Training Archive: PGIn the 7 days ending 2007-07-07:
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Saturday Jul 7 | ||
| biking 2:07:27 [3]35.4 mi (3:35 / mi) | |
| slept:6.0 weight:131.5lbs | ||
| Bad day out at rogaine practice, quite incompetent, thought at one point I was going to have to do three hours on the bike as penance, but things improved significantly towards the end. Plus my behavior was really vary good! Vraiment!
So no penance was really called for, but it was a nice afternoon, no storms in sight, so I headed off for a trip up to Northfield via Millers Falls, and then back via Gill and Turners Falls. West wind, crosswind most of the time. Nice rolling route, no long climbs but lots of small ones. Only negative was when I went to add a little air to my tires, the pump didn't seem right, and then some piece came flying off, and then it definitely wasn't working. Merde, have I been sabotaged? Monsieur Phil? Tour de France is starting, but it's hard to get very excited about it if everytime someone does well you find yourself wondering what doping regimen they are on rather than what training they have done and what panache and balls they have. But it's probably the same crap going on as has been going on forever, just more people getting caught. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. In honor of a much finer French sporting event, Les Cinq Jours de France, which starts on Monday, I will have to sneak a little French into the log this week. Been to several earlier versions of it, many very fond memories. | ||
| C • Drugs don't help that much 6 | ||
| C • Sabotage! 2 | ||
Friday Jul 6 | ||
| hike (with pack, 7 pounds) 40:07 [2] | |
| slept:5.0 weight:130lbs shoes: Montrail | ||
| The weather map looked threatening, but the big storms were still far enough away to give enough time for a trip to the top of Toby, as usual walking as fast as I could. Which proved difficult, because I kept losing my concentration.
See, just before I left I got an e-mail from Mike Fritz, a golfing/orienteering friend (and he and Vivian were hosts for the U.S. Relay Champs in Vermont several years ago). Gail and I had been up to visit about 10 days ago, and at some point in the visit the talk had, as it does among civilized people, turned to the matter of FDFs. And it seemed that Mike had half of a love-hate relationship with FDFs, the hate part that is. He spends a fair bit of time mowing his network of ski trails, and the FDFs have been driving him nuts. So his ears perked right up when I told him about all the research and experiments we were doing. And as we were leaving I reached into our car and pulled out the extra jar of sticky stuff that I just happened to have, and, well, it's fun to give presents, but never ever has one been received with such obvious joy. So this e-mail says in part: "I had a great time mowing today. I had about 30 FDF kills and they were not able to cause any damage in return. This is truly amazing body count differential. "I was able to create a very good test. It had rained last night and conditions were slightly humid this morning - prime FDF activity time. I went out along the field edge and then into the woods for a 2 hour mow. The last 20 minutes were in the rain again. I'm happy to report that the sticking capability of that amazing ingredient still worked in the rain. "You have changed the way I can mow now, and the times I can go out. I could go out now and hit the little white ball around and have a bad round and still think it was a great day because of all these FDF kills. "Thanks big time, Mike" And of course he sends me the obligatory photo of the blue hat with all the dead FDFs stuck to it. Just like the obligatory photos of their newborn that proud parents always want to show off. So all the way up Toby I keep trying to keep the speed up, and then I start thinking about Mike's e-mail, and I'm laughing and I'm losing my focus. and then I snap out of it and pick the pace back up, and then I start laughing again.... So 10 or 15 seconds slower than the last couple of times, but the heartrate at the top was only about 150. Legs are feeling stronger. | ||
| trail running (with pack, 7 pounds) 33:16 [3] | |
| shoes: Montrail | ||
| As I reached the top the wind was howling, but it wasn't all that dark and the thunder I was hearing was still a ways off, so I figured I might as well take the round-about route back and get in a little more running. But it was threatening enough that I was inspired to pick up the pace.
Ran pretty vigorously, and the legs felt looser than they have in quite a while. I had a good collection of FDFs on the back of the hat, the final score turned out to be 40-0, another shutout, but unfortunately there was a second contest going on, this one between me and the rocks, and here the score was a solid thumping, 1-0, in favor of the rocks. As I said, I was making good time, letting loose on a nice downhill, when a rock reached up and grabbed me and I went Splat. Ooooohhhh. Felt like what I've seen baseball players do when they slide head first, except this was on rocks. Fortunately no damage except to my hands, forearms, chest, belly, quads and knees.... But nothing bad, a few abrasions and some missing skin. Note my excellent taste as shown by my not providing any photos.... :-) I immediately checked the most important things -- were the hands ok (they seemed mostly ok, I have rogaine practice lined up for Saturday and Sunday with the expectation of getting 5 new names toward my goal of 25), where was the blue hat (it appeared undamaged, the sticky stuff still doing its job), oh, and finally, were the legs ok (a little battered but fine). And I say a quick thank-you that I'm running and not biking and haven't just crashed whipping downhill on bad pavement at 40 mph, because that would have done a whole lot more damage. A decent effort the rest of the way home, but the legs were definitely a little less loose and the pace was a little more cautious. | ||
Thursday Jul 5 | ||
| Note | |
| slept:6.0 weight:130lbs | ||
| Shoes
Seven sisters route, out and back starting at the Notch. Mount Norwottuck o' map is just the other side of the Notch. | ||
| C • Low CG 7 | ||
| biking 1:09:17 [3]20.2 mi (3:25 / mi) | |
| Sticking to my plan of alternating biking and some king of running/hiking, today was a day for biking and I got out just early enough to beat the storms -- though I would imagine Eric Buckley and other real cyclists relish going out in bad weather, ideally on bad pavement too....
Usual Old Deerfield / River Road loop. Legs were quite dead to start. Actually, I was surprised they weren't worse, the quads and various knee tendons weren't sore after yesterday, just tired. So I took it easy on the way north with a gentle tailwind to boot. Got a bit more motivated on the rolling hills coming back on River Road and put out a decent effort there. Also got out for an early morning round of rogaine practice, a common occurance these days. A few thoughts about that, and the giant waste of time it is -- 1. I've made an informal deal with myself that I will play as much as I want, and not feel the slightest bit guilty about it, as long as (1) I also get in some real training at least 5 or 6 days a week, with that training for the time being focused on preparing for the Laurentian rogaine (I've pretty much written this year off for orienteering), and (2) I behave myself. 2. I'm playing much better than I ever have, and at age 62, having been at this pastime on and off for about 50 years, that makes it really, really fun. I would normally say that at this point in life there is no possibility for improvement in any physical activity, so this is a real surprise. Similar in a way to my really good orienteering in 2006, though that was a matter of the best I'd done in ten years, not the best ever. As far as other areas where there is room for improvement, I'd say the mental side seems to be on a steady downhill trend, but there are certainly now, and probably always will be, possibilities for improvement on the psychological and relationship sides. For right now at least, I view that all in an optimistic way, glass half full, not half enpty, with progress being made. 3. I set as an informal goal to play with at leats 25 new people this year, and I'm doing pretty well on that, forcing myself to be more outgoing with strangers. And that has been fun too. And surprising, in at least one way -- was sitting around chatting with 6 or 8 guys after a round and someone said something very negative about Bush and Iraq, and I was curious what the reaction would be, and one by one everyone chimed in with some version of, "You've got that right." Normally not what I'd expect from a bunch of golfers, but it is a blue-collar club and this is Massachusetts. ------------------------- My other contemplation for the day revolved around the G. I have been breaking my rule with some regularity the past couple of weeks, the rule about no eating after dinner, I suppose in reaction to various remarks from various parties about how I was wasting away. I certainly haven't been hungry for a while (after having been hungry every evening for about three months). But I've been checking things out and there certainly is still room for improvement, improvement meaning a lower G, I mean, I don't think all my ribs are showing.... :-) So we shall see. Though it will take some willpower to give up my new fondness for chocolate milk, lots of chocolate milk. Speaking of which, hmmm, off to the kitchen.... | ||
| C • The best thing about bad weather... 2 | ||
Wednesday Jul 4 | ||
| run/hike (with pack, 6 pounds) 2:58:29 [3]12.5 mi (14:16 / mi) +1600m 6:21 / km | |
| rhr:50 slept:7.0 weight:130lbs shoes: Montrail | ||
| Seven Sisters race course, first time there for a few years. Still the same sharp rocks (basalt) and steep ups and downs, plus for a stretch in the middle it needs someone to come along with a weed-whacker as the underbrush/prickers are flourishing.
Legs were feeling tired from the last couple of days, so I wasn't sure how much of the course I would do, but if I did the whole thing the goal was about 3 hours (PR on the course is 2:08, a really hard effort 15 years ago, right now I might be capable of 2:40-2:45, maybe....), the expectation was probably 3:05-3:10. Walking all the uphills, that's pretty standard, running the downhills a bit cautiously, I used to be more foolish and much faster on them. One result of this was that I was probably in training zone 2 aerobically, whereas when racing it in the past it was at least 4, and 2+ hours of pure suffering. But even going slower, it is still tough on the legs both going up and going down. 1:26:32 out, 1:31:57 back, better than I expected on the way back as there is about 300' more climb and then the usual deterioration. Saw one guy out there, he was really HTFU, going barefoot! Though he was going very slowly. As far as my own HTF(eet)U program, the Montrail shoes seem to be a big improvement, feet seemed to be well-protected and well-cushioned and no blister problems since I got them. And, among my collection of shoes, they are quite stylish.... :-) | ||
Tuesday Jul 3 | ||
| biking 2:27:50 [3]42.1 mi (3:30 / mi) | |
| slept:5.0 weight:130lbs | ||
| Bike ride down to and around the Holyoke Range. Some days it feels like the wind is against you 75% of the time, or more; today it seemed as though it was against me hardly at all. That's not a way of saying that the legs felt good. The wind really was favorable, 8 mph out of the north as I started out heading south for about 12 miles, then diminishing and turning more NW as I turned east, then pretty much still as I headed back NW for the last 15 miles. Very fine.
The only thing not fine was that my route on the return leg included about 8 miles in Amherst, home of the state university, and also a town where the political elite prides itself on being liberal, progressive, superior to anyone else, whatever. They are happy to pass resolutions dealing with U.S. foreign policy. They actually do have a pretty good school system. But it would be nice if they could apply some of their collective intelligence to taking care of one of the basic resposibilities of local government -- fixing the roads. The pavement is terrible, and worse if you are on a bike. They don't do preventive maintenance (sealing cracks, or rebuilding roads before theyy get so bad that rebuilding gets a lot more expensive), and then they ran out of money to fix potholes, and then enough people got pissed, so they went out and fixed maybe 2/3 of the potholes, just tossing down cold patch with no attempt to make it smooth, so now there are alternating cracks and potholes and little mounds. Did I say their roads are terrible. So I spent the 8 miles figuring out who I was going to bitch to and what I would say -- I mean the town also prides itself on supporting "green" things, such as bike riding -- but at some point I got back to Sunderland and the pavement was back to being good and I suppose I will just mellow out and forget it. No, maybe I'll raise a little hell... :-) Other than that, a good ride, ok energy right to the end, guess my glycogen stores last at least 2.5 hours, since I was drinking just water and no eating. But I did have a glass of chocolate milk just before I left. Yummy.... | ||
| C • HTFU! 11 | ||
Monday Jul 2 | ||
| trail running 46:01 [3] | |
| slept:6.0 weight:131lbs shoes: Montrail | ||
| Over to the gate, then to the start of the power line power climb.
Had a really hard time getting out the door, just kept putting it off and putting it off some more. I'd have been quite happy to skip it completely, but I also know that the conditioning isn't going to get better without some work, and more specifically, without some running. Felt ok but a little slow, but a least i was running, which got the attnetion of one fellow I saw out there. He was walking, and he had something like a hooded sweatshirt draped over his head and down his back, not because it was cold but because of the FDFs. As I went by he said something like, "So they don't bother you, you just outrun them?" Huh? The flies, they can't keep up with you? Well, actually, they can. But you see, I got this.... And I proceeded to show him the blue hat, but not too closely because I didn't want him stealing any trade secrets, and I told him how I was testing this new miracle fabric -- if you say it's duct tape and sticky stuff, it doesn't sound quite so sexy -- and it was in the final stages of development, and in just a short while he could go to ByeFly.com and order some, and it would let him enjoy his walks in the woods again. And he was really interested, and as I took off I could hear him saying to himself, ByeFly.com, ByeFly.com.... --------------------- Well, that's what would have happened if Barb had been along, because she's our Director of Marketing among other things, and she would have had this guy drooling over the possibility of getting some ByeFly. But I'm just a scientist doing research, so when he said, "The flies, they can't keep up with you?" I just said No, and kept running. We all have our specialties.... | ||
| hike 15:46 [3]0.8 mi (19:42 / mi) +250m 6:13 / km | |
| shoes: Montrail | ||
| ... and then hiked briskly up the telephone line, 8/10 mile, 800' climb, still feeling a little sluggish.
| ||
| trail running 34:09 [3]4.1 mi (8:20 / mi) | |
| ... and then back home via the S curves. Working hard to try to run a little quicker. The muscles still don't feel supple. It may be that they never will again, but have to keep trying. A better pace than recently back from the power line, 13:15, but it was harder work doing that than it should have been.
Out for 96 minutes, as planned, so that was good. One of those runs when the greatest pleasure is have it done with. PG 23, FDFs 0. It did occur to me at some point that there may be some long term problems with ByeFly similar to what is happening with the miracle drugs -- as we kill off all the FDFs that are attracted to the blue hats, will there be a few survivors or mutations that don't have the fatal attraction, and will we end up with a population of FDFs not attracted to blue? And then what will we do? It's good there are scientists like me already thinking ahead.... | ||
Sunday Jul 1 | ||
| Note | |
| slept:6.0 weight:130lbs | ||
| After a lapse of perhaps 2 years, I have added to my Top Ten list, with entry #7. The plan is to finish this up in the next month, plus maybe add a few honorable mentions. It would be nice to get it done before I forget even more.
No ranking order for the 7 runs posted so far, other than that they will be in spots 2 through 10 in the final ranking. | ||
| C • #3 3 | ||
| biking 1:44:26 [3]28.5 mi (3:40 / mi) | |
| Bike ride up to Wendell via Lake Wyola, back via Millers Falls. Legs were a little tired/sore from yesterday's outing with Phil, but got better after a while. Perfect day, about 70, almost cold on the downhills. | ||
