Training Log Archive: JanetT

Jacobsburg SP, sunny and temps near 80, but not as humid as yesterday.

Neighborhoods across 309 plus a loop around DeSales.

Warm, muggy (with a few sprinks at the start, changing to sun later), about 80.

Focus on inner core muscles; Deanna's class.

Walk at Housenick Park and Arnold Johnston Conservation Area along the Monocacy Creek on the east side of Bethlehem this morning. We were on our feet for over two hours, but not moving for a lot of that because we were looking for birds or looking at old walls and marshes, so I edited the time to 67 minutes to commemorate my age-advancing anniversary.

Song sparrows, a wren, chickadees searching for bugs, mallards and Canada geese, some type of oriole (yellowish), but no warblers like others have seen here. But it was fun to check out another new-to-us park.

Overcast and mid to upper 70s.

C • Happy Birthday! 6

After a dinner of take-out Thai food, we took a walk to the town park and a little bit in the neighborhood. Since we'd covered almost 5km and approached an hour we decided to stretch it to 67 minutes. Double whammy...though none of it was intense (like Julia D's 20 miles for her birthday). ;-) Still in the upper 70s.

Don't believe the HR numbers. I was wearing a HRM but walking most of the time.

It was on the warm side, upper 70s and sunny much of the time but not in the woods. The beeches have leafed out, making visibility more difficult than perhaps they were maybe 2-3 weeks ago.

Hickory Run Short Advanced Virtual course (3.9 km, 1:10000 map) designed by Greg A, while Glen did the longer one. We used both O-Range (on Forerunner) and UsynligO (on phone, carried in a waist pack). I personally was much happier with the phone app as I could adjust the volume so I could hear the tone(tune); the annunciator on my watch isn't very loud under normal conditions and I can't adjust it. In addition, UsynligO announced all of the controls, and O-Range missed at least two. If I were to do this again (and I might) I think I'd just use UsynligO and not bother with O-Range. I even had the watch fastened onto the chest strap of my Camelbak which is at least 10-12" closer to my ears than on my wrist.

Misses were largely due to drifting to the right of my bearing plus visibility on the first two (numbers 4 and 6; to #4 I actually relocated at a permanent course marker--mapped as a black O--about 80m west of the point...ooops); and misreading the area north of 11. I should have stuck to my original plan of heading to the road and attacking off the height of land, instead of getting drawn off by other ponds connected by streams. Because the app announced my arrival a bit before I actually reached some of them I didn't necessarily go to the precise location as mapped (like the opposite end of a marshy area or pond). I did see the feature for each one.

Otherwise I was pleased by my navigation if not my speed, and the ability to be able to read some of the subtle contour detail even in the light green woods. White woods were wonderful, and I only saw a few pieces of greenbrier, mostly close to roads.

Thanks, Greg!!

Swung by Lehigh Gorge and walked a bit on the D&L rail trail. Not much in the way of wildflowers or birds (though we heard plenty). At the side waterfall of Rattling Run I could see remnants of red trilliums. Cliffs were pretty impressive, as was the size of the rhododendrons along the trail.

Then we drove back across the Lehigh and parked to look at the ruins of the tannery.

D&L rail trail from Riegelsville south, plus a little bit north at the end to get it up to/over 20 km because we were so close. Glen did an extra little MTB loop he found.

Test of new padded bike underwear is a fail. Didn't notice much of any difference, at least on one side. I need a different configuration of padding, I guess. Toes got numb after about 12 km, which I've noticed before with padded shorts (but could also be due to distance).

One house we went by had a laburnum with bright golden blossoms, and a couple of wood bear sculptures, including a bear "bust" carved from a large tree stump. Maybe I'll post photos later.

Mid 70s and sunny. Lots of people.

C • Kintnersville 3

Trails around Big Pine Hill (a misnomer) in Pinchot State Forest, Lackawanna Co, PA. Cloudy and upper 60s when we arrived before noon, it cleared up and was sunny, and got into the mid-upper 70s by the time we finished (Glen ran, I hiked). Snowmobile trails were much easier to hike than the narrow yellow blazed trail that wound through blueberry bushes (not yet leafed out).

Not much bird action around (we saw a pileated woodpecker fly across the road in front of us as we approached the SF), but saw a number of painted trilliums and a few fringed polygalas along the trails. And some other hikers (including a couple of Asian women who seemed to harvesting fern heads). And a couple of people on horseback coming the opposite direction.

And three bears! I'd stopped to photograph a just leafing out tree with mottled clouds/sky behind it, when I heard rustling off to my right, maybe 25 meters away, then saw three dark shapes trying to figure out if I were a threat (a couple climbed partway up trees to get a better look but decided the better move was to move away). I got a photo of a receding black blob as the last one headed over a hill.

Otherwise, an uneventful hike. ;-)

C • Big Pine Hill 5

Stopped at Spruce Swamp Natural Area, which didn't have much swamp visible. We tried to see if 1) we could see the swamp and 2) we could see any birds, but we didn't see much. I put my binocs up once and think I saw an Eastern Towhee (black, white, brown in the right places), and the song checks out, so that's what I'm calling it. Song: one or two notes plus a whirr/trill that follows. Glen heard a woodpecker. Pileated songs are put of my hearing range unless they are close by; I can hear tapping.