Training Log Archive: CleverSky

High Rock, NEOC Winter Training Long course (6.2 km), with Clint. I had installed UsynligO on my phone before realizing that only half of these courses are set up for that, and this wasn't one of them. So I figured, forget it, I'll just run with the map and know where I am, but Clint had O-Range on his watch, so we went out as a team (Nancy was on a different course, and I installed Livelox for her).

Really trashy woods: a mixture of puckerbrush, 2-3 meter white pines, smilax, deadfall, and other crap. A lot of this was walking because trying to run would have led to no good. In good contact the whole time, just pretty far off to the right on #13 after failing to head left after the cliffs, so we went the long way around a little marsh.

(Attackpoint guessed this to be "hiking"? C'mon!)

Livelox

C • Thanks for the company.... ... 1

A brisk neighborhood stroll before bed, In The Dark. Rather windy and crazy gusty, with the occasional sound of branches breaking off and falling to the ground.

Townsend loop, picking up another 10 (mostly really dinky) streets. Record-breakingly hot today, 70+ F when I started, so it was time for shorts. Skipped out of work an hour or two early because there's not much I can accomplish at this point due to equipment problems. I rode through a few sudden temperature changes, the most dramatic being the drop on Wyman Rd., must have gone down at least 10 degrees in a few seconds. The biggest challenges were Jonathan Lane (short but steep), and Elm Circle (a complete mud pit, not so great with skinny tires). I certainly had ridden Elm Circle before, because I used to deliver newspapers there, but I didn't get credit for it then because there was no GPS or internet in the 1970s.

Timberlee Park, etc., just ahead of The Dim. Picked up 11 streets on CityStrides. Nice afternoon, no wind, temperature dropping through 50 F. Rode the Incubus, but dressed a little warm, including jeans, which was never too much and was welcome going down S Hill. Roads mostly dry. Never needed the light to see (got home a little before 6:30), but I had it in strobe mode for the latter half.

The typical figure-8. In daylight, due to ongoing problems at work that have left me kind of emotionally drained.

Some streets in Townsend, with Nancy, In The Dark.

Across the street, on a loop where I changed my mind about where I was going several times. A mixture of pavement, snowy trails, and flat-out ice. I was able to do this during daylight because of issues at work that required me to have my computer turned off, thus limiting the amount of work I could do.

Hmm, looks like that tracklog leaves a lot to be desired, I must have lost satellite lock for a while. What I actually did was to run out the power line to Tyler Rd, then east on Tyler to Seaver, and I took Seaver all the way through past the paved stuff to Island Rd, and then the shortcut across the lake as shown to the beach on Brookview and home.

Earlier I talked with some ice fishermen on Fort Pond that caused me to forget my plans of seeing if I could get in a little bit more ice time there -- they did not have confidence about the thickness on the north side. And earlier still I went out for a walk before dawn to see if I could spot Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, and the Moon together in the sky. I did, though I needed binoculars for Mercury and Saturn because I went out a little late and the sky was lightening up. I think tomorrow the Moon will be closer to the other three, so I may try again if it's clear. Need to think more about where to look from, they're all pretty low in the sky. Mercury and Jupiter were even closer together a couple of days ago, but I didn't go out to look.

TSF, western (unmapped) section. Excellent sunny afternoon, a few degrees above freezing. Started out on snowmobile trails that were total ice; that improved somewhat as I climbed. At some point up top the woods looked nice enough on the right that I decided to go off-trail for a while, and I found clean white corridors that avoided the laurel for the most part. After rejoining the trails, I eventually went for another wander, then headed westward through pretty nice woods. This was all in about 4" of crusty snow that did not support my weight, so it was a lot serious workout. The couple of splits that I took were at a pair of very nice ancient oaks. That was a particularly sweet bit of forest, with other admirable trees around and interesting topography. And back on the old railroad bed, which had also been packed down by snowmobiles. The half-mile straight section looks very long when you're sighting down it with the good winter visibility.

Mud season coming this week, I think.