Training Log Archive: BillD

Event: NEOC / WCOC: Gay City State Park
 

Advanced course at Gay City set by George & Lyn in partnership with Jeff. Crow flies 5.98km. My tracker says I went 8.64km. Nice open woods, good visibility, very humid in the 60s, it having rained this morning. The marshes were not too full, easy enough to pick a way across, although the shoes did get soaked.

Most fun course in a long time. My nav was pretty much spot on, staying in close touch with the map and setting the compass often. Controls were on features that were relatively easy to find: many on stone walls, some ruins, one neat fire chimney. Not much climb. Jogged/trotted about half the time, took my time threading through slippery, soggy, stoney areas on trail or in marshes. My route.

One map disappointment was #16 to Finish: didn't show the pond/swamp just east of the parking lot. Would have taken the road around north if I had known of the pond.

Bugs, particularly mosquitos, were a problem starting about half way when my spray protection wore off. Gotta remember to carry it with me.

MMO Fest - Splits

Knocked the dust off the clubs. Nice 9 hole walk around Simsbury Farms back nine. After 4 holes figured out I had to stand much closer to the ball. That got good results (for a double bogie kinda guy). Pleased I could charge up the steep hills with my pull cart and not pass out. Must be that training in the Hudson Highlands ;).

Walked the Heublein Tower Trail. Very humid. In heavy jeans, so with the initial long climb up to the ridge, it was a good calorie burn. Lower right back was getting sore until I corrected the pelvic posture.

Black bear just broke into the under-porch shed, sliding the hanging door halfway open, and treated himself to my birdseed cache in metal garbage cans. Have now moved the cans into the basement for the season. Probably the same bear that tore the whole facade (8x4 lattice) off the shed door last summer. He seemed to have a tracking collar but I didn't see any tags. He moved out, off and down the cliff toward the neighbor's house when I started scraping paint on the porch railing (needs repainting), so I didn't get a long look at him. Seemed a few years old, not small but not the biggest brute we've had come by here.

Just checked the front of the house and, behold, the sheppard's crook holding the hummingbird feed is now bent over. But the hanging seed feeders, which now hang from a PCV truss I built out from the side of the house over the kitchen bump-out are intact. I figured they'd be just out of bear reach - so far so good.

C • Tracking collar 1

30 min on bike. 10 on gym: squats, lats, pull downs and up.

Hiked in Town Forest to work off the Mother's Day buffet at La Trattoria. The shaded trails in the pine forest were not as relatively cool as I had hoped, but it was tolerable. Nice solitude for first 45 minutes, just light wind whispering high in the pines.

No running, since right hip flexor was sore (from yesterday's jog? this morning's bike? this morning's squats?).

Wore my corgi shirt and upon exiting got a happy shout out from a young lady who loves Pembrokes. We were warned when we got our first corgi 20 years ago that those dogs were real chic magnets. Want to know who else has/had corgis? Just take yours for a walk and you'll meet them all. But we'll remain poochless until we give up traveling.