Training Log Archive: Charlie

Event: Hudson Highlander XVIII
 

Hudson Highlander XVIII

I had it in mind to walk the whole way, but leaving the start I was almost keeping up with Phil, Peggy, Bernie and Nadim walking, and so a little jogging kept me in the group. It definitely wasn't comfortable, though. On the flatter sections they would pull away, and maybe out of sight, but then on the hills I could walk faster and I caught up. It was definitely fun to be with them, but I was going faster than I was comfortable, and not really planning my own routes. We did a lot of the trail run leg in reverse, going to #2, and then going to #6 and #7. On 3, Phil went straight up and over and I stayed with Bernie, Peggy and Nadim going a little right to scrub off a line or two of climb. Phil seems to have gotten a bit ahead there, and I was doing my own navigating to 3, 4, 5 and 6 anyway. Phil stopped short on the way to 8 and we caught up to him again.

The trail run was hard, trying to stay with the group. Again, they got away a few times, but came back to me on the uphills. Happy to get off Surebridge to the easier to see Rockhouse map. 11 was easy, and saw Alex on her way to 17 right after. I was heading more or less right to 12, but Peggy was reading a bit better and saw the right cliff developing before we got to it.

Then down the big reentrant toward 13. Phil headed up earlier and I followed him, but we were still too far left, when we saw Bernie, et al further down the hill. We all converged. We saw Glen a bit further along, but apparently he had already punched, and we had to go back uphill for it. By then, a stick in my shoe was getting intolerable, so I tried to get it out and catch back up, but it took me a while to tie it with cold hands, and I just caught a glimpse of Phil before they all disappeared into the mountain laurel. I tried valiantly to catch up, catching sight of them a few times, but working harder on finding them than on finding the control. Headless chicken? Pushed through some heavy mountain laurel and got out to the marsh, but a fair amount left of the control, and saw them coming toward me. Tried again to catch up, and again they disappeared. I was following the faint trail west and lost it, wandering around in some dense laurel for a while before figuring out that I was near the marsh S of the trail. Fought my way through horrible laurel, finally hitting the large E-W trail well W of the way to 15, where I saw my group again and knew that they were way too far ahead to catch. So a relief, more or less. Studying the map leaving 15 I walked right into an overhanging chestnut oak branch, smacking the top of my head pretty hard and falling down. But then I just chilled out, had a GU, took the trail until near the marsh NW of 12 and 16, up and over from there and got my confidence back. Caught a little laurel on the way to 17, but in good contact all the way, and easy to find 18, too, although I whacked my ankle on a rock near there. Interminably slow slogging along the road to 19. At that point I was under 5 hours, and it seemed reasonable to do the last loop in 1:30, but that might have involved some jogging, which wasn't going to happen. I saw Dave Onkst, a cadet, and Stina Bridgeman all heading from 20 to 31 when I was on my way to 25. The southern loop on Sebago was particularly pleasant, including a very brief visit from Ian, who was moving quickly when he passed me near 27. I was thinking I ought to be careful looking for 30, but then I saw it from a good 150 M away, so that was easy. Back by the tennis courts and across the footbridge, thought about going up and over, but decided that it would only save about 100 M and be harder navigation than just going around, and indeed around was trivial. I could see the bag from the trail. Down to the road and then up through the houses. Bag was on the ground, but I could see the ribbon around the tree from a distance. A slow jog in. HH XVIII in the books!

Part 1 - Surebridge
Part 2 Trail Run- Surebridge
Part 3 - Rockhouse
Part 4 - Sebago

Great organization, super grill-master Max, pleasant ride home with J-J, Jeff and Ernst.

C • Streak stays alive! 16

HL - Splits

Abbreviated series of the usual exercises.

11 pull-ups on the rings.

Rhonda's morning class.

11 ring pullups, on the way back in from class

With R&S, from the backyard down the eagle scout trail through the town's open space property. Includes a lengthy stop (10 min or so) to visit with our neighbor Alis, whom we haven't seen in some time, and who was equipped with 2 dogs, good company for Sassy.

Weekly session with Eric. Good progress.

10 ring pullups, 'cuz J-J did it.

C • peer pressure 2

Rhonda's morning class, or at least most of it.

Trotting around in McLean with Rhonda.

Posted the maps from the weekend, Day 1 and Day 2. Relocation was never a strong suit for me.

The usual exercises. The bridge series is really great. The squats maybe a bit too much, and I am likely to cut down on them some. Otherwise very good. I am doing squats, one-leg balancing and planks on the BOSU, which is pretty favorable.

Up Sandy Brook rd and back with Rhonda. This is certainly much easier than anything we did in Sicily, and goes a lot faster.