Training Log Archive: TomN

NAOC Day 3 Sprint. I just don't have the right mindset for these things, and I doubt I have the speed for them either. A 2-minute error on #13, on the very next building for crying out loud, but I got it into my head that it was to the right when it was actually to the left. But even taking off those 2 minutes, I still would have been way too slow. I can run 5k in that amount of time, and I don't have a clue where all that time is going.

Sprint - Green X - Splits

NAOC Day 2, Long. I had a really hard time with this course. Basically it was too hard for me. I was never really able to match up the map to my surroundings, and I couldn't move very fast through the terrain even if I wanted to. Inside the circle, I often saw other runners punching before I could find the control on my own. I got stuck with some guy following me and asking me questions, and when I finally shook him I blundered the next control and he was back behind me again, still asking questions. A very unsatisfactory effort all around, although no complaints about the course, the competition, or the organization.

Long - Green X - Splits

NAOC Day 1 - Middle. On Green X, I had a pretty good run, but the competition was really tough. I was slow but reasonably accurate in the technical section. Unfortunately, a 2-min error on 5. I had intended to run along the big trail and pass through 6, but I overran the attackpoint and had to relocate off the little trail past 5. It would have been a good approach if I'd done it on purpose. I picked up speed on the trail runs, but got confused at the very end and had trouble with a couple of the easy controls in the ski slope above the finish.

Map reading was especially tough today. My glasses were totally fogged by #5 (I know, the solution is run faster!) so I took them off, but the forest was so dark it was hard to read even with good vision. I probably could have put them back on when I started running the trails.

Middle - Green X - Splits

Bartlett trail - Verrill Road - Woodman's Peak.

Florence and I went on a hike with Gary Bartlett to a summit with a small open ledge at the west end of the Howard Mountain ridge line. We hiked up from the back of his cabin and bushwacked along old overgrown skidder trails and logging roads, about an hour to the summit. Open views to the south and the pond to the northeast, but the view north over to the Newry mine was blocked by trees. On the way back, he tooks us along the back side of the ridge, over the top and back down, the tracks a little clearer, 2 hours.

The morning tour around the lake on the kayak. Dead calm, low clouds, high humidity, overnight rain, temperature around 70 -- it's been this way since we got here.

On the plus side, it makes for great sunsets (pic from last night).

Paddled around the lake this morning. It's down another couple of inches from the last time we were here, overall still 4 feet or so below the normal level. Crazy year here, no snow in the winter and very little rain in the spring or summer. Even the old-timers have never seen anything like it.

We drove to Boston to see Mei-An at Northeastern and drop off some stuff she wanted from home. Then on to the cabin in Maine, arriving about 9 p.m. Last occupied by some renters two weeks ago, and they left it in good condition. We're planning on closing up for the season before going on to the NAOCs.