Training Archive: SwampfoxIn the 7 days ending 2008-02-16:
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| S | M | T | W | H | F | S | ||||||||||||||
Saturday Feb 16 | ||
| Orienteering 1:27:00 [4] | |
| Life as a Red runner today was not so bad. The promised severe weather didn't develop (and still no tornados yet) and at worst it sprinkled a little bit while I was out in the woods.
One leg started twinging with the dreaded Car Travel Cramp Syndrome, but it never got so bad. My navigation was a little bit too much "so there", which wasn't a surprise given that it's the off-season for me. My worst offence was trying to hop over one control, and I suppose I was lucky when the ensuing terrain wasn't making too much sense, and so I didn't let myself get too far off before stopping to see exactly what I had done. It was pretty fun orienteering, and while there was nothing very complex about the terrain, the woods weren't at all bad, and the forest changed in character in different parts of the course. Plus it was fun just to run with so many other people in the forest. There were a ton of juniors out there and someone was almost always in sight (though I never saw anyone that I could be sure was on my course) and usually several people were around. Only one person asked me for help about where he was, and the funny thing about that was that he was asking at a spot in the forest that should have been dead easy. Even though I may not have been the energizer bunny, I ignored the request and just kept on going! | ||
Friday Feb 15 | ||
| Event: Interscholastic Champs | ||
| Note | |
| Saw many fire ant (or "far ant", as many of the south would say it) mounds while driving, so I kept my car doors locked at all times. Also saw a humongous number of giant pickups in West Texas. Apparently out in those parts they don't bother with mere cars at all.
No armadillos and no alligators either. Recommendation: whatever you do, don't ever attempt to drive around or through Dallas/Ft. Worth. Much better to just fly over it instead. For one, that metro area is about as big as the average east coast state in total km2. For another, the highways are jampacked with extremely slow moving traffic, except for when they are jam packed with faster moving traffic. Most of the traffic consists of humongous pickups, so unless you're driving an F-250 or something, you're pretty badly outgunned. But if you do have to drive that way, be sure to allow for several days to fully traverse the area. Why do Texans all drive such humongous pickups? I mused on that a while, and I think it might have something to do with sexual evolutionary biology, and probably a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader won't climb in your truck to mate unless it's a really big truck. | ||
| C • 1 | ||
| C • far ants 3 | ||
Thursday Feb 14 | ||
| Note | |
| I have snucked across the line into the Fire Ant Star State, but don't tell no soul nowhere.... | ||
| C • Taxes... 1 | ||
| Yowsa!!! 1 [3] | |
Wednesday Feb 13 | ||
| run 36:00 [3] | |
| Really nice out, with blue skies and lots of sun; it felt like spring as it is always imagined in these parts. | ||
| skiing 1:33:00 [2] | |
| It was mild enough to create some spring skiing type conditions in spots. | ||
| biking 1:00:00 [2] | |
Tuesday Feb 12 | ||
| run 38:00 [3] | |
| Quick run by the Hilton Garden Inn, which has just opened. No sign of Paris. There was a big sign outside which read: "She's Not Here", which would seem to be definitive. | ||
| Note | |
| I don't know. Maybe I just need more sleep. Or maybe it's something else. Whatever it is, the more I have looked at Charlie's log lately, the more confused I have become. It has become almost religously confusing. It is probably a blessing I never started to watch "Lost". | ||
| skiing 2:14:00 [3] | |
| With all the fresh snow yesterday now nicely groomed, conditions were super fine today--maybe the best of the season, and it's been a good season with a lot of really great days already.
Another nice thing that you start to notice about now is how much lighter it seems in the late afternoon compared with even just a few weeks ago. Now it's possible for little bits of sunshine to glimmer through places in the trees even as late as 4:30. It gives the trails--which trend to the north side of a slope--a whole different feel. It'll almost be a shame to head off for the lands of armadillo and ocotillo. But maybe there will be some fire ants, and that will make it all worthwhile! | ||
| C • The fire ants are hibernating 1 | ||
| biking 1:35:00 [2] | |
Monday Feb 11 | ||
| Yowsa!!! 1 [3] | |
| Significant Yowsa!!! action. | ||
| skiing 1:58:00 [3] | |
| A good bit of new snow on the trails, maybe 5" or so, deep enough to be some work to get through, but not so deep that it became enough work to be unpleasant, and it was fairly evenly distributed so it will really help the worst of the wind scoured areas, as long as the trails get groomed before the winds, and as I was leaving, I saw a groomer headed off to get started. Yes! It's a sentence paragraph!
Lots of places I was the first skier through; it looks like the heavy snow during most of the day dissuaded other skiers from coming up before the storm broke off at about 3 pm. I had a snowsnake inquiry today. It's a remarkable coincidence, because up until yesterday, I hadn't seen any snowsnakes, moose, or elk all season up around our trails, and have only seen a scratchy few deer. In fact, I hadn't even seen a single snowsnake track. Very unusual, but I had deliberately not dwelt on it knowing that a strange sensation vibe could have been sent out and detected by one or more of these nasties. However, while skiing in the Snowies yesterday, twice I was ambushed by smallish snowsnakes, and they almost got me. Although obviously I was able to get away, it did leave me a little shaken up each time, and now I'm re-warified. After close calls like that, the best thing to do is usually to head for Texas as soon as possible, and take your chances with the BBQ eaters down there. | ||
| biking 1:01:00 [2] | |
Sunday Feb 10 | ||
| skiing 1:48:00 [2] | |
| Skied over in the Snowies today; the area I was skiing rarely fails to remind me of some of the fine pine forests I've run in in Sweden, and today was no exception.
Though I've never seen a Swedish forest under attack from pine beetles like this area is. | ||
| run 1:28:00 [3] | |
| It's a rare day when Laramie is warmer than St. Louis, but that it was today, so I seized the moment!, taking a simple saunter up into the hills from home at sunset time. As sunset became nighttime, the highways leading into town from the west became lit up like pearls on a string. | ||
| biking 46:00 [2] | |