Training Log Archive: jima

Some evening fun by headlamp.
Was dragging at the end of day from sitting at my desk all afternoon - really just wanted to grab a good book and slump on the couch, but dragged myself out the door instead.
One guy out fat-biking by headlamp - other than him had the trails to my self. Solid snowpack. They had the bigger cat out grooming/packing, so it was much less choppy than 2 days ago. Hills were fast, with enough unevenness that I was skittering around corners a bit and getting concerned on a few choppy spots that I would get launched off into the woods.

Had my new back country clunkers - military surplus all-purpose ski. 210 cm, metal edges, waxable base.
Got heavy duty back country NNN bindings mounted on them.
Haven't waxed them yet - just wanted to see how they felt. No kick of course, but seem fine on the groomed stuff.

Sorta packed conditions on the Cobble loop. Looks like they'd driven the loop numerous times on a snowmobile / mini snowcat, without a drag or roller behind to smooth things out. Only the main loop was done, assuming they're letting the other trails drain/dry out and will pack those before opening day, if the XC trails do officially open this Friday.
Stuff was hard packed, so it will be a nice base unless we get a really warm spell. Just a few rocks kicked up here and there - much better than if they'd had a big cat out there.
Not a lot of cardio effort, but some good balance work and drills on uneven snow.

Soggy evening slog at Weeks Woods. Rain had somewhat turned to snowflakes, but it was still a mess underfoot. Feet got soaked, but snowflakes were falling, which is always cool to run though by headlamp.

Fat bike on wet snow - part of the trails were boot packed - lots of sliding out on the gentle uphills. Better traction to the sides with the loose wet powder. Took a bit to get the hang of biking in really squirrely conditions. Took one of the really windy trails - a lot of putting my foot down to keep from falling over, rear wheel slipping out to one side or the other. Did better on the gentle downhills than the uphills.

Fun ski with pretty good conditions for November. Rolled/packed with some uneven spots. A few other folks out an about - some GNA juniors, some tourers, at least one fat-biker and some people who thought that it would be perfectly fine to walk with their dogs along the ski trails. SMH.

First sorta real ski of the season. Roller had been dragged around some of the main trails leaving wider corduroy. A few GNA juniors were out skiing - looking much smoother and more spry than me. Temps just under freezing and dropping - untransformed powder. Onl a few wet spots underneath.
Was waxed for warmer conditions (CH10/LF5 from the Ski-O World Masters), but it wasn't terrible. Was able to classic shuffle on the uphills where my skating oomph was lacking.

C • Congrats 5

First XC ski of the season. About 5" of new wet powder on top of the ~4" from earlier. Slow going - lots of stops to scrape the packed stuff off the ski bottoms.
One snowshoer, one skier were out before me. ome deer and dog tracks, lots of branches and trees bowed down into the trail.

Event: Blue Hills Traverse
 

Blue Hills Traverse - Ponkapoag and Blue Hills West maps. 13.1 km advertised, ~15.2 as I ran it.
Knew I wasn't going to be fast out of the start, and decided to not push overly hard until I was warmed up a bit. Was passed by lots of folks on the way to 1, but kept contact with the ever shifting group. Went left to 2, cutting along through the woods above the marsh where I made us some time on those who stayed on the trails. Jon C, Alex and Ernst came blazing out of the woods as a bunch of us were heading in by the E end of the fenced in area. Opted to go right to 3 with most others going left - fine by me so I wouldn't burn myself out too early. Plenty of familiar folks around.
Took trail around to the left then cut back in to 5, might have lost a bit of time there. Pretty clean 6,7,8,9 and into 10. Appears some folks had trouble with 10 as there were some there who had been pulling ahead earlier.
Slogged along the road run, then a fun Saeger loop. Some back and forth with Phil, Evalin, Maria and a couple others.
Got sucked to the left with Evalin to 14, Doug Sevon made up some time by going straight to it.
Screwed up to 5 by cutting to the left onto the dashed trail before passing between the marshes rather than staying straight behind Evalin - Phil and Evgeny made up some time on me, then I was behind them up the hill. Saw Maira at 15, I had a better approach than Phil et al, who had climbed up through the rocks.
Same crowd again at 16 & 17.
Went left 17-18 and helped at 18 by Evalin coming in from one side and Evgeny from the other.
19 and 20 OK - first out of 20 by not stopping for water - still had plenty in my bottle. Other catching up on the road run, then 4 of us along the upper trail. Maintained contact with them, even though they were pulling ahead, then cleaner and straighter into 21. I stayed higher to the left to 22, was afraid they;'d gone, but saw Maria climbing up ahead of me, then she stayed too far left. Evalin crossed in front of me into the control. I went left to the trail then cut over, saw the knoll and wandered downhill, looping around when Maria came in from below obviously on a beeline. I cut back below her and got the control just ahead of her, no sight of Evalin.
Went just right of the line to 24, coming in along the dashed trail, the went down the spur instead of the road to the bend. Saw the spectators which helped. Down the road, but not looking closely enough at my map, to the stream bed and along an indistinct path to near the download. Someone helpfully pointed out that I should look at my map and that the last control was back thataway... Maria beat me to the punch.

Great course. Might have been faster overall if I'd pushed more at the beginning and hung with a faster pack, but just as likely would have crashed and burned and stumbled in much later.

Traverse - Splits

Slogging around the trails at RV Farm with about 4" of snow. Some of it was light and fluffy, some was heavy and wet, and there were sections of just wet. Foot prints around much of the main loop, but was the first one for much of the rest.

Fat bike tour around the trails - cold enough that with the recent rain some of the puddles were skimmed over with ice, the leaves were crinkly and some ice flowers had erupted in many spots.
Could use a bit more tire pressure until I'm on snow and need to check the gears, some jumping about in the granny gear range under pressure.
Fine time, but using muscles that have been rested for too long.

Weeks Woods - thought about doing the double nine loops, but opted to head further out onto the Timber Hill Farm trails. Brought a map with me after some hesitation - "Jim, you mapped this whole area, the map is in your head". Was glad I had it as I blanked on a few trail junctions - "Wait, where am I?"
Made it out OK - fun running with a headlamp.

Red course by Deb Humiston at Fort Rock. Forgot my HR monitor belt.
Heavy winds had brought down a lot of leaves, so some trails were hard to follow. A couple of inches of rain in recent days, so the marshes were all full, and then some. Some sections of pretty crappy woods, more predominant in the southern section with some nice open areas as well.

1- Opted for a straighter, cross-country route, which was probably a mistake. Bumbling though the woods was not fast, plus some back and forth to find the reasonable micro-routes. Considered the S trail route, but to much additional distance. Didn't see the N trail route option until just now - probably a better option. A bit of back and forth on the open ride north of the one I was looking for - no advantage from have vetted this location 2 weeks ago.
2 - Around to the S of the overgrown march - a few nice runnable stretches, with slogging between. The rootstock should come off the map - no longer substantial enough.
3 - Loggin cut aroudn the the right to the trail, found the junction and took the SW-NE trail until I lost it partways - through the woods to the E-W trail, then careful compass past the small knolls, reentrant with small stream, spur, reentrant. Control was hung down in the pit, moved it higher by a foot or so.
4 - Across the narrow (very wet) marsh, then picked my way through the rocks to the trail right at the tunnel. Course notes had said water at one end of the tunnel, so I had a picture in my head of having to splash through a deep puddle, but it was just 2 water jugs and cups... To the trail bend, noted the marshy spot, then careful compass through the rocks to the rock with the control behind it. Some advantage from having vetted this spot- remembered to focus on the larger/higher rocks, but still a slow careful approach.
5 - Picked though the rocks to the trail, up to the first wet ride to the right, through the dark green on the cut, then W of the first knoll, E of the second and side hill in. Heard from others that wanted to approach from the trail bend further W of my route that things were very squirrelly - trails on the ground not matching the map.
6 - Tried staying W of the first rocky section and the marsh, but then got pulled to the right. Saw the massive boulder and wanted it to be the one further WNW, and ended up on the Mtn bike trail NE of the uncrossable marsh - went around to the E on the trail, attacked along the N edge of the wet area.
7 - managed to stay dry crossing the marsh on the logs, then along the side of the spur to the end, across the narrow wet.
8 - pretty much straight - not a problem.
9 - Found a good route through the green - not as thick as expected, just below the beaver dam, along the edge
10 - trail to the corner, along the high ground between the marshes, then careful into the control
11 - Picked my way along the trails, with a couple short cutovers. Straight over the final hilltop about 200m short of the control. Down the hillside, then got bewildered by a (closed) trail (that I now see is mapped with an indistinct gray line). Other pieces seemed to match up - the marshy spot, boulders, the slight knoll, so got to it with only a little (??) hesitation.
12 - Confused again by the closed trail that I didn't see on the map, but ran along it to the tunnel. Kept right out of the tunnel, then along the S side of the marsh, cut right, and into the depression - which was now a pond... Inched out along the log, bent down and punched, carefully turned around and back to dry land. This was bone dry 2 weeks ago when I vetted it.
13 - Rough compass around the N end of the wet areas. Think I ended up further N than planned so the trail was running a different direction than expected and I initially thought I was SW of the control. Took a few seconds to reestablish contact with the map, then along the hillside. Control was further up than I was expecting. Met Lainey and Ben.
14 - Around to the right - trails and cutting corners. Past the S end of the marsh and up in.
Finish - Went slightly left of the line rather than the trails to the right.

C • control in pit 5

Red - Splits

Once the deluge stopped, it cleared up enough that I ventured out for some me time.
Finished field checking the piece between Darcy's field and the marsh - stone walls fit in nicely once I realized there were two of them, not just one.

Paused for a bit of ski trail maintenance - cutting back smaller stuff that tends to collect snow and ice and bow down over the trail - not fun to smack into an ice covered branch with your face at speed.

Evening headlamp run at RV Farm. Upper 40s, misting and foggy in spots.
Really not feeling like I wanted to get out, but was assisted in nudging myself out the door.
Mtn biker parked just as i was taking off - good to see some another adventurer out there.
Was overdressed a bit once I got warmed up - t-shirt, long sleeve shirt and running vest - opened the vest and finally took off my cap from under my headlamp.
Reflections off wet leaves back into my eyes, and spots of ground fog made for a surreal view at times - good fun.
Biker got back in just after me - should have asked how he did with slick wet leaves covering most of the trails.