Training Log Archive: Fanatic

Drove to Monroe Road in Florida, to do some trail work on the trail leading to the summit of Spruce Mountain. I only carried a small hatchet, which wasn't the only tool that I could have used--a lopper would have been quite useful, too.

I must say this was considerably harder than I expected it to be--must be my weak upper body. I did manage to move some old blowdowns off the trail, with no cutting needed. There's only one little job to be done, in terms of clearing--a large tree has fallen across the trail about a half-mile from the start. Ideally it would be sawed up and moved away, but I'm not sure the state has anyone doing that at the moment. I may just get in there and lop off the small branches that make it difficult to crawl under the big trunk section--even that would be a nice improvement.

Since I was headed to Mt. Holyoke College, I had some time to do a trail run starting from the Notch. Basically, I hiked the steep climb up Mt. Norwottuck (did I really run this when younger), and then ran the flats and easier hills. Many more bike trails than there used to be, but I still recognized many of the old trails.

Another outing on the Monroe Dunbar Brook Trail race route. My goal was to get to the top of Spruce Mountain a bit faster than the first time, when I pretty much walked almost all the hills. I did get up five minutes faster than previous time, but still ended up walking a lot of the climb up Spruce. On the downhills I tried to run quickly, but not flat out. Net result was an improvement of about three minutes.

Some signs of early leaves hitting the ground--that only makes the race a fair bit harder. :-(

Hiking on the bike trails south of Reservoir Road in Lenox. Met only one person, a mountain biker, and much to my surprise it was someone I know--Brad Herder, who created many of the bike trails in PSF, including two that I love--the Turner Trail and the Honolulu Trail. Alas, I was heading downhill and he was going the other way, so no time to chat.