Training Archive: PGIn the 30 days ending 2007-09-30:
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| 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 | H | F | S | S | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday Sep 30 | ||
| orienteering 59:24 [3]5.8 km (10:14 / km) | |
| shoes: integrators 2006 | ||
| Boulder Dash, day 2. Another ok run, just missed one control, about 75 meters to the right, corrected pretty quickly. But was feeling very tired right from the start. A struggle to keep going, especially at the end.
Still good enough to get some scalps (Balter, again!), but Sam got me today by a minute. But to keep things in perspective, best time on the course was 47, by Martin Ward of the UK in M40. He would have won M21 if he had been running the Blue course. I really enjoyed the orienteering, though perhaps some others didn't (too hard, or maybe too hard to read all the details on the map?). Felt like I knew where I was just about all the time. But that's a lot easier if you just go slow enough. Also, think I managed to get through the weekend with no major damage. Does that mean I'm ready for the Highlander next weekend? I'll post the maps in a little while. A very nice trip up and back with Charlie. Stopped on the way back for more rogaine practice. Unbelievably beautiful late afternoon. AOWN highlight was a flock of 27 turkeys at the 6th tee, only some of which are shown here -- 
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| Note | |
| Red course day 1 and day 2.
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Red Day 2 - Splits | ||
Saturday Sep 29 | ||
| Event: Boulder Dash 2007 | ||
| orienteering 1:00:43 [3]5.8 km (10:28 / km) +160m 9:12 / km | |
| weight:136lbs shoes: integrators 2006 | ||
| Boulder Dash, day 1, Bow, NH.
Good run. No problems finding the controls. Running wasn't too bad, pretty slow but reasonable energy, so at least I kept moving along. Third on the Red course, 4 scalps (Pavlina, both Saeger sisters, plus the great Balter!), not so bad! Followed that up with a couple of hours of rogaine practice with Charlie. It's hard work but have to keep doing it -- worlds champs in Estonia are only 50 weeks off. Meanwhile, Gail has provided the latest from the home front: "The fox story for the day. We were on the 2nd T when I looked to the side and saw the fox cross the 1st green, beautiful in the sunlight. It then went just beyond the green in the little hollow where I couldn't see it. The next group on 1 was ready to hit to the green and at first waited, then went ahead and hit. The very proper fox, after waiting for them, then trotted by them heading towards 14 or 16. Never saw it again." And I've been doing a little research, using just two words for a Google search -- "fox" and "pet". Which generated the following page. For those too busy to check it out, I'll quote a couple of key points -- "Because of their size, their relation to dogs, and their somewhat exotic nature, foxes are sometimes sought out as pets. This is almost universally a bad idea." It goes on to list various problems, and then follows up with a suggestion, just in case you really do get a fox as a pet: "When your animal is old enough, have it neutered. You've already ruined any chance it might have at a fulfilling life from its point of view; neutering will make it calmer and happier, therefore making you happier." Hmm, may have to rethink my plans of a mellow old age with my pet fox.... | ||
| C • foxes -on-strings; sure they can be pets! 1 | ||
Red Day 1 - Splits | ||
Friday Sep 28 | ||
| Note | |
So today my friend Mr. Fox was hanging out on the 17th, seemingly not a worry in the world other than what appeared to be a massive case of fleas in need of regular scratching. And there was a fresh foxhole in the trap on 16.
Charlie thinks he didn't look like a real healthy animal, if for no other reason than all the scratching. Gail thinks he may be a young one. Charlie thought he had big feet. Gail didn't think he was particularly dangerous. Nobody pulled out a sand wedge for self-defense. Though Gail reports that there is one woman who won't go out by herself (even in a cart) because she is afraid of the fox. And that's pretty much all of today's news.... | ||
| C • fox 1 | ||
| Note | |
Another wild evening in Sunderland -- everyone is sitting around reading AttackPoint....
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Thursday Sep 27 | ||
| track 22:31 [4]3.5 mi (6:26 / mi) | |
| weight:136lbs | ||
| Thursday evening track group. Plan was 2 x 800 on a 4:15 cycle (so if you took 3:10 for the 800, you got 1:05 rest), 2 x 1600 on a 8:30 cycle, and then 2 x 800 on a 4:15 cycle. Warm and very humid.
Did ok -- 3:11, 3:10, 6:30, 6:30, 3:10, and then skipped the last 800, just felt like I had done enough. I was thinking at the end that part of the benefit of doing these workouts was getting the body used to moving faster, and part of the benefit was remembering how to suffer. It sure seemed like intervals used to hurt more than they do now. Just not pushing myself as much. That will come if I keep at it. I'm serious about that -- it takes confidence to really push yourself, confidence that you will survive, confidence that you can keep going, confidence that you will recover quickly. Get that confidence and then it's easier to go deeper in the red. So this was progress. | ||
| Note | |
| Another rendezvous with Mr. Fox today. Photo coming, I think. | ||
| track 8:07 [2]1.0 mi (8:07 / mi) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Warmup. | ||
| Note | |
So my friend the fox seems to be establishing residency in the trap on the 16th --
And tame seems to be too mild a word, only after someone getting very close did Mr. Fox stand up, but run off? No way. 
It may have something to do with the appearance of a rather large hole just under the lip of the bunker. A foxhole, I believe it is called. It is all quite weird.... | ||
| C • perhaps... 4 | ||
Tuesday Sep 25 | ||
| Note | |
| Ok, it's 4:30 in the morning and I'm up because I have a bad headache and it's better if I do something.....
I spent a bunch of time at this time last year putting together a proposal for a coach for the senior team, including a detailed job description, and making a presentation to the USOF Board in November. I had been advised by the USOF powers that the Board was prioritizing juniors, so it would be better to make it a junior/senior coach, not just a senior coach, so that was done. And the Board actually approved the money, $6,600, but it was clear that it favored it going toward junior development. And it put the money in the budget as a separate item under the control of the USOF VP for competition. And there it has sat for 10 months. I have inquired more than once as to what was going on, including the following in May: "Hi Clare, The Board approved some money in the 2007 budget for coaching for the junior and senior teams. Some of the money, roughly 3K I think, was for Bob Turbyfill?s program, though I am not sure he will use it all, and the rest, roughly 6K I think, was put under your control. At the Board meeting when this was approved, most of the comments seemed to favor spending money on the juniors rather than the seniors, so I haven?t been trying to claim part of it. Has anything been done? Have the juniors already spent the money? Is there anything in the works? Or is it just sitting there? Just wondering.... Peter" --------------------------------------------- It seems like it has been sitting there. Because I had absolutely no reply to any of my inquiries. But, good news! I just got a copy of the following e-mail from our new USOF Prez (formerly the VP for Competition), addressed to our new USOF V-Prez for Competition: "Bob, Last year we got about $6,000 approved in the budget for a Jr./Sr. Team Coach or coaching support of some sort. This has not yet come to fruition. The money was approved in the general budget and does not automatically carry over to next year. It needs to be spent or else it needs to be rebudgeted for next year. I recommend that you start working with the teams to spend what you can of it and come up with a decent budget proposal related to this for next year. The budget meeting is coming up. Clare" ----------------------- Yup, we better hurry up and do something because the year is drawing to a close and the budget for next year needs to be done. So I'm going to work up another plan and get support for it and go to a Board meeting and get it approved, and then have it sat on again for, well, it's now been 10 months? Right. It's too bad. I was feeling so positive about things. I recall working with Don Davis and his team selection committee to get the 2007 team chosen before the first of the year, and Don did a great job and we were all set to announce it last week of December, except it needed the approval of the VP Competition, and that came almost right away, first week of February.... :-) More positive vibes when WCOC stepped up to offer to hold the Relay Champs this year when no one else was interested, and George got all the sanctioning stuff done in November and the bid was submitted to the Board, and we got that approval in just 3 months, even though they never actually told us, we had to find out via the grapevine.... :-) I may have to think a while to put some positive spin on the latest. Though perhaps there is some good news. When there is a change in personnel, it's usually nice to have some continuity -- particularly for us old folks, we have a hard time dealing with change -- and we seem to be getting that continuity. Our new VP-Comp has been in office for a month and a half and so far not a word, nothing about the Team, nothing about the Relay Champs, nothing about the fact that we have no Relay Champs or Middle Champs or Classic Champs scheduled for next year. Can someone down in the Lone Star state check to see if there is a pulse? Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. | ||
| C • team coach 8 | ||
| Note | |
Reference my AOWN report of last Friday, 9/21, yesterday I was ready for Mr. Fox when it snuck up close to me on the 18th. My partners were telling me to draw a weapon -- sand wedge again perhaps as I had not yet procured a 9mm -- as Mr. Fox was acting unnaturally friendly and getting very close (10 yards), but instead I pulled out my camera. The light was bad, the sun reflected off the screen and I couldn't see anything, but I pressed what seems to have been the right button and aimed more or less in the right direction, and so I present Mr. Fox ---
You have to look closely, but it definitely is a fox. Not a big one. Not very threatening. I think it just wanted to be friends.... | ||
| C • Blam blam! 5 | ||
| C • aown 1 | ||
| trail running 1:11:30 [3] | |
| slept:5.0 shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Dave was coming by in the late afternoon to run (he sometimes parks and starts from here, just for a change of scenery), and I figured the only way I'd get out the door was to go with him. It turned out he was going to run some on the trails on Toby, so I thought it would be a nice slow pace, because he always was an extremely cautious trail runner.
But it's been a long time since I ran trails with him, and he's gotten a lot better. Or maybe I was just tired. Whatever, it seemed like hard work, cerainly harder than I expected, except for the downhills where he is still a little careful. But it was nice to have company. Power line (18:14 -- I started really slow, figuring that would suit him, little did I know), over to the gate (39:10), down to the river and back along Falls Road. Not breathing particularly hard, but legs felt stressed. | ||
Monday Sep 24 | ||
| Note | |
| weight:134.5lbs | ||
| Feeling quite wiped today, maybe it was the 36 holes of rogaine practice, the first round starting not much after dawn with my regular old guys group, the second with Gail, and a fine round that was, 75, had thoughts for quite a while that it might be par or better but it was not to be....
But also feeling totally satisfied with the weekend, and that is such a fine feeling, and one that will last for a long, long time. I'm in the process of writing up something about why the relay courses were set the way they were, may take a couple of days to finish. And then need to figure out if there is a future for the Sprint Series in 2008. And if there will be a Relay Champs in 2008. | ||
| C • Should there be a ***** in 2008? 8 | ||
| Note | |
The WCOC crew (PG, Sandy, Valerie, Jim, Lyn, George, Joe, Rick, Susie) --
Photo by Speedy, click on photo for a larger image (also for more relay photos) | ||
Sunday Sep 23 | ||
| orienteering 1:00:00 [1] | |
| shoes: integrators 2006 | ||
| Hanging 11 controls for the relays plus putting out a water stop.
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| orienteering 50:00 [3] | |
| shoes: integrators 2006 | ||
| Checking the other 38 controls. Sure glad I had 3 helpers for putting them out. We only had a couple hours, and it takes a lot longer when you have stands and e-boxes to deal with.
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| orienteering 20:00 [2] | |
| shoes: integrators 2006 | ||
| Picking up 6 controls and a water stop. Wow, we really had help for this one, including Randy Hall from DVOA and Joe Sackett from CAOC. Had everything out of the woods in about 45 minutes.
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| Note | |
| Very pleased with the weekend. Everything went as planned/hoped. WCOC sure has a fun and talented group of folks to organize a meet with. And I'm including in that the club's honorary members, Valerie Meyer and Sandy Fillebrown.
So far my major disappointment was forgetting to include in the awards ceremony the presentation of the $10 prize for first person to reach the start triangle in the leg 1 mass start, a distance of maybe 100 meters. The winner -- and he did get his ten bucks -- was Joshua Wiley from West Point. He ended up finishing seventh among 4-point teams on leg 1. | ||
| C • Thank you, Peter 8 | ||
Saturday Sep 22 | ||
| Event: Sprint Series Final & US Relay Champs | ||
| Note | |
| Sprint Finals. Went well. | ||
Friday Sep 21 | ||
| Note | |
| Boy, I'm falling behind on my AOWN reports. The latest was a red fox, spotted as I was nearing the 2nd green, the fox was coming from the woods just west of the green and didn't seem very concerned about my presence. But it seemed so unscared that it made me start to think about what might be wrong with it. And by now I was on the east edge of the green and it was on the south edge and getting quite close to me.
So I thought about my options, and fortunately this is an area where I have lots of experience, namely club selection, and I pulled out a sand wedge. It wasn't an obvious choice. I'd have maximum reach with my driver, the smoking D1, but I'm less accurate with it and under conditions of close combat and high stress I suppose it's conceivable that I might whiff, even though a well-delivered center-of-the-clubhead blow would certainly knock Mr. Fox back a bit. Whereas the sand wedge, I love the sand wedge, really accurate with that, but with the 56 degrees of loft and a heavy flange it's really better suited to, say, beheading copperheads (not that anyone would want to do that). But the sand wedge it was. And I could see Mr. Fox noticed, because he must have figured I wanted to play -- he trotted into the sand trap, sat down, and scratched himself for a while. I assume he was an elderly male? I still was nervous, still had the wedge out. And after a bit, Mr. Fox trotted around a little more, looked at me for a while, sat down and scratched some more, and then eventually trotted off in the direction of the tee. My conclusions: 1. If it didn't have rabies, it certainly had fleas. 2. Maybe I should start packing some heat when I head out. I've heard a 9mm is effective, I wouldn't know, the last weapon I fired was about 40 years ago and I think it was a 90mm, it was sticking out the front end of a tank at Fort Knox, and if a 9mm is just 10% (or even 1%) as potent as a 90mm, there wouldn't be anything but a few wisps of fur (and maybe a flea or two) left of Mr. Fox. | ||
Thursday Sep 20 | ||
| track 12:51 [4]2.0 mi (6:26 / mi) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| A short session at the track. The group was doing either 3 or 4 x 1 mile, 8:30 cycle. I did the first one a little quicker than I meant to (6:26, very even pace), then the second one (6:25) felt hard enough that I didn't have any desire to do a third. Although, more to the point, I was a little nervous about my calf, which seemed mostly ok, and I didn't see any reason to push it.
Nice evening, nice group, wish I'd been healthy (and motivated) enough to be doing this every Thursday the last few months. Off to the Sprint Finals and Relay Champs tomorrow. Hope JJ remembers the loudspeaker.... | ||
| track 8:16 [2]1.0 mi (8:15 / mi) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Before and after, testing the calf. Nice thing about the track is if you have to stop unexpectedly, it's not very far back to the car. | ||
Tuesday Sep 18 | ||
| Note | |
| weight:135lbs | ||
| Still felt pretty crappy today.
On the bright side, I am slowly making my way through the biography of Einstein, maybe one-third done, which is much farther than I thought I would get (my initial prediction, had I made one, would have put one chapter as a respectable accomplishment). Along with some interesting stuff, and some physics that I can't pretend to understand, imagine my surprise to run into a neighbor of mine, well, not exactly a neighbor of mine, rather a neighbor of the g. I'm talking, of course, about h, Planck's constant, apparently one of the other famous constants in the universe. And when I think about h, not that I have thought that much about h, three things strike me: -- h is really old. Not just in that it was discovered over a hundred years ago, but the fact that it's really being around forever. Whereas the g, a 21st-century discovery, can only trace its roots back to the 1940s. -- h is really small. 6.626068 × 10-34 m2 kg / s. Makes the g seem almost obese (even if it doesn't have any superscripts). -- and, they're still not sure exactly what the value of h is. h must really envy the g, it just has to get on the scale each day. All this makes me wonder, is there an f? And what's it like? | ||
| C • Lots of free letters out th... 8 | ||
Monday Sep 17 | ||
| Note | |
| weight:134lbs | ||
| A fair amount of intestinal distress after yesterday's run, plus a sore right calf, so no running for a couple of days anyway. | ||
Sunday Sep 16 | ||
| trail running 56:35 [3] | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| From the gate, a tour around Mt. Toby without going to the top -- steady climb up to the hairpin, then down to the S curves and rolling terrain the rest of the way back.
Lots of AOWN sightings, all of the two-legged variety, seemed to be lots of people out, though none of them seemed to be moving faster than a very slow walk. I imagine Barb would have recruited them all to orienteering. I imagine Charlie would have handed them all loppers and have had them all cutting laurel. I imagine JJ would have amazed them all as he rode by on his unicycle. I imagine Kissy would have gotten into interesting conversations with their legs. I imagine Boris would have known most of them already since he seems to know everyone. And I imagine Swampfox would have, well, you never know what he might do.... But I, unsociable fellow that I am, just kept moving. Though, on the way up the first long climb, I did acknowledge with a smile a fellow who said, "Looking good." Because you never turn down a compliment. | ||
Saturday Sep 15 | ||
| trail running 41:27 [3] | |
| weight:135lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Up to the power line (17:41), and then a little farther. The idea was to see how far up the steep part I could run, though that would have taken more willpower than was available today, so I guess I ran as far up as I could today, under the rule that only a modest amount of pain and suffering was allowed. Made it this far, top of the short really steep pitch just after the trail changes to single track. And right there happened to a nice spot for a campfire, a ring of stones already there, never noticed it before.
On the way up I was thinking about the run, and not feeling very excited about it, and trying to think up a reason to stop short, say at the power line, but not really coming up with anything. On the way down the mind was free to wander, and it wandered back to the course this morning, and the guy I was playing with brought along the son of a guy that works for him, let's call the son "Tom" (because that really is his name....). Tom is a good golfer, plays for the local high school team. As it so happens, I'd met him before, the day before the Pawtuckaway weekend when I was playing with Charlie and Gail, and Tom was right behind us, and he waited for us to get off the green, but not for us to get very far away from the green. And when instead of hitting a nice soft shot to the green, he (mis)hit a low screamer that took a couple of bounces before nailing the cart that Gail was sitting in. Missed her by a couple of feet. So I waited for Tom to get closer, expecting that the first words out of his mouth would be "I'm sorry," preferably said several times, but his first words were actually a self-excusing and self-serving, "I waited until you were off the green." And then after a bit of a lecture from me, which I think Charlie would agree was reasonably restrained under the circumstances, the best he could do was a very tentative and not very sincere, "All right, I'm sorry." And when I reported Tom to the pro, the pro said he knew exactly who I was talking about, there had been problems before and he'd deal with it. So here I am 8 days later, about to spend several hours with him, and I wasn't happy about it, but I couldn't think of any way out. So I walk up to Tom and say something to the effect of, "Look, I'm putting everything from a few days ago behind me and starting over." Because I figured people have cut me enough slack over the years when I've been a jerk, and I ought to do the same. And we had a pleasant round, and some decent conversation. Though I still won't trust him absent evidence of a lot more good behavior. Now, I didn't tell my friend (the boss of Tom's dad) about the previous run-in. Don't know if i should have or not. | ||
| C • Tom 2 | ||
Friday Sep 14 | ||
| trail running 39:45 [3] | |
| weight:134lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Stopped at the Notch on the way home after a round with Charlie at the Ledges. Was not feeling energetic. Sat there, thought about it, decided the 65-70 minute run I had planned just wasn't what I wanted to do, I'd run later at home. Started the car back up, pulled out of the parking place, shifted into drive, and thought a little more, puled into a different parking place and got myself together and went a did a shorter version.
Out to Rattlesnake Knob (21:15) and back (18:30). Legs were dead. No snakes at the Knob, at least none out in the open, nor did any appear when I did a face-plant 20 meters into my return trip when I was certainly vulnerable for a few moments. Major intellectual accomplishment of the run was the realization that my 3 1/2 month scientific experiment was over and that I needed to remember to make the final measurement when I got home. Which I have now done. And so I can announce the results -- My right thumbnail grows 1 millimeter every 10 days. Aren't you glad you know that? Isn't that exciting? And aren't you wondering how I figured it out? So I'll tell you! And the secret here, like with some other famous scientific discoveries, is a brilliant mind taking advantage of a chance opportunity. The chance opportunity was a fall at the Big Muddy Rogaine on May 27, early morning on Sunday, caught myself with my right hand, a bit harder than I cared for, wrist was a little sore and the thumb a little bruised. And a little later there was a dark spot, a bit of dried blood I assume, at the lower left corner of the nail. So that was the chance part. And that little spot has just about grown out, with one more nail cutting it will be gone. And the brilliant mind part was thinking, gee, if I measure the distance, and count the days, and do a little higher math.... And now maybe you're thinking, Why do I read PG's log? | ||
| C • that's EXACTLY why I read PG's log, & furthermore... 2 | ||
Thursday Sep 13 | ||
| track 19:48 [4]4.8 km (4:07 / km) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| First time at the track in 5 months and only second time this year. Running the yellow course on Sunday at a decent tempo got me thinking it was time to ratchet up the training a little, and this fit in nicely as it is about as benign as you can get for an iffy ankle.
4 x 1200 on an 8-minute cycle, with active recovery (about 8 minute pace for the roughly 3 minutes in between). Hoped to be no worse than 7-minute pace (i.e. 5:15 for the 1200s), pleasantly surprised to do 5:01, 4:59, 4:56, and 4:52. Nothing great but you have to start somewhere. Ankle hurt for the first couple minutes warming up, then was ok. | ||
| track 17:44 [2]2.0 mi (8:52 / mi) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| A little before, a little after, plus in between.
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| Note | |
| And then afterwards a stop at Hillside Pizza, tried the special, Asiago Almond Pesto with Fresh tomatos, mushrooms, and onions. Very tasty, and enough left for tomorrow night too!
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Wednesday Sep 12 | ||
| trail running 51:56 [3] | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| From the gate up to the top of Toby via the race course (28:56), back via the hairpin, link, second quarter of power line power climb, and the last bit f the Robert Frost (23:00).
Ankle was iffy. Was ok at rogaine practice early this morning, but the first couple hundred yards on the run was quite painful. But it eased up and was pretty benign the rest of the way. I was being pretty careful coming down, still rolled it just a bit once but not much. I must have been spending a good bit of mental effort on watching my footing, because when I finished it occurred to me that I couldn't remember thinking about much of anything during the run. Usually I do some pretty serious daydreaming. But then it occurred to me that in fact I had been thinking a whole lot about the relay, I'd just already forgotten about it. (-: Ah, but I remember a little. Like, I was wondering who was on the fab four all-chick 12-point DVOA team. And if the Childs family was coming, was papa Carl or number one son Andrew going to run the anchor leg (and figuring Andrew ought to, but maybe Carl's ego would get in the way of that). And if any team had a prayer of topping CSU's #1 4-point team with its surprise line-up. And how JJ better remember to bring the loudspeaker. And how I sure hope the weather is better than it was yesterday. And probably a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember. Oh well.... | ||
Tuesday Sep 11 | ||
| road running 45:13 [3]4.5 km (10:03 / km) +250m 7:52 / km | |
| weight:135lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Down to Osbornedale again for some last bit of field-checking and to test run one of the courses. Seemed pretty good, and time was about what I hoped for under the circumstances -- forgot my compass, wore my rogaine glasses so ok to read the map but bad distance vision because it was pouring, and a couple of minutes of errors. Also tweaking my right ankle pretty good, seem to have been doing that a bunch of times in the last three months, take the next 4 or 5 steps on the other foot, then carefully start using it again, and then within several minutes it was mostly ok, but a little sore now afterwards.
Did I say pouring? Raining moderately all the way down, though it eased up for a few minutes just as I got there. Still rather light when I started, but within a couple of minutes it started coming down hard, and it just kept raining really hard for the next half hour. No big deal as it wasn't cold, just quite remarkable. Then spent a little time fieldchecking the course for the junior junior relay, then changed to head home, poured all the way home too. 
For those of you looking for a little advantage for the relay, here is my route. | ||
| trail running 10:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Montrail | ||
| While fieldchecking White course points.
| ||
| Note | |
| After leaving Osbornedale I stopped at a rather gloomy looking pizza place to get something to eat, maybe it looked gloomy because it was dark and raining and I had to drive through a foot of water to get to a parking spot, or maybe it looked gloomy because inside it really was gloomy, everything was old -- the owner, the couple other customers, the furnishings, even the reading material, a selection of National Geographics from the early 90s. I picked one with a article about Iraq, NG's standard superficial treatment, but still an interesting historical map of Mesopotamia going back to about 5,000BC, and chronicling the various changes in "governing bodies" over the centuries. Also some stuff on all the archeological sites, explored and unexplored. I wonder how many of them have been trashed.
Anyway, all of this seemed relevant because I spent the 2 hours down and the 2 hours back listening to the Senate hearings on Iraq. And my first observation, which confirmed an earlier one from some prior hearings, was that Joe Biden is never going to be president, never, no way, he just loves to talk too much and he doesn't seem to have any idea how foolish he sounds. He may be smart, but his only hope is to get his lips sewn together, and that ain't going to happen, he just loves to talk too much. And my next observation was that we're stuck with basically the status quo for another year, because W will do what the general says (and the general says what he assumes W will go for) and the Dems don't have the nerve or the votes to vote it down. As I said, it was a gloomy day.... | ||
| C • So? 10 | ||
| C • Look at what I found... 6 | ||
Monday Sep 10 | ||
| road running 37:40 [3]4.5 mi (8:22 / mi) | |
| weight:134.5lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| With Dave, along the river to the town line (19:27) and back (18:13). Legs totally dead to start, a little more energy on the way back. Sure wouldn't have run if Dave hadn't shown up. Light rain.
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Sunday Sep 9 | ||
| orienteering 15:07 [4]2.1 km (7:12 / km) +75m 6:06 / km | |
| shoes: Montrail | ||
| I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic about heading back out into the wilds again, and I didn't want to put my O' shoes back on because of a blister issue, so I checked out the White course, too easy, and the Orange course, definitely too hard, but then the Yellow course looked just right. So I ran it, good tempo run, just the right choice.
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| trail running 15:00 [2] | |
| shoes: Montrail | ||
| And then a cool-down watching Meg Parson do part of the same course.
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Blue Day 1 - Splits | ||
Saturday Sep 8 | ||
| Event: UNO Camping Weekend | ||
| orienteering 1:34:05 [2]7.9 km (11:55 / km) | |
| shoes: integrators 2006 | ||
| Blue course, set by Ernst, all the points were knolls (tomorrow it's boulders). Very hot, got an early start about 8:30, but it was still hot. Easy pace, some running, some walking, and the running was at a very mellow pace, lots of zigzags looked for the cleanest forest, walking when it was crappy. And the result -- only one fall!
Hit all the points, it's not so hard when you are going so slowly with plenty of time to read the map. And o couple of them, 10 and 13, were in areas of very low visibility. Only time loss was that I wasn't looking high enough sometimes -- I'm looking at the usual couple of feet off the ground and some of the controls were up 6' or more. So I'd get to the right place, be perplexed for a moment, and then look up and see it. Took a swim after I was done, had some lunch, really wanted to nap but didn't, and then got ready for event #2.... My routes. | ||
| C • cheater 2 | ||
| Note | |
| So this was Barb's Bus-stop-O'. I sat on my hands when she was looking for bus drivers, but since there was a need for participants as well as drivers, I couldn't resist that.
Snagged bus B (Samantha) at B1, right at the start, then around on the road to get bus F (Barb) at F2 -- I had spotted her on the way to F2, that was actually quite cool, there goes my bus, marked by the special orange and white hat, and I zipped over to catch it, but then I realized I got more points if I waited until she was on the road at F2. (And, no, I am not going to explain the rules, other than saying that it was tougher for adults to score points than for kids....) Then some time to klll until bus A (Tim Parson) got out to the road just after A4, then scoot down the road, all at a walk, to intersect bus C (Ross), who was doing an awesome job to stay on schedule, Then around to D6 just in time to get bus D (Brendon), who also had really hustled to stay on schedule. Never did get bus E (Phil). It seemed rather loony but was actually quite good fun, including chatting with a couple of kids while we waited for bus A. Got done just in time for dinner, eaten with the foreboding thought in mind that the night-O' was waiting.... | ||
| orienteering 2:42:06 [1]7.2 km (22:31 / km) | |
| shoes: integrators 2006 | ||
| World's Hardest Night-O' at Pawtuckaway. My route, except for around #9, and around #13 is a guess.
So there was discussion beforehand, knowing that JJ likes to keep statistics about such things as who has finished every edition of various events, there was discussion about how if you didn't get all the controls, you would severely regret it in the future. JJ did offer various scenarios for skipping controls, but the underlying message was, anyone worth anything better get them all. At least that was what I was thinking. And I was afraid I might be in for a long night. Ross was clearly the class of the field, plus he had the biggest headlamp. I had chatted with Ernst, and he claimed he would walk the whole thing because of a bad back. And I figured I would walk the whole thing. So JJ says Go and Ross takes off, and Ernst takes off after him, and I take off after Ernst, trying to keep him in sight as long as possible. So much for truth in pre-race plans.... In company all the way to #1, fortunately, because when I left the trail heading due east looking for a boulder in vague terrain, my immediate thought was that this was really dumb. But at some point someone stopped just to my left, and lo and behold, there was #1. Lucky again to #2, was probably going to go too far, but I heard a little noise to my right and figured I had better check, and over the little rise was #2. To #3, on compass, in control of distance all the way, company of Jim Arsenault and Brendan, At the bottom of the steep slope Brendan spotted it first. To #4, I got across the marsh first and was all by myself on the approach, but was a little too high and too far. And about when panic was setting in, down the hill just behind me came a couple of lights, heading right to #4. #5 was pretty easy. Thick woods all the first part to #6, then a straight shot to the control, someone else there ahead of me. I think at this point Jim turned to go to #10, skipping 7-9. #7 was a pain, because the forest got really bad for the last half, thicker than shown, rocky. Took advantage of Brendan here again. To #8, he went a little left, I went a little right, no sign of him until just at the control, he was just ahead of me. But on that one I was in control all the way. And then #9, mega-disaster, 32 minutes. Was careful, dropped down the last slope, thought i was just about right, but didn't see any control. Nor did Brendon. So we circled a bit in the immediate area, maybe 3-5 minutes, and then Brendan said he was going to bail out to the pond. Which seemed unnecessary to me, figured I could relocate, but I couldn't. I think i was SW of the control. Never saw Brendan again, but before too long there was another light, Ross this time. And after a bit he said he was going to bail out to the pond. Which I did too, and found the pond, but had a hard time telling where I was along the pond. And pretty soon no more sign of Ross, and I was getting pretty frustrated. And I looked at the rest of the course, and man, the rest looked easy if I could just find this dumb control. So I was trying and trying and trying to find something distinct in the terrain and finally I'm heading up a hillside going NE, at least 3 lines of climb, and I see where I might be, if there is a big boulder on the top of the little knoll on top. And there is, and other stuff matches up, and and I do the next 100 meters to the control, no problem. Why was it so hard 30 minutes earlier? Argggggg. Well, off to 10. On the compass all the way, kept hoping to hit the bike trail, didn't for a long time, but I had good control on my distance and knew right where I was going. No problems. To 11, ok until the end, tried to make sense of the bends in the bike trail, should have just stayed on my bearing. Still not bad. #12 was easy, nice big features. #13 was easy too, you're just about done, I thought, and then blew it, badly. Hit the cliff just NE of the control, then missed the point from there, circled all around, tried to relocate, finally heading back NE to get back to the big reentrant, saw a light there, and it was Ernst. A bit of consultation as to where we might be, correctly done, but then I headed back down to the cliff, he went elsewhere. Got the control this time, and clean the rest of the way, Ernst in a couple of minutes later. Finished, but not with much dignity, a double disaster is still a double disaster. And also incredibly dehydrated, I'd been sweating away, it was still warm, but hadn't carried any water and there were no water stops on the course. But still, finished. And a podium position at that.... :-) | ||
WHN-O - Splits | ||
Friday Sep 7 | ||
| Note | |
| weight:134lbs | ||
| Off to Pawtuckaway for the weekend. I imagine I will have to do version 2 of the world's hardest night-O', plus maybe even run a regular course or two. That will be interesting -- I've only run a handful of courses all year.
But the streak is intact, the weight is getting under control, the blood pressure was 114/70 yesterday, and the stress level in relation to the Sprint Finals and Relay Champs preparations is still mostly under control. Life could be a lot worse. Version 1 of the World's Hardest Night-O'. | ||
| trail running 28:45 [3] | |
| weight:134lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Started the day off with a fine round of rogaine practice with Charlie and Rhonda and Gail. A couple more PRs withe the D1 which was really smoking, plus tied an overall PR (73) from a few years ago.
Then up to Pawtuckaway, a nice pasta dinner, set up the tents just as it was getting dark, and then of course I had to deal with the demands of the streak, so on with the headlamp and a nice run out the Fundy Trail for a ways. Legs has some energy despite the full stomach. Surprised a porcupine in the middle of the trail, it very slowly ambled off into the underbrush, my first thought had been that it was a skunk, so this was much better, seeing a porcupine is always a pleasure. | ||
Thursday Sep 6 | ||
| trail running 31:55 [3] | |
| weight:134.5lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Power line (17:43) and back (14:12), very dead legs, perhaps because I was stoned, well, as close to stoned as I ever get these days, meaning I had somehow returned from Canada 10 days ago with a box of Stoned Wheat Thins that Barb had procured but then abandoned, and the last couple of days I've been working my way through them, including a handful or two just before running, trying to keep from sitting down and eating something more substantial.
Now yesterday, on the Dean's run, that's in Amherst, home of the state university, and must everyone there is stoned, so I didn't give my condition any thought, and maybe I got carried away a little with my run report (but I still keep laughing when I re-read it!), but today, well, Sunderland is a little more law abiding, so I have to watch myself, so today's run report is, well, over. | ||
| C • college rankings 1 | ||
| C • "these days?" 1 | ||
Wednesday Sep 5 | ||
| trail running 49:42 [3] | |
| weight:135lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| From the Mill River in North Amherst, north on the Robert Frost trail to Juggler Meadow Road and back. Relaxed pace, 25:38 out, 24:04 back. An ordinary run, but not an ordinary route, as for very, very specialized students of history, this route played a key role in the FDF War, and more specifically, in the development of that most potent weapon, the blue cap.
To start at the beginning, a quote from Phil's AP log on June 12, about this very route, one of his favorites: "The headline for today is: "THEY'RE BACK" I felt like I was trapped in a grade B horror flick. I had 8 kills on the way out to Juggler Road; then I decided to take the road back. The Frost is now closed for the summer." It was just at this time that the original blue cups (CUPS, not CAPS) were being tested, with Barb and Phil joining me as the chief testers, and while the blue cups clearly worked, there was a problem for some of us. To quote Phil again: "The next question is: is there a way to do this without looking quite so silly?" And Charlie offered some advice: "I think the answer is to cultivate the zany yet confident grin that PG exhibits, instead of the furtive look of the philosophy professor trying to avoid his dean." 
The main problem, of course, was one of image, maybe also one of fashion, for apparently Phil's dean liked to hike on this very trail, and the thought of a chance encounter, with Phil decked out with a blue cup, was just to awful to chance. And before long we had moved on the blue CAPS, and the rest, as they say, is history. But there was still a little research to be done. I needed to go check out this bit of trail, partly to confirm that the FDFs were completely gone for the season -- and they were -- and also partly to see if I could find this mysterious dean. Of course I wasn't sure what he looked like. All I had was the one-word clue -- Dean. And I thought, maybe he looks like this -- 
But no, that's James Dean, and he's dead, and he's too cool to be Phil's dean. And then I thought, maybe he looks like this -- 
But no, that's Dizzy Dean, and he's dead too. And I was about to give up, but I had one more thought, maybe he looks like this -- 
And damn if I wasn't right! Phil, I can see what you didn't want to run into this guy. He looks really silly. | ||
| C • Time 10 | ||
Tuesday Sep 4 | ||
| trail running 31:48 [3] | |
| weight:134.5lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Up to the power line (17:26) and back (14:22), easy pace especially on the way back as hamstring was just a little tight in the morning. Got out just before dark after an all-day guy trip to Berkshire Hills, so fine.
| ||
Monday Sep 3 | ||
| road running 36:43 [3]4.5 mi (8:09 / mi) | |
| weight:135lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Falls Road to the town line (18:35) and back (18:08). Streak got me out the door again, this time in the last bits of daylight, starting about 7:15, sunset today 7:22, was careful the last 10 minutes to be well off the road every time a car came by, just to be sure nothing really stupid happened.
The departure time also meant that my gastric juices were still doing battle with a fine dinner of salad and smoked salmon, so I had to be careful to keep a mellow pace to make sure there was a little blood left for the brain, needed for daydreaming, after the legs and the stomach had grabbed their share. And the daydreaming included -- 1. The thought, and I was pretty sure of this, that my streak was not just a streak but also a ramp (not to be confused with The Ramp, an occasionally fun but mostly foolish undertaking). Just to be clear, further extension of this ramp is a very low priority. 2. This weekend seems to have been a time for PRs for Gail and Phil and perhaps others, and it certainly was for me. Thanks to rock-hard conditions and a smoking D1, PRs included several in the 270-280 range (3, 4, 9, 10, 14, 16, 18), a downwind/downhill 310 at 17, and a very fine driving the green 280 on the short par 4 13th. No mention will be made of other attempts that went awry, sometimes badly awry, all clearly not the fault of the D1 but the owner. 3. At the turn-around point, there is a nice spot by the falls coming down from Whittemore Pond, and a guy was on the porch listening to the Sox game. I thought of asking for the score, but didn't, but then my mind flipped back to the winter of 1980, when the Olympics were in Lake Placid, scene of the "Do you believe in miracles?" 4-3 hockey win over the USSR. Which, as perhaps fewer people remember, didn't mean so much unless the US team also beat Finland a couple of days later, which happened to be a Sunday, the last Sunday in February, the game starting at noon. But for the last 30 years or more, the last Sunday in February, starting at 1 pm, has always been the day for the Sugarloaf 10-miler, a tough road race with an especially nasty hill from 8.5 miles to 9.75 miles. And as a person usually much more interested in participating in sports than watching them, I was running in the race, but also wondering how the hockey team was doing. And just past the 7-mile point a guy was standing on the side of the road holding up board with the words scrawled on them: "USA 4, Finland 2" And everyone cheered, and the good vibes helped get us all up the last hill. Ran 65:11 that day, age 35, best time on the course was 62:27 at age 43, best effort was probably 63:57 at age 54 when I was still running well. 4. And that flipped my mind to wondering what the best road race was that I'd run, best result that is. And the candidates were a 30K at age 49 in 1:57, 3 39-minute 10Ks in a row, very hilly course, 6:23 pace, felt just awesome, and then the 87:30 half-marathon from about 18 months ago, age 61, 6:40 pace. Have to do a little more thinking abut that. And by now I was about 10 minutes from home and it was getting quite dark, no time for daydreaming, just keep out of the way of any cars that might not see me. But at least the first 25 minutes of the run went by very easily.... | ||
Sunday Sep 2 | ||
| part trail, part road 35:30 [3] | |
| weight:134lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Falls Road, up Gunn Mt. Road, back down North Mountain.
This run wouldn't have happened if I didn't have a streak going on, but that was enough motivation to get me out the door despite feeling crappy, headache all afternoon. Figured I'd take it real easy but I was under the gun to get back in time for dinner, so after a few minutes the pace picked up until it was actually quite brisk (as was yesterday's, 8-minute pace is hard work, unfortunately...). Blisters on right heel are still distressingly sore a week after the rogaine. I can manage fine by taping them, but it would be nice if they would hurry up and heal. | ||
| C • Heel blisters 3 | ||
| Note | |
| I've been reading more recently, real books that is, although I have pretty demanding criteria for what kind of books I can read -- large print, widely spaced lines, short chapters, not too much heavy thinking required, maybe some humor, but also something interesting.
I'm not sure how this started, but in the last few years I've read hardly any books. And the funny thing is, we have a beautiful new library just down the street, finished about 2 years ago, I was on the "Building Committee" in town, group of 7 residents in town that ran the whole project (a couple of design people, a lawyer, a guy familiar with planning and zoning, a teacher, an investment advisor, and me), about a 5-year effort, a couple of years to get state funding for about half of it and town approval for the rest, a couple of years working through the design and bid process, and a little over a year for construction. My responsibility was the financing and dealing with town politics, plus I ended up sitting in on the weekly construction meetings even though I knew nothing at all about construction. We had an architect who has a really good sense of design, but was a terrible procrastinator when it came to getting things done, and a builder who did excellent work but also was trying to do what they could to squeeze more money, well, a lot more, out of us. The weekly meetings were invariably stressful, the builder telling the architect he'd screwed up something, the architect trying to dodge responsibility, plus promising to submit revised drawings right away for whatever the problem was, and me and the head of our committee trying to figure out how we could fix whatever the problem was and still stay within our budget. I got very good at both pounding on heads (e.g. you say you'll have this revised drawing tomorrow, what time tomorrow, we want it here at 10 am...) and trying to cut the best deal possible on all the change orders. All a real education. Plus one Saturday morning spent with the highway department (3 guys) and the head of the board of selectmen spreading this thick goop on all sides and the top of the town vault (a good-sized room included within the library) to make it more waterproof, because the architect wouldn't guarantee the planned design was sufficiently water resistant in case of fire, and the builder wanted 5K to fix it, and we could do it in one morning for a cost of about $200 in materials. But that's another story.... We came down to the bitter end, 3 weeks before the building was to open, it was beautiful, but we had unresolved differences with the builder of about $60,000 dealing with who was responsible for the grouting of the pipes for the geothermal system that heated and cooled the building. Someplace between the first and second round of bids (the first round had been 400K over our $2+ million budget, so we had to do a bunch of redesign and slimming), some things got changed in the specs, and in the second round the geothermal subcontractor assumed the general owned (i.e had to do the work) the grouting, and the general contractor thought the sub owned it, so neither had apparently put it in their budget. They had done the work under protest, finances to be resolved later. And through the eventual resolution of all the other issues, this one issue stayed unresolved. Letters from lawyers had gone back and forth, both the general and the sub blaming the architect, the architect saying they should have asked if they didn't understand something, the town feeling we had gotten a bid for the whole building that certainly included a heating and cooling system. Although I was pretty sure that neither the sub nor the general had actually budgeted for the work. I'd reserved the 60K, had to say no to a bunch of other add-ons that I didn't think were necessary, but I really wanted to keep the 60K for doing a proper job of equipping the building with computers and setting up a fund for maintenance. Of course, neither the builder nor the architect knew this. So we had our final showdown one morning in town hall. Architect and his firm's owner and their lawyer, builder (the sub had already been paid, the general was the one who hadn't been) owners and their lawyer, town administrator and the two of us on the building committee and our lawyer. The first hour spent with each side making their case, no one giving an inch. At some point I ask our lawyer on the side if there is anything to be gained by pleading poverty, and he says, legally, no. So I try it anyway, and I toss out that all we have left in the bank is a little over 10K, maybe I can get it up close to 15K if I'm really lucky, and that's it, that's all we have. And I explain the current state of town politics (where we're looking at a $5 million bill to reconstruct the elementary school after the roof fell in), so there is absolutely no way we can go back to the town for more money because the residents are so pissed off at the school situation. But we'll kick in the 10-15K to try to make a deal. Knowing that they will latch on to the 15, also knowing I'm willing to go a little higher, but let's see what happens. So the builders and their lawyer go for a walk, and after a while they come back and say they are willing to cut their demand in half, or a touch more, down to 29K. But that's it. By now we're all in separate rooms, and we send them off and call in the architects and their lawyer. And the message to them is, do you really want to spend a couple of years in court, with some non-trivial legal fees, or do you want to settle this today? And if you want to settle this today, you have to put something in the pot, just like we are, just like the builder is. And it so happened that we still owed the architect 8K of their total fee, so I said they really needed to put that 8K in the pot. And there was a lot of grimacing and protesting and unhappy body language, but after a while, and consideration of the alternative, they finally said ok, they'd give up the 8K. So now we were only 6K apart, the builder wanted 29, between the town and the architect we were offering 23, and I'm thinking we'll try to split the difference and up our offer to 18, when our lawyer suggests we see if they will just take the 23. So we call the builder back in, and now the pitch is, we've put in everything we've got, the architect is basically giving up his profit, how about it. And they think about it and go for another walk, and then their lawyer comes back and says ok. And everything inside of me is screaming, Yes!, and it takes all my willpower to whisper to my folks, "No gloating." And we shake hands, and there are compliments all around about how beautiful the building is, and how terrific the construction is, and then they are all gone, it's been about 3 hours, and we are jumping up and down because we'll still have 45K to got a lot of nice things for the building. Though a little bit of me feels like a lying schmuck, though I rationalize it away by thinking, this is the way the world works.... So anyway, it is now a couple of years later and I still haven't taken a book out of the new building. And one evening about a month ago I decided I should read more, so I went down and picked out 4 books -- something light by Carl Haissan, Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, State of Denial about the Iraq war, and something titled How to Live to 100. The first was amusing and light, as was the second (we'd seen the movie and I kept imagining John Travolta in the role of Chili Pepper), the third was interesting and really depressing, and I haven't made much progress in the fourth. But getting through three of them was a major accomplishment, managed I think by alternating chapters, a chapter from one book, then put it down pick up another, and so on. Somehow my short attention span seemed to deal with that better. My latest batch is again a little light, a little heavier -- something by Nora Ephrom, mostly light and funny, but little bits very thought-provoking, something even lighter by Dave Barry (hardly qualifies as a book), and then something on two subjects I really don't understand at all, a book about DNA, though it seems to be more about using DNA to investigate ancient stuff, and a biography of Einstein. I doubt that I will get far in the latter, but I have hopes, a chapter at a time with some Dave Barry in between might at least get me a little ways. Suggestions of books for future reading are welcome, keeping in mind they they should be suitable for someone with a bit of curiosity, a short attention span, and an interest in still trying to learn something new even as my mind is fading away. | ||
| C • This was a most excellent and ... 15 | ||
Saturday Sep 1 | ||
| road running 34:33 [3]4.3 mi (8:02 / mi) | |
| weight:135lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Yup, a streak is definitely going, 2 days in a row now. Under the theory that it takes about 3 weeks of training after a layoff before you actually enjoy a run and feel a little progress, well, only 19 more to work through before then. :-)
Very good behavior today, also very good willpower, getting out the door late in the day after a long time out on the course, where I have now surpassed my season's goal of playing with 25 new folks, I think I'm pushing 30. Program has been a real success though it may sound inane or trivial, as I'm feeling much more connected. And that (feeling connected) is good, seriously, in all aspects of life. | ||
| C • Can you make it 3? I'm at 244... 4 | ||
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