Training Log Archive: PG

Found some nice trails in Brattleboro on some land mostly owned by the Brattleboro Retreat (a psychiatric hospital). I'd seen a sign and a map of the trail network last year sometime, thought I should check it out, and finally did. The best part was the little box hanging by the sign that had copies of the map (click for a bigger copy)....



And it was a very good map, as far as the trails went, they seemed to be mapped pretty much perfectly, though of course there were no contour lines. So when I got home I checked out the topo map....



The contours are reasonably ok on the eastern hill, totally insufficient on the western part by the ski jump and Ice Pond. A section that would actually be pretty nice for orienteering.

And then I spent a while trying to figure out how to combine the two into one image. Totally without success. :-(

Anyway, the run was pretty nice. Started at the south end at Solar Hill, north to the top of the ski jump, that got me nervous just looking down, then over to the east and up to Stone Tower, then back to Ice Pond and around and about on most of the trails near it until it seemed like I would get in about an hour. Got back to the car at 58 minutes, so once down Solar Hill and back up.

A really nice run, preceded of course by my usual 2 to 3 hour walk.

C • Success... 13

Stopped on the way home to bulk up.

Event: WCOC Ansonia Nature Center meet
 

WCOC club meet at Ansonia, Red course. A great area, interesting topography, good map, nice woods. And a fun course too.

Progress. Had a little more energy, ran up a bunch of hills (none big, but I would have walked them all a couple of weeks ago). Started to run out of gas after about 35-40 minutes, walked 4 little bits, but still pretty good. 7 falls. Orienteering was a little shaky, mainly having trouble reading the details of the map well on the run, struggling quite a bit with that. I can read it ok standing still, but on the move, not so good. So a lot of times I was just trying to go with what I could get, plus stay on the direction I wanted, and keep my eyes open. No big mistakes, maybe 2 minutes altogether?

My routes.

#5 - Should have stayed high. Dropped down to the marsh, was rough going, finally said the hell with it and just waded across (20 meters, mid-calf deep).
#8 - Pulled up a boulder too soon and a little to the right. Took a careful look at the map and saw where I was.
#10 - A little left.
#11 - A little left, but full speed.
#12 - A little right, almost went too far.
#15 - Getting real tired going up into and out of the control.
#16 - A little left, not quite clear on what the contours were supposed to be doing, but just kept moving and saw the control to my right.
#17 - Tired, trail seemed easier/faster even if it dropped lower.
#18 - Worst control, too far left, stood for a bit, then corrected the right way.
#23 - Getting real tired.

After a few minutes and a change of shoes, went back out for a little bit on the trails.

A bit of a long but good day.

First orienteering at Ansonia. Definitely good.

Then to Litchfield for a Mother's Day visit. Went ok, pulled out a couple of very old photo albums, c. 1930s and 40s, and that seemed to dredge up some old memories. Glad I went.

And then to Canton for Charlie's birthday party. In his pursuit of eternal youth, or maybe as a result of trying to keep up with all the babes in Rhonda's early morning class, Charlie is going under the knife on Friday for a twofer, shoulder and knee. He's looking forward to it, hopes for significant improvements. That would be real nice, keeping our fingers crossed.

An excellent birthday cake, by the way, though I only had a very small piece.

And then home, aware all day of how much gas was being burned, and reverting back a bit to 1970s driving, a little slower, a lighter foot on the pedal. Got home without having to fill up.

The best, of course, from an energy point of view, would have been not to go at all, but life is short....

Red course - Splits

A gloomy day, but still some good news...

- the G is getting back under control.

- just received the $1200 from W (and Congress), though of course it was just borrowed from the Chinese. So it's not clear if this is really good news.

- got a letter from my "Dave Barry guy," the polyp was benign, which is definitely good news. Don't have to see him again for 10 years.

In the hills just north of Rt. 2 in Gill, light rain. Legs a little better than yesterday. This makes a couple good weeks of training, need to keep it up while figuring out a way to avoid getting hurt. Route.

Looking forward throughout the session to what came next -- lunch (at 4:30 pm).

With the Thursday evening track group. The schedule was faster sections with shorter rests in between -- 2 minutes fast, 1 slow, 3, 1, 4, 2, 4. 2, 3, 1, 2 -- though it is a bit of a stretch to call it speedwork, since my pace on the faster parts was about 7:15/mile.

Oh well, have to start someplace. And since legs felt totally dead all day, I suppose it was good just to have done something.

Also getting in lots of rogaine practice, and not eating much (which in itself is good rogaine practice).

Very short warm-up.

Bridal loop on Mt. Toby, what goes for a very long run these days. I figured under 70 minutes would be good, so it was good.

I thought of calling up Phil to see if he wanted to join me, but i figured (1) 4 pm was a little too early for him, and (2) more importantly, I didn't really want to have to keep stopping to wait for him.

Power line 17:57, start of loop 31:31, end of loop 41:21, power line 54:44, back n 13:51.

C • bridal loop? 2

From Mill River up to Atkins Reservoir (28:15) and back (24:59). I thought of calling up Phil to see if he wanted to join me, but i figured (1) 4 pm was a little too early for him, and (2) more importantly, I didn't need the struggle to try to keep up with him.

Although the legs felt at least mediocre, certainly better than yesterday.

C • Surely, you jest. 4