Training Log Archive: TomN

UNO College Woods Red (Sprint 1+Sprint 2). Crikeys, what a lousy navigator I am. A bunch of bad legs and one really terrible one (in which enough time went by that I forgot which control I was going to). I'm having a lot of trouble matching up the terrain to the map. If I go slow enough, I can mostly keep my position, but all is lost if I try to run. In the areas of intricate small detail, I can't see the difference between mapped and unmapped hills, knolls, rocks, and reentrants, so it's all just kind of guesswork. Go slow enough and I can correct, but not going fast.

The SW part of the map across the river was a lot easier -- not so many features packed together, so when I saw one I knew what it was.

The forest was pleasant. I imagine it's going to green up a lot in the next month.

Late in the afternoon out on the river. A tandem kayak on the way out and a canoe (the pair looking highly disciplined) going the other way. Plus some fishermen on the bank near the put-in.

Short trail run.

Long run today, part road, part trail. The last loop was a trail run along the river from Gilman Park to Lary Lane, then back up Court St. and home. I don't think I need to do that loop again. The trail was too rooty for running shoes, and the road section was not particularly pleasant, with a short stretch of 45 mph traffic.

I oversupinated my left ankle about halfway through. Probably should have quit then, but it stopped hurting so I kept going. Didn't feel good on the uneven trail part. Back at home, RICE (where the "I" stands for ibuprofen).

Butterflies this run: 2 elfins, 1 azure, all kicked up off the dirt road as I ran through. About the same place as I've seen them before.

XC loop and black trail loop. Legs have been feeling heavy and tired the last few days. Hope it goes away. Saw another Pine Elfin in about the same place, but didn't get a good enough look at it to be sure.

XC trail plus black trail. Lovely day, about 70 with some clouds and hardly any wind. But it's dry, dry, dry. Fire warnings are going up in northern New England.

Saw an Eastern Pine Elfin today, first of year, and it's been several years since I saw any at all. Not a rare butterfly by any means, but a good sighting nonetheless. They're small and inconspicuous (only about 1cm long, blackish when on the wing), and they never stray very far from their trees. I stalked it for a while until it let me get close enough to take a cell-phone pic.

I only had the phone because I wanted to get my mileage, but that was a fail. Apparently if you start moving before you get a GPS fix, it never locks in.

When we visited our Maine cabin last weekend I brought back a kayak. Put it in on the Exeter River at the cannons and went a mile and a half upriver to Lary Lane and back. Some runners on the trail near the put-in, then nothing but woods until Lary Lane. The water was surprisingly warm.

Roads first half, trails the second. Cabbage White made its first appearance today.