Training Log Archive: PG

Trying out another loop in CT on the way home, this one more in George and Lyn's neighborhood. Quite pleasant, no bad hills, though most of miles 7 and 8 were right into the brisk NW breeze.

Slowly starting to stretch out the longer runs. Just have to keep at it. Was reading up yesterday evening on the marathon in Burlington over Memorial Day weekend, need to do something if I want to run Boston in 2015, and that seems like a reasonable possibility.

Two nice interviews to pass the time, one with comedians Key and Peele, very entertaining, the other with Angelica Houston, also interesting.

C • Burlington Marathon 2

Roads and sidewalks, quite a bit of ice, covered by a light dusting of new snow, so had to pay attention. But no falls, nor anything even close.

C • long and slippery 5

Very little time today so just went on the treadmill, included a couple of miles a little faster, 8:00 and 7:30.

A lot of wasted time this morning dealing with a balky printer. :-(

So dispatched someone to Staples to get another one. Amazing what you can get for $150 -- 40 pages a minute, really hums. :-)

C • Printer pricing 2

A lot of shoveling last night and this morning. Nice that the arms and back still feel fine. Been doing shoulder exercises for a year and core exercises for the last month (better than nothing), and it must help.

I had intended to do a short effort on the treadmill because it was snowing pretty hard outside, but then I figured it might actually be fun outside, so out I went. Fairly crappy conditions, poor traction, 4 or 5 inches of snow (but I was running in wheel tracks most of the time), snowing hard. But also no wind and almost no cars and very pleasant.

Except it was also rather hard work, slipping all the time, could tell I haven't been running on soft ground at all. So 30 minutes was enough.

Roads in Greenfield, just putting in a few miles, listening first to old FA interviews with Ringo and then Paul, fun, and then to a chat about the sad state of internet access in the USA. Is it really true that internet service in Stockholm is 17 times faster and 1/4 the price compared to New York?

Nice to get rid of another bag of sugar, actually 1.6 since I started.

C • Internet service 5

At the indoor track with Dave, usual warm-up. A littler earlier start than usual, 6:45, as he had to be done by 7:45.

Same workout as last week, 3 x 1600 on a 10-minute cycle, at virtually the same pace -- 7:19, 7:08, 6:54. But felt tired this time, legs not real bad but not light either. But still only really working hard on the last couple laps of the last one. Which is good.

And then an easy mile.

Chatted afterwards with a guy who had been running much much faster. Nice guy, used to run for UMass, 4:20 miler. Now runs for a local club, Western Mass Distance Project, a bunch of the faster runners living out here in the valley. I asked what they had in the way of sponsorship. Free shoes from New Balance -- and he showed me a pair of spikes that weighed 3.8 ounces each -- but that was probably only because they knew a guy who worked there. And not much else, just an occasional free race entry.

Not easy to keep up a serious running career unless you are at the absolute top.

C • There was a group of WMDP r... 4

One of my standard loops in town, though maybe a mile and a half or so is now soft-packed snow. Glad it was pretty flat, as my legs aren't used to it.

Another fine interview from Fresh Air, this time about the chemical leak into the West Virginia water supply month, the interview being with a reporter who covered. A pleasure to listen to.

The guy being interviewed has been writing about environmental stuff in West Virginia for over 20 years, and he sure came off well -- informed, well spoken, arguments well presented -- left you not only with the sense the guy really knew what he was talking about, but also the feeling that he would be a really good role model for anyone looking for how rewarding a job well done can be.

At the end, he was asked, under the assumption that he had had many offers over the years to work for bigger media outfits in bigger markets, why he hadn't moved on. The answer, short and simple -- here I can cover the things I think are important, here I get support from my editors, and here is where my home and my roots are.

The only question I wish had been asked concerned the name of the company that owned the chemical tanks that leaked -- Freedom Industries. I assume the name was chosen to imply freedom from taxes, freedom from regulation, and now freedom from much in the way of responsibility or liability. There has to be a story there.