Training Log Archive: Rosstopher

Jeff proposed an icy loop of the skyline trail in the Blue Hills, so we drove down and did the normal route, but things were damp, foggy, rainy, slushy and thus a little (alright, a lot) slower than normal. It was kinda fun to run in these conditions, but pushing against the snow was certainly harder work than just trail running. The climbs were especially slow because the steepness didn't mix well with the slipperiness ( which, incidentally, is a cool looking word).

We found several pockets of very cold air hovering over the trail, but I couldn't discern any pattern to why those areas were chillier than the rest of the trail.

That evening, friends came over and we played some board games. Smallworld and Carcassone ( which reminds me of Trondheim, Neil we should play sometime soon) and had a fun looking, and very tasty meal of chicken fried rice with leeks and cranberries.

Not much left in the pan after dinner.

C • Brevity... 3

C • Carcassonne 10

Have to start a new year with some orienteering! Sam and I headed out to Prospect to hang streamers for a long overdue semi-permanent course for the CSU training crowd. The woods there are fantastic (as long as you avoid the scarily steep cliff sections) but there have been a lot of changes in recent years and I must have an older map file. I know that Jeff is updating things, but in the meantime I just moved a few point to safer control sites. I will need to get the map out to the list soon!

Anyway, snow was pretty good for running around ( that is to say, not too crusty) and we had fun taking turns leading to controls or splitting up to hang separate streamers and then rejoining. Would have been nice to spend a little more time in the woods, but we were already late for dinner and games at the Saeger/Karpinski household.

Let me know if you're interested in running some training courses in the Boston area and you're not already on the CSU Training list... all abilities are welcomed and cherished in our group, so don't be shy if you'd like to do some good training this year.

Running with Sam out and around the neighborhood. My new jacket (thanks Sam and thanks commercialization of Christmas) is much much warmer.

With the rest of the day I did even more laundry, some much needed cleaning of the house and some purchasing of a featherbed as a present for Sam (well I guess I benefit too). The bed is way softer now, but perhaps too soft? Will need to wait and see.

Also prepared some excellent snacks for our New Year's Eve party. I stole Alex's idea for prosciutto wrapped sweet potatoes with sage and just added some blue cheese and rosemary to the mix. Mmm, delicious :)

Happy 2011 to everyone.

C • 2011 6

Backlogging these days. Quick commute to work. It's tough to leave the house when Sam is still abed.

Feeling motivated to get some more training in, so three laps of the pond and then back to the lab to finish up the ELISA.

I am really happy with the excel spreadsheet I made today, it's got a formula with 7 nested IF functions and it automates a very dull task that I will be doing a lot of in the coming weeks.

To work. Meaning to do more running this week, but it's so tempting to just come home and hang out instead.

Morning commute in the snow. The sidewalk that is never shoveled in the winter is still not shoveled... nor to I expect it to get touched at all this year either. I wonder why it bugs me so much.

They've added a bike lane since last winter (yay progress) so running next to the sidewalk isn't such a bad option during the snowy months.