Training Log Archive: MJChilds

WCOC training weekend at Osborndale, CT. Three activities available: control picking with visualization exercise, compass course, line-O. I chose the control picking first and found that when I focused on what Jon recommended, the details of the terrain, the type of feature for the control, control extension, and the compass direction, I could navigate quite accurately. Being the first time orienteering this season and first time to run on and off trail, really, I found that my legs got very, very tired and sore. Surprising since I got in a reasonable amount of varied exercise over the winter.

Set out on the compass course but did not know it had a different starting point. Found what I thought was #1 just fine, but just couldn't find #2 after 2 attempts. Found another orienteer to ask about the problem, and learned that there was a different starting point. Hummmm. Found 1,2 and 3, then the course looped and I went to #6 in error. Thinking I was looking for #4 and not finding it, I realized what I had done. Went part way back and searched for #4, but as I was sore in the legs, decided to jog back to the car. Enough for the day. Good decision.

Very cold, temp around freezing and very windy, but sunny and not too bad in the woods.

Headed to Marie and Mike's where we were to spend the night. I was with Andrew and Ethan. Rested a while then headed to Becky's apt for the sprint on the Yale campus. Great fun. Found some new energy to run! What a gorgeous campus and an interesting course. Great map.

Very yummy dinner prepared by Marie: tomato basil soup, pasta/arugula salad, and mexican bean dip with chips. Yummy. Great company with about 20 orienteers present. Enjoyed the evening until I ran out of energy around 9 p.m. when I slinked away to my bedroom.

Great day. Carl had to stay home with Lucy. :(

Thanks to Pete Bundschuh for putting up Ethan and me on the way down on Friday night.

Walked Lucy around the meadow and then did a little adventuring in the woods, lured by a pretty old greenish bottle in an old farmers bottle dump. It was broken, but that lured me further into the woods to seek signs of spring. Lots of bare patches on this south facing slope. Temp 28 degrees, so easy to walk on top of wet areas. The beaver pond had a thin sheet of ice on it that had lots of creases that reminded me of shrink wrap. Heard cardinals and an unfamiliar bird (sparrow, warbler?). I'm very rusty on my birding and especially on calls. I should go back with my binocs. Refreshing.

Had a dream about sunlight and colors last night and woke up thinking about how being outside refreshes us. Maybe it has to do with full-spectrum light. Yesterday, I stopped at a friend's house who was explaining that her new straw colored paint looks very yellow at night with the lights on because her CFU lamps produce little red and yellow wavelengths, so the warm colors cannot reflect back off the paint, only the cool colors which result in a cooler yellow. Sunshine makes me happy.

As I write, there's a gray squirrel sitting on a fence post having tail spasms-- it's whipping around in loops and back and forth wildly as he anticipates the feast at my bird feeder which I filled while I was out this morning. Very funny. Shooed him away and now he's returned to his fence post perch with only a terminal tail twitter as he contemplates his return. I used to send Lucy out to scare them away with a loud, raspy
"S-Q-U-I-R-R-E-L!" prod, but I'm afraid the sprint would hurt her now. She's still game, but I think it's a bad idea. Better get moving.

Ran across golf course to Tuthill's trail. Ran on snow crust, but a little soft so it was like running on sand--hard work. Trails were lumpy and no fun. At least I got out.

Hiked the Lake Placid Nature Trail in town through a town forest out to Lake Placid dam and back. Easy hike on a well-packed trail. No snowshoes nor crampons needed. Gorgeous day again. Cold, but sunny. Enjoyed a little relaxing on the dam before continuing on the loop back to the cars.

C • wonderful weekend! 3

Drove with Tracey and Deb to the Adirondack Loj where we picked up the trail to Mt. Jo. Not a high mountain, but a very steep ascent which was up a reentrant with lots of ice columns on the cliffs on the side. So beautiful. I wore my mini-spike crampons and had very good traction. I don't know how they managed with just boots and poles. They did slip a lot. I liked the security of getting a good foothold on the slippery snow. In places it was slushy. Arriving at the top we were treated to a cloudless, windless, gorgeous afternoon view of the high peaks region. I even got a little sunburned! We returned via the longer, less steep trail which was great fun because with my crampons (mini-spikes) I could run with the grade at time. It felt wonderful.

Such a wonderful weekend. I'm a lucky girl. It pays to stay in shape. . .I hope I always will be able to do the things I want to do. In this group, I was 10 years older than most of them, so I was reminded of the value of being able to keep up (or even lead the pack!)

This was not "Nordic Walking" per se, but I didn't want to create a new activity for hiking with a pole. Maybe I should though. . .