Training Archive: PGIn the 31 days ending 2008-07-31:
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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 | H | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday Jul 29 | ||
| trail running 1:43:51 [3] | |
| weight:137lbs | ||
| Tuesday evening Mt Toby group. Different than usual route, Cranberry Pond over to Bull Hill and back with a side trip to the caves.
Another day feeling feeble and fragile. Not sure why, other than summer weather has never appealed to me. Don't have the zip to run fast other than downhill, and feel too vulnerable to run fast downhill. Did one scientific experiment, harking back to Phil's complaint about being bitten by a horse fly at the top of Bull Hill on Sunday. The specifics were that he was just off the top, taking a pit stop, supposedly showing an ample amount of flesh, and then this horse fly got him. So I tried to replicate the conditions. Granted that the science wasn't really what I was interested in at the moment, it was my lower intestinal tract that was doing some serious complaining on the last bit up Bull Hill. It wasn't until afterwards that I realized I had done the perfect controlled experiment -- just like Phil, just off the top of Bull Hill, taking a pit stop, showing an ample amount of flesh -- but, no horse flies to be seen or felt. So I believe the only possible conclusion is Phil attracts these things much more than I do. His nickname, Fly Bait, seems more appropriate than ever. | ||
Monday Jul 28 | ||
| trail running 51:24 [3]4.7 mi (10:56 / mi) | |
| weight:137.5lbs | ||
| M&M trail north from Holland Glen (stayed on the north side of the stream as the water was up). Hadn't been here for many, many years. Topography hasn't changed much, still uphill on the way out, down on the way back (which seems to be the way most of my routes are). Legs not totally dead, but still feeling rather fragile, so taking it gently on the downhills.
Route, 28:35 out, 22:49 back. | ||
| C • many, many years 2 | ||
Sunday Jul 27 | ||
| trail running 1:32:27 [3]9.0 mi (10:16 / mi) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| With Phil on Mt. Toby, direct route to Bull Hill (42:48), back via RF loop and power line.
Felt pretty feeble, combination of sluggish legs, especially starting out, and fragile muscles/joints, especially upper left hamstring which seemed to get a little irritated on Friday. No worse today, but not right either. So the pace was also pretty feeble. Only a modest FDF carnage. Helps having Fly Bait along, as I think his count was quite a bit higher than my single-digit number, plus he was complaining about getting bitten by caterpillars and also by some unknown large gray flying things (not squirrels, I think). | ||
Friday Jul 25 | ||
| trail running 1:30:59 [3] | |
| From the Bachelor St. parking on the south side of Mt. Norwottuck, bike trails heading NE, out and back, same section I ran with Phil 18 months ago, still twisty and rooty and a little rocky and perpetually up and down, but ho big hills. 46:14 out, 44:45 back. Did it in 86+ on my own back then, but I'm sure I was feeling more lively when the temperature was 20 than in the low 80s.
Less humidity today, but still sweating a lot and quite depleted by the time I was done. Glad I wasn't going any farther. The original plan for a different route would have been 2 hours or a touch more. Though then I assume at least I would have carried something to drink. The kind of run where you don't really feel too good as far as energy, and an occasional twinge here and there causes concern, and you spend more time than you wish thinking about how much time is still to be done, but still, glad to have done it. And hopefully it does more good than harm. | ||
| Note | |
| Looking at all the results from various European O' meets, especially the O'Ringen, gets me thinking about next year. Would be nice to make a trip over there, haven't done so for a while, will be 65 so there's a little more motivation, but don't know how the body will be, and also whether something could be worked out that Gail would enjoy too.
That's a long ways off in the future. But that doesn't mean you can't start thinking.... | ||
| C • Thinking 18 | ||
| Note | |
| So I'm driving home and listening to "Fresh Air" and this funny guy is on and they play an except from a parody he made about the use of mnemonics in the teaching of biology several decades ago, and one of his examples, remember this is a parody, is how to remember the way things are classified (phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) -- please come over for gay sex. I'm still laughing....
Maybe this is how they actually teach biology nowadays? | ||
Thursday Jul 24 | ||
| Note | |
| weight:137lbs | ||
| Finally added up a few numbers for the rogaine.
Straight-line distance 50.8 km (25.0 in the first 9 hours of day, 12.0 in the 8 hours of night, 13.8 in the final 6.5 hours of day). I'd guess actual distance covered was about 10-20% more? No running at all, very warm. Total climb was just over 2,000 meters. | ||
| Note | |
| Never made it out for a run this evening because the board meeting of the non-profit I'm treasurer of went on and on and on, but unlike other board meetings I've been at over the years (such as USOF....), this one had a sense of getting things done, like in this meeting reviewing and approving the annual budget, meeting with a small local design firm to talk about a marketing campaign they will do for us, doing the annual review of the 5-year plan, and finishing up with figuring out how best to proceed with buying another building for which we will hopefully get more state grants to rehab and convert into low-income housing for young adults. Lots of good stuff.
And I didn't make it out this morning because it was pouring. And I didn't make it out this afternoon because it was time for the next step on my journey, this time a meeting with a radiation oncologist to learn something about what's involved with getting a bunch of radioactive seeds implanted in my prostate. Rather than going into all the details, I will just point out several things I found interesting. 1. As time goes by, each time I show up for a race (orienteering or running) I feel a little bit more old and slow and falling apart. I don't like it but I deal with it. On the other hand, show up to talk to anyone in the prostate business and the vibes are just the opposite. Can't count the times I've heard something like, "You're so young and healthy...." :-) 2. Men and women are different. OK, that's nothing new, but today the difference manifested itself in a way I hadn't previously experienced. Normally when you go to the doctor the one thing you can count on is getting your blood pressure taken. When you go in to see a doc in the prostate business, you can count on getting a DRE, or in layman's terms, a finger up the rear to check on the state of things. And it's not all that pleasant. Back to men vs. women, my regular doc is a guy, my urologist is a guy, but today's doc was a she. I thought right up to the last moment I was going to escape without a DRE, but she said, "One last thing...." So I dropped my pants and bent over and gritted my teeth, and, damn if she didn't demonstrate that a DRE doesn't have to hurt. Definitely score one for the fairer sex. 3. In a discussion about options if this treatment didn't work, were I to choose it, where what's been getting me is being afraid of making a wrong choice, she said something to the effect of, well, if you do this and it comes back, it would probably come back no matter what choice you made, meaning it had already spread. And she thought that was really really unlikely, and therefore most any choice was good. Somehow I found that quite comforting. Next stop on the journey, checking in about three weeks if the size/shape/exact location of my prostate allows the seed treatment. Still have no idea what I will do, just checking options.... | ||
Wednesday Jul 23 | ||
| nautilus 50:00 [1] | |
| trail running 48:15 [3] | |
| weight:136lbs | ||
| Very hard to get going after going to the gym. Thought about running there as it was very convenient, nice trail, but the legs felt dead and the willpower wasn't there. But then on the way home I went right by the trailhead for the Pocumtuck Ridge trail, and it was like, Why not?
Legs were still dead to start, but the trail is pretty mellow, climbs very gradually. At first I figured I'd just do half of it, that would be enough of an accomplishment, but after a few minutes I knew I'd end up doing the regular route, up to the towers and back, and the back was even a bit spritely. On and off rain. 26:15 up, 22:00 back. | ||
Tuesday Jul 22 | ||
| trail running 1:43:04 [3] | |
| weight:137lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
Tuesday evening, time for the group run on Mt. Toby. The weather was, well, the saying is, a picture is worth a thousand words --
I was a little pissed, had been looking forward to the run because I hadn't run yesterday in anticipation of a good effort today. Clearly would have bagged it if on my own, but I told Gail, I'll drive over there (we start on the other side of the mountain) and see if anyone shows up, I may be back in a few minutes. It was raining pretty good, but no boomers yet. Got over there, Donna was there. Are we going? Why not? She's tougher than most anyone I know. And Rob had just arrived, and then Rick and Derek. And that seemed to be it, so off we went, usual loop, usual pain in the ass hills, usual good conversation, usual dewpoint about 70, usual sweating away, except this time it was also pouring and quite dark anytime you were in the evergreens. But the good company made all the difference, the time passed quickly, the thunder and lightning never seemed real close. As the advertisement goes (or ought to go), you can buy all the stuff you want, but it's having friends that is priceless. Weight was down the usual 5 pounds, the usual corpses on the blue tape, though I think, in the interest of fair reporting, that I got bit by an FDF once or twice towards the end of the run. I can live with that. Here's the route and elevation profile. | ||
| C • big thunderstorm 4 | ||
| C • sticky hat in the rain 7 | ||
Monday Jul 21 | ||
| nautilus 50:00 [1] | |
| weight:135lbs | ||
| Feeling sleepy. A good dose of caffeine might help but that is not in the program.
Excellent number for the G this morning but I think it is a little bogus, probably dehydrated a pound or two. Still, the trend is good. | ||
Sunday Jul 20 | ||
| trail running 45:52 [3] | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| On my way back home after a lot of rogaine practice with Mike, today in a steady rain, there was a break in the rain about the time I was getting near where I was thinking of maybe running, so even though it was getting late, I pulled off and got out for 45 minutes or so on the AT just east of I-89. Didn't actually seem to take any willpower to get started, quite pleased to be doing it, wonder what that means.
The trail started up a steep hill, so I actually "warmed up" for a couple of minutes on the road, just to get a little oil in the joints and the heart pumping. Still had to walk a couple of short segments on the first hill, but then ran the rest. Nice trail, pretty nice forest. About 50 yards from the start, just out of view from the road, was a red cooler, a note taped to the top saying it was courtesy of "Ann, wife of Mr. Burns," a strange way of identifying herself I thought. I figured it was something left for AT through hikers. On the way back I looked inside, it was maybe 1/3 full with little packets of what looked to be quite tasty home-made cookies, also short notes from a couple of folks who had partaken of her generosity. Pretty nice. The way out was mostly up, but there was one drop that I knew would be waiting for me as an up on the way back. Steep, but not too long, maybe a couple minutes climb. Sometimes on a climb I can psyche myself out, I'm chugging along, doing ok, and I look up and see the next pitch, and right away I loose my resolve and start to walk. So this time the plan was, don't look up, eyes on the ground right in front of your feet, and just run for 2 and a half minutes. Which I did, and ran up the hill quite easily. Strange. 24 minutes out, 20 back, a couple to warm up. Here's the route and profile. | ||
| C • AT south 2 | ||
| Note | |
| I pulled into "downtown" West Hartford looking for where the AT crossed the White River, spotted the markers, and thought I would check the topo on my laptop. And right away a little box popped up, asking if I wanted to join the open network "WHPL." Strange, a radio station right here, but I clicked "OK" and then clicked on Yahoo just to see if it really worked. But the signal was very weak and another box popped up and said I wasn't connected. Oh, well, didn't need it anyway.
And then I looked out the window and there was this very small and somewhat ratty looking building across the street with a sign out front "West Hartford Public Library." Hmmm, WHPL. So I drove across the street and into the little parking area, and checked the computer again, fine signal, nice connection. So I sat there for 10 minutes checking the results from the WOC relay (when I'd left Mike's this morning the women were done, and had done well, the men were partly done, also doing well, Eddie not quite finished leg 2). We didn't quite hold off the Canadian men, but it seemed to me that both men and women ran well, some of them really well (Eric, Eddie, and Samantha especially), and that it was a nice way to end a week that had been a little disappointing (to me). Put a good smile on my face. | ||
| C • disappointing? 3 | ||
Saturday Jul 19 | ||
| trail running 1:00:09 [3]5.5 mi (10:56 / mi) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| From the nature center in Groton SF around the Peachem Bog loop. Not a bad trail, up a steady hill to the bog but nothing steep, only complaint would be a little too rocky in a few places. As compared to yesterday, absolutely nothing looked like nice woods for orienteering. Plus the area seemed to be especially well populated by FDFs. They didn't bother me for the first 45 minutes or so, but towards the end I was quite aware of them circling around. It wasn't until I looked at the blue tape that I realized what was happening -- the whole landing area was fully booked, sometimes 2 deep! Too many to count, but a very conservative estimate is 100. A new PR by a long shot!
The usual warm and humid. At some point aren't we supposed to get acclimated to this? My route, more or less. Also a very nice visit with Mike and Vivien and their 3 cats. | ||
| Note | |
| The G seems to be slowly improving. The pants now can come off without unbuttoning them. | ||
| C • Wardrobe 1 | ||
Friday Jul 18 | ||
| trail running 1:07:27 [3]6.9 mi (9:45 / mi) | |
| weight:137lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| On my way north, got off I-91 at Hanover and followed the Appalachian Trail west as far as I could drive (a couple of miles, past some very nice houses), and then headed off from there. I'd been thinking maybe 45 minutes total, it was mid-afternoon and hot even in the shade, but there was a sign to some cabin, 3.5 miles, so the plan became to go for 35 minutes and see if I made it to a cabin.
I had been in this area once before, when Fred and I were crewing David Horton for part of his speed trip on the AT, about 45 days, something more than 40 miles a day. We covered from someplace in Vermont over to the Whites, either 2 or 3 days, and one of the sections I hiked back in to meet him and bring water was this one. And I remember it being gentle and lovely. Which it was this time except for the first hill, but once past that after 8 or 9 minutes it was beautiful rolling open forest, a little rooty but very few rocks, and all runnable even for an old man. The minutes ticked by and before long I was at 35 minutes, no sign of a cabin, I thought about going a little further but decided enough was enough and headed back. 35:27 out, 32:00 back. So here's the map and elevation profile, with a cabin marked just about where I turned back. Must have just missed it. Totally drenched, another 4 or 5 pounder, the G is slowly improving. Just for the record, upcoming competitive events (giving the motivation for some training): 1. US Champs in Laramie in 3 weeks. 2. World Rogaine Champs in Estonia in mid-September. 3. Figuring that at some point this fall I will be subjecting myself to some non-trivial medical abuse, I figure it makes sense to be in the best possible shape going in.... | ||
| Note | |
| My latest inane example of "progress" --
Our local bank, now Bank of America after several take-overs, has a very convenient ATM, simple to get some cash, simple to deposit a check, where the system was to put the check(s) in an envelope and feed them into the machine and punch in the dollar amount and you were done. The new system does away with the envelope and asks you just to feed the check into the machine. It "reads" it, takes an image, puts that up on the screen, asks you to confirm what the amount is, and then gives you a receipt. Except today it just rejected the check, couldn't read it though it was computer printed, sent it back the way a vending machine rejects crumpled old dollar bills. Except in this case you can't just look for a different bill or a bunch of quarters. So I put the check back in, and it got rejected again. Eternal optimist that I am, I put it in a third time and, well, a third time it came back out. No option now but to go off to the local office, but before I go I happen to notice the brand new sign posted above the machine -- "Depositing a Check is Easier Than Ever!" And this wasn't even a handwritten check. You've got to be kidding me. So I raise a little hell at the office, not that it will make a difference. | ||
Thursday Jul 17 | ||
| nautilus 55:00 [1] | |
| track 13:13 [4]3.2 km (4:08 / km) | |
| weight:138lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| With the group (and not with the group) at the Eaglebrook track. Meaning, the program set by the guy that is in charge was 6 minutes hard, 1 minute, recovery, then 4 on,1 off, 2 on, then take a 2 minute break and do it again. My problem with this kind of workout is that I like to know how fast I've gone and have some sort of ability to compare this workout to others, and this system just doesn't do it.
So I did my own thing -- 1600 on, 1 minute rest, 800 on, 1 minute rest, 800 on, and that was enough because it was hot and that was all I felt like doing. But actually quite pleased with what I did -- 6:41, 3:18, 3:14. And worked out a little bit of aggravation, though not nearly enough. | ||
| C • track 1 | ||
| track 12:33 [3]2.4 km (5:14 / km) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| 4 laps before, 2 after. And that was enough. | ||
Wednesday Jul 16 | ||
| trail running 1:08:16 [3] | |
| weight:138.5lbs shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Wednesday evening Mt. Toby group, normally Tuesday evening, but the alpha male, actually a 40-something cute and very good ultrarunner named Donna, was under orders from her husband that there was to be no running Tuesday evening because (1) she had spent most of the weekend running and he had hardly seen her, and (2) they were going to a bar someplace and watch the All-Star Game.
So it was today, and I didn't have much zip, but I knew if I didn't show I would do nothing. But I had also decided to cut the usual loop short to avoid all the worst of the hills. So I ran with them for the first 34 minutes and then back on my own. Which was smart, because I definitely would have croaked on the hills. But I couldn't have been too bad off, because I managed to talk all the way up one decent hill with the story about the time Swampfox passed out in the arms of the pretty UMass grad student, more or less. | ||
| Note | |
| Minor disaster on the home front, and I swear it wasn't my fault even though I was right there when it happened.
See, I was putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher, I'd put the plates on the first shelf of this one cabinet and the salad bowl on the second shelf, but I swear I never touched the third shelf. And then a moment later, while I was getting a handful of forks and knives from the dishwasher, all hell broke loose, loud noises and things flying around and crashes. And a moment later it was all over, it being started by the failure of one of the corner supports for the third shelf, and it tilted forward, and off slid a bunch of beautiful green soup bowls, and some glasses, and a couple of small casseroles, and various other breakable things. And now there was nothing but pieces of all these things all over the place. Took a long time to clean up. At least I didn't cut myself (I was in bare feet at the time, and right in the middle of the carnage). And Gail was pretty unhappy about losing some stuff she really liked. 
| ||
Tuesday Jul 15 | ||
| hike 1:27:43 [2] | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Was up in the area and looked at Mt. Monadnock a few times, and finally thought, well, you're here, it's a beautiful day, you really should do it. And the feet were starting to feel a little better, so that wasn't an excuse.
Hiked up reasonably briskly (48:51, about 1800' climb with a couple of little sags), then shuffled down, hard to call it running as I was being very careful, didn't want to go sprawling (38:52). Feet felt mostly ok, wearing a different pair of shoes helped a lot. Though I have to admit, looking back at my report on the weekend's rogaine, I lied -- I had a couple of blisters, both on the bottom of my left foot, up forward just behind where my middle toes start. In my own defense I will plead, "How was I to know?" My left ankle and knee don't bend enough, it's been a longtime since I've been able to see the bottom of that foot without a mirror. Whatever, the blisters are getting better as blisters do, no big deal.... And the energy level was not so bad, except it was all I could do on the way home to stay awake. | ||
| Note | |
| In today's edition of trivial news --
1. It seems that while I was off rogaining, the house was invaded by some sort of supermouse, which polished off anything remotely edible that might have been lying around the kitchen and left in its wake a substantial quantity of mouse shit. So Gail had cleaned it all up and washed lots of stuff and I was supposed to put out the traps Sunday night, but of course I was tired and forgot. Fortunately SM was still bloated from his/her feast on Saturday night, so the scene Monday morning was OK. Monday evening I remembered my duties, and went to set the traps, but I looked in vain for some bait. No peanut butter in the house, no cheese. I looked through the pantry, nothing there looked like it would send out nice aromas to SM. So into the dark recesses of the refrigerator where I found various possibilities. I settled on a dab of tamarind curry (Maya Kaimal brand, all natural) applied to each of three traps, and then went off to bed. In the morning the first two traps I checked were empty, but the third had a rather robust specimen, quite possibly SM. Ross being unavailable for consulting, I just tossed SM in the woods, feeling quite pleased with myself. And the curry? Consulting with Gail, it seems that this is some vintage curry, normally well past the point of being trashed. But why throw something out when you can come up with a new use for it.... :-) 2. It's so nice to have a spell checker for writing AP entries. Is there a way to make it recognize "rogaine" as a valid word? | ||
| C • Rogaine 12 | ||
| Note | |
| Hey, we got 3rd in the rogaine. Pretty good!
| ||
| C • Looking at the results list... 9 | ||
Monday Jul 14 | ||
| Note | |
| Here's the map for the weekend's rogaine -- larger version, and a smaller version to see the big picture easier.
The map was a mix of quality, as for some of the area there are regular O maps, and for some not. So some places there were all sorts of small details, other places not, and in some places the contour lines were a lot more accurate. Everywhere the mapping of vegetation indicated only what was coniferous (green) or deciduous (white), with no information given about the thickness of the forest except for one logged area marked west of 66. Took some flexible thinking, which I seemed mostly to be lacking.... Comments on a few legs -- .jpg)
#22 -- Western rock pile. Rock piles on a rogaine map? Attacked from the trail junction, very nice angled approach, bit of compass, bit of pace, bit of map reading, forget looking for rockpiles, I was just looking for the flag, and nothing to be seen. Walked right past a rockpile, oblivious to it until Barb pointed it out. No flag. Located its neighbor, no flag there either. Map was actually excellent, rock piles and contour fit perfectly. Decided quickly to move on, Barb took a photo of the nice large maple the flag should have been hung on, and we headed off. And then found the flag by chance by a couple of stray stones up near the main trail.... #63 -- looked simple, road then trail right to the point. Except the semi-open area where the "trail" started was head-high grass, no sign of a trail. Picked up a trail for a while on the hillside, but it soon faded away. Found the point OK reading the contours but one of many times I found myself wondering whether trails (or boundary lines and the yellow spots of paint on the trees marking them) were really going to be there. .jpg)
Our overall route was probably not the smartest. When we got the maps, I sort of spaced out while Barb sketched out a route connecting all the points. "What have you come up with?" she asked me. "Nothing really. What have you got?" After a momentary glance, "Looks good." And after another moment, "Which direction are we going?" And one or the other suggesting going NW first, and that was that. No consideration given to where we might be at night, for example.... And so as we were spending a good bit of time Saturday afternoon in the NE part of the map, which would have been the perfect place to visit during the night, I looked ahead, and I remember thinking, We are going to have some tough night controls. It got dark on the way to 67, got light on the way to 19. #34 -- Conifer tree, looked to be in the middle of a narrow clearing. The idea of looking for a single pine tree in a mostly conifer forest in the middle of the night seemed a bit daunting. Didn't know if the trail north of it existed or not, it turned out to be wide enough to drive on. A careful approach through a thick stand of conifers dropped us into a little clearing, and there was a pine tree and a flag. Cool. #54 -- More dense conifers to weave through on the way, looking for a vegetation boundary. Nailed it. #37 -- Talk about a control that seemed impossible, a little copse of conifers on a bland hillside, again in a mostly conifer forest. Down the ridge a ways, looking to take the second trail to the left and use the end of it as an attack point. Could find that trail, so just dropped down the hillside and then headed south, perfect example of winging it. I figured the odds of finding it were about 10%. Went for a while, no sign of a reflector. Felt like we'd gone a little too far, the slope felt a little different, hooked around, dropped down a little and back 100 meters and there it was. Really cool. #29 -- Aimed off upstream, no problem other than very junky woods. #74 -- Boundary corner. Just east of 29 was the scene of our hand-to-hand combat (see Saturday's log entry), just totally miserable for over half an hour. Finally got out, debated bagging 74, no idea how bad the woods might be the rest of the way. But the woods south of the stream were fine, so we pushed on. No idea of course where we had started, but reasonably sure we were along the correct stream. Up, and up some more, and just about ready to give up, and then a "No Tresspassing" sign appears, bingo. .jpg)
#57 -- Spur near boundary. Looked straightforward. Except no sign of a fork in the trail, and what we were following was definitely going north. Cut back heading SW, figured we'd catch one of a couple of trails, no sign of anything other than prickers until, hey, there's yellow paint on that tree, yup, a boundary, back to the east a little and there was the flag. #71 -- Leaving 57, stupid me, just because I hadn't seen a trail just north of 57 on the way in, that didn't mean I wasn't expecting to see it on the way out. Heading north quite a while, no trail, then suddenly here's a trail going east/west, I still have no idea where it was going, so it was time again to wing it. Didn't know where we were, but it seemed sensible to head north along the slope for about 300 meters, more or less, and then angle down the slope and see what we found. Which we did, and after quite a long time and we hadn't seen anything and I'm thinking this time we're going to get burned, Barb, off to my right, calls out, "I think I see some sort of reflecting thingy." And I think, great, probably a junk car or a marker for a snowmobile trail. It took a couple more calls before I realized that she had in fact spiked the control. Awesome. The rest of our adventure was, well, the word for the weekend was "relaxed." Barb ran once, I believe, when she spotter Balter and Speedy coming the other way, me not at all. We finished about 40 minutes early because it seemed unnecessary to go get another one. A fine rogaine indeed, once again an excellent partner. And the lack of blisters was a great surprise, even though the bottoms of my feet are not too happy. But that will pass. | ||
Sunday Jul 13 | ||
| hand-to-hand combat tempo 35:00 [2]0.4 km (1:27:30 / km) | |
| The absolute worst jungle I have even been in during an O' event, easily surpassing such favorites as the lush field of head-high prickers at the Sons of Norway meet, any mountain laurel anywhere (even at the Ratlum estate), and the three-story acres of deadfall at a rogaine in Washington state.
This area seemed to be a combination of two- and three-story blowdowns and logging slash with lush pricker growth, with the added benefit that we were there at night. Couldn't see enough to realize how big the area was, couldn't see enough to figure out the best way out. A lot of cussing. And a very strong desire to just sit down and cry. Figured out after the fact that in the 35 minutes we spent there we had covered about 400 meters. Other than that, the CNYO rogaine was just fine. | ||
| C • Worst vegetation anywhere 7 | ||
| rogaining 10:48:00 [2] | |
Saturday Jul 12 | ||
| Event: CENTRAL NEW YORK ROGAINE XVIII | ||
| rogaining 12:00:00 [2] | |
| CNYO rogaine with Barb.
Remarkable on several fronts -- No blisters. Bought new shoes on Wednesday, broke them in during a round of rogaine practice of Thursday, and they turned out great. Further refinement of the sophisticated O' technique called "winging it." "Winging it" is a combination of precision map reading, precision compass, precision pace counting, all done at night, and -- here's the key point -- when the starting position is unknown. Several successful uses of this skill, possibly helped by a dash of good luck. A very pleasant 15-20 minutes spent lying on my back in the rain at about 3 am while Barb tended to her ailing digestive system. The essence of a rogaine where the key word was "relaxed." Very excellent company once again, including her most truly excellent spiking of a night control that I had given up hope on. A lot of fun. Massive overdosing of caffeine, given my very light intake over the last couple of years, including half a vintage caffeine pill (no idea what the dose was, but it was a big pill) during the "lying on my back" time out, when I was feeling just a little too relaxed, plus a full pill plus a couple of sodas for the drive home. A split decision with the FDFs -- the usual shut-out in my favor on Saturday, but then the blue cap had to be de-blued when the headlamp came out, so Sunday I was out there naked, so to speak, and results were reminiscent of the old days before the blue caps. Not pretty. A clear loss to a marauder of the night air, the sweet and harmless looking but incredibly irritating moth. Yup, plain old moths, though I believe they now deserve to be called MFMs. Must have had a score or two buzzing me for much of the night. Sounds quite benign, in actuality quite dreadful. Yeah, I know the easy fix, just turn off the headlamp.... I'll post a map tomorrow. | ||
| C • FDF 9 | ||
Thursday Jul 10 | ||
| Note | |
| No training today other than a bit of last-minute rogaine practice just to sharpen my skills.
And then back to the urologist again, this time for a longer talk about options. The good news is that there are (relatively) good options, meaning in his opinion that the cancer can be cured so that I will eventually croak from something else. :-) So one option not recommended is to do nothing, which would make sense if I was older and/or in worse health. The basic choices are a couple of different kinds of radiation (external or seeds), or surgery, plus there are hormonal treatments, plus some folks would tell you if you just eat the right things or take the right supplements you will cure everything, plus of course you can just pray (but that probably wouldn't work in Massachusetts because we have gay marriage, at least that's what I assume Rev. Pat would say....). So none of this is very appealing, though I have a feeling that I can deal with it, I think. The problem is, what do you choose. You can listen to what doctors say, you can read the research, you can see what other people's experiences have been, you can look at the odds, you can try to weigh things according to what you feel and think and want... And you still don't/won't know if you made the right choice. Until it's too late to change. So the next appointment will be with a radiation specialist to see what he says. Today's appointment was with a surgeon, but he wasn't pushing surgery, he was just optimistic that I had several options, any of which would cure things. And I should remember to be glad that I seem to have several (relatively) good options rather than no good options at all. | ||
| C • All we get are educated gue... 4 | ||
Wednesday Jul 9 | ||
| nautilus 50:00 [1] | |
| Having more trouble than ever getting things done, it seems. Such as the list of e-mails that need to be answered....
On the other hand, did manage to get plane reservation to go to Laramie, though only figure on being in Laramie for maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Will spend a few days beforehand somewhere in the mountains, haven't figured that out yet. No more training before this weekend's rogaine.... | ||
Tuesday Jul 8 | ||
| trail running 1:46:19 [3] | |
| shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Tuesday evening Mt. Toby group, had my doubts about the wisdom of going given the heat, humidity, and bad air, but did, and made it around, though (perhaps wisely) the pace was on the slow side and the legs were feeling a bit tenderized by the end. Carried and drank one bottle of Gatorade, still lost 5 and a half pounds.
Ran the whole climb up South Mt. road, but walked a little more than usual up the steep section by the S curves. There was no choice. Will take it easy now until the rogaine this weekend, and hope to take that at a relatively relaxed pace too, as it is supposed to be in the 90s. | ||
| C • 5.5 lbs 5 | ||
Monday Jul 7 | ||
| nautilus 50:00 [1] | |
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| road running 34:01 [4]4.34 mi (7:49 / mi) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Well, this training was about 14 hours later than originally planned. While putting off training, and putting it off some more, is not uncommon for me, this may be a record.
The original thought was that it was time to go to the track, since various conflicts had me missing the last couple of Thursday sessions and I will be missing the one this week too. And with more of the sultry weather, it seemed unlikely that I would summon the willpower in the heat of the day. So the plan was to do it before my morning walk, which meant leaving the house at about 6. Woke at 5:45, thought about it for a little while, just couldn't handle it, rolled over and snoozed a little longer. Plan B, going after the morning walk, no way, it was miserably hot and the track has no shade, so I went to the gym instead. Plan C was to go late afternoon or early evening, but early evening I had a soda, the last of the chocolate cookies (every single one of them certified as delicious), and settled in to watch the bike race. By the time that was over it was about 8, too late to go to the track, too late to run, checked the weather anyway to see if things had cooled off at all, nope, still 80 and dewpoint of 70. Checked AP, saw that Phil had logged some training, and, no kidding, that was just the right thing to read, if he can get out then so can I, no more than 5 minutes later I was out the door. Old Amherst Road loop in town, almost totally flat. Didn't really feel so bad out, almost pleasant. Figured I had about 30 minutes of daylight, maybe a touch more, so I headed off at a steady pace, seemed to be about 8:30. And then slowly picked it up, felt really quite good, then picked it up some more and was moving good at the end, about 7:15 pace, and still feeling like I had another gear left. Excellent, days like that are few and far between. | ||
Sunday Jul 6 | ||
| trail running 47:32 [3]5.2 mi (9:08 / mi) | |
| shoes: Montrail #2 | ||
| Pocumtuck Ridge in Deerfield, one of those outings when in retrospect the hardest part absolutely was just getting going. Early afternoon, hot, humid (dewpoint 66), been on my feet all morning already, knew if I just drove home I'd never manage to make it out the door. Still, I sat in the car for 10 or 15 minutes putting it off.
When I actually got going, it wasn't so bad. It's gently uphill on the way out, nothing bad, and the legs felt OK and it didn't even feel so hot. And before too long I was at the turn-around point, and before much longer I was done, and that wasn't so hard. And it feels so nice to be done. Back home, I can verify that at least half of the cookies are (were) definitely delicious. If I keep up this pace, I should be able to check out the rest of them within another 24 hours. Hard work, but someone has to do it. | ||
| C • It didn't have to be like this... 5 | ||
Saturday Jul 5 | ||
| nautilus 50:00 [1] | |
| Followed the workout with about 4 hours of rogaine practice, had the place mostly to myself as it was raining on and off. I suppose the four hours of wet feet was actually good rogaine practice.
One of my most enjoyable outings in the last month as I reconnected with the concepts of rhythm and relaxation -- thanks here to suggestions from Mike F and the wealthy N -- which seem to be much more productive than the slash and thrash style I have be favoring recently. Once again, just another way that O' and RP are really the same sport. Nice surprise in the mail today. After some comments a week ago about maybe this being the time to make desserts a higher priority in my life, what should arrive but a large container of delicious chocolate chip cookies. At least I assume they are all delicious, certainly the ones that just got inhaled were. A very nice and much appreciated present, even if its impact on the G might be quite inflationary. All of which makes it hard to score this as anything other than a very good day, even if the endless heat, humidity, and rain is getting a bit much. Time to look into a trip to the higher altitudes. | ||
Friday Jul 4 | ||
| run/hike 3:22:52 [2]13.4 mi (15:07 / mi) | |
| weight:139lbs shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Decided that the 20+ miles to Glastonbury Mt. was a bit ambitious (i.e. stupid) given the continued very humid weather and chance of storms, so I opted for a shorter though not trivial effort, from Williamstown going north on the Pine Cobble Trail, joining up with the AT and then the Long Trail when in Vermont. Went as far as County Road and then back the same way.
Trail was crappier than I remember, or maybe it is just my declining agility. Lots of rocks and roots, mud in places. But some nice sections too! Carried a small pack, couple bottles of water, a little food, a jacket, car keys (well secured), not much else. Felt tired most of the time but kept plugging away. 1:51 out (and up), 1:31 back (and down). A dose of reality perhaps before next weekend's rogaine. Approximate route. | ||
| C • RRR Brooks trail 1 | ||
Thursday Jul 3 | ||
| trail running 58:33 [3]6.2 mi (9:26 / mi) | |
| weight:138lbs shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Nice run with Phil on Mt. Toby -- up N. Mt. to power line (17:30), then Muck, Muck Cut-off, South Mountain Cut-off (30:50), long downhill down S. Mt (40:24), then back via a bit of Middle Mt. and the field. Legs felt a little tired from yesterday, but still not bad, didn't have any trouble with the hills. Phil seem to be suffering a little at the end, though his diet may have something to do with it -- breakfast apparently was 3 cups of strong coffee, and nothing else.
Scared up two fawns in the first ten seconds, they must have been lying no more then 20 yards from the house, but no sign of mom. Based on this one observation, I'd say deer are born with natural speed, it's not the result of years of hard train and lots of interval. These two guys were fast. I have in mind to take a long run/hike sometime this long weekend, maybe something on the AT or Long Trail. And old favorite was RT. 9 in Vermont north to Glastonbury Mt. and back, about 20 miles round trip, one of the advantages of which was a nice spring coming out of a pipe just below the summit. Haven't been up there for many years. Used to do it with not much walking, but I know that wouldn't be the case now. I'll see what the weather looks like.... | ||
| nautilus 50:00 [1] | |
| A late trip to the gym, as I found out it will be closed tomorrow.
And why I like the place. | ||
| C • another reason 3 | ||
Wednesday Jul 2 | ||
| trail running 54:40 [3] | |
| weight:139lbs shoes: Asics trail | ||
| Phil's loop at Mt. Tom on a warm afternoon. Time requires two asterisks, the first being the time out I took on the climb after crossing the Quarry Trail, stopped for a couple of minutes, time not included. And then ditto on the climb up to Goat Peak. In both cases I wasn't far from the top of the climb, but the legs were weak, the breathing was getting harder, and the spirit was definitely not willing. Did manage to run the climb from Lake Bray up to the Quarry Trail without stopping. Overall time was actually a little better than expected, but then there are the two asterisks....
Keystone to main junction (10:43), to Quarry Trail ((6:03), to junction with M&M (9:57*), to Lake Bray road (9:15), to Goat Peak (5:51*), to M&M/Teabag junction (3:14), back down (9:34). The loop, annotated as if run in the other direction. I saw one of the park workers after I was done, I said the park was looking nice (I wasn't kidding), and he seemed pleased, don't know how often they get compliments. And then I thought about it for a while, and went back to him (he was cleaning up around the shelter) and said, excuse me, I want to correct what I just said, the park is looking _really_ nice. And we had a good chat. And I said I'd been coming to the park for years for orienteering. And he said they had a big event coming up in October. We chatted about that for a bit, and I can't remember exactly what he said but it was something to the effect that orienteering was just a fine use for the park. As I said, a good chat. Another running term that almost came into play today, "Wagon steps," named after my co-editor years ago at Ultrarunning, Stan Wagon. Stan lived on the other side of Mt. Toby, where the trails are steeper, especially the trail up the telephone line, about a 20% grade, and Stan from time to time would take great pleasure in announcing that he had run the whole thing, no walking. But then one time I was running there with him, and it was steep enough that I determined that walking one stretch was both easier and faster, but Stan was still running. I was keeping up, of course, and I had such a good view of his running form that I couldn't help but notice (and laughing at!) that, yes, he was still running, but the secret was an extremely short stride length. Hence the official definition of Wagon steps -- running when the length of your stride is less than the length of your foot. No Wagon steps today, but in a few places it was close. | ||
| Note | |
| Start of a new trash system in town. They still pick it up curbside every Wednesday, both trash and recyclables (glass, cans, plastic, paper), but now you have to put the trash in bags you have to buy from the town, 75 cents for the smaller ones, a buck fifty for the larger ones.
I think I had something to do with this happening, went to a couple of selectmen's meetings when they were considering it and they seemed to be on the fence. I was very much for it, mainly because my neighbors on one side seemed to put out about 6 big bags of trash every week and never a single bit of recycling, and it seemed like if they wanted to do that, then they ought to pay for the privilege. I left this morning before they put their trash out so I don't know how much it was this time, but when I came back, and after trash had been picked up, there was one of the empty blue plastic containers used for recyclables at the end of their driveway. So maybe progress. Sometimes a little economic incentive works. | ||
| C • Worked for my dad, too 22 | ||
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