Training Log Archive: PG

A loop through the farmland to the south, doing my best to take it easy. My usual bugaboo in such efforts is going uphill, when it seems impossible not to work hard.

Sometime recently Gail had suggested I just need to go uphill at the pace she goes uphill. So today I tested that out. Only one hill on the route, passing by the west side of Mount Warner, and not much of one. As I neared the start of it I turned on the virtual reality gizmo on my bike and there was Gail just ahead of me starting up the hill. I downshifted a few times to keep from getting ahead.

She kept up some momentum for a little bit. So did I. But pretty soon she slowed, and downshifted, and slowed a little more, and downshifted more. So did I. And before too long I was at the top and my pulse had maxed at 120 and I wasn't breathing hard, and there was no lactic acid showing its ugly face. Awesome.

Got around Mount W, turned back north, now with the wind, easy-peasy, couldn't be more pleasant, even on a day where some might say it was too warm and too humid. Stopped at JJ's for corn. Contemplated my training program for a while.

Training program? Well, I'm not really training for anything. Just training because I feel better when I do. I don't seem to have a problem working pretty hard from time to time. Now maybe I can better manage to take it easy from time to time.

The rain held off until a few minutes after I got home. Clearly the spirits are happy.

Tomorrow will be different, as I get to try to keep up to Phil for a couple of hours....

C • Keeping up with Phil 6

With Walter, easy pace. Included an excursion down the peninsula between the Connecticut and Sawmill rivers, didn't quite make it to the end as the track was blocked enough by downed trees that it was simplest to just turn around.

Also managed to go down once, some very slick mud. I watched Walter, just ahead of me, go down and the next thing I knew I was doing the same. No harm done, just some mud on one shoe, probably going about 3 mph.

Really pleasant, weather was great as was the company.

It's been about four weeks since I started try to something about my right shoulder and also my left butt. Went to several sessions with a PT guy and got a bunch of exercises to do. And so far doing them regularly.

The shoulder has been irritated since the beginning of the year. Not near as bad as shoulders can get (based on previous experiences), but enough to try and improve things, as it had become clear that just relying on the passage of time was not going to fix things.

Exercises are a combination of range of motion stuff and strengthening, the latter using either no weights or at most a pound or two. So far there is improvement more in the former than the latter, but I am generally optimistic about both. A successful outcome would be no pain of any sort from the normal motions of daily living, and enough range of motion to be able to apply skin lotion to the parts of my back that were out of reach this winter (I could get one side but not the other). Fairly simple desires, but as you get older some things are no longer as simple as they were.

The butt has been a problem for a long time. I am not optimistic, but I am not so pessimistic that I don't think it's worth a try. A successful outcome here would be to be able to walk reasonably vigorously uphill without pain. Haven't been able to do that for quite a while.

The exercises so far are a variety of things to strengthen and very gently stretch all sorts of things. Today I added one more -- hiking up the access road to South Sugarloaf (grade is about 10%), with the intent to go as quickly as possible without setting off the pain. If it starts to hurt, back off. If that doesn't help, stop and head back. The goal being to very slowly increase the capacity (and not to just learn to work through the pain).

So today, just for my own records, parked in the lower parking lot, had a couple of minutes walk up to the start of the road, very gently, then up to the first drainage grate where the slope mellows for 50 yards. Kept backing off the pace, it seemed, but I think I managed to do it right. 6:19 up, very slow, but what matters is improvement. As I said, I'm not optimistic, but I'm willing to try.

Because, when I last went orienteering (Pound Ridge in June), I enjoyed it, but my butt was hurting a good bit. I would be nice to go orienteering again, but leave that part behind.

A little longer outing, and a decent effort too. Nice day, upper 70s to low 80s, lower humidity, so very pleasant. Breeze out of the north, maybe 5-10, variable as always. So certainly some work the first half heading north, and then some work the second half because it just sort of happens....

Pleasant ride up along the river. Temperature and dew point were both about 70, the former balancing out the latter. Certainly better than going later in the day.

Had a pretty serious thunderstorm sit over us for a while yesterday, quite a few trees down, or parts of trees. None affected us, or cut off power. This morning it looked like a good bit of clean-up was going to be needed, some of it already in progress.

So when I was just about home and saw flashing lights ahead, I figured it was something storm related. Nope, just another car accident. Two cars involved, both being loaded onto tow trucks, one just by our driveway, the other about 100 yards up the road.

I got up to the house, then did what I'd meant to do and headed back down, asked the guy there if he was OK. He was. Did he need a ride somewhere -- I was heading to Greenfield in a few minutes and would be glad to take him in that direction. Nope, he was heading to Whately and the cop had already offered to give him a ride. Apparently the other guy, just off a night-shift job, had dozed off and crunched him. He said the other guy was OK too.

I certainly was impressed by the guy I was talking to. No anger, no rancor, just glad no one was hurt. Said he had good insurance, would cover a rental car. Just a generally positive attitude in circumstances that were just bad luck.

He worked for an area human services agency. My experience has been that such folks are of high character and get paid very little. He certain was the former, and I'm guessing he had to deal with the latter. A fine guy.

So clearly the best way to keep from working too hard is to avoid any hills. Certainly worked this time.

Warm and humid, but got out early enough so it was perfectly pleasant, just I was sweating a lot. About 70 when I started upper 70s when I finished. Light breeze from the south, but enough to certainly make a difference.

Relaxed pace most of the time. It would be nice to be able to ride uphill easily, but that seems like it is only going to happen if I'm an e-bike, and maybe not even then.

A loop from Bernardston -- route 10, 142, Tyler Hill Rd, back on route 5. A little warm, breeze out of the south. So the first dozen miles were easy, the next two up Tyler Hill the usual hard work, but then the last 11, very gently rolling but into the wind, were hard work too. But the legs were OK. :-)

Though that doesn't mean I was pretty tired when I was done. So what else was there to do but stop at the nearest ice cream place?