Training Log Archive: PG

A night-O' at Ratlum Mountain is on the agenda for this evening, but snow is also on the agenda, so I'm not sure how much night-O' I will do, or how vigorously. Therefore a run this morning seemed called for, around North and South Sugarloaf, what used to be a modest distance, now definitely a long run. Route.

Slower and slower. In the old days one episode of CarTalk would get me around the loop, today I was well into the second episode, the only benefit was getting the answer to the Puzzler. Felt like the marathon at Fair Hill is going to be a very long ways. Also going to need some better gloves if it is cold, as my hands would have been very unhappy today if I had been staying out much longer.

Ended up doing the Ratlum Mountain night-O' anyway, and very much enjoyed it. 3 to 4' of new snow made things quite special.

Actually one of those times when you look outside and it all looks very cold and wet and it's a bit of a battle to get out the door. But within a couple of minutes it was clear that it was a fine night to be out orienteering. Still snowing, and all the branches were coated with an inch or two of snow. Didn't make the orienteering easy (especially going first, the reflectors weren't reflecting much, found a bunch of the controls without seeing the reflector at all), but it was more fun than I would have imagined.

And, big bonus, beat Ross on 3 splits. Scalpettes, one might say, since getting a full scalp from him is no longer within the realm of possibilities.

Just a couple of mistakes, maybe a couple minutes. And legs felt much less sore than this morning, maybe because my mind had other things to think about.

C • route 11

RHINO Long Course - Splits

In the interests of learning more about how to use my new toy, I strapped it on for a trip to the links.

I was mainly interested in checking its accuracy. I already knew from my run yesterday that its accuracy as far as elevation sucks. But I figured that would be the case. But ti seemed to do a pretty good job of tracking where I went, with a couple of obvious (but small) errors.

So today, after getting back and downloading it to Garmin Connect, I compared my route shown with the aerial photo (i.e. satellite view). Bear in mind that I know exactly where I went (my mind is good for only a few things, but this is one of them), and could draw it quite precisely on the photo if I cared to.

I was surprised by both the accuracy and the inaccuracy of the 305. In a general sense it was accurate, my route was correct within perhaps 10-20 meters, good enough. What was inaccurate, and disappointing, was how much was missing.

I don't know what the minimum threshold is to record a change in position. I know I had the thing set to record every second.

What was missing was times when I would move 10 or 15 or 20 meters in one direction, then come back, and this doesn't show up at all.

Now that I look at the combined map and chart on GC, it seems like it is recording only every 48 seconds.

I assume (hope?) I am doing something wrong?

Hmm, looked a little more. The above was for a route that took 3.25 hours. For a separate route that took only 17 minutes, it seemed to record my position every 4 seconds.

I was sort of hoping/thinking that if you set it to record every second, then it would record every second until it ran out of memory.

C • Track 18

Over to and up South Sugarloaf and back. Remarkably warm evening for early December, don't know why I had a long-sleeve shirt one. At least I didn't add long pants.

16:15 over, 10:04 up, 7:12 down, 15:39 back. Legs not great, not awful. At least I'm getting out regularly, maybe it will help make Fair Hill doable, or a little less painful.

Got a new toy. Now I have to figure out how to use it. One thing I don't get right off the bat -- Phil used to come over here to run from time to time when he wasn't laid up (or I wasn't laid up), and we'd be all ready to start, but first he'd have to take his toy outside and wait a while, what seemed like a minute or so, until it locked on to the required number of satellites.

Well, I turned mine on sitting here at the dining room table. And from what I can tell, it locked on in about 10 seconds, no need to go outside. I put it on my wrist, went out, pressed the right button to turn on the timer, and it seemed to work just fine.

So does Phil have a Stone Age model? Or is it something to do with a full moon? Or do I just have a natural talent for making such toys work? (Note: Of those three possibilities, the third one is clearly the least likely.)

C • My guess 13

No one was up for the Mt Toby Wednesday evening run, so I went by myself, though a much shorter version, just up to the power line (18:35) and back (15:12). Very peaceful, no falls. It occurred to me at some point that this time of year -- shotgun season in Massachusetts -- it is probably safer running in the dark. There were signs that quite a few vehicles had been on the jeep road, hunters, but by 5:30 pm they were all gone.

The bright light is really great. I can see the footing so much better, and it does a good job dispelling any anxiety I might have about being out at night. Very cool.

Don't know if anyone has noticed this. I guess I may be shopping next spring.

I've seen a lot of maps, including a lot with someone's route drawn on it, but never one quite like this.

C • I still don't get what he got fined for? 3

C • riddle 5

I know that several folks I know have been complaining about butt problems, and Boris has even gone so far as to consider surgery, or maybr I have that wrong, others have suggested it for him.

Boris, be careful. It can go terribly wrong.

TMZ, by the way, is the best source I've found to keep up with all the disinformation coming out of Windermere, Florida. Such a good story, and you sure won't find out what's happening by reading the NY Times or watching the network news.

C • Wow 5

A loop around Whiting Reservoir in Holyoke. Very gently rolling, though all the ups, and they were very small, felt significant. Just one of those days. Just got done before dark. Had thought about doing two laps, but legs were complaining sufficiently that that idea was quickly abandoned.

Raining, didn't feel like going out. Similar to last time, 4th mile uphill, last one faster. 9:12, 8:28, 8:27, 10:00 @ 6%, 8:27, 7:20.

First Fresh Air with Richard Carpenter, then the first part of one about The Family.

Signed up for Fair Hill.

C • Carpenters 3

Event: NEOC - Mt. Tom
 

NEOC club event at Mt. Tom, Western Mass rules -- 18 controls, get as many as you want in any order, classes are for those who get all 18, or at least 15, or at least 11, or at least 8.

Lovely day, good turnout (maybe 125+), about 30+ did all 18. I spent a couple of hours manning the start and finish, very pleasant. It's an easy format to administer, you can just keep starting folks whenever they want because they are going different ways. I was thinking at some point I'd pass on running, just go out later and fetch a few controls, but then Gail and Andy M showed up to take over, so I had no excuse.

No warm-up....

Had a so-so run. Did the harder section first, NE kingdom. My orienteering was very shaky early on, slowly got better, good at the end, though that may have been just due to the fact that the O' got easier. Likewise my running got better and better, but then the course also got physically easier as I progressed. One bad control, #15, lost a couple of minutes. But ran pretty hard the last 20 minutes.

Do believe I beat all the fast women (Sam, Ali, Pavlina, Cristina....). And a few OFs too. But the young studs, led by Ross, also Joe (though calling him young is a bit of a stretch), were a whole lot faster, not even in the same dimension.

No cool-down....

Nice production by Phil. He also had put notes/ads in the local paper, brought out a few local runners, including the best trail runner in New England, though you couldn't tell by his time today.

My routes

Other notes. Cristina was there, she seemed to be looking especially thin. Also her parents, I compared notes with her mom on how we both manage to look so young. Also Melissa's dad, who arrived early and hustled off to do the White course before his daughter got there, and then spent a very long time out there while Melissa was getting quite worried. Also a few local runners, not that they can orienteer well but still nice to see, have to start somewhere.

Also Eric Benson, Ali's friend, had trouble in the NE kingdom (who doesn't?), then went out to pick up controls afterwards. I hope CSU's recruiters are after him. Also Fred, the reason Mt. Tom got mapped, he lived just on the west side of the ridge, talked me into it, I thought there was too much laurel.

Best run of the day was by Ross, by far. He is getting better, but still a long ways to go.

C • Recruiter's are on it! 2

All 18 - Optimum Route - Splits