Training Log Archive: PG

Some more fine headlines of the future --

Republicans Sue to Ban Orienteering: Say Booming Pajama Imports Threaten Domestic Fashion Industry

and then --

No O' is No Go -- Supreme Court Affirms First Amendment Right to Orienteer

and then --

Sotomayor Joins Conservative Bloc in 5-4 Fashion Shocker: Black Robes are Out, Red and Blue Tops and White Tights are In

and then --

FTC Moves to Stop Merger of Orienteers 'R Us and Pajamas, Pajamas, Pajamas

and one more --

National Park Service Orders Halt to Orienteering, Riots Spread Nationwide, Washington is Burning

Gmaps route of yesterday's run to Austria.

Run/hike from the top of the Madrisa lift to Austria, with George and Lyn. Yup, all the way to Austria. And back too!

Trail was quite rocky in places, walked a little more than planned. No point in doing something stupid.

Nice day, but not as nice as it's been. Hazy, plus clouds moving in, and moving a little lower too. Glad we got out in the morning.

More O' training this afternoon.



A few photos. We were heading for the pass....



Along the way had a nice view down to the small lake I ran up to Tuesday evening....



The trail was quite rocky, so we were surprised to pass a couple of guys with bikes. Not surprised that they were carrying them.



Looking into Austria, looked pretty much like Switzerland....



The border was marked by just a small stone. No sign of any customs officials. But quite a nice spot....

C • Those weren't guys. Those ... 3

Another map hike with the gang, this time in forested terrain down near Davos. A good reminder of Swiss terrain and mapping.

C • 2006 3

Just another day in paradise, though it started out with a bit of intrigue. I had made contact last night with a local orienteer. Could we get maps of Fluela Pass up above Davos?

The answer came back -- "You can catch them in Davos Dorf beside the Postoffice at 10:30  29 th july. (I am working there outside of the Office)."

And how was I to recognize him?

"blue Subaru car  nummer  GR 5225"

We were there at 1020 just to be on the safe side, though we assumed that he, being Swiss, would be there sometime between 1029 and 1031. But 1030 came and passed, no blue Subaru. Had we been stood up? Had our mysterious map supplier been nabbed by the cops? But then all of a sudden he was there. Maps went in one direction, cash in the other, and then he was gone. And we wondered, how many other strange transactions take place outside the post office?

Whatever, we had our maps, plus a copy of a recent training event there, and we were off for the high country.

Leisurely orienteering (aka map hike) at Flüelapass....



Interesting terrain. No trees. Endless visibility which sometimes made it easy but sometimes could be quite confusing. Rocks everywhere.

A few shots of the terrain:

Lynn on #1, the small knoll....



#2, pretty little pond....



Heading up to #3, quite confusing unless you looked off in the distance -- hill on the left, 3 cliffs (each with its own snowbank) on the right, where to go was obvious....



#4, another nice pond....



Leaving #8, heading back north, combination of a steeper and a gentler slope and a boulder at the base of the steeper part made things simple....



By the way, this was not considered "rocky ground"....



Nor was this!



And then time for lunch....



Though this fellow declined to join us, either as a guest or as the main course....



Overall, really useful training, to get out and train the eye in alpine terrain.

Then back to town and up the Parsenn lift to Weissfluhjoch and a quick trip to the local high point, Weissfluh. 27 minutes up walking briskly (well, down to the saddle and then up), not quite 15 back, hustling. Very nice.

And then back to Klosters for the third training of the day, necessary to balance out the fact that Spike is not training at all and Phil is maybe not training so smart.

Over to look at site of George's swinging bridge adventure yesterday, it was supposedly much improved today over yesterday, but it still looked rather iffy.

So I passed on crossing it, but continued up to the Klosters train station, crossed the river, a bit on the other side and then back, a bit more energetic on the way home, thinking about the sprint coming on Sunday. Felt good, but a half hour was plenty.

Woke up this morning, mostly sunny skies with just a few low clouds. Apparently there was lots of thunder and lightning, torrential rain, and quite a lot of hail during the wee hours, all of which I was blissfully unaware of. Ah, the virtue of earplugs.

C • ear plugs 2

Route for yesterday morning. Sauntering from the top of the lift over to 1968, then a brisk pace up to Geisshorn, jogged back, a little dicey because of some sharp limestone, then sauntering back to the lift.



And from yesterday afternoon. All sauntering except for the steep part going up Grüenhorn.

Drove up to Davos, the mountains to the east were in the sunshine, those to the west in the clouds, so an easy choice of which way to go. Up the Jacobshorn lift, then a very pleasant saunter over to a little lake, mostly off the map, a nice stop for lunch which came very very close to including a nap. Sauntering on the way back too, except for a brisk climb up Jatxhorn. Extraordinarily pleasant.



A view back towards the top of the lift....



I must say though that the good weather seems to have brought out some strange folks (ourselves not included) -- some who weren't wearing the normal hiking gear....



And if there was ever a guy more in need of a shave than me, this fellow -- Lyn's instant observation was that he looked like the wrong end of a horse.... :-)

C • animals 1

And finally, late in the day, it seemed like something other than sauntering and napping and lunching was called for. Headed off from our apartment up to Schlappinsee, up a gravel road along the stream, just relentlessly uphill. Ran for the first 15 minutes, lowest gear I have, then walked briskly for 17 minutes, than ran the last 4, 36:10 to climb the 530 meters, not bad for me. Came back via trails, quite rooty and a bit washed out at the bottom, but still fine, although my legs were toast by the time I was done (actually they were toast a bit before I was done...). 29:30 down, there were a few ups included on the way down.

Up the lift, then some sauntering, then a little more vigorously up a neat little peak NE of Klosters -- an easy grassy slope up on one side, and just sheer cliff on the other. Got within a couple of yards of the "other" at the top, and I believe my words were Holy shit, followed by a quick retreat of a few yards. Heights and me don't get along. 31 minutes up, 15 easy jog down.

Got up much closer to the top than I cared to....

And in the afternoon, up the lift SW of Klosters, some more sauntering, then up another little peak quite steeply, that's the 15 minute part. Then sauntering back. More cool terrain, wonderful views.

Day one of altitude training, living at 1100 meters, the sauntering/hiking/jogging at 2000-2500.

Our approach as you might guess was from the left side....

Made it to Klosters, Switzerland, without any undue difficulty, have an apartment here for 6 days. Lots of hills to explore, can see a few of the smaller ones from our balcony....



The scale at the Copenhagen airport, after applying various adjustments for clothing, time of day, latitude and longitude, etc., indicated that the G is up a pound or two so far on the trip. Did nothing to reverse that trend at dinner tonight. Will need to up the activity level....

C • Activity level 1

C • Klosters 2

Before we left the O'Ringen, took a walk out to a little bit of the terrain, especially from day 4 when I'd had a very early start. I wanted to see how it looked afterwards.



Went in the vicinity of #1. First, the view from the road looking north towards the control area. This small section had no tracks, as it was early that day....



Just to one side, not much of a track, but it would definitely help (have to look carefully, right in the middle of the photo)...



And then upon top there was a more obvious track....



And then a really good one....



But of course there were still some virgin areas....



After that it was time to fika before leaving town....



And fika again on the way south through Skåne....



Where there was even some nice forest.... :-)

With George and Lyn in Malmö, early evening. Really nice tour of parts of the city, including parks, harbor, a big skateboarding tournament, strange buildings and sculpture, and a feeble excuse for a castle. With regard to the last item, we were told by a young women where we are staying that Sweden just doesn't have much in the way of castles.

A few more thoughts on the O'Ringen --

1. It is cool that Tom Hollowell is the O'Ringen boss. And also cool that he is having a real positive impact. This one seemed to run really smoothly -- great technology, no lines, very interesting terrain, good vibes all around. We enjoyed the whole week, hope to be back.

2. With the help of Tom, we rented an apartment very close to the central camping area. Very nice, not expensive. Didn't have internet access, so Tom got us a gizmo that pulled a connection out of the cell phone system. Actually worked.

3. Despite all the stuff in English, it really does help knowing some Swedish, and it certainly is more fun. I started learning after the first trip there, when very little was in English. I can read it pretty well, understand so-so, and speak quite dreadfully, but even the latter is useful when chatting up some of the old guys in my class.

4. Real good results from Mary Jo Childs in F55, 13 of about 60. And by Nate Lyons, Andrew Childs, and John Hensley Williams, all in H18. I'm sure all of them will be back.

C • Welcome back! 2

O'Ringen day 5.

Excellent.

Started in 6th place in the chase start. The first 4 were out of reach, about 10 minutes ahead after 4 days. The fifth guy was a minute ahead of me. Seventh and eighth were a little over two minutes behind.

Never saw any of them. Had a good run, figured it was likely my place didn't change, but you don't know. Finished, 33:40 for 4.1 km, came out of the finish tent to see the first four talking, at least one still sweating a bit. Found out they had all done in the 32-34 range. Cool, I was competitive. And then even cooler was a minute later out comes the guy who started 5th. And then another minute the guy who started seventh. So I ended up 5th overall, and 4th on the day, just 1:35 behind.

Totally delighted.

Talked with all of them for a bit. One I've known for a long time. Most were members of the Swedish national team about 40 years ago; one of them (Sture Björk) won the silver medal in the individual race at WOC in 1968 and a gold in the relay, plus a silver in the relay in 1970. Not bad.

Changed, had a massage (second one for this week), this one because I think I kicked myself coming down the last hill, have a good knot in my left calf (meanwhile the hamstring has just about cleared up). The massage guy was about to start when he said he had a political question for me, What did I think of the new president. Wonderful, I said. Big smile on his face. It's OK again to say you're from the States.

Watched the others come in, all very pleasant.

So nice to finish well.

C • outstanding! 13

C • Oringen maps 19

The usual notes. So nice to have the splits up by mid-afternoon.

1. A good start. Went to the trail bend to make it easier, and there was even a good track from there. Generally good tracks today, as we were starting around 10:15, plus the terrain at the beginning and end had been used on earlier days somewhat.
4th, 9 seconds back.

2. No problem navigating, but didn't find a good line for the first 100 meters and was very slow.
35th, 25 seconds back.

3. Slow on the approach, plus slipped and did a face-plant just before the clearing.
52nd, 27 seconds back.



4. Decided on left, good out to the trails, then got a nice line in along the right foot of the knolls and across the bit of marsh.
6th, 14 seconds back.



5. OK across the marsh, got a faint track and it helped, but then a little trouble reading the slopes, so slowed, then spiked a control just before mine and that cost a bit more (check the code, nope not mine, see what happened, keep going). If I had read the terrain better, no problem.
26th, 40 seconds back.

6. Stayed high, in control.
9th, 9 seconds back.

7. Went left, big-time. Just figured I could do as well on a longer trail/road route than straight through the terrain. I expect most everyone went straight. I think it was the best route for me.
13th, 44 seconds back.



8. Didn't forget there was a control at the bridge.
10th, 5 seconds back.

9. And another easy one, time to figure out what to do on the next one.
10th, 12 seconds back.



10. Stayed up on the hillside, just below the steep part. Expected a good track and there was. Climbed up just at the right spot, the junction was right in front of me. Down to the left bend and in to the control, young pines, low visibility. Pulled up just on the west side of the knoll, pace and map said I'd gone far enough. Quite thick. Was about to check the east side, heard the control beep there, so nice.
Tied first! Turns out it was here the guy who started fifth missed and I got ahead of him without knowing it.



11. Down the hill, rough going, across the trail. We'd been here on day 1 and I remember what things looked like, went right to the knoll just west of the control and then spiked it.
3rd, 8 seconds back.

12. Just go where everyone was converging.
7th, 6 seconds back.

And to the finish.
6th, 6 seconds back.

All done, and no would'ves, should'ves, or could'ves.... :-)

First, a few shots of the gang at today's finish.

Gail in full sprint (you do what you can)....



And afterwards....



Plus George and Lyn with about 100 meters to go....

C • A great looking sample of WCOC's finest! 19

Oringen, day 4. About what I expected. 9th on the day, now 6th overall.

Much easier terrain. Decent run, some good, some less good. Very early start time, 3rd one out on our course (and first one in), got to see untracked woods, which may be pretty but sure aren't as fast. Figured the best time would be about 3 minutes faster, and that was about right. A late start was worth maybe 1-2 minutes, though that may vary by the person, some run a lot better in the terrain than me.



Before the start, checked out the fellow starting ahead of me (Kennet), I was maybe 5 minutes up on him after 3 days. Wondered if I'd see him.

Plan for the day was use the roads/trails as much as possible, try to stay out of any junk.

So to #1 it was an immediate decision to run around. Finally turned up the hill, it was a mix of young pine and scattered ferns, yuk, you knew it would be a lot nicer in an hour. Up past the boulder, over the shallow knoll, spiked the control just behind Kennet coming from the west. That was nice, wondered what he had done.
7th, 22 seconds behind (amazing it was so good, I'd bet all the Swedes went straight).

#2. Easy, wide-open forest, could see the feature from 50+ meters away, what the Swedes call very good runnability, meaning sort of lumpy and some ground vegetation but no bushes, for me still a struggle. 20 meters behind Kennet most of the way.
14th, 10 seconds behind.

#3. Along the north side of the logged area (Kennet went straight through), still "very good" running. I got ahead of him by the time we reached the road, but the rest of the way was ferns and some deadfall and I wilted, he was there 20 meters ahead. Still easy O.
37th, 54 seconds behind. The last 100 meters probably cost me 20-30 seconds compared to later runners.

To be continued, off to a party.... :-)

Back, still sober but stuffed.



#4. I went left, Kennet straightish, got there the same time. Weak going up the hill at the end.
8th, 24 seconds back.

#5. Out to the road together. I kept going, he stopped for a moment, never saw him again. Ran the leg well, but lots of ferns made for slow going.
17th, 39 seconds back.

#6. More ferns on the way out to the trail, I wilted again. Plus slow at the end, the control was tucked in a thicket and I didn't see it immediately.
24th, 55 seconds back.



#7. Not good at all energy-wise. Slow to get going, not moving well, more ferns. OK at the end.
58th, 1:01 back.

#8. Back to the road. Read the slope to the right correctly, spiked the control.
5th, 7 seconds back.

#9. Straightforward.
9th, 11 seconds back.

#10. Straightforward, though a little thick leaving the control.
27th, 15 seconds back.

And to the finish.
4th, 11 seconds back.

Overall. a couple of sloppy moments and a lack of sufficient willpower in the ferns, but OK. Not a hard course, but certainly could have done worse. Like Kennet, who came in about 10 minutes after me.

Stopped by to see Erik Nyström, the Swede who spent the last year on Ratlum Mountain with Charlie and Rhonda. Last day of his club's mini-5-day, a couple of weeks ago, chase start, he's in the lead in M21, goes out first, halfway around jumps off a cliff, lands wrong, breaks two bones in his foot, needed surgery, a couple of screws, out of action for maybe three months. What a shame.

But real nice to see him. He loved his time in the USA. And also thinks his orienteering got better, he was definitely stronger/faster from all the training he did.

Oh, and the race he was running when he broke the two bones. He didn't stop, 20 minutes still to go, he won, then off to the doctors and surgery a day later. Don't think we need to tell him to HTFU.

C • Erik 2

A picture is worth a thousand words. So I don't need to provide any details on the golf, other than a beautiful day and a beautiful course and some fine company -- Gord Hunter, plus a very good local golfer (not an orienteer), plus an M69, Bo, who many many years ago was on the winning team at Tiomila (ran the 4th leg, rain and wind and cold) and nowadays is a very enthusiastic reader of Spike's blog. When I told him I had known Spike for 25 years or so, he was very impressed.



So Bo (the M69) wasn't kidding about Tiomila. I looked it up. 1967, went out 45 minutes behind in a pack of about 50, went like a train, his website says, closed 15 minutes on the leaders. Legs 5 and 6 closed another 15 minutes, and by the time it was over they had won.

Here's the map. Quite something, imagine being out there at night. 1:25,000?

When he started orienteering, age 13 in 1963, they used 1:100,000 maps. And 13 was considered an early age to start.

C • Very impressed! 3

O'Ringen, day 3.

This sport is just damn hard.

5th, 5th overall. Delighted to have made it around again, same medicine as yesterday, hamstring feels the same, no better, but mainly no worse.

But a very very frustrating run, just felt like I was constantly losing time. I think part of the explanation is that this was the day I had a late start, therefore lots of tracks, therefore possibilities for a good place if you can put together a good run.

But, as I said, it is just hard. Mud, rocks, deadfall, thick forest. Just the continual feeling I haven't found the best line through the crap.

More later, plus the map. And, to be clear, I'm not pissed, the result was fine even if there was hope for better, and frustration was gone within moments of finishing. And still running, and still on track for goal (top ten).

But it is just so damn hard.

Splits are posted. One first (on the easiest leg, to the last control), one second. I can do this right, sometimes....

So the thinking for today was to try to simplify the orienteering so that less stopping would be needed. The expectation was that the orienteering would again be difficult. And the goal, this being the day with the late start, was to win. Which I considered possible but not at all likely (maybe 5 or 10% chance). But you have to try.

With the hope that maybe I'll learn something by writing it down, here's a bit of a blow by blow with the frustrations and little time losses.... :-)



1. Up to the start triangle, back down, tripped, flat on my face within 100 meters....
Along the marsh, up the reentrant, picked up the trail, across the open marsh, got caught up in some deadfall when leaving, had to retreat a bit...
Up the hill, ended up one reentrant too far left...
But at least recognized it, adjusted, spiked control at decent speed. But already muttering to myself, not a good start. :-)
9th, 39 seconds behind.

(To be continued, but the Childs clan just arrived to party.)

OK, I'm back, reasonably sober.



2. Just heading SSW, first deadfall issues, then sinking-into-the-marsh issues....
Hit the trail/ride, right at the corner but still paused to be sure....
Continued, off line a little, too far right, confused, stopped a couple of times, hit the marsh too far right....
Had in mind my control was a boulder, took a bit to realize that was #1....
And more deadfall issues just before the control....
30th, 1:01 behind. Very frustrated. And so far the legs had felt dead too.

3. About to drop down the reentrant and do a left turn to the road, but figured it would be a little quicker going down to the east and take a right turn. Except the right turn was blocked by some fallen spruce trees....
So I went farther east, it was like there was a solid wall of spruce deadfall....
So I went further east, eventually slowly down a steep rocky slope....
And finally saw the lake in front of me, took a right, OK, left on the road, up the hill, annoyingly thick, but at least spiked the control....
19th, 27 seconds behind.



4. Good down to the road, along to the field, good tracks across the field and marsh and field, but then pulled into the control area at what seemed to be a cliff, no control....
Went left maybe 30-40 meters, still no control....
Knew it was the other way, and it was, maybe 30-40 seconds gone.
16th, 35 seconds behind. Still really frustrated, but at least the legs were feeling better.



5. Out to the trail and across the road OK. Heading east, whoops right to the top of the cliff, a quick detour to skirt the left edge (all these little things add up)....
Up the left side of the semi-open, much of it a foot-deep in water (was the right side as bad?)....
Then terrible thick young spruce, trying to pick up tracks, over one knoll, then the next, then the control, OK, just frustrating it was so thick and not finding a good line.
16th, 59 seconds behind.

6. More crap....
Fighting conflicting impulses, one to keep moving, the other to know where I was going. Not enough of either....
Got to the semi-open, then compass across, totally vague terrain, still thick, no sign of a cliff, veered a little right, nothing....
And then, just a gut feeling, veered a little left, got it, lucky, first good feeling of the day, but I had still missed the control.
16th, 40 seconds behind. Yet at this point I was still only 6th, but over 3 minutes behind.

Dinner time....

Back again. I fear the G is on an upward course, another excellent dinner produced by Gail and Lyn.

7. Another too quick glance at the map, heading north, terrible thick stuff, following tracks and even they were slow and meandering, visibility averaging about 5 meters, more frustration....
Hoping to end up at the bridge, finally there was the "stream," quite crossable, so across I went as the forest was much better on the other side. Up the reentrant, heading north, moving well, and then uncertainty, how far had I gone? Yet another stop....
Kept going, spiked it at a good rate of speed.
After all that, 2nd, 17 seconds back.

8. Left of the marsh, to the trail, to the bend, I looked out just right of west and couldn't see either hill. Stop again, just to be sure....
Take off, hit the bigger hill dead center, whoops....
Circle around it, spike the control.
5th, 19 seconds back. And 32 minutes already, clearly 33 was not going to happen (I'd known that for a while), now just a matter of limiting the damage.



9. Along the marsh, on the road to the bend, over the small hill, angle down, hit the trail, along it, all at a very good rate of speed....
Run right by the control, still at a good rate of speed....
Put on the brakes when the trail starts to bend and I see a junction ahead of me. Look at the map. WTF. Back I go, highly pissed....
30th, 41 seconds behind.

10. As I said, highly pissed.
1st, 6 seconds up.

Finish. And then in, holding back a bit, not wanting to risk the hamstring any more.
9th, 8 seconds back.

And just really pissed. But not for more than about a minute. It passed. What can you do. You try, it doesn't work, you go out the next day and try again. :-)

C • The Childs Clan 4

C • Vegetation 2

C • Night O symptoms 5

O'Ringen day 2. Better than I expected.

Hamstring was hurting, but I took enough medicine (6x200 ibupfrofin, 2x325 tylenol) to keep it to a dull ache. Ran gingerly, but was able to run. And afterwards, maybe no worse, can't be sure until the drugs wear off. And maybe can do the same tomorrow. Which is a lot better than sitting on the sidelines.

Harder orienteering today. I had a good run, really no mistakes, just a lot of stopping on a couple of very detailed legs and not running as fast. Finished 9th (and now 5th overall), a little farther back. But given that the overnight expectation was that I wouldn't finish, a very nice surprise.

Splits from yesterday are here. Had one fastest split. :-)

For the long leg, had the 3rd best split. I was running fast to the start of the climb, then climbed pretty fast, but was quite slow descending, very uncertain. Descending a little more confidently would have saved 30-45 seconds (assuming I still navigated right), put me about the best. So I don't think going around to the north was much better, if at all.

Also clear that I was slow at the beginning and end, fast in the middle. Over here you have to be fast all the time....

Today's map. Also, here's a larger version of legs 3-7.

And today's splits.

A few comments --

#1. OK, a little cautious.
#2. Don't if a straighter route or more to the right was better. Thought I was moving OK.
#3. Just very cautious.
#4. Really slow. Should have just tried up the reentrant (assuming finding the correct one), then up the spur. As it was, I stopped lots of times, confused/uncertain, finally saw the knoll in front of me with the little reentrant of the south face, turned left and there was the control. But double the best time for the leg.
#5. Maybe not the best route?
#6. Really cautious again, but only 18 seconds behind.
#7. Easier, and the time shows it, only 10 seconds behind.
#8. Route? Though can't have been too bad, 7th.
#9. OK.
#10. Easiest running leg on the course, 2nd, just 13 seconds back, and I didn't feel like I was moving that well. Plus was in the marsh up to my knees at the end. Interesting. (The leg I won yesterday I had the feeling I was really moving.)
#11. Felt really slow and cautious, but at least spiked the control.
#12. OK.

Just obviously much slower the harder the O' gets. Some of that is the rougher running, but a lot is just mental, not simplifying enough, not having enough experience in this stuff to handle it quickly. And also maybe not having the right instincts about route choice.

Still though, totally delighted just to have finished. And the hamstring, late in the afternoon, seems to be no worse. :-)

C • out of bounds 5

Late afternoon special training with Gord Hunter in preparation for the O'Ringen golf tournament on Wednesday morning (the rest day).

Over to the golf course, walked around for an hour hoping to amass a supply of little round white things to last us through 18 holes. And I was in the company of a master. It was truly impressive the show he put on. By the time we were done, my collection of 6 was totally dwarfed by his 19.

I did try to make the argument that our respective numbers were based not on any particular ball hawking skill but on the expected need on Wednesday. My assumption was that we were just borrowing the balls, in a couple of days we would be returning them (perhaps not willingly) to the long grass we'd found them in. I will have to make each ball last 2 holes (I packed 3 just in case), Gord just has to get a single hole out of each ball. That should be doable....

Good mellow training for the hamstring.

Event: O-Ringen
 

Day 1 of the O'Ringen. Totally bummed.

Run was pretty good, place better than expected, 4th of about 130 in H65. But did something to my right hamstring. No memory of anything, it just started hurting a little in the last couple hundred meters, and hurting more as the day goes on. Don't know what tomorrow will bring but I am not optimistic.

Trying to keep a positive attitude....

The map.

The course wasn't particularly difficult, just 7 was a little tricky, in an area of young pines, bad visibility, and then 9 and 10 were in rougher forest. Felt tired most of the time.

#2. Was hoping to find a beaten path across the marsh but didn't. I think I should have gone up to the next fence corner. Vegetation was mid-thigh all the way across.
#3. Stood for maybe 15 seconds on the spur just outside the circle, confused by the trail below me. Turned out it was just about perfectly covered by the circle.
9. A nasty scramble up the slope, very rocky, then very rocky going down too. Feeling very insecure, lots of stopping. Going around to the north might well have been better.
10. Insecure again, also inefficient, stopping several times including on the knoll just before our dot knoll. Ours was virtually invisible.

Overall felt like I could have been a couple minutes faster, but not the 3.5 I was behind.

I'd expect the orienteering to get more difficult.

Results, you can select class or country.

We are staying in a house, side-by-side apartments on the first floor, very nice, but no internet access. Normally. But Tom Hollowell took care of us, he'd gotten us some sort of gizmo that connects via cell phone signals, or something. A little thing that plugs into the USB port of my laptop, and then it just sort of starts itself.

Maybe for normal people.

We'd found Tom at the campground, a little stressed because the just completed full test of all computer systems had uncovered a few problems, but he was still pretty cool. Also wife Tone and son William. Also Per Nyström (Erik's dad, delivered Erik's shoes to him). And we chat for a bit and then head back to our house. And we try really hard (including reading the instructions!) but no go, we can't get connected.

Back to the campground, this time with the laptop and gizmo, find the main man for such things (son William), and he thinks a little and then uninstalls everything I've done, starts from scratch, and in a minute everything works. And then he also does a few more things so that I'm now broadcasting a wifi signal so George can use his iTouch.

We are now apparently connected anyplace in Scandinavia. Very cool. Switzerland will be another question.

C • Touch 2

Off to another training area. This time a very slow walk with George, just looking, looking, looking, training the eyes. Useful. Even if the map was a little old.

Had one case, 30 meters (at most) from a large boulder, white woods, couldn't see it. It was just perfectly blocked by a spruce. From any other angle it was obvious. Got to keep looking.

And then back to yesterday evening's map to take another look, plus take the camera along....

Tone Hollowell....



Even when the forest was ok, the trails are still a lot faster....



Control #10 from yesterday (between the knolls)....



Just east of #10 was a nice big cliff, if viewed from the SW....



But could hardly see it from the NW....



And some places you just want to avoid (under the power line south of #11)....

So I guess I have a day to figure out how to orienteer....

Got to Eksjö mid-afternoon, got settled in, and then I felt like trying out one of their training courses, they had a bunch of different ones, I picked a short difficult one. Sobering.

The running is reasonably difficult, as expected. I'd guess I'll be searching out all possible trail routes, even with quite a bit of detour, just because they are often so much faster.

The orienteering was more difficult than expected. Partly limited visibility in places, partly just my eye needs to be trained to reading the terrain better. Several controls were difficult, where I had the feeling that exactly the same control back home -- but different vegetation and ground surface -- would be simple. The ground is a little lumpier so the little mapped features don't stand out as well. Sort of like places in New Hampshire (Sargeant Camp, Fox Forest, Hanover). And the visibility varies, not so good in places. I was surprised a couple times how close I had to get to some high ground before I could see it through the trees. Will have to adapt. Need to be very solid with the compass.

So I ran the course, not a hard effort but still running. Missed a couple controls a couple minutes each, and maybe another 3 or 4 where I wasn't right on. But probably a good lesson in what's needed.

On the other hand, if I don't figure it out it will be a long week.



#1. OK to the cliff at the NE edgeof circle, then took a couple of minutes of circling in the thick forest.
#2. Very shaky on final bit.
#3. Thought i was looking for a large boulder, no sign of one, stopped and looked carefully, oh, it's a dot knoll with a cliff tucked behind.
#5. Looked simple, but circled a couple of times in the area.
#6. Shaky on the approach.
#7. Hit the control but couldn't read the contours above it.
Rest was ok.

Need to be aware of distance in the forest, cover less than I think because of the lumpy ground.

C • terrain 1

A brief reading update while waiting for a plane to Copenhagen in Geneva --

A couple works of fiction finished recently. (1) The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, takes place in India, very interesting and entertaining look at parts of Indian culture, and easy to read for those of us that struggle a bit. (2) A Mst Wanted Man by John Le Carre, all right but nothing special.

Just started So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger. I liked his first novel a lot (Peace Like a River), just happened to see this in a bookstore in Woodstock where I went looking for maps, had to get it. Would have been a good title for my autobiography, but I guess it is taken....

Doing this whole trip with Gail (of course) and also George and Lyn. Such good company.

C • trip 5

A tour of various parks and streets of central Copenhagen with George and Lyn. Very very pleasant, except for getting reprimanded for jogging in the Botanical Gardens by an Olaf Tabur look-alike. We took it in stride, though we were tempted to go run on the grass when we saw the sign "Don't walk on the grass."

A zillion bicycles, lots of statues of naked people, and lots of young people stretched out on the grass. Probably doing illegal things.

Dead legs, but that's ok, just good to get out, and taking a run is a great way to see a new place.

Route.

C • running in copenhagen 5

Went to the track for a go at the mile before leaving. Figured something between 6 and 6:10 was possible, with 6:05 to 6:10 most likely. First 400 in 1:28.8, a little quicker than expected, next in 1:31.7 (3:00.5) for 800. Hmm. Figured if I was going to have a shot at 6 I couldn't slow down for the third. Did it in 1:30.6 (4:31.1 for 1200). Hmm. 5:16 for 1400, still possible. Quick as I could the last 210 (doing a mile, not 1600), 1:28.7 for the last 410, 5:59.8 overall. Nice surprise.

Not that this is anything like orienteering. But at least the legs and the lungs are in good shape.

50 done. :-)

4 laps before (including 2x100 and 1 x200), 1 after.

C • Good luck in your races 3

Relaxed run on Greenfield ridge, white then red trail staying north of Mountain Rosd. Legs felt heavy at start but a good bit better after 10 or 15 minutes.

Didn't see a reason to do any more.

3 Mile XC at Stanley Park in Westfield. Never been here before. They have races every Monday evening from April to September, but it is a little farther from home and on the other side of Westfield, so I've just never made it there.

Chasing the age-64 record (20:19), plus just another good workout, plus hoping for a morale boost after the last two efforts that were a little disappointing, not that they were bad, rather there just wasn't any sign of progress.

But this evening was back on the good side. Good hard effort. No mile markers, so just a matter of picking a pace that felt a little too fast and then trying to stick to it for 20 minutes. Had no idea how I stood until the top of the last rise when the finish clock was in view and there was plenty of time to get there. Still putting out though, just because under 20 sounds better, even if it is 3 miles and not 5K.

Nice course. Once around the big field, mostly grass, then a little pavement, all flat, then down and along the river, nice trail, quite a few roots but no reason to slow down. Only thing was you knew there was some uphill coming at the end, but just the usual gritting the teeth and trying not to slow down.

Real nice evening, mid-70s, dewpoint only 45.

Splits: past start 4:59, start of lollipop 8:42, end of lollipop 15:21.

Warm-up plus a little after. Trying to figure out where the course went (there were no markings), since with the relatively small field (about 40), you couldn't be sure that the person in front of you would be in sight as the race progressed. Had it pretty well figured out.

Mostly with Charlie. Nice to see him out doing this, as he's had a few ailments (shoulders mainly) and he's due for a good stretch. Maybe it's starting.

49 good workouts done, 1 to go. Quite a remarkable two months.

C • So what do you have planned... 3

Another shaky day.

Mt. Ascutney, bottom to top, first 2.3 miles, on the road, rest on rather crappy trail.

Not sure if I didn't have good legs, or if on that course there is no way my legs would feel good, or what. Though I did run the road up three years ago -- climbs 2300' in 3.8 miles, stops 300' below the summit, just about half a Mt. Washington -- ran the whole thing my log says, 44 minutes, and there was no way I was running all the road section today.

It sure seemed steep. I'd come around every corner and look up and think, Oh shit. Ran the first mile, 11:20. Did a bunch of walking on the second, 12:30, asking myself more than once why was it that I wanted to "run" Washington, and not coming up with a good answer. Then another 4:20 before turning off on the trail.

At which point I seemed to get even feebler. Lots more walking, though granted at some point it wasn't runnable for me under any circumstances. So I suppose that was ok. But the gentler sections, I'd start to run and feel real wobbly, just tired and not real good coordination. Eventually it was over and I was at the top. Blah.

Though probably not as bad as I imagined. A little over 2 minutes behind my friend Rick Scott. Last week at Loon I'd been 20 seconds after him, but that had been a real good day, also cooler which really matters to me. So maybe this was just a minute or so worse than expected. Which isn't so much. Just that it felt so bad.

Fun? Can't say that. "Fun" is sometimes hard to judge, you can bust your balls and be suffering the whole time but be having a great time because things are going better than expected, or be in the same physical state and miserable because the expectations aren't met. Today was more the latter.

Though of course there is always the one good thing you can say, when positive things are hard to come by -- it was a good workout. :-)

C • Fun? 5

Easy warm-up.

Careful walk/jog from the summit down to the parking lot, something to eat and drink, then jogged down the road with Rick, chatting away, very pleasant.

Didn't come straight home, headed north a little bit in fact, because the part of Vermont just north of Ascutney is home to the Vermont 100, which is next weekend, and the Vermont 50, held in late September. I've run both of them -- the 50 mile in 8:26 in 1996, and the 100 mile in 18:33 in 1997 -- and have fond memories of both. Plus at different times I've paced Jeff Saeger and a good friend (Ralph, not his real name, the reason will become obvious) from home for the last 30 miles. Plus another friend from home is running the 100 mile next weekend and Barb is "walking" the 100K. Plus I've been giving a little thought to having a go at the 50 mile in September. So it seemed like a nice time to poke around some of the back roads to bring back a few memories.

Checked out quite a few spots, some of which I had only seen in the dark. At one place, passing a very ramshackle mobile home, I can even remember what we -- me and Ralph -- were talking about on a long uphill slog at about 85 miles, namely, the wide disparity in housing, from gorgeous estates to pretty miserable hovels. How do such things stick in one's memory?

The outing with Ralph -- the pacer is mainly just there for company and a bit of encouragement, to try to help stave off the almost inevitable decline of the runner both physically and mentally -- was memorable mostly for a particular ailment that he was suffering from for the last 30 miles, some terrible chafing. He was complaining quite regularly. At 81 miles, it had been dark for just a little while, we had pulled into "Bill's," an aid station at the back of some local's house, and Ralph settled into a chair for a short break, and then decided it was time to see if re-greasing would make things any better. Two young women were sitting on a stone wall about 5 yards behind him.

At 80 miles you don't worry about formalities. He turned his head and called back to them, "You don't mind if I take my shorts off, do you?" I can't remember what the answer was but it didn't really matter, the shorts were coming off. And in the process, Ralph had turned to me and said, "They've probably never seen a white dick before."

When he said "white" he meant really white, he has an very minor affliction where he has a small amount of his skin lacking in normal pigment. It just happens to be right there.

Well, we're laughing away, and I'm pretty sure the women are laughing too, though they haven't come around to have a look. And meanwhile Ralph is adding a lot more grease.

Maybe it helped a little, maybe it didn't. What he should have done was just dispense with the shorts for the rest of the race. I do know that the screams I heard when he first stepped in the shower after he finished were worse than any I've ever let loose.

Jeff, on the other hand, was quite the well-behaved racer to pace, just a modest amount of complaining, so well-behaved in fact that he liked to spend 15 or 20 minutes at each aid station chatting up the wonderful volunteers and sampling all the goodies. It was a very pleasant and mellow night and a wonderful dawn and early morning when we rambled into the finish.

And I thought back a little to my 100-mile, a really good effort helped in no small amount by cool weather for mid-July. Actually I ran a great 80 miles and then died, just struggled in the last 20 miles. I remember afterwards saying to Gail that 100 miles just seemed to be a little too far for me. I've run real good for 60 or 70 miles, this time for 80, but the races always went on a little too long. Real good for HTFU, though I didn't realize it at the time.

I checked out a few more spots, the field that serves as the start and finish was freshly mowed, the countryside looked beautiful. And then a quick stop in Woodstock, where I managed to find the topos for the area that I used to have but can't find. Just in case I'm at the starting line of the 50 in September....

And then headed home, quite content.

C • I'm looking forward to my f... 3

Easy bike ride, South Deerfield and Whately, slightly more interesting because of the good breeze out of the south, 15-20. Just didn't feel like a hard effort today, nor a junk run, but wanted to at least sweat a little.

Still planning on Ascutney tomorrow.

Decided it was time to put computer back-up on an automatic schedule (as opposed to the current system of never doing it), so signed up with Mozy. If I understand it correctly, the first time through it backs up lots of stuff, so it seems it won't be done until sometime Monday morning. Updates thereafter are supposedly much faster.

It remains to be seen if the data is actually retrievable if my computer croaks.

Back over to the other side of Mt. Toby for another go at the Power Line Power Climb. Did 13:07 last time, goal was under 13, but that was not to be. Felt like I was trying, so I guess the legs just weren't there, maybe feeling tired from yesterday evening.

Splits: 3:26, 3:25, 2:40, 3:40 = 13:11 (last time: 3:29, 3:29, 2:39, 3:30). Lost it at the end.

Still a good effort. 47 down, 3 to go.

Plus 6:13 from the gate over to the start and 20:39 from the top back down the jeep road. Ran the last 10 minutes of that pretty hard.

Track group this evening.

Back to the track, good-sized group this evening, a dozen or so. Same planned workout as 3 weeks ago. Last time --

The plan for our group of 6 was 2x400, 800, 2x1000, 800, 2x400, with rest of about 60-75 seconds, not so much. I had thought that a reasonable goal would be to try to keep to a 6:20 pace, or 95 seconds per lap. But that proved too ambitious.

(distance, time, rest)
400: 1:35.8, 53
400: 1:34.4, 54
800: 3:12.1, 1:18
800: 3:16.2, 2:16 (cut this one short, a little more rest, needed it)
800: 3:15.0, 2:18 (ditto)
800: 3:14.3, 1:15
400, 1:31.5, 58
400, 1:30.6

This time, I felt sluggish the first couple warm-up laps, hard to run 8:30 pace, but then loosened up. Plan was the same, keep to a 6:20 pace, and this time it wasn't a problem, even though the 1200s and the second 800 had me breathing harder.

400: 1:34.3, 56
400: 1:33.6, 57
800: 3:09.1, 1:21
1200: 4:45.8, 1:44
1200: 4:45.7, 1:44
800: 3:08.7, 1:18
400: 1:29.5, 1:02
400: 1:27.7

Just fine.

46 down, 4 to go. Let's see, maybe a woods run tomorrow, a short track session Saturday, run up Ascutney on Sunday (safer, closer, and not so early a start as the Skyline race), and Stanley Park on Monday?

C • Pawtuckaway 7

3 laps before, one after.

Nice time socially too (usually I'm just in my own private space at these things).

Back to Mt. Tom again to re-re-run the Day 1 course from day 1 of the Western Mass 3 Day a little over two months ago. I like repeating routes. Tells you how you're doing, for better or worse. And I prefer knowing.

Splits the first time, late April (from road to NE end, back to road, to SW end, back to road, to NE end, back to road, total):

6:10, 6:00, 11:05, 8:41, 5:46, 5:37= 43:18.

12 days ago:
5:34, 5:20, 9:56, 8:03, 5:31, 5:27 = 39:51

This time:
5:39, 5:08, 9:23, 7:48, 5:17, 4:45 = 38:03

So better. Which is good.

Felt sluggish to start, didn't warm up much, but after the first couple of hills they seemed to get easier. Just trying to run the ups steady, no hurry on the downs.

Until I got to the last up, 6 lines, moderate slope, and my mind flipped back to something i was reading this morning, a Swiss friend's report on the Dolomites 5-Day, especially the phrase -- "Der Aufstieg zum letzten Posten und der lange Zieleinlauf forderten noch die letzten Reserven." -- basically, the climb to the last post and the long run up to the finish required the last of my energy. Kurt won the day in H65. That's how you do it, when it's up and then up some more, you just grit your teeth and do it. And many times over there it is up and then up a whole lot more.

So anyway, that popped into my mind at the start of the last up, you get your motivation where you can, and my little legs just cranked right up the hill, imagining a finish banner at the top. Felt good.

And as the saying goes, the will to win is no good unless you've already had the will to train.

45 down, 5 to go. On schedule.

C • H65 2

C • Repeating routes 6

Charlie called up yesterday suggesting a trip to the Forest Park 5K XC race this evening. I wasn't sure. It's not like I have a training plan laid out week by week, but I've been trying to at least plan the quality workouts, and doing the race just didn't seem to fit, after Sunday's race at Loon and the track tomorrow.

But I said maybe I'd change my mind.

And today I was thinking about it more seriously. But then I looked at the weather map and storms were moving in and just going to Mt. Tom for a steady woods run seemed to make more sense.

The race is in 45 minutes, and right now it's pouring here and looks like it's pouring there. On the other hand, O' is still an outdoor sport, and if you practice when it's really crappy out, then you'll compete better when it's really crappy out. Like yesterday at JWOC. A day when HTFU training really pays off.

And our kids must have done some, because they did well, second day in a row.

Maybe I should have gone.

C • Forest Park 4

Training - Splits

You might say I was lucky, or you might say I was smart, who knows. Really though, there ought to be more lotteries just like this one, where the ticket is free and you're 99% sure to win.

I'm referring of course to the Michael Jackson memorial service lottery, where I got the good news yesterday that I had won, meaning that I hadn't won, so I didn't have to go. So instead I was free to head north for a round with Mike Fritz, this time in Hanover, NH. The company was great, my behavior was great, my golf was directionally challenged to a significant extent, my ample supply of balls at the start somewhat depleted by the time the thunder and lightning rolled in. And the 81 strokes would have been a very satisfying number if there hadn't been three holes left to play when the horn blew and the count stopped. But, as I said, my behavior was excellent, and that's much more important. And not just the external appearances but also the inner enjoyment -- a nice outing not even marred by some truly horrendous shots.

There was little point in waiting the hour or two for the storm to blow through, also little interest on my part for the planned run on one of the nearby O' maps in the midst of the storm, so I went with plan B and headed home, thinking that by Brattleboro the weather might be better. And it certainly was.

So, time for 20-25 minutes of heavy breathing, up Mt. Wantastiquet, 23:50, better than late April (25:10), but still bogus because a stop at the steepest point, 19 minutes in, for a minute of recovery, just didn't have the willpower and hadn't made the commitment to run the whole way. But still better than April (and that had 3 stops). But not as good as the 22:30 of 3 or 4 years ago.

And then very easy coming down, 17:22, still some tender places from Sunday. Things were very wet in places so extra care was taken.

Gail asked when I got home if this was the easy day I had planned. And I think it was -- no fast running, so although the legs might be a little sluggish tomorrow, the soreness should be disappearing.

From yesterday, partway up the last steep pitch....



As compared to 3 weeks ago, I have certainly gotten slower....

C • Glasses? 2

Same short loop as Saturday, after dinner just before dark, just wanted to stretch out the legs. Quite a few sore places after yesterday.

Plus one more sore place that seemed to both come and go today. I was walking up the stairs this morning to brush my teeth before heading off to get a tooth repaired, when my right shin muscle did something strange, and then started to hurt, and then hurt some more. To the point that I couldn't put any weight on that leg without a good bit of pain. No obvious cause. But very disconcerting.

Hobbled off to the dentist, spent most of the hour and a quarter trying to get my leg comfortable, as opposed to my usual freaking out about the drill. Got home, still hurt, And then an hour or two later, something just eased up -- must have been a spasm or a nerve getting pinched -- and it suddenly hurt less and within a few minutes hurt hardly at all.

And after an hour on the golf course and a bike ride, not at all. Very strange.

Think I need a couple more easy days.

Easy warm-up.

Loon Mountain race. Distance was advertised mostly as 5.7 miles, occasionally as 6.1, G-maps says 5.2 (though a little should be added for some very steep terrain). Who knows, and basically who cares. You care about time and place, whereas pace was pretty irrelevant. That's not to say they didn't have miles marked, but I wouldn't put much faith in their accuracy. (And I say that even if things were measured and marked with a good GPS system, because even with that you can still get bad numbers if the course we actually run isn't exactly the course as measured. In this case, I reached mile marker 1 in 8 minutes flat, perfectly reasonable except for the fact that the much of the first mile was definitely uphill.)

Whatever. The course goes up, down a little, up a bunch more, down a little, up a bunch more, down a little, up a whole lot more to the top of the main gondola, down a bunch, up a whole lot more very steeply, down a bunch and one last little kicker up right at the end. Finishes about 1800' higher than the start, overall climb is about 2900'.

I had a good race, certainly better based on relative times than Northfield, 3 weeks ago, which had many of the same runners. For example, Rick Scott, an old local friend and better (and a decade younger) runner, got me by about 3 minutes at Northfield and by just 18 seconds today. A case where a close loss is absolutely a moral victory.

Lots of steep hills as I said, but very good footing, either sand/gravel service road or nicely grassed ski trail. The pitch was always changing, had to keep changing gears. I walked a lot more than some, but I was usually moving just as fast. And on the last pitch (about 800' vertical, very steep ski trail), where everyone was walking, I was passing folks, not getting passed. Nice.

Splits in case I ever run it again: 31:00 to top of lower lift, 46:30 to top of main gondola, 50:30 down to bottom of last climb, 62:20 to top of last climb, 65:39 finish. And for the "mile markers" -- 8:00, 10:32, 12:30, 14:30, missed mile 5. I wasn't getting tired, things just got steeper.

First 60+ by a couple of minutes, won a coupon for a pair of tights. Best time overall was 48:xx.

Results.

Ran back down from the finish with Rick Scott. Mellow pace, good conversation, very pleasant.

C • Nice! 2

So does it make any sense to drive not quite 3 hours each way to run a race that takes just over an hour?

If you know me, clearly you already know the answer, given that last year I went to Sweden for a long weekend to orienteer for 48 minutes, and that was absolutely worth it. As was today. The only downside -- making sure I got up by 4:30 so I could be out of the house by 5, ideally without waking up Gail. I managed to get up before the alarm went off, but it seems I managed to wake her up anyway.

Underway just as it was getting light, for a bit I was having rogaine flashbacks, the times just at dawn after a long night, the quality of the early morning light, fields of dew-soaked long grass.

The drive up was easy, no traffic, fun to be back up in the mountains. Signed up, ran into Tony Federer, also a couple local friends, also my yoga teacher.

The race was fine, perfect day, not warm, and it sure helps when the legs feel good.

A pleasant easy run down with Rick. Then in to get a little food and drink, ran into Tony again. Had a long chat. He's been running some amazing times at the Mt. Washington race, I was trying to figure out what his secret was, but mainly I was just enjoying the company. He's a neat guy.

And then checked in with Lisa from Inov-8 (I think she's the boss of the USA operation), there displaying their shoes again. And yes, she'd gotten my message asking her to bring an extra pair of size 11 212s for when I wear out the ones I'm using now (though they are showing no wear yet). And talked to her a bunch more about orienteering and their various shoes and their new O' shoes coming out next spring.

And then eventually they had awards and I collected mine and headed home, the sun out, the air fresh, the radio tuned to a station playing classic oldies, the vibes excellent.

Reminded me of a French 5 Day maybe 15 years ago, so wonderfully civilized. One day Gail had a very early start, I was a couple of hours later. Parked, she was off, I walked the at most 400 meters to the center of town, bought the morning paper, a coffee, a pastry, spent a very pleasant hour before eventually heading off to run my course. And then the last day, just outside another small village, I'd already run, chase start, first off, more importantly first in, and then sitting on the grassy hillside eating lunch (bread, cheese, paté) with the steady stream of classic oldies only occasionally interrupted by some announcement dealing with the elite classes.

So I was in a very good mood. And also reminded of a line that Gail said a week and a half ago, looking at the new me, not sure whether it was good or bad, sure at that point only that I looked different and it would take some getting used to, and then saying, with a very nice smile, this would give her a chance to fall in love with me all over again.

Did I say life has never been better?

Short ride up to Montague, a little more energetically than I had intended. Brisk NW breeze. Route.

So I entered the lottery for a ticket to the memorial ceremony on Tuesday. Would be just my luck to win.... :-)

C • Good luck! 1

South Sugarloaf and back with Dave. Legs felt very tired, just one of those days.

16:02 over, 9:33 up, 7:17 down, 14:58 back.

F/M ratio today was 7:1, 8:1 if you count the instructor. And the instructor, I've slowly come to realize, is also a trail/mountain runner. Lots of good karma.

Warm-up. My sense was the feet felt light but the legs a little heavy, a residue of yesterday's battle with the ferns.

Had hoped to see Charlie here, that had been the plan, but then his shoulder acted up and he had to bail.

Holyoke 5K XC, around the reservoirs. Ran this 3 weeks ago, 21:04. Goal was to beat the age-64 record, 20:48. Had the new shoes and three more weeks of good training both going for me, but I assumed I had blown any chances by overdoing it yesterday -- the legs were sore this morning, though I must say that they felt much less sore this afternoon. (Does the new, younger, clean-shaven look mean I also heal faster?)

There are no marked miles, but I remembered my time at three points on the course from 2 weeks earlier, so I had some idea how things were going. First point was very early, 1:54 (vs. 1:58 last time), felt like I was moving fast enough, but the usual uncertainty, was the pace too fast.

Next point was 11:04 last time. Working hard. Figured I needed to be there by no worse than 10:55, and if I was 11 or more I'd back off. Got there in 10:44, 20 seconds better, wow, but also more uncertainty, did I have another 10 minutes in me.

Next point was 16:25 last time. Wanted to be no worse than 16:05, hopefully 16:00, got there 15:58, excellent. Now just needed to hang on. Which I did, 20:33 at the finish, 31 seconds better. Truly excellent. Three age records done, one more to go for. And another good hard workout.

Really wasted, took a good two minutes for my breathing to calm down. But that's the point of the exercise, relearning how to push yourself even when you're tired. And it is, at least for me, an all-consuming mental exercise as well as physical, not even remotely boring. If it's boring, you're not really trying. At least that's the way I see it.

A couple of nice post-race encounters. One with Don, director of the Northampton XC series, now back as a good friend and a pleasure to talk to. His verdict on the new face was that I look 50, and then a few seconds later he said, No, make that 42. :-)

And the other, I saw a face that looked familiar, don't know how I remembered the name, Vic Goulet, hadn't seen him for 20 years, he used to run trail races, came orienteering a couple of times, now about 70. I said hello, we chatted, he said he'd met someone who knew me while he was trekking in Nepal last year, turned out to be Jeff Watson and Paula Whipple from Oregon, they'd had an O' patch on their pack and that's how the subject came up. And Vic is going to see them again next week, he's heading out to Mt. Rainier. I said, they put on one of the best, if not the actual best, US Champs I've ever been to, out in Bend.

As the saying goes, it's a small world.

Results.

Thinking of going to Loon Mountain on Sunday.

Spent about 3 hours today looking at Swedish maps. All looks very difficult. Have to remind myself I've done it before, just been a while, just have to work on getting the right combination of fear and confidence.

C • 3 hours 2

A good lesson in humility, or perhaps a reality check, though that was not the intent.

From a comment to yesterday's post --

But the problem is the forest floor, softer than here, and low vegetation, drags on you. I just don't run well/strong enough there.

So I figured I should at least keep at the woods running. Headed back to Quabbin to run a course I did 2 months ago, to see if I had gotten any quicker.

Good idea, except I had forgotten that the summer vegetation there makes a lot more difference than at Mt. Tom, especially the ferns, which varied a lot, from none in some places, to knee-high, to waist-high. The none was just fine, of course. The knee-high was pretty much just fine, not much impediment and I could still see most logs or rocks on the ground. The waist-high was miserable, both trying to keep running, plus not being able to see any logs or rocks.

My fighting spirit ebbed and flowed, with a little more ebb than flow, partly because I was trying not to do any serious damage. Still went down quite a few times. Think I'm OK, one fall right at the end tweaked my left hamstring, but it seems OK afterwards. And where I bashed one shin will heal.

So humility #1 was that for all the training, I still have a hard time running through crap. Humility #2 was I can still fuck up the orienteering. I suppose both are useful reminders. And I'd guess, regarding humility #1, that I ran better than I would have in similar conditions 2 months ago.

Raining again, low 70s, everything wet.

A few notes (time this time vs. last time) --
1. Once again didn't find the wall, dense head-high white pines in the area. Medium fern cover, not bad. 3:25 (3:18).
2. Lots of ferns, had to walk a little, never saw the lower wall but read the contours OK. 6:18 (4:50).
3. Ferns mostly not bad, picked up the same small trail for 1/3 of the way. 3:21 (3:04).
4. Ferns no problem, picked up same small trail for 1/2 the way, then logged area, then missed the control. Fell down 3 times within 100 meters and was so busy cussing that I ran within 10 meters of the end of the wall and didn't see it. Pulled up when I saw the next wall, back, ran right by it again, stopped for a while, eventually saw it. Terrible. 7:06 (4:25).
5. Moderate ferns, enough to not want to run downhill quickly for fear of getting clobbered. 2:44 (2:27).
6. Moderate ferns, picked the better spots, at least one leg was faster than last time! 2:53 (3:19).
7. Swung left and low to avoid the ferns. 2:39 (2:23).
8. Good running until almost to the second wall, then some dreadful spots. Was moving good until then. 7:04 (6:20).
9. A wider swing to the left in search of fewer ferns. 1:40 (1:20).
10. A wider swing to the right in search of fewer ferns, farther right than intended. 3:56 (3:12).
11. Ferns mostly not a problem. 3:40 (3:39).
F. Terrible ferns. Crashed ones, took it very slow and careful thereafter. I remember last time just zipping along. How things change. 3:14 (1:50).
Overall 48:06 (40:06).

Good training, even if humbling. 41 down, 9 to go. Holyoke 5K tomorrow, probably.

C • Ferns 7