Training Archive: SwampfoxIn the 30 days ending 2008-04-30:
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| T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday Apr 30 | ||
| Note | |
| So the rumors that Sweden faces a severe korv crisis due to the diversion of korv for the production of korvahol are true. This is not good news. In fact, this is very bad news. After hearing news like this, I would hardly be surprised were it to snow in Laramie as a consequence.
This would never happen if Willie Nelson were in charge, and that's for sure. I doubt this can be blamed on Texans though, since, in Sweden at least, they are mostly involved in the trade in illegal BBQ, and not korv. | ||
| C • The production of korvahol... 2 | ||
| run intervals 1:24:00 [4] | |
| It was really quite nice out this afternoon, and, for a while, almost calm. But while I was out mapping and close to the time I had been planning to stop, I felt a whiff of wind coming from a new direction, and the air coming in on the wind was noticably cooler. That had to be the arrival of the predicted cold front--and it was. I quit mapping and headed out to run, hoping to beat any wet/white stuff, and did a standard set of intervals.
It was icy cold and the wind was blasting away by the time I got done, but the only precipitation I encountered was my own sweat. Glad to get this done todat, because tomorrow is not looking too great. My guess is that temps dropped 25-30 degrees in the space of an hour. Brrrrrr! | ||
| biking 1:10:00 [2] | |
Tuesday Apr 29 | ||
| unsecret mtn bike training 36:00 [2] | |
| North Prairie | ||
| run 1:11:00 [3] | |
| biking 52:00 [3] | |
Monday Apr 28 | ||
| biking 1:06:00 [3] | |
| Windy, otherwise a nice change from late winter. | ||
| Orienteering 1:33:00 [3] | |
| Diamond Bay. | ||
| biking 50:00 [2] | |
Sunday Apr 27 | ||
| run 1:33:00 [3] | |
| Back up at Happy Jack for a happy run on the snowy trails there. Still better for skiing than for running, but not really all that good for skiing so maybe it goes over into the "better for running" column after all. At any rate, much better to be running in the forest than out in the open, on the account of stupendously mighty winds that were in full control of the Laramie Range today. | ||
| biking 53:00 [2] | |
Saturday Apr 26 | ||
| Note | |
| When I woke up this morning and saw that snow had arrived overnight--and was still arriving--it was obvious there was going to be no outdoor rogaining training today. So the first order of business was to book some time at the Laramie Indoor Rogaining Training Facility to practice a few swings. We Laramie rogaining trainers may be idiots (to be rogaining training in the first place) but we're not sub-morons about it, and that's for sure.
Next order of business was some breakfast. In honor of the big O' race going on somewhere, I made a batch of Tio-Milas. Actually, they were Swedish waffles. Well, actually, they were Texas waffles. Well, actually, they were just Regular waffles, since I didn't have any bits of barbed wire to throw in the batter. As I ate the Regular waffles, I clicked through the split results leg by leg from Tva-Mila, which proved to be a highly satisfactory and very efficient way to watch Tva-Mila in a surprisingly short amount of time. Even Coach--who always complains that relays go on too long--would have been impressed. I may do the same tomorrow with Tio-Mila. I'll just have to see if I can't round up some barbed wire between now and then. | ||
| run 1:45:00 [3] | |
Friday Apr 25 | ||
| run 1:36:00 [3] | |
| Sun was in bad form today, did not even make a pretense of showing up for the game today, and, seeing that, Clouds swept in, setting the stage for decisive gusts by Wind. It was not long before a chilly rout was on, and a hostile crowd swirled Snow onto the arena despite warnings from the hapless referees. Winter scored another too easy victory, and it is looking more and more like drafting Sun in last year's draft and paying a Big Signing Bonus was a Bad Mistake. Should've drafted Wind instead, or else at least done a trade for Clouds.
There's not going to be enough time to rally the team for tomorrow's series finale, so it looks like Winter is going to sweep again. Damn! | ||
| biking 1:19:00 [2] | |
Thursday Apr 24 | ||
| run 41:00 [3] | |
| This intended-for-morning run edged dangerously close to noon. Felt nice and spring-like outside, with some pleasant big valley winds. | ||
| run 7:00 [2] | |
| This intended-for-late-afternoon was performed at the correct time, however the intention was to do something for more than 7 minutes.
I went out at mid-afternoon to plug away at some mapping, and by then the winds had escalated it the air blowing by was noticably chillier. A cold front coming through? It was very borderline even when the sun was out. I took it as long as I could, and was pretty well iced by then. I switched to running, and the wind became even more remorseless and warmth sapping, and after a few minutes of that it seemed the best thing to do was to say the hell with it and head for some place where the winds couldn't claw any more. It would have been no big deal in say, the winter weeks of January, but somehow in late April it was too much to have to put up with! | ||
| C • I took it as long as I could... 8 | ||
| biking 1:20:00 [2] | |
Wednesday Apr 23 | ||
| run intervals 1:12:00 [4] | |
| After mapping, on dirt roads. Highlight of today's mapping was finding a perfect pair of mulie antlers. And lowlights? None.
In between, I thought a little about 10-Mila. I was surprised to hear that there was a going to be a charge for the web broadcast this year. For one, in past years, while it's been pretty interesting when it's worked, problems with the internet connections were common to borderline rampant, and the thing would come and go. For another, would folks actually be willing to pay for this? To watch orienteering over the web? Well, good luck to them! The whole thing makes me feel a little like Maxwell's judge: So-o-o-oh. | ||
| C • Tiomila online 5 | ||
| biking 58:00 [2] | |
Tuesday Apr 22 | ||
| biking 30:00 [3] | |
| run 1:13:00 [3] | |
| For Earth Day, I chased a large herd of elk around in the embargoed zone for the US Classic Champs. They enjoyed it and I think I did too. Despite doing this barefooted, no diamonds ended up in the soles of my feet, which was borderline disappointing.
I also recovered some stray bits of barbed wire, and turned them in for recycling. Hopefully they will wind up in some fine Nucor mini-mill! | ||
| C • No diamonds... 4 | ||
| biking 1:01:00 [2] | |
Monday Apr 21 | ||
| biking 32:00 [3] | |
| Cooler today, overcast, and windy. It didn't seem like a good day for rogaining training. | ||
| run 1:24:00 [2] | |
| Easy running up into the hills. | ||
| biking 1:00:00 [2] | |
Sunday Apr 20 | ||
| biking 58:00 [3] | |
| Very windy! Like Bruce Springsteen, I went down to the river. I didn't dive in and it would have been pretty frozen cold anyway. No Mary, no union card. Just the wind! | ||
| C • Down to the river... 2 | ||
| skiing 1:13:00 [3] | |
| I think this will be the last time I ski at Happy Jack this season. Let the melting commence for good now! | ||
| Orienteering 1:17:00 [4] | |
| Thundering winds and vast sections of deep, post-holing snowfields increased the suck factor to a most highly desirable level. I had several epiphanies and even got a touch delusional on the last leg run into the wind. So fine!
My legs gradually got a little sorer as I went along, still a little sore from intervals this past Wednesday. It's clear evidence of the inadvisabiilty of doing intervals, although getting ancient and decrepit are also worth avoiding. Coaching Tips of the Week: 1) Don't get ancient. 2) Don't get decrepit. 3) Viva Las Vegas! | ||
Saturday Apr 19 | ||
| skiing 1:07:00 [3] | |
| Really nice out! If it could be like this all year--with snow on the ground, sunny, and mild--it would be even better than, well...Texas!
The end is drawing near though. At least one trail became unskiable today, and if tomorrow is like today, some other trails will melt out too. Still, what a great season for skiing it's been! | ||
| run 1:04:00 [3] | |
| Ran through terrain after mapping. Even at dusk after sunset it still felt relatively mild out. First time of running without a jacket here in Laramie this year.
Tons and tons and tons of ATVers were out--probably 3 times more than I've *ever* seen out at one time before. Granted, it was the first really nice Spring Saturday of the year, but even so, I was surprised to see all the traffic. As long as the ATVers stay on the designated routes and follow the rules, I have no problems with them. Most are quite polite and friendly. But there are the bad apples too, inevitably. I know others who do not feel at all as kindly disposed towards the ATV crowd. One not so happy note: while mapping, I came across a group of about 8-10 ponderosas that had been invaded by pine beetles. One of them had just a few sap tubes which were the largest I've seen before. This tree might have successfully fended off the beetles (for now). In one of the tubes, I at last saw a pine beetle--ensnared in the sap, and dead--which is the first one I've ever seen in person. If the beetles hit the ponderosas too, that means in a few years we might not have *any* mature pine trees left at all! | ||
Friday Apr 18 | ||
| Note | |
| Most of the time when you read the newspapers, it's pretty much the news and that's about it. But every so often, you might come across something that just jumps off the pages.
One such article appears in the WSJ today: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120847521878424735... Even if you didn't know a single thing about the oil/gas industry, but did understand the basic mechanics of investing and were capable of carrying them out, this article tells you just about everything you need to know to make a whole bunch of money. | ||
| C • Speaking of investing... 2 | ||
| biking 44:00 [3] | |
| skiing 1:02:00 [3] | |
| Trails are still intact and holding up. But how much longer? It looks like this might be the last weekend of skiing at Happy Jack for the season, at least for me. | ||
| run 40:00 [3] | |
| Out in The Flats at dusk, with the pretty big moon well up in the sky. | ||
| biking 48:00 [2] | |
Thursday Apr 17 | ||
| Note | |
| Here's a pretty interesting story about a good runner:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/fashion/17fitnes... But there's something weird going on. Rather than putting it in the Sports section, the Times decided it was a Fashion and Style story instead. Huh? Very weird. Maybe the editor who decides these things got bonked on the head by a small, hard, round object during rogaining practice? I've never seen much Tio-Mila coverage in the Times, but now I'm thinking maybe I've just been looking in the wrong section! | ||
| C • article 6 | ||
| biking 49:00 [3] | |
| Today I heard an amazing live version of "Like A Rolling Stone" done by Jimi Hendrix, and while I was biking I was thinking about how it could be that, more than 38 years after his death, somehow I hadn't heard this performance. Had it been buried in a vault all this time and just recently released? | ||
| skiing 1:05:00 [3] | |
| Real good skiing yet again; I think tomorrow warmer temps and an even warmer sun are going to get back to work though and that will mean the slush will be back! | ||
| run 1:08:00 [2] | |
| Legs were mildy sore from yesterday, which was entirely expected. So I ran easy and picked up two grocery bags worth of beer cans. I ran out of bag space before I ran out of run. So fine! | ||
| biking 1:10:00 [2] | |
Wednesday Apr 16 | ||
| run intervals 1:10:00 [4] | |
| Out in The Flats; about 35 degrees colder than yesterday, which was almost enough to notice. The cold wind out of the north, on the other hand, was impossible *not* to notice. | ||
| skiing 1:47:00 [3] | |
| Exceptionally good skiing for April 16; fresh snow was falling the whole time I was out, and since it was below freezing all day up top (and last night) and since there are good snow depths in the forest, good crust skiing was available for those who dared take on the lurking snowsnakes.
I know this is the latest date I've skied up at Happy Jack, but I can't remember the previous late date for the next best year. I wonder if this could be a side effect from possible arsenic poisoning? Whatever, pretty incredible. | ||
Tuesday Apr 15 | ||
| Note | |
| "Let me tell you how it will be...I'm the Taxman."'
First there were longhorns. Then there were the Beatles, with their "Taxman", written by Mr. Harrison. Then there was SRV. Then there was SRV playing his hunky version of "Taxman." Then there were massive wind farms popping up all over West Texas. Now, there are armadillos in West Texas. The trendline is pretty clear. Hope everyone is having fun with their taxes on this most excellent Tax Day, wherever they might be doing their calculations! | ||
| C • Well, I just got back from ... 2 | ||
| skiing 1:07:00 [3] | |
| It was just a little slushy. OK--it was a lot slushy! Beautiful Spring skiing conditions today. | ||
| run 33:00 [3] | |
| After a short mapping session where the key was trying to time some quick drawing in the momentary lulls of the wind. | ||
Monday Apr 14 | ||
| run 48:00 [3] | |
| 2nd day running of hop-frog fine weather--full sunshine, full on Spring! The birds are all so happy.
My guess is that by the end of the day, just about all of the new snow that ended up in the valley will have melted away, and the valley can look like a short grass, high elevation prairie again instead of an Arctic wasteland. Up in the hills though, things will melt more slowly... | ||
| Note | |
| A good day to remember Lowell Geoge (yesterday would have even been a better day, but the work week begins today), one of the best slide guitarists ever. Will you be my Dixie Chicken? Mercy--there's a fat man in the bathtub! I can't tell you how often I feel like I'm just waiting for Columbus. | ||
| C • Feats don't fail me now! 9 | ||
| biking 26:00 [3] | |
| run 55:00 [3] | |
| Mostly in terrain, remainder on dirt roads. | ||
| biking 1:04:00 [2] | |
Sunday Apr 13 | ||
| biking 1:06:00 [3] | |
| skiing 1:11:00 [3] | |
| run 44:00 [3] | |
| biking 1:02:00 [2] | |
Saturday Apr 12 | ||
| biking 27:00 [3] | |
| More winter, with fresh snow falling and a tough, cold wind out of the NW. Spring is going to feel so good tomorrow! | ||
| skiing 2:00:00 [3] | |
When I went up to ski at Happy Jack this afternoon, this is what I found:
What a surprise! More snow! More ice! More wind! More winter! It's enough to warm the heart of any ski wax manufacturer. Skiing was incredible for 12 April. Lots of locals have completely given up on Spring at this point, but I still think there are chances it could turn up one day. Maybe tomorrow! PS--There are more than 27 UFOs in this photo. Can you find them all? | ||
| C • UFO´s 2 | ||
Friday Apr 11 | ||
| Note | |
| I mapped this boulder last Saturday:
View Larger Map That was about all I had time for, before the cold winds imperiled my very survival. | ||
| C • Google maps 10 | ||
| Note | |
| Just when you think things can't get any worse (referring to the testimony earlier this week by Petraeus & Crocker whereby we have learned that if things get worse in Iraq we can't withdraw troops, if things get better we can't withdraw troops, if things stay the same we can't withdraw troops; basically as long as the Prez is the Prez, there are no circumstances under which we can withdraw troops), things get worse!
I refer of course to the discovery that there is something even more terrible than American Idol, Brittany Spears behind the wheel, or a Memphis basketball player at the free throw line, or even the combination of all three plus the mess in Iraq: a devilrunner blogg. (Do not ask me why there is the extra "g" on blogg--that's just the way they do it over in Sweden.) All I can say is, if you go there, I'm not taking any of the blame. http://devilrunner.blogg.se/ | ||
| skiing 2:11:00 [3] | |
| Up to the trails in the late afternoon where I found...lots and lots of new snow! In fact, there is more snow on the trails up at Happy Jack right now, on April 11 (!!!) than I have ever seen up there before.
Luckily, a groomer had been out earlier and had rolled the trails, but even with that, there was so much new, unconsolidated snow that skiing was slow and soft going. But the look--phenomenally wintry! As if that weren't enough, just as I was stepping off the trails, it started snowing heavily, and conditions were near white-out on the drive back down the hill into the valley. Definitely still winter, and it didn't even get about 28F in Laramie today. Man! On top of all that, now it seems the forecasters are saying spring will not arrive tomorrow after all, but that it has been delayed and the updated forecast is that it is supposed to show up on Sunday. | ||
| biking 1:06:00 [2] | |
Thursday Apr 10 | ||
| Note | |
| It was not surprising to wake up to about 8-10" of new snow in Laramie this morning. Hard to say what the total would actually be since: 1) the only thing the folks on the radio have been talking about so far this morning are Tiger Woods and the Masters, 2) all the highways are closed, as usual, 3) the ground was warmish to begin with, and so a good deal of snow melted from the bottom, and 4) it's still snowing.
But what *was* surprising was to read in the morning paper that the Prez's approval rating had sunk to a new low. I didn't know the Prez even still had any approval rating left, so it didn't seem there was any room for further sinking. The same story reported only 7% of Democrats approve of the Prez's overall job, a number which is clearly grossly exaggerated. Personally, I don't know of a single Democrat that approves of anything the Prez has done for about the past 7 years. Maybe these are mythical Democrats. I think you would have a hard time finding 7% of Democrats who would approve of the way the Prez ties his shoes or eats jello. So I believe this number like I believe in large, furry, four footed pig creatures. I would put more creedance in an Elvis sighting, especially if the sighting took place in Knob Noster SP. I was so inspired by all this that I had to head to Starbucks for some morning brew where--surprise again!--I found to my delight they were giving away a new blend of drip coffee called Pike Place Roast, and was it ever good! It's hard to describe it in ordinary words since it was such an un-ordinary blend, but I will do my best: I would say the flavor profile was bold and robust, but with a smoother and more buttery finish than you would expect. Once it settled in, the overall vibe was somehow vaguely suggestive of a Texas Longhorn grazing idly amongst the Hill Country bluebonnets. Yum! The best part though was that the new brew was served in a special cup featuring a new version of the original Starbucks logo. Gotta love that mermaid! Gotta love that long, wavy hair! But it's a little harder to love the fact that the long, wavy hair is hiding the mermaid's bare breasts. Ok, it's a lot harder to love that. Maybe when the protesters are done with the Prez and the Torch and other stuff, they can turn their attention to Starbucks, and demand that the mermaid be re-liberated! | ||
| C • Dems 4 | ||
| Yowsa!!! 1 [4] | |
| Very heavy Yowsa!!! | ||
| run 48:00 [3] | |
| Just a simple run on asphalt--whole lotta winter going on. Things were totally socked in up top with execrable conditions, and with the Happy Jack Road closed, skiing on the trails would have been pointless anyway. | ||
| biking 1:17:00 [2] | |
Wednesday Apr 9 | ||
| Note | |
| I just got off the phone with the National Weather Service, curious to see when winter might end. Quite by coincidence, they had *just* updated their models, and they said it looks like winter in the Laramie Valley will be ending at around 1307 hours on May 22. That came as quite a shock, and a real blow to mapping plans. But that's OK, because I still have my guitar! ; ) | ||
| C • What? What? 2 | ||
| skiing 1:11:00 [3] | |
| It looked like the trails had been newly groomed sometime earlier in the day, which surprised me because it had been above freezing all day. But that's the way they looked, and there were only a few tracks before I got there...whatever. Very slow skiing because there was a little new, very wet snow on top. Still fun to be out, fast or slow. | ||
| biking 1:01:00 [2] | |
Tuesday Apr 8 | ||
| biking 51:00 [3] | |
| Some sun, but more wind. Slight edge to the wind. This can't go down as winter or spring, and so officially it will have to be recorded as "nuetral."
Saw several helicopters headed west, singly, in the beginning of the annual helicopter migration. | ||
| skiing 1:39:00 [3] | |
| Still winter, nice snow! | ||
| biking 1:04:00 [2] | |
Monday Apr 7 | ||
| Note | |
| It's Billie Holliday's birthday--what a fine romance! | ||
| C • If a person drove out to th... 3 | ||
| Note | |
| Interpretation of weather forecasts in the spring in SE Wyoming:
They say it will be nice and sunny: there have been some instances in years past when it was nice and sunny when they said it would be nice and sunny. They say there is a chance of rain/snow: it will definitely snow. Highways will close, and beeves will stir around unhappily, wondering why the gods couldn't have made them Texas Longhorns and placed them in Texas instead. They say it will be windy: ....oh, boy! | ||
| run 32:00 [3] | |
| Light snow, trying to be sunny, but the Old Man (winter) won't let it. | ||
| skiing 1:22:00 [3] | |
| 3" new snow = more winter! | ||
| biking 54:00 [2] | |
Sunday Apr 6 | ||
| skiing 53:00 [3] | |
| Based on the extensive snow coverage, no reason to think I won't be able to ski at Happy Jack this time next week. | ||
| run 1:57:00 [2] | |
| Some dirt (road), mostly out in terrain. | ||
| biking 45:00 [2] | |
Saturday Apr 5 | ||
| run 27:00 [3] | |
| skiing 1:02:00 [3] | |
| All the time you go around knowing that sooner or later a snowsnake or an attack badger is going to get you on the ski trails. But in the end, what is it that gets you? An ordinary, average pit bull. Luckily, I suppose, it only bit me once, and not hard, on my leg, with no broken skin. On the other hand, I still got bit. Not good!
| ||
| C • pit bull 3 | ||
| run 47:00 [3] | |
| Very windy, and I didn't feel like doing any more. | ||
| biking 1:26:00 [2] | |
Friday Apr 4 | ||
| biking 1:52:00 [3] | |
| skiing 1:04:00 [3] | |
| run 1:07:00 [2] | |
Thursday Apr 3 | ||
| biking 39:00 [3] | |
| A very chill wind from the north was tough on the fingers. More snow this morning and arouind noon. Score another round to...winter! | ||
| skiing 1:25:00 [3] | |
| Really nice skiing conditions at the end of the day. By then, the skies had cleared, there were several inches of brand new snow on the trails, there was only a little breeze, and there was a super sunset that somehow felt to me more like sunrise. The mood was good, so maybe that's why. | ||
| biking 1:18:00 [3] | |
Wednesday Apr 2 | ||
| skiing 51:00 [3] | |
| Another day of winter. But not bad, even though it was overcast, because while I was out skiing, the air was calm.
Just for fun, I pretended I was a Texan--Ok, not just any Texan, but a *certain* Texan--and I did some applied math in my head. First I computed the odds of Billy Preston being forgotten about at a George Harrison concert, which turned out to be about 50%. You'd think with all that hair he had, he would've been hard to miss, but that's where you'd be wrong. Then I computed the odds of Barak Obama getting the Democrat nomination as of about 1500 hrs RMT today, and after mulling it all over and applying a little windage (yes, even though it was calm out), I decided it was about 82 or 83%--something like that. Some people might wonder that Hillary, being so successful at dodging intense Bosnian sniper fire, has had such problems with Obama. But I think it is illustrative of the superiority of the Harvard education over that of Yale, which, as everyone knows, is where the Prez got his. | ||
| C • Yale 4 | ||
| C • Life's ironies 1 | ||
| run 38:00 [2] | |
| A mild run along the Happy Jack road post-skiing, just 'cuz I felt like it. | ||
| Note | |
| I just want to declare for the record that tonight for dinner I had several veggie burgers, and *not* turkey burgers, like some folks might have.
And, oh, yes--yum! | ||
| biking 45:00 [2] | |
Tuesday Apr 1 | ||
| Note | |
| Even though it's sunny today, conditions were so wretched yesterday that lots of highways, including I-80, remain closed so far this morning. And there's a bizarre report that part of I-80 burned up yesterday somewhere around Rawlins! Can't recall ever hearing of highways burning up before.
But that's OK. I've got a shiny purple shirt with none of the buttons buttoned, and I'm going to wear it all day long. | ||
| C • shiny shirt 8 | ||
| skiing 1:52:00 [3] | |
| Really nice skiing, and that's no joke. If there was any wind, I don't remember it because it was nothing compared to yesterday, and that's for sure!
Definitely winter, and that's no joke either. | ||
| biking 1:05:00 [2] | |