Training Log Archive: Lori

Hiking with Sam and Presto around the Abbott Loop in Danby State Forest! Sam had found this trail online and thought it seemed like our best option for hiking (as opposed to running) nearby. The loop was very pretty with snowy trees, some nice topography, and a plethora of mostly frozen stream crossings. There was a single view that claimed to see out to some pinnacles, but actually just looked out to more rolling hills - very nice, but I must admit, I was expecting something rockier... Presto was SUPER excited to be outside in the snowy forest. There was about 2 inches of snow over ice, so the footing was ok, and Presto didn't sink in too deep, so he was very happy. I wore my boots to see how they would do. The verdict is mixed. My feet stayed warm and dry, which was great, but I have some small blisters. Really great to be outside for a good chunk of the day!

Normal stretching back home after acquiring bubble tea! The students appear to be making their way back and all the restaurants are opening back up for takeout. Hopefully Cornell will manage to keep COVID under control again this semester, but I imagine it will be a challenge with the higher prevalence, new variants, and colder temperatures... Fingers crossed!

Running with Sam and Presto after not-lab! Started on our magic loop and then bumbled around a little bit looking for a trail that Sam thought existed but does not exist or at least does not exist in the winter time. This loop is not magical like the shorter loop and has some very obvious uphill sections. It continues to dribble snow in a manner that is pretty, but doesn't really amount to anything. It seems like Ithaca has some microclimates, though, and we've heard that the snow is decent at Hammond Hill, so we are going to try for some skiing this weekend!

C • Hammond Hill 14

Normal abs.

Normal stretching.

Running with Sam and Presto after not-lab! Just a nice, easy evening run. It was chilly tonight, but felt good once I got going. Presto was very excited to get back inside the nice, warm house when we got home. We might have to alternate the direction we run this in if we want to keep our climbing legs in shape. Somehow the direction we usually run seems to have tons of downhill and basically no uphill, which obviously can't be true...so maybe the uphill is just gentle enough that I don't notice??

C • Downhill no uphill 3

Normal abs.

Normal stretching.

Just a bunch of walking around Ithaca - from the car mechanic to work, around campus a bit, back to the car mechanic, and then to and from my COVID test through Palmer Woods a bit more successfully this time. We saw a huge hawk eating a pigeon right on the trail on the way to my COVID test. It was pretty impressive!

Running with Presto around Ithaca! I headed out to do the longer of our 2 evening loops, but on my way to the gorge I noticed a trail into Palmer Woods that I obviously had to check out. I didn't really have any idea where the trail went or anything about Palmer Woods, but what could go wrong? Not much, as it turns out, because Palmer Woods is very, very small, but the trail did not go where I wanted to go. (Presto was very skeptical of this entire adventure once it became clear that snow, ice, and mud were involved...) I eventually just cut cross-country over a hill and found some trails that went vaguely where I wanted to go, but I ended up getting spat out onto a road that I was not intending to go on. I eventually made my way to Beebe lake at a different point than usual, and decided to run on the trails all the way around the lake before heading down to the suspension bridge and back home. Fun, fun!

Normal abs.

Normal stretching.