Training Archive: PGIn the 31 days ending 2007-12-31:
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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 | M | |||||||||||||||||||
Monday Dec 31 | ||
| nautilus 40:00 [3] | |
| So that have a B circuit too, got set up on it. And then a bunch of shoveling at home (the arms feeling not so bad this time), with another storm expected tomorrow, that makes four by New Year's Day. The snowplow guys are in heaven.
Knee is still unhappy. | ||
| C • snowplow guys 7 | ||
| Note | |
| Time for a few numbers for 2007:
29 O races (68 in 2006) -- 11 sprints (13 in 2006) -- 1 middle (11) -- 13 classic (34), though a classic varied a lot, from 45 to 95 minutes depending on whether I was running M21, M45, or M60. -- 0 long (1) -- 2 goats (2) -- 1 O' marathon (0) -- 0 cross/farsta (2) -- 0 relay (3) -- 1 night (2) -- 0 trail-O (0) plus 2 rogaines 303 hours training (256 in 2006), up surprisingly, including: -- 38 orienteering (75 in 2006), way down for the year -- 123 other running (181), way down also -- 43 biking (0) -- 47 rogaining (0) -- 37 run/hikes (0), mostly rogaine training -- 15 (0), nautilus, spinning, misc. junk So much less orienteering and running training than last year, all due to injury, mainly hamstring problems in the winter and spring. That was offset by some biking in the first part of the summer, plus doing a couple rogaines and some training for them. Note for anyone not clued into my terminology -- "rogaine training" is running/walking, the latter when it is uphill, usually with a pack, so perfectly valid training in other words, while "rogaine practice" is golf, of which I played a whole lot this year, enjoyed immensely, and actually got better at, something that sure could not be said for my orienteering. I'd guess those three comments about my golf are all very connected -- if you do better at something than in the past, it is much more likely you will enjoy it and also do it more often. I'd also guess the golf (many hours walking, carrying clubs) is actually useful training for rogaining, though I have not yet sunk low enough to log it on AP. Also ran 8 foot races: -- 7 on the roads, all short, from 5 km to 10 km. -- 1 trail race, not quite an hour. Other thoughts -- 1. It was a pretty lousy year for orienteering. My winter/spring tally of A meet days comes up with North Carolina (one DNF, only made it 50 yards before I crashed and burned, hamstring, plus 2 DNS), HVO/Surebridge (finished day 1, very slow, DNF day 2 after 20 minutes, hamstring again), and the Team Trials in Michigan (3 DNS). One race completed, 2 DNF, 5 DNS. Things did get better in the fall, but not much that I would look back on and think "great race." Valley Forge came close, but it was 500 meters too long. 2. Did two rogaines with Barb (Oregon, Laurentians), plus several crack-of-dawn training sessions, all lots of fun, and very good for morale given that the orienteering/running was going so badly. She is a super partner, good O skills, full of energy, and very upbeat. 3. Once again spent a lot of time on the Team, bringing a lot of personal satisfaction. We've even managed to implement a coaching program. Now it would be really nice if we can show some real progress in the next year or two. Meanwhile, a whole lot of people have been very supportive (time, money, positive vibes) of the Team. Which has been great. 4. Also spent a lot of time on the Sprint Series, concluding with the Sprint Finals and US Relay Champs in late September. Helping to organizing events is always stressful, and this was no exception, but it was also a lot of fun -- the WCOC gang is just great, and the weekend turned out as well as we had hoped. And the Series will keep going, thanks to Cristina and Kris and Gil for pitching in. 5. As in 2006, laughed a lot, and got my share of being laughed at too, especially after posting some old photos. 6. Weight once again held steady at 1G all year long, though the G itself was higher than I cared for, especially at the end of the year, when a couple of weeks of no exercise and some binge eating boosted to year-end reading to 141.5. Need to do something about that when I get back to running, which hopefully will be before too long. 7. Topping the list of totally meaningless numbers, so far there have been 54,103 times that someone has stopped doing something useful to come look at my training log (27,034 at this time last year, 6,908 at the end of 2005). I admit to spending a lot of time on Attackpoint, and getting a great deal of enjoyment from it, and it seems like some others do too. By the way, in coming up with the numbers of O' events and races I've done this year, I had to go back through my log for the year. Took me several hours, I kept getting diverted, reading old posts and various comments, laughing a lot. 8. And finally, more important than all of the above, it was a very good year for friendships, starting with Gail, also my frequent traveling companions Phil and Charlie, and then many others in orienteering, of all ages. It was mostly a lousy year competitively, but a fine year in many other ways. For 2008? Well, another year older means the downward slope just gets steeper. Have to see what I can do, can't stop trying. And how nice it would be if Gail's knees would somehow get enough better to get her back out orienteering again. | ||
Sunday Dec 30 | ||
| hike 41:10 [1] 2.75 mi (14:58 / mi) | |
| To Millstone to get the morning paper and back. Quick as I could, not saying much. | ||
| nautilus 40:00 [1] | |
| Twice around the A circuit. All the machines are hooked up to a computer, keeping track of what you do. Yesterday was 15,400 pounds, for whatever that's worth. Today it might have been a little more. See, I was again in "social connect" mode, though the workout was almost over and there had been slim pickings, but I'm just starting the hamstring machine and there is this pretty blond young thing walking toward me on her way out and I'm thinking about how to connect and just then she says, "Hey, Peter." Turns out it was Amy from the Thursday evening track group, didn't recognize her, I'm used to seeing her with less on I guess. So we chat for a moment, I tell her about Valley Forge, very pleasant, and then she's off, and I notice that the computer says I've done way more of these hamstring things than I was planning on. This connecting stuff is all right!
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Saturday Dec 29 | ||
| nautilus 35:00 [1] | |
| Twice around the A circuit. Given that I'm not getting any other exercise, I actually look forward to this.
More progress on the "getting connected" front. If I can manage a dozen new ones and dozen cross connections (someone you already know, just not in any exercise context), that will be excellent. One of each today. | ||
Friday Dec 28 | ||
| Note | |
| A beautiful day was predicted, sunny, low 40s, and it seem foolish to let the opportunity pass for one final round of rogaine practice for the year, so I motored down to Groton to have a look at Shennecossett, a place that has been on my list of places to try for some time. The last of the snow disappeared just before I got there, and the place was crowded as it was probably the only course open in Connecticut, but I got hooked up with three others and was off without too much delay. A beautiful day to be out, the shot off the first tee was perfect, but the feeling in the vicinity of the left knee was definitely not perfect. Hurt like hell, just at the finish of the swing.
Went hobbling off, the 9 iron to the green was perfect too, but also sharp pain. I was already evaluation my options. Had I been closer to home I might well have packed it in. If I kept going, would I be doing any damage? Didn't know. Found some ibuprofen in my bag and swallowed a couple, no water. Played another hole, swallowed a couple more ibuprofen. And after a while the pain mellowed out a bit, still hurt every shot but tolerable. Don't think I made things seriously worse. The tendonitis coming down from the hamstring seems in fact to be healed, it's just the upper inside part of the calf muscle up to where it attaches to the knee that hurts, nothing inside the knee itself. But it seems like it might be a while before it heals. Need to get the ice out more often too. Nevertheless, glad I went. Route. | ||
Thursday Dec 27 | ||
| nautilus 25:00 [1] | |
| Twice around the A circuit again. Was supposed to get set up to do the B circuit, but the power to the computer system was down, so no way to save settings and weights and ranges of motion, so we put that off. And it's actually a lot quicker without that stuff.
Was thinking at one point that along with trying to keep doing this stuff throughout the winter (plus hopefully doing some running at some point), maybe I should try what I did at the golf course this year, make an effort to meet some people. I really do have to make an effort because it seems to be against my nature to be friendly to people I don't know. And my program this summer was a real success, goal was playing with 25 new people, result was 43 and with it a sense of belonging and a lot of pleasure. So when one really old guy (i.e. appearing older than me) said something to me, rather than brushing him off as all my functioning neurons were telling me to do, I struck up a short and pleasant conversation. Progress! | ||
| C • I don't know why you're sta... 1 | ||
Wednesday Dec 26 | ||
| nautilus 40:00 [2] | |
| Twice around the A circuit, reasonably vigorously. Knee still not good. | ||
Tuesday Dec 25 | ||
| hike 40:00 [3] 2.25 mi (17:46 / mi) | |
| Just a brisk walk with Charlie, knee still bugging me. About time for it to calm down. Maybe the long stint in the hot tub afterwards will do the trick. If not that, then maybe the mammoth and extraordinarily tasty meals chez Rhonda. The G is clearly in a hyper-inflationary mode. Is the extra weight what's causing the knee problem?
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Monday Dec 24 | ||
| treadmill 30:00 [1] 1.5 mi (20:00 / mi) | |
| At Charlie's. Running hurt too much, so walking it was, very mellow, 3mph at 6%. Marginally better than nothing.
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Sunday Dec 23 | ||
| Note | |
| Big day. A workout and Christmas shopping. A big day, because it's been years since I've gotten a Christmas present for anyone. But the pressure was on, Gail had made it clear that she was pretty tired of waiting for me to produce a cell phone for her. Not that I had to do it today, but I had best not put it off too much longer.
So we went off shopping, "we" being me and my technology consultant, Alex, my brother's daughter, who knows way more about all this stuff than I ever will, and we headed over to the Sprint store in Torrington. Two young guys there, no other customers, we found a phone, we were getting all the paperwork done, and the one guy, the bigger one, well, he was a whole lot bigger, in fact he was really big, he asked me where Sunderland is. You know where Amherst is? Yeah, I went to school there, UMass. played basketball there. Really? At what level? Varsity? Yeah, varsity. Really? (the doubtful tone, because when I say he was really big, what I mean is, he was really wide) Yeah. What's your name? Jeff Salovski, but they used to call me .... (and just then the phrase is popping into my mind too) ... the Big Deli. You're the Big Deli! Wow! And we spent another 20 or 30 minutes talking about his one-year college basketball career, cut short by injury, when he played at a trim 315, probably at least 100 pounds less than his current weight (the first triple-G guy I've ever talked to?). He really was the Big Deli, a cult favorite, usually put in late in the game when it was already either won or lost, big cheers from the crowd, but I remember one game when he got in early and often and he was hot, no speed but smooth moves around the basket and a lot put-backs and the crowd just loving it. And here I was, chatting up the Big Deli himself. Super cool. Got the phone, got back to mom's, Gail was delighted. Also super cool. Oh, and the workout? A pleasant stroll around town with the family. Knee still a little sore, but improving. | ||
Saturday Dec 22 | ||
| Note | |
| Off to my mom's in Litchfield in the afternoon, though not before getting a call from my sister, saying that she wouldn't be coming to the family get-together because she had a sore knee and it was just too difficult. I do believe that I said to Gail, shortly after hanging up, something like, "My sister is a wuss."
So perhaps it should not have been a surprise when, partway to Litchfield, Gail said, quite out of the blue, "Your sister needs to Harden The Fuck Up." We laughed and laughed. I wonder if I should send her the link to the video. Somehow I think not.. | ||
| C • There's a video? I obvious... 3 | ||
Friday Dec 21 | ||
| nautilus 1 [1] | |
| Decided it was time to sign up for my usual winter membership at the Body Shoppe (the local gym). And since I'm not running now, try to get started on a general strength routine. We will see how it goes.
Also spent 5 minutes on the treadmill, just walking. Knee is better but still sore. | ||
Tuesday Dec 18 | ||
| Note | |
| I know taxes can be painful, but usually it's in a financial or psychological way, not a physical way....
Went to a seminar in Hartford today. Was leaving, walking through the parking lot to my car, didn't notice a little curb, kicked it, tried to keep my balance, didn't, went sprawling, in the process yanked the back of my left knee something awful. Hurt real bad for a while, still complaining. What a klutz. The rest of me seems ok after Saturday. Quads were sore for a day or two but that's gone, and no other ailments. But getting back running may be a while. | ||
| C • Spooky 2 | ||
Monday Dec 17 | ||
| Note | |
| Some serious shoveling over the last 24 hours, 2 storms worth. Where is global warming when we need it?
Left leg still very sore. May be a while before running makes sense. | ||
Sunday Dec 16 | ||
| Note | |
| weight:137lbs | ||
| Despite a pint of Ben & Jerry's at bedtime, the G is 137. Not bad!
The bad news is (1) my left leg is very unhappy, and (2) this is what I see out the window.... 
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| C • Welcome Home! 3 | ||
| C • What flavor? 5 | ||
| C • Well here is what I see in ... 1 | ||
| Note | |
| Aerial view of yesterday's run, right on 29 miles. And my log of my just concluded rogaine practice tour.
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| C • Last day of rogaine practice tour 4 | ||
Saturday Dec 15 | ||
| Event: Valley Forge Battle to the End O' Marathon | ||
| Note | |
| Here are the maps from today's marathon at Valley Forge:
1. Mt. Joy (controls 1-4, 24-26, and 47-49, plus the S/F). 2. Mount Misery (controls 5, 19-24, and 26-27). 3. Chesterbrook (controls 6-18) 4. Mill Grove (controls 28 and 35-41) 5. Fatlands (controls 29-34 and 42-46) | ||
| C • DQ? 8 | ||
| orienteering 4:47:24 [3] 42.2 km (6:49 / km) +600m 6:22 / km | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| The Valley Forge Orienteering Marathon, a brilliant event conceived by Wyatt and Angelica, mapped by Wyatt, and produced by a few DVOA stalwarts. It was definitely an event not to be missed.
I had a great race. Absolutely. Except for the run-in from the last control, when about 600 meters from the finish something happened in the region of my upper inside left calf and lower inside left hamstrings, the tendons not the muscles, which had twinged a couple times earlier, and all of a sudden they just hurt something awful. Jogged/limped in, very glad the race wasn't any longer, but not at all happy with how the leg felt. May be a while getting better. But until then, I felt great. No blisters, no foot problems, no cramping, no chafing, no stomach problems. And my energy was excellent almost to the end -- only on the last couple of legs did I walk a couple of times where it wasn't significantly uphill. I kept being surprised -- 2 hours and the legs felt strong, 3 hours and the legs felt strong, 4 hours and the legs felt strong. Must be all the golf? I had company almost all the time, which was nice. First from Phil and Mike Lyons, then Randy, then they fell back a little but I caught Hillary. Stayed with her until crossing the bridge on the way to 47, when she took off to try and catch Iliana. Mentally, my orienteering was fine, my concentration was fine, but I made two mistakes that would have been fatal but for the kindness of others. First, my control card and clues dropped out of their holder somewhere near the first control. A hundred meters later I hear someone yelling at me, it's Corinne, also I think Cristina, they have my card. Thank you C and C! And then, worse, on the way from 33 to 34 I dropped my little map, the one that had controls 35 to 41 on it. I sure didn't want to go back to look for it, so I asked Hillary if I could hang with her through 41. She was gracious enough to humor me, I think she liked having some company too. Thank you Hilly! But it was still just a great race physically. The same feeling as some of my ultras, that you can just keep going for a long time. One of those days when the legs feel good. And at age 63, very fine. If my leg just wasn't killing me now.... | ||
| C • map 7 | ||
| Note | |
| Remarkably easy drive home, at most moderate traffic on the NJ Turnpike, Garden State, Merritt, and 91. Just took 4:40, plus an hour's stop for dinner at a chain I can actually recommend, Ruby Tuesday, has a really fine salad bar, really, really fine. Don't need to get much else. Though I did get a little ice cream when we got home, first in quite a while, just to celebrate.
Nice to be home, but what's all this white stuff. And cold! | ||
| C • The drive 4 | ||
Marathon - Splits | ||
Thursday Dec 13 | ||
| Note | |
One last bit of speedwork with a local....
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Wednesday Dec 12 | ||
| trail running 33:08 [3] 3.7 mi (8:57 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Pre-breakfast run just off the pavement, warmer than expected, did not need the long-sleeved shirt, and definitely hillier than expected, see the elevation profile.
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| Note | |
Had a nice visit to Nags Head, including a stop at Jockey's Ridge State Park, where the following sign caught our eye....
... especially since it seemed to indicate that after some hang gliding you might be interested in a picnic for the handicapped. But we went to investigate anyway.... 
... but they were closed up, out on the dunes giving a lesson, so we headed off that way, with a slight detour so Gail could climb the highest dune on the East Coast (seriously!), part of her new get back in shape routine, so what if the knee hurts.... 
... from where we could see all the hang gliding excitement, which seemed to be mostly standing around and waiting (is this what JJ does?).... 
... so after a while we wandered off to watch the pelicans.... 
A fine late afternoon of preparation for Valley Forge! | ||
Tuesday Dec 11 | ||
| Note | |
Sign seen while doing my final tune-ups for Valley Forge --
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Monday Dec 10 | ||
| trail running 1:06:05 [3] 7.3 mi (9:03 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Another dusk run, this time a full circuit of the CCCH, ignoring quite a few "No Trespassing" signs and having quite a nice time. Very warm, still in the low 70s late in the day. Scared up a heron, a bunch of geese, and a couple of killdeer.
The route. | ||
| C • All these reports of killde... 20 | ||
Sunday Dec 9 | ||
| road running 33:13 [3] 3.7 mi (8:59 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| In Chapel Hill visiting Gail's aunt and uncle. Got there just about 5 pm, was out the door 5 minutes later, making the proper choice between food and exercise. WJust a short outing, but it was getting pretty dark by the time I was done. Saw about 10 deer, 8 normal whitetails and 2 killdeer. Route. | ||
| Note | |
| I sure hope the G is going down, because I've been hungry a lot over the last week or two. I would hate to think it wasn't doing any good.
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Saturday Dec 8 | ||
| trail running 1:20:02 [3] 9.33 mi (8:34 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Good run in the late afternoon after a wonderful day at Tobacco Road. Just running the roads from where we are staying, but I decided I should simulate Valley Forge conditions a little more, so I ran a yard or two off the pavement all the way. Footing was a little bumpy and a little tilted and certainly softer, but not too much trash. My route. I doubt that I simulated one aspect of VF and that was the weather. It was 72 and sunny, no wind. If we get that, I imagine everyone will be complaining about the heat.
I was glad I took a look at the satellite photo on Google Maps before I left, and not just the road map, as they are building a bypass, and the road I was planning on taking over to get a brief view of the Sanford CC took a substantial detour. The plus side was that I got in an 80-minute run and not just an hour. And the legs still had something left at the end. 41:26 out, 38:36 back, working harder coming back as I'd told Gail I'd be back by 5. I believe it was 5:01 when I returned. | ||
| Note | |
| The day at Tobacco Road.
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Friday Dec 7 | ||
| Note | |
| Route from yesterday's run.
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| Note | |
| Stopped in at the local Elks club and they happened to have a rather old but very professional looking scale in the men's room. So I hopped on. It was not an official reading, wrong time of day, all my clothes on, plus the wrong scale, wrong altitude, wrong distance from the equator, but let me just say I was pleased with what I saw.
8 days to VF. Off day today, longer run tomorrow afternoon. Then a couple days of heat training before the final taper. | ||
| C • Good Ol' Boys 5 | ||
Thursday Dec 6 | ||
| trail running 1:27:00 [3] | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| A cold morning, so decided to drive over to Uwharrie NF and run on the Uwharrie Trail, a 20-mile trail on which I ran a 40-mile race in February, 1994. Thought it would be fun to revisit the scene, and it was.
Stopped at the ranger station in Troy to pick up a USGS map. Started the run at the trailhead on route 109, went north first for about 35 minutes, then back to check in with Gail, then south just a little and back. Route was rockier than I remember and the forest a little less gorgeous, but it was still a really nice outing. And the legs didn't feel so bad, ran all the hills except a couple minutes of a steep one early on. 9 more days to Valley Forge. Training is going ok. Don't know what the G is, but I am hopeful it is not too bad. Looked back at the 1994 results. Came in 3rd out of maybe 70, I remember having a really good race. Race started at the north end of the trail. Pretty even splits, 3:19 out, 3:22 back. My one note says weather was low to mid-40s, rain. Perfect racing weather! As we were driving through Troy we were talking about the race and I said there was one guy responsible for making it happen, but no way I could remember his name. Five minutes into my run today it just popped into my mind (Bob Boeder). Strange how things work. Looked up the race website. The 2008 version is already full. | ||
| C • Full race 11 | ||
Wednesday Dec 5 | ||
| speed golf 1:00:32 [3] 6.4 mi (9:28 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| No speed and no golf, but a very fine pre-breakfast run taking a look at a very fine old course. Took me a little bit to find it, and then I was a little unsure as to whether it would be ok to run there, but I figured the worst they would do would be to tell me to leave. But the workers that were out paid no attention to me. It occured to me that maybe some of them were undocumented, and maybe they would be pretty unlikely to go asking too many questions. In any case, the time flew by, even on a day when the legs weren't there. My route
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| C • No speed, no golf... 2 | ||
Tuesday Dec 4 | ||
| Note | |
| No run today, slept too late this morning and it was getting dark too soon this afternoon. But did go to a nice pottery museum. And the plan is for pre-breakfast tomorrow. We shall see.... | ||
Monday Dec 3 | ||
| road running 1:07:03 [3] 8.2 mi (8:10 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Today's route. Got done just as it was getting dark. Nice country roads except for the first and last quarter-mile. A good steady effort, lots of hills, including in the middle where G-maps shows it completely flat. Legs felt good.
Saw 5 turkeys crossing someone's lawn, a rough-legged hawk, a bunch of dogs including several that wanted to play and none that were both vicious and loose, and one copperhead, but that was on a sign for Copperhead Road. Running is limited to early morning or late afternoon because of priorities. Some things are more important.... :-) | ||
| C • Web Skills 11 | ||
Sunday Dec 2 | ||
| road running 43:27 [3] 5.1 mi (8:31 / mi) | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Another pre-breakfast outing. No so bad once you get out the door. And don't have to think about training for the rest of the day! Route. | ||
| C • So will you try the Maratho... 2 | ||
| C • Geography test. 5 | ||
Saturday Dec 1 | ||
| trail running 50:30 [3] | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Pre-breakfast run up the Saunders trail to Monticello and back. Chilly but quite pleasant. | ||
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