Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Mystery Blazes loop, just toodling along, not too ambitious. Kind of humid again.

TSFE-Morse-RR loop. Exceptionally pleasant weather for a run. I wore my 2006 Billygoat shirt, which I'm pretty sure I had never worn before yesterday, because I never really cared for it. My memory had been that the RR trail would be gradually downhill the whole way, and the contours indicate that this is true, but it felt like the opposite. AOWC: in a picturesque clearing in the northern part of the TSF map, I spotted a weightlifting bench. I wonder what possessed someone to drag that all the way out there.

33:45 - 16:59 - 28:56

Hrmphf. Out for an adventurous run in East Boston Camps during what I was estimating would be the teeth of the storm (formerly Hurrican Irene), at about 11:20 AM. Light rain when I started, though it got a bit heavier halfway through. Breezy, but just a few small twigs had been blown down, and I was able to get around all of the puddles. I've seen stronger winds on days when I was hoping to go flying, and I've orienteered in worse conditions (I've also set courses for races that were held in worse conditions). Here I was hoping to be fearing for my life, and it was just an ordinary run in the rain. How disappointing.

C • Hurricane 1

Mom got a truckload of firewood delivered a couple of days ago, and I deemed it a reasonable idea to get it stacked up and covered with a tarp before the weather hits. I was hurrying a bit, because my mother's friend Mary wanted to come and help me out, but when she does that she just gets in the way. She was waiting for the phone company guy to come do something at her house, so with a concerted effort I got it done before she was able to arrive and "help". The woodpile extends a ways from where the heap was, so a bunch of this involved picking up pieces of firewood and heaving them 20 feet or so. Then I did a few more things like putting the glass in her doors instead of screens, and closing the attic windows. Because it's supposed to rain, and get windy.

Another trivial amount of schlepping HG gear at the Mohawk Trail (7 minutes or so), and then lugging the glider through a field of thick grass after landing. The main thing I'm lacking in this regard is upper body strength. I find it pretty difficult to get a 72 pound glider up onto the roof of an SUV by myself.

Townsend State Forest. 20 years ago, when we first made this map, I intended to go scope out Pitcher Bog and see if I could find the pitcher plants, but I never got around to it. I decided that today was the day. Parked across from the old senior center and ran up through Orphan Quarry, continued on trails to the top of the map, cut into the woods at the big cliff so I could check out the nice woods inside the fence, and came out on the trail that leads to Barker Hill Rd. Pitcher Bog may have been a crossable marsh when Mikell did the fieldwork, but these days it looks a lot like Big Down, courtesy of some beaver action. I looked along the edge a little bit, and didn't see any pitcher plants, but I may not have been looking in the right places, and I'm not sure what they look like anyway. Or maybe they got flooded out. Anyway, I was thinking of continuing up to Morse Rd. and taking that to the railroad bed and coming back that way, but I couldn't remember how far it was, and after going up the road a way, I figured I must have remembered wrong. In truth, I just stopped a little too soon. Just as well, I had been out long enough anyway. Back down the road, then cut through the thick woods and bashed through a little laurel to get back to the trails. Maybe 50% trails, 25% pavement, 25% woods. Didn't see any pitcher plants, but I did go past a herd of turkeys.

The GPS track is seriously screwed up. Looks like it didn't start recording until I was about halfway done, and even then it was all wonky until I was halfway down Barker Hill Rd. The last 3 km looks accurate. That's what I get for turning it on just before I start running. When I go flying, I turn it on before I even pack up my glider bags, so it has plenty of time to acquire satellites.

C • gps 1

Wanted to do something, but something different. Muggy evening, so I went over my options in my mind and decided to try a loop I hadn't done before. Out on the road to the bottom of Holman, then got onto the Lane trail from that end, and took it to Mystery Blazes, and did the Mulpus Brook section, but kept going along the brook until it came out on the main trail where the glaciers form. The last section (beyond where I usually turn right and leave the stream bank) was kind of thick with laurel, and the very last part featured a patch of poison ivy, so I don't see any need to go through there again. Not much exercise, but at least it was something. Distance is an estimate from a sketch on gmap-pedometer, which I think has had a recent facelift, though they don't seem to have added any obvious features of any interest to me.

Mystery Blazes loop, cool but very, very humid, and a lot of FDFs around (not biting much, but getting stuck in my hair a lot). Low energy, thought about adding a Mulpus loop, but the woods were thick and wet and slippery, so I was insufficiently motivated.

Ascutney hike to launch, double trip.

The Madchester, street-O posted by Rex. Since I needed to go up to Manchester anyway to pick up Stephen, this seemed like a pretty reasonable way to get some exercise. Mid-afternoon, warm and humid, and a lot of jaywalking. Late at night would be the best time to do this.

Mystery Blazes loop, warm muggy afternoon. I was feeling lethargic, so I put on my 13 US Champs gold medals as a lucky talisman, and since some of them were from night-O and canoe-O, I wore the hatlamp and carried a paddle for good measure. The result was a respectable time, considering. There were definitely FDFs buzzing around my head, and I plucked a few from my hair, but none bit. I'm sure a blue hat would have yielded a bountiful harvest.

A lot of heavy-duty dumb stuff swinging into view in Attackpoint discussion right about now. Time for J-J to shut the hell up and make sure he doesn't say the dumbest stuff of all.

C • indeed! 1