Training Log Archive: Charlie

Ansonia Winter Series course. I arrived a bit before 10 and headed out, getting back in time to visit a bit with Peter and Phil who had just arrived, and also with Matt, Ching-Hua, Tai and Rocky, also just arrived. Peter, Phil and Ching-Hua all went out to do the course and I hung out with Matt and the boys, gradually drifting over to the start finish, where soon enough Peter showed up, and then Phil.

As for the course. No sign of the flag at #1, but the boulder was pretty unmistakable. Took trails a good part of the way to #2, leaving the trail before the last spur and coming right to it. Hard to see the flag because it was very low and very faint. Apparently screwed up the compass line to 3, as I went by it, thinking it was the earlier boulder to the left, and then turned back when I didn't find any more boulders. Probably about a minute and a half. Then was doing fine on the way to 4, except got sucked off to the cliff to the left, which looked like more on the ground than on the map, so maybe another minute here. 5 was pretty awful. Didn't see what I was expecting, navigated to what I thought was the rock but didn't see the flag, and not sure. So started checking things a bit further north, looking across at cliffs to try to triangulate, wandered some more, then back to the original rock, and there was the flag tucked in low. To 6 I stopped and looked a bit early, but then pressed on and got it with no further problem. Maybe 30 seconds at most. 7 was fine, up the flat reentrant, across the trail between the knolls and then a left turn between cliffs to get in among the boulders. 8 was really fine, marsh, spur, rocky knoll, crossed the big trail, big boulder on the right, big double boulder and should be the cliff on the other side of the bare rock in front of me, but didn't see it. So looked around, went to the next bare rock which wasn't it, of course, because it was on the first one, but just tucked in enough that I hadn't seen it. 9 was a good route, fairly straight along the hillside, saw the correct hill developing in front of me, up and over into the small shallow reentrant and - no control! So looked around at the big boulders in front of me and to the right, checked the mpa again, and there was the control, on the ground! So picked it up and tied it off and on my way. No trouble with 10, but again just a bit tucked in, and no trouble to the finish. No falls.

C • Beta 2

Then pretty quickly off to Osbornedale. Phil went off before I got to the start. Peter started about a minute or so ahead of me and I never saw him. I could feel the legs after the first course, but up and over the wall and along the hillside, maybe a little loose, but after a bit I saw a nice-sized boulder ahead of me and was glad it was the right one. Up and over, down the reentrant and drifting to the left, saw the big rock on the edge of a s facing small reentrant, and stayed above it and down the the boulder at the top of the next reentrant, Felt lucky. Stayed up fairly near the big cliffs, then straight to the reentrant. Easy. Out to the trail, trail to the left, climbed a bit, then left the trail to the right to contour. After a bit I saw Phil obviously headed toward 5, figured I was too high and turned downhill a line or so to find it. To 5, up and over, across the stone wall, saw some boulders in the nasty barberry and went right to them. Saw a bit of Phil up ahead as I climbed to 6, and took my only fall of the day, stepping on leaves over bare rock and sliding out to the side. No harm done. Climbing was pretty hard. Up to the trail, crossed the stone wall between the rocky knolls and down along the wall that met it at right angles, curving around to the right and climbing the reentrant and the spur to it. Maybe extra climb, but a pretty easy route to execute. Over the top again and down the same reentrant as from 1 to 2. Thought I had gone far enough but didn't see anything, kept going and clear I was in the reentrant too far, so back and found the tiny reentrant that I couldn't see from above. On compass, down the hill, to the big rock, but no control. Then along the stream checking big rocks - nothing, all the way to the trail. Then I read the description. Oh, E side of the boulder. Easy from there, back to where I first arrived checking W sides. Pretty straight to 9, reading the nasty vegetation and the spur going up the hill and then I could see the boulder. Nasty getting through the barberry to the first wall, then up by the second wall, read the boulders and knolls until I could see the flag ahead of me. By now my L achilles was really sore, but easy enough to get back to the start. A short visit with Matt, Hua, Phil and Peter and then home.

Ansonia WS#4 - Splits

Osbornedale WS#4 - Splits

Still a little wobbly, but much improved since yesterday. Still feeling sluggish on the rower.

Bands, stretchy stuff, pull downs, push-ups. Did some bulgarian squats with weight which were pretty stressful on the slowly improving L hamstring.

I've been laying off this in deference to my tender hip, which is slowly improving. So worth a try. Didn't press, and still a bit tender in the hip flexors, but didn't do any damage.

Meanwhile, another medical day today. Off to get X-rays of hip and lumbar spine, then blood draws, and a visit to the ENT to see what he makes of MRI I had of my head last week, and whether there is any explanation of my little bouts of vertigo, and also, as long as I am there, to talk about hearing aids. Had a hearing test yesterday which confirms significant deficit in both ears - age related loss of high frequencies in the main. The audiologist was hawking one particular brand, but I figured I'd ask around a bit before jumping on it.

Then there is the matter of whether I would actually wear them, but I guess I'll only find that out by trying them. I did acclimate to eyeglasses after a shaky start with them, basically wear them all the time.

C • Growing old has its drawbacks... 20

Driveway repeats, walking fairly briskly.

With Eric. Fairly benign session, in deference to my recently recovered R hip.

Nice conditions still, but may not last for long. Out with Rhonda. Wrong boots apparently, because we could not convince the heel straps to stay on. Will experiment, assuming there is a next time

4 driveway loops. Just walking, but briskly.

About 60% in yesterday’s tracks, the rest pretty thick going to try to jog.

5 driveway repeats, 3 with Rhonda, 2 by myself.