played against them, and did more respectably than I would have imagined, losing something like 11-7. It was quite educational playing against them, and actually a lot of fun too. Neither one was terribly overpowering, but they had a great touch game, pretty much never missed, and could put it away decisively when given the opportunity.

At the Rec Center. 6 people; trailsnail, Paul, Cheryl, Lin, Doug, and I.

The most intense workout was when Doug and I were sitting out of doubles action and we played a game of singles. Lots of fun, wouldn't mind playing more singles from time to time, but definitely a workout.

More cleaning up of the driveway and walk, and clearing out the neighbor's driveway where the plow had left a pile of snow.

Good group at the Rec center -- 17 people at the max, I believe we had, on 3 courts. My heel didn't bother me much but it was a little sore after 1.5 hours, so I decided to stop then rather than continue to the bitter end and risk setting back my recovery from whatever it is that ails my heel.

Overall, my touch game was working a bit better than it usually does, which was nice.

This was mainly a trial of a new GPS I got for Christmas, a Garmin Forerunner 10. I wanted to make sure AP could read it OK, which it can.

I'm not overly impressed by the Forerunner 10, but I can't say I wasn't forewarned. It is a significantly dumbed-down version of other Garmin wrist GPS units. For example, it's possible to see your current pace, but there is no way to display your overall average pace, which I find more valuable, because the instantaneous pace can be all over the map just from momentary poor reception, inherent errors that kind of come out in the wash over time but can give highly variable current pace readings, etc. There's also no way to see altitude, as another example; GPS altitude isn't real accurate when it involves relatively small elevation changes, but I found it very helpful when climbing Mt. Marcy or Pike's Peak -- it was plenty accurate to get some sense of how many vertical feet I had climbed and how much climb was left.

Based on this one very limited trial, it also doesn't seem as accurate, when comparing the GPS track to where I know I walked, than the 205.

On the plus side, it's more compact than the 205-type GPS units, and has a nicer (more physically solid) interface with the computer.

Another urban dog walk, again checking things out for the Rochester map adventure. Shorter than previous ones because my left heel is still ailing a bit. I'm hoping this relatively short walk didn't hinder its healing.