Training Log Archive: JanetT

Route gadget for Mt Tom

WCOC bring-your-own-map training at Wooster Mountain southwest of Danbury, set by Joe. Brown course, nominally 3.7 km (no climb stated). Overcast and low 40s when we started, with some light breeze; a few sprinkles when we finished.

The length was right, and I spiked them all (7 controls plus the finish), but it was slow going due to large amounts of rock on and off the trails, and steeper climbs (up and down) than I'm used to, plus my legs are already toasted from the past two days' courses. Some flags seemed to be a bit on the hidden side, or unnecessarily hard to get to, but they were all where I expected to see them. I almost bailed after #6 because I was cold and tired, but decided it was good training to keep going.

Brown - Splits

Event: DVOA Rutgers Ecological Preserve
 

Event: WCOC Sessions Woods
 

Forgot to post on Friday that I saw a meteor headed E-W, while driving north on the Thruway...neat!

WCOC Sessions Woods Brown, nicely set by Charlie D. 3.9 km, 130m climb (reasonable) ;-) . Temp was a bit cooler than yesterday, mid to upper 40s and mostly cloudy, but okay once underway.

Short leg to #1, to what I thought was a hill but was actually a depression-in-a-reentrant, then stay on top for the next control. Karen started a bit behind me and didn't catch me until #4 and then was out of sight (she was 52+ minutes). Saw Sue Worthington between 5 and 7 but then got ahead to 8 and 9. Nancy started on Brown after I finished; J-J was one of only 2 on Red, I think. Nancy had a nice run and finished in 61+ minutes. Good to see Lyn and George there too.

Had a brief chat with Bill D. who was helping Charlie at registration. Thanks to you both for your work!

Took the leisurely Rt 6 route between Bristol and Newtown (en route to Danbury), with a stop at Nonnewaug Falls near Waterbury. Once we found a trail map (downloaded from the Woodbury Parks & Rec website), we set off in waning (but enough) daylight. Nice little waterfall in an interesting gorge. Seems like the falls described as the resting place of the last Nonnewaug chief may be upstream from what we saw (see the edited map linked from the page above).

A nice little waterfall, and a nice little hike.

Brown - Splits

Event: Mt Tom
 

Brown course at Mt Tom by Phil B., 3.8km, 200m climb; sunny and upper 40s at start. Lots of climb, as advertised. No HR strap; just the wrist sensor.

We'd driven partway up last night, staying south of Albany; and did the rest of the drive this morning. We saw 48 and sun most of the way over until reaching the Westfield River valley where there was a lot of fog in the valley and lower temps...down to near 40. I was hoping the temp would be closer to 50 or so; it got there eventually, by the time we left the park.

We had a very nice conversation with PG as we were registering, hearing about his experience and speech on Thursday...also chatted with J-J later about the Utah parks he and Nancy had just returned from visiting.

Spiked them all, almost; I did check out an incorrect boulder near the last control but knew it was along the stream. I didn't see many other orienteers out there; Glen and Ken near the start, a woman with a pink raincoat at 7 and 8, and a fellow (with an accent, and wearing shorts) who was surprised to keep seeing me at controls that were on both his (Red) course and mine. They ran out of Brown maps before I started and repurposed a Red map (crossing off the irrelevant controls and adding one different one)...which apparently caused a shortage of red maps later on. :-D

Brown - Splits

Quick walk around the community. Upper 50s, cloudy, and breezy.

Ignore the HR track...it looks pretty wonky.

Just muscle tenderness near the injection site. A bit tired last night but otherwise not much reaction to the booster.

Possibly saw a bobwhite (quail) near the edge of one of the fields I rode in. At first I thought pheasant because it had white at the throat, but it didn't look big enough.

Went biking on dirt trails at Marsh Creek State Park/Reservoir north of Downingtown. We parked at the boat launch on the west side of the lake so I could explore trails to the north (which were classified as more green than blue) while Glen rode along the lake to the blue trails east of the dam. Mid to upper 60s and mostly sunny, so short sleeves worked well.

Had to walk the bike up some of the hills (especially earlier when I wasn't as warmed up), but I did manage to safely descend a trail rated black, though I should have taken the right fork at the crazy rocks (I walked it through the rockiness).

More to explore! And I'd go down Crazy Rocks again and the one that extends it to the east.

One fall (not a complete fall; more of a collapse to one side) due to a poorly chosen line on a trail descent, where I hit my left knee on a rock and have a nice scrape there now...no kneeling for me for awhile.